Another Place
“Follow Me”
John 21:19, 22 (NKJV)
North of Liverpool, on the Merseyside coastline, is Crosby Beach. It is a 5-kilometre stretch of light brown sand and home to the art installation, Another Place, by Anthony Gormley. When I last visited the beach, on a cold autumn day, it was empty – except for the one hundred cast iron statues which comprise the installation. The statues are life-size images of the artist himself, scattered over the length and breadth of the beach. Some were partly submerged, with waves breaking over them. Others were buried up to their knees in sand. All steadily regarded the water out to sea, to ‘Another Place’.
The images had been created identically, from the same mould, in the image of the artist. Each was mounted on a 3-metre metal pillar sunk into the sand, all facing the same way. And having observed one, you would have thought that the windy beach could have been left behind and a warm café found for lunch. But something makes you walk over to the next one – and then the next – and the next, because there are differences. Barnacles cling to some, but in different patterns. Seaweed hangs from others, but from different places. The salt sea has etched different patterns of rust in the passive figures. They were made in the same image but the shifting waves, the moving sand, the sun, the rain – and people – have worked on each one differently. Some sported Liverpool scarves and hats. Each statue exists in a unique environment, and each has become different.
In Genesis 1:26 we are told that we are created in the image of God. We are all made in the same image, but God does not deal with any of us in the same way. How can we argue with God who has placed us somewhere in the sand, where he chooses? We might be a long way out, in deep and turbulent waters that sometimes break over our heads. We might look back at those further up the beach – closer to home – where the waves are more benign and gentle, and wonder why things can’t be easier for us.
If we compare ourselves to others, taking our attention away from the relationship with the being who created us, we are brought back to a conversation that the resurrected Jesus had with Peter over breakfast on the beach. He had shared with Peter the nature of the death he would suffer as a result of preaching the gospel, and Peter wanted to know if the disciple John was going to suffer in the same way. Christ’s answer shows the danger of comparing ourselves to others, and what our priority should be:
‘When Peter saw him [John], he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” ’ (John 21:21-22 ESV)
Prayer
Lord Jesus, grant us the wisdom, the humility, the courage, and the faith to follow where you lead. Amen.
Study by Maggie Mitchell
Maggie Mitchell is chair of the Pastoral Council of the Northampton congregation of Grace Communion International
Local congregation:
GCI Northampton
Ecton Village Hall
78A High Street
Ecton
Northampton
NN6 0QB
Meeting time:
Saturday 10:30am
Local congregational contact:
Gavin Henderson
Email: gavin.henderson@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church