The end of our searching

The end of our searching

There are, it seems, many people today who are searching for something, yet not really knowing what it is they seek — something spiritual, outside of themselves. It may not always seem so, but it looks to me as though we live in a very spiritual world, possibly more so than it has been for many years.

But that spirituality is largely unfocussed. Many people know they want and need something greater than themselves, but fail to find it. We don’t hear quite so much about it nowadays, but I think that’s what much of the New Age movement was all about. It’s still visible in many a High Street though. In lots of larger towns, and even some smaller ones, it’s easier to buy New Age crystals and the like, than it is to buy a Bible.

I must admit that I don’t really understand a great deal about the New Age movement. And the last thing I would want to do in this post is to criticize or denigrate anyone’s sincerely held beliefs; and hope that isn’t how this is coming across. I’m really only using the New Age movement as an example of people’s searching for a spirituality outside of themselves.

Our Collect for today, the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, shows where my own searching has taken me. I’ve been lucky enough that my search should be fulfilled so close to where I started. For me, the God of glory is the end of my searching; the God of glory is the pearl beyond all price. And even more importantly, it’s the Church I grew up attending that has helped me discover that.

The Church, as a whole, hasn’t been especially good at self-promotion over the years. Had it of been, maybe many who are still searching, or not found fulfilment where they have finished up — whether that be within the New Age movement, or anywhere else — would have been less quick to dismiss it as a possibility.

But there is a responsibility for each of us who carry God in our hearts to build bridges, or at least begin to, between ourselves and those searching. Not necessarily to convert everyone to our own particular brand of theology, but to open the channels for God’s love to flow through — and who knows what might happen than. And I think it’s important that we build those bridges, open those channels, between ourselves too, across the various denominations within the Church.

I wish I could say that I always take every opportunity that presents itself to start building bridges myself, but I fall far short of that ideal. I am trying though, and will keep on trying. I really do want other people to find what I’ve found.

God of glory,
the end of our searching,
help us to lay aside
all that prevents us from seeking your kingdom,
and to give all that we have
to gain the pearl beyond all price,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Additional Collect for The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council