“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…”
Charles Dickens penned these words as the opening line of his epic masterpiece, ‘The Tale of Two Cities,’ in 1859. He goes on to write, “…it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
The reference point for his story of contrasts and comparisons is the violent bloodbath of the French Revolution that took place in France, ending with the coup d’état of Napoleon Boneparte in 1799. London rested while Paris revolted.
How often do times of change present to us the radical tension of testing and contrast?
Our community of faith that we call ZION people has been through a season of preparation and now transition, as we move from our long-term home on Racecourse Road. We have willingly relinquished this land into a joint venture with Habitat for Humanity and we are preparing the property to offer social housing solutions to the local community. We are excited to see the land repurposed to meet this need.
This means ZION has travelled a short journey to relocate into our new premises on Churchill St, near the centre of town. The ZION Hub, as we affectionately call it, will be our new base of operations to gather together for worship and to reach out to serve the local community.
This transition has not been without challenge, as we have wrestled with the tension and uncertainty change brings, the grief of loss of the old while seeing to embrace the potential held within the new. Truly this has been the spring of hope and the winter of despair, to quote Dickens again.
And yet, as followers of Jesus, we embrace the words of our teacher who said, “Those who want to gain their life must first lose their life.” There is an inherent need for us to choose to let go of what we currently have in order to reach for the promises God holds out before us. This in itself is a tightrope that is difficult to walk.
A life of faith, by definition, means trusting what you believe to be true, even when you can see it or prove it to be so. Faith in what you see is not faith.
A life of faith, by definition, means trusting what you believe to be true, even when you can see it or prove it to be so. Faith in what you see is not faith.
So, as people of faith, we choose to walk in faith. To connect with Dickens, we would say we are walk in wisdom, even if we may look foolish; we walk in the light while darkness seeks to overcome us; we hold on to hope and fight against despair that may rise. As people of faith, we choose to believe and fully expect the incredulous, supernatural, divine intervention of God in our journey.
To live this way is our only option, for to choose an easier path would be a faithless walk.