The Stranger Meets Someone Who has Found a Home
David Wicks pastors a church in Kindersley, Saskatchewan. Our time together on Tuesday was far too short to learn details of his story, but I was curious about his thoughts on ‘place’ and ‘neighbourhood’ because of his rural context. I did learn that he transitioned into his current call from a church in Edmonton, and has purchased a home in the hamlet of Brock. I know Brock – not well, but I have been to there a few times, driven by it many times, and went to the same high school as Brock teens did and still do. I know Brock by type – my parent’s farm was mid-point between Zealandia and Harris, equivalent dots on the prairie map. I know of what David speaks when he states that his commitment to the community will extend long past his retirement.
‘I’ll be put in the ground there’, David stated without flourish. A simple fact. An honestly and earnestly reached conclusion. Now I stand to be corrected on this, but I am suspicious that if someone is committed to living out their days with a particular people in a particular place, that this commitment becomes foundational to all of that persons daily choices, foundational to loving their neighbour as themselves, and foundational to their seeking shalom. I believe David would endorse these thoughts of Thomas A’ Kempis:
Keep yourself at peace first, and then you will be able to bring peace to others. A person who is at peace with himself does more good than someone who is very learned. A person beset by conflicting passions turns even good things into bad, and he is quick to believe any malicious gossip that comes his way. Some who is good and at peaceful on the other hand, sees the good side of everything. If you are truly at peace with yourself, you are suspicious of no one, but if you are unhappy and upset, you will be tormented by endless suspicions; you will not be at peace with yourself, nor will you allow others to be at peace. You will often say what you should not, and you will leave undone those things you should do. You will often pry into other people’s business and neglect your own. So, first keep a careful watch over yourself, and then you may be properly zealous for your neighbour.