Where the Lost Things Go : Waiting Here Until it’s time to Show

Journeying God of the lost things

We are often waiting

waiting for a bus 

waiting for test results

Its often not comfortable to wait physically, mentally

but wait we must

We wait in the storm

we wait in the noise

We wait for the whisper

Waiting there until it’s time to show

up Amen

Elijah is having a down day. Being a prophet for the creator God is not always an easy job to have. He has been rejected and ridiculed and he feels life isn’t really worth living. He tells God this and promptly falls asleep.

Elijah then wakes up, eats and then sets off on one of those 40 day journeys that we find in the Bible. Having slept in a cave, he is awoken again by God who asks him why he is in this place. Elijah reminds God about how bad things are at the minute, and in response God tells him to go and stand on the mountain so he can pass by.

As Elijah waits he is battered by a powerful wind, withstands the force of an earthquake and manages to escape a great fire. Then at the end of all the noise and energy of these three terrifying occurrences he hears a whisper, to which he responds.

North Shields has been the heart of Methodism in North Tyneside for many years. We can find some of the earliest Methodist chapels in the town and much of what has happened in Cullercoats, Whitley Bay and beyond started in this busy port town.

On Howard Street there was the Wesleyan Chapel that stood from 1807 till 1891 and seated 2000 people. Another early chapel was the United Methodist in Milburn Place which was built sometime before 1855 and closed sometime after 1914. This is said to have seated 440 people. It sat on South Street and overlooked the Tyne in what began as a very well off area of North Shields but eventually became a slum.

Another early chapel was the wonderfully named Ranters Bank chapel on Union St. This was a Primitive chapel that stood from 1823-1861 when it moved to Saville St. A member noted when this new building went up that “So soon as a colliery was won, they all knew that a large number of people were collected together, and he was glad to be able to state that the difficulty of providing places of worship for them was speedily met by the earnestness and desire of the Dissenters to supply this want, as well as to do all they could to promote the religious instruction of the people.” Saville St lasted till 1930. When it closed the building became a Woolworths and is now a furniture shop.

All in all there are maybe around another 4/5 Methodist chapels that sprang up in this small area of North Shields. We haven’t time to look at Howard Street Primitive (1856-1941), Linskill Street (1836-1969, may also be connected to Salem and Low Street) and we will pick up some others tomorrow. All in all there were around 10 chapels in the centre of North Shields between 1808 and 1980.

The Methodist Church across the UK is facing some difficult questions. COVID has taken its toll and the cost of living crisis that has followed has heaped more pressure on the church from top to bottom. We can all look at what was and is and wonder what might be for the church where we live. Like Elijah we can feel like we are standing in the middle of a hurricane of noise and disorientation. Or like the very surface we stand on is shaking about us. Yet like Elijah we have to somehow wait and listen to try and discern the still small voice that comes to us through the noise and calls us on.

Questions to reflect on

1.What is the worst weather you have ever been caught in?
2.What do you do to cheer yourself up when you are having a hard day?
3.How would you describe your relationship with God in this moment?
4.How does God communicate with you? Have you ever
heard an audible voice? Is it through pictures? Or when you are reading? Or is it a feeling in your gut?
5.Elijah goes on a 40 day journey between hearing God address him the first time and then again when he is in the cave. During that 40 days we have no idea if Elijah heard from God at all. Do you expect God to communicate with you everyday or do you feel more like Elijah with huge gaps between those moments?
6.Elijah responds to the gentle whisper that comes to him. Do you think we too often look for big signs to know what God is doing?
7.How can we get better at listening to the gentle whispers of those in our chapels, our communities and of God?