Leaving Glendalough

 

As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  – John 17.18

I have often heard this passage used to preach on missions and have often done it myself. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. I think it is a great missions passage. Jesus came into the world to bring the good news of salvation and He does indeed send us out to do the same thing.

But I think we miss something if that is all we get out of it. To illustrate let me go to place called Glendalough. Hidden away in the valleys of the Wicklow Mountains is an ancient monastic settlement. Starting in about the 5-6^th century Christian monks began gathering in this place of absolute beauty and natural majesty. They built a small community with houses, churches, chapels, and work areas. They used the place to meditate, copy the scriptures, and commune with God. Whenever I am there I can see the draw. Even on the busiest tourist days there is a quiet and a mystique about the place. In the off season when there are only a handful of people it is easy to see why people came here to withdraw from the world and spend time with God.

One of the founders was a man named Kevin. He was not content with the quiet of the monastic village he moved a couple of miles away and lived in a cave which is inaccessible to tourists today. Above that, on the side of one of the mountains, he had a place of worship where he would spend days alone in meditation and worship.  

For centuries Glendalough pilgrims made their way there over the Wicklow Gap, across the Sally Gap, and along a long lonely road over the Dublin Mountains to meditate and reflect. Many of them truly came to spend time with Christ.

Today it is a tourist site and the Christian ethos is gone. People go there for the scenery and some go there for some kind of vague ‘spirituality.’ It is still a beautiful inspiring place.

There are times when I can see the draw of Glendalough Christianity. When in the midst of the hustle and bustle and wickedness and bad news and bothersome people and irritations of life it would be easy to just withdraw to some wonderful place of quietude and reflection. In fact, I think we could all do with some of that.

But the hard truth is that we can’t stay in Glendalough. As Jesus was sent to the earth from heaven by the Father Jesus sends us into the world. We have to leave Glendalough and go out into the world.

Most of us have never lived in a physical Glendalough. But I think we can be guilty of living in some kind of neo-Glendalough. We are happy enough to go to church, send kids to the Christian school, stay busy with church activities and build church  facilities to provide everything we need so that we never have to go out into that dirty old world. We stay clean and we stay pure and we never defile ourselves with the world.

Nice, but that is not what God intended. A very dear Irish friend once used the phrase ‘you have to get your hands dirty’ to reach people. Indeed that is the case. We can’t stay in our little Christian shells and still reach the world with the gospel. We have to get out of Glendalough and get into the real world. Jesus didn’t send us to Glendalough, He sent us into a world we are not a part of.

The only question is whether or not we are willing to go.