Rivertown United Reformed Church

Minister’s Letter – Sept 2009 “Jesus - the Travelodge”

I have come to be very grateful for the Travelodge. For these “oases” offer rest on the journey – total acceptance, sometimes at a very good price, to travellers of every kind. They are a welcome acknowledgement of the vast distances that we travel these days – for work, study, leisure, even family history research, maintaining personal links with old friends. An acknowledgement of our need, in this express-paced world of ours, for rest, recuperation, so that tiredness does not overcome us and make us a potential danger to other road and motorway users. The time to remember again who we are – and in a faith context, that we are all much more than the journey we are making, the job we do, the family we belong to, the friends and possessions we have accumulated, the skills we have inherited, been born with or achieved through training. And they are a place where family, friends, work colleagues, can meet, even reunite, and share time together that would be impossible otherwise……

So it was that, 2 days into our holiday, Ruth and I found ourselves at the Travelodge at Frankley Services, Junction 3 of the M5. Together with Joanna, our nearly 23 year old daughter, taking a brief 24 hour break from her work as a staff nurse at City Hospital, Birmingham. We were only there for 2 nights. But that enabled us to have quality time with Joanna – as well as accomplishing a little DIY at the Handsworth house she shares with a nursing colleague.

Then it was back to work for Joanna, and back on the road for Ruth and I. Even if we could have stayed on, we wouldn’t have wanted to. Our holiday “tour”, which would eventually encompass 7 venues, 3 of them camp sites, was virtually planned. We knew where we were going. Travelodges were never built to be permanent homes – you can’t cook in them, and eating out permanently is no recommended way of life.

The Credit Crunch continues to bring misery and disruption to so many. And there are further concerns about swine-flu.
But long before their advent, our roads, all our transport systems, were becoming crammed with people on the move. The breakdown of family life on the one hand, and the desire of so many people to find a convenient “bolt-hole” from which they commute, the natural desire of everyone to own a car, continue to make travel a more and more hazardous and time-consuming experience.

Jesus frequently took time out, both alone and with his special friends and his relatives. Up on the mountain, in the boat on the lake, at weddings and other celebrations. But after time in the slow lane, it was always back to the fast lane of daily life, being God amongst people who found that so hard to understand, let alone receive.

Today we are – or were – spending more, travelling further and further for peace and fulfilment. At the same time it seems, more and more people are becoming unable to “settle” – in partnerships, in jobs (due to Credit Crunch), in homes. We all seem to want – even demand change as of right. Gadgets a go-go. Life is not the satisfying thing that it once was. More and more are taking the “Travelodge” route – entering into “limbo” situations. Housing is being eaten up because more and more people are living alone. Family life is under strain. We seek the slow lane because we cannot cope with the comparatively fast lane of normal life. But even the slow lane is not fulfilling the real need. Because our real need is to be able to relax in the knowledge that God loves us, has a purpose for us, and will be with us always. To know that, moved by God’s love, the human race can work together to change the way we live and enable the voiceless, penniless, homeless people across the world (who never have any chance of a break) to take their place as equals. Jesus once met with 2 sad friends as they walked home after a break, thinking he was dead. His life can touch ours today, & give us quality time with him, and with everyone around us. Then for us, everywhere can be a “Travelodge” of peace & fulfilment.

Your friend and minister, Colin