I had a strange dream Tuesday night. Strange in content. Strange in that it had no apparent context with anything in my life. Strange that I remembered it.
There was this family living in the backwoods of either Kentucky or Tennessee – mom, dad, and three children. I don’t remember anything about the parents, and only a little about the two younger children (a girl and a boy). They were dirt poor, and the oldest child, a teenage boy, was determined to leave home … going somewhere … anywhere.
He remembers riding in the back of his uncle’s pickup a long time ago. They had gone to a big city. He is convinced it was New York. I think it was more likely Hazard, KY or Newport, TN. In his determination he starts walking along the path away from his home … going somewhere … anywhere.
He walks for a long time, always turning right or onto the wider path when he comes to an intersection. He gets very thirsty. His feet start turning orange from the dust (could it be that he is in GA, AL, or the Carolinas?). He finds an old pump, but sludge is all that comes out. This is where the clarity of my recollection ends, though it seems as though he eventually met up with others … wanderers and strangers all … going somewhere … anywhere.
I woke up singing (in my mind) a song by Jo Dee Messina: “Heads Carolina, tails California, Somewhere greener, somewhere warmer, up in the mountains, down by the ocean. Where it don’t matter as long as we’re going somewhere … together. I’ve got a quarter. Heads Carolina, tails California.”
Now I’m trying to make sense of this strange dream and recollection.
When Monica and I met in elementary school (she in 4th grade and me in 5th), we both already knew where we were individually heading in our lives. And we both had the same direction in mind. We would be Lutheran school teachers (I am sure she was greatly influenced by Teacher Korf as was I by Teacher Kosche). And we would start our college education at Concordia Lutheran Junior College in Ann Arbor. Going somewhere … not just anywhere … and, as God had it planned, together.
Now, as I reflect upon the +60 years that have transpired since our first meeting (We’ll be married 50 years this coming summer), I am amazed (and thankful) at how God in Christ has kept us going somewhere … together … along the original path. We both graduated from Concordia Ann Arbor and River Forest (Chicago) as teachers and got married the summer following graduation. Monica has been a teacher in classrooms of infants through second grade, a tutor in both parochial and public schools, a nanny for two different families, a stay-at-home mom, and now continues in her vocation with our two granddaughters. I have been a Director of Christian Education, taught two high school classes, been interim principal in an elementary school, lead pastor in a variety of settings, and, in retirement, keep going somewhere … sometimes it feels like anywhere. And as I said, we’ll be together (married, that is) for 50 years this summer.
As redeemed children of God, this is Christ’s design for our lives … going somewhere … together. We saw it clearly in last Sunday’s Easter Gospel. “After the Sabath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. … The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ … So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell the disciples. And, behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings … ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.’”(Matthew 28.1-10)
Going somewhere … to the tomb … to the feet of Jesus … to the disciples … to Galilee … together … Mary Magdalene and the other Mary … the disciples. Going somewhere … our earthly, God-given vocations … heaven … together … in faith communities … in family … in the eternal communion of saints. Going somewhere … recognizing that at every stage of our life we are called to be servants to those around us … together … knowing our Lord’s promise that “where two or three are gathered (together) in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18.20)
Going somewhere … together … What does this mean for you at your current stage in life?
Going Somewhere … Together
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