Time Travellers

• Pictures from the 2007 event
  
• Update on the 2007 Event
• Two Articles following the 2005 Event

Why Time Travellers? The most obvious source of the title of our pilgrimage days for Primary School children is that it echoes Southwell Minster's Time Travelling, since our events are closely modelled on their ten-year success story. Beyond that, you may think it is just a trendy way of appealing to the young, with its Dr Who-ish overtones. However, I think there may a bit more to it than that.

The concept of life as a journey is a very ancient one. Literature in every culture gives examples of stories about the challenges of the journey from birth to death, with successes and failures along the way. Christian examples in English include The Canterbury Tales and The Pilgrim's Progress, to name but two. Many folk and fairy stories are built on this theme and you could find it in plenty of films and books - Lord of the Rings, Tom Jones, Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels, and many more. Our everyday language is full of words and phrases ('moving on', 'don't let the grass grow under your feet', 'stepping stones', 'milestones') which show how deeply our unique awareness of time passing is embedded in our ways of thinking.

The Bible is full of references to journeys. The Old Testament is largely about the wanderings of the nomadic Hebrew tribes in search of their own land, and the New Testament starts with the life and death of Jesus and goes on to the great missionary journeys of Paul and Peter. I worked through the Gospels recently listing all the times that travel or journeys are mentioned and gave up because there are so many. You could say that Jesus' first journey was pre-birth, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and not long after that Joseph and Mary fled with Him to Egypt, returning some years later when things were safer. Journeys were made up to Jerusalem for various feasts and festivals, including the occasion when the child Jesus was left behind by mistake on the way back. As an adult, Jesus is described as walking, riding, or going by boat from one place to another, over and over again.

Why do the Gospel writers put these references in? It is not just that travel was a fact of life in those days, though it is true that people in ancient times were much more mobile than we usually give them credit for - all writers select, emphasising some features more than others. In the case of Jesus, it is clear that the way He instructed His disciples to live, moving from one place to another, carrying very little with them, and depending on the goodwill of those they were trying to help, was the way He lived himself, when not taking Himself off into the desert for contemplation. So it is important to show that Jesus was not expecting His disciples to live in a way that He knew nothing about himself; living like this also requires strength of character, resourcefulness and initiative, to say nothing of independence and courage, and no doubt Jesus had plenty of all those characteristics. In fact, the power of Jesus' example, taken with His many injunctions to take no thought for the morrow, has influenced countless millions to live in poverty for the good of others.

Living in this way cannot be for everyone, but I think there are other lessons that can be drawn from the constant reference to travel and journeys. Clearly, it reminds us not to be too tied to material possessions, but perhaps also not too tied to particular relationships or places but more receptive to what God wants of us and gives us. Perhaps we could echo Jesus' approach to life by being more willing to go out and look for people to help, rather than waiting for them to come to us. The image of the solitary traveller might show us ways of being more independent in doing what we know to be right, without regard to the consequences, or more generous in putting our gifts at the disposal of others, even if rebuffed. We might simply learn to be more trusting. Not that we expect our young pilgrims to pick all this up in one go! But you have to start somewhere. Certainly, very young children are aware of important questions about life, and we can help in our Time Travellers! days to give examples of how to live as well as precepts. Our title is certainly not idle.

Finally, many thanks to everyone helping us this year - and if anyone unexpectedly finds they have time on Tuesday 20th June and Friday 23rd June, we still have gaps to fill and would welcome more assistance. Please contact me, Margaret Millington or Kate East for more information. Our Evaluation and Thank you Evening will take place on Tuesday 4th July at 7 pm in church.

Rosemary Howell
Time Travellers! Co-ordinator