In the earliest conversations about what BETWEEN might become, we dreamed of a truly borderless, global community. So having Francois (one of our BETWEENERs, who originates from South Africa and lives in Costa Rica as a digital nomad) offer to deliver our message of the week is a bit of a dream come true.
The story he shares invites us to consider what warm coal we might carry around with us as we travel through our lives. How might we always be prepared to bring warmth and light into the lives of every person we encounter?
I was particularly struck by Francois’s choice to include the ancient “Priestly Blessing” from Numbers 6:24-26. This is such a perfect prayer to offer to our global BETWEEN community.
I love how this prayer imagines God’s face turning toward us… an intimate moment of simple connection. Grace and peace are found when we are face-to-face… with God and with each other.
SERMON FROM FRANCOIS GREYLING
The indigenous and original people of Southern Africa are called the Khoisan. They are a nomadic people and have been wandering around the Southern parts of Africa for centuries. Some of them still live the same way although they have been modernized.
Being hunter-gatherers in the deserts, they dressed in animal skins and carried water in empty ostrich eggs and lived off fruit and roots of trees and other vegetation. They also hunted with bows and arrows for food.
Families used to travel in groups together and they are still considered unequalled trackers of wildlife.
What is amazing is how they used to cook their food and keep warm during desert nights.
They rubbed sticks together and blew on them to make fire. But because of the scarcity of these materials, and the time-consuming and laborious efforts to get a fire going, they had a way of preserving the coal ember.
The women would take a glowing piece of coal ember and wrap it in a piece of leather from animal skin and put it in their satchel. During their meandering and gathering and tracking for the day she would open it up and lightly blow on it to keep it going. Later that day in the evening she would gather twigs and leaves and remove the ember form her knapsack and restart the fire.
They would gather around, share a meal and their stories of the day and sleep close to the fire for safety and heat, and tomorrow they would be on their way again.
In many ways they carried their safety and refuge and provision with them.
Living a nomadic lifestyle they never felt abandoned or alone or without home because they knew that in one of their satchels there is a hot amber coal nearby that can solve most of their existence problems and help keep them safe during the night
We carry our souls with us. And between us there is the Spirit of our creator, our comfort, safety and our guide.
Whether you are a digital nomad or a worker in the city we all travel away from our homes and families and sometimes feel vulnerable out in the wild. We look forward to return home to our creature comforts and our heat during the cold where we can safely gather and share meals, tell our stories and recharge.
BETWEEN has become such an ember of coal for me and many others, as a digital nomad in a foreign country working in far off remote areas it is difficult to connect with like-minded people or even to find people to share sacred moments with due to the language or religious constraints that a global village has.
Carrying the message through small interactions during the week and checking in with the community once a week has become a place where I can revive the ember and the flame of my soul and share in The Spirit to keep connected during the uncertainties… and feel safe in the wild and sometimes unforgiving world.
As a digital nomad I can carry my home with me, receive guidance and remain in contact with what matters most. God is constantly on my mind, guiding me throughout my travels or daily meanderings in the cities of the world. I feel safe, I can bring my family into this space with me, and we can continue to enjoy the remote and nomadic life while feeling at home.
Allow me to give you the Priestly blessing to carry with you on your way as in Numbers 6:24-26 of the Bible…
“May The Lord bless you
And protect you
May the Lord smile on you
And be gracious to you
May The Lord show you his favor
And give you his peace”
So Mote It Be
BETWEEN is more than just a church, it is a sacred space we can enter and share anywhere in the world. You are the creators of these spaces to connect, recharge, provide safety and fan the flames of togetherness among God’s people. At BETWEEN you are never alone, your tribe is always with you, and where two or more gather in the name of the most high, there He is with them.
Now go out, anchored in Divine community, and create the church BETWEEN.