“We like everyone else, are pilgrims on the way.”
Compassion, pg. 61
Displacement. A very relevant word for our globalized world. The movement of people across the globe far surpasses the migration during the Industrial Revolution or the expansion of the Roman Empire. Population growth, along with other causes varying from political unrest and human trafficking to globalization and job accessibility, has caused the world’s cultures, customs, habits, and differences to now live directly next door. Displacement cannot be ignored. According to The UN Refugee Agency, there are 68.5 million forcibly displaced persons. The Expat Survey.com reports 232 million persons living outside of their nation of origin for work, education, asylum and more. This may not resonate with some Americans as I recently read in the New York Post, that quite a few Americans have never moved from their home state, much less traveled out of the country; however, luggage owner or not, I do believe displacement is the very place in which we can find community and commonality. Displacement is our “pilgrim-ness.” Displacement by definition is being out of our ‘usual place’; a place we all have been found.
Consider Your Present Residence
Do you live in a country that is not your place of birth? Do you live in a different state in which you grew up? Have you ever moved house? Are you in a different city than your hometown? Do you live in a different house than the one you were raised?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you are displaced. You have been moved from your usual place into a new location in which you must build a different kind of normal. People are movers; migration is normal throughout history; not comfort. We are pilgrims–we ebb and flow as we merge with fellow pilgrims along the way; some who become beloved friends and others we only greet in passing. Like rivers that flow to one main water source, so do we.
But I Don’t Want to Change
Comfort, on the other hand, is that craving for our favorite food when we feel sick. It’s a memory that warms our heart when we feel sad. It’s a physical action that calms us when we feel anxious. It is meant to temporarily soothe us in times of discomfort when we feel out of our usual place.
Somewhere, over time, we’ve thwarted comfort to be a commonplace necessity required for life to be happy. It is the marker for living ‘the good life.’ We pursue comfort in order to hide from feeling uncomfortable, being different, facing our need to change, going against the ‘norm’, and to avoid all suffering and struggle in life. This temporal pursuit of comfort is like a bandaid over a wound with an adhesive that refuses to stick because it’s not meant to be a long-term fix nor heal the wound. When we pursue personal comfort, it almost always comes at the expense of others and the detriment of ourselves. It seems easier to try to keep life the same to preserve our norm even if the world around us is changing, but I’d like to suggest that rather than preserving a comfortable chrysalis, we might choose to embrace breaking out of our comfort zone into our very real displacement. By breaking out of our pre-fabricated comfort we can enter into the very messy and unusual place in which others like us exist.
If comfort is the antithesis of displacement. It may also be the death of the joys we have yet to discover because we refuse to embrace our displaced state of being. Bear with me. In our desire for comfort, we deny our present displaced situation and pretend other’s displacement isn’t encroaching around us. Yet honestly, in one way or another, we, along with millions globally, are displaced. Displacement doesn’t solely imply a negative result of being forced to leave one’s home due to violence or injustice. It doesn’t just mean we incur suffering or torture, instead, it means we’ve been moved from our known place of comfort, intentionally or not, into a space where our commonality is that we’ve all been moved; our pilgrim-ness. Our displacement can be the bridge between our fears, judgments, and divisive natures.
Displacement provides us an equal same-ness that can draw us together; it’s a starting point toward friendship, toward loving your neighbor. Displacement may be the very space in which we should make ourselves at home and comfortable. Acknowledging our displacement may make us ‘homesick’, uncomfortable, and lonely, but it is the same for everyone and therefore draws us together. Knowing many of us
Displaced persons like me and you are meant to intertwine and mix into a kaleidoscope of creation that reflects the wholeness of God. This mass movement is God’s hand in motion, moving us toward what he knows we need, and how we were intended to live–in unity, community, relationship, as a family called the Body of Christ; the Church and those beyond.
Since God’s taken hold of my life I’ve become a wanderer. Not a wayward lost person, but one who is displaced. Each place I go involves loss, adventure, struggle, challenges, excitement, and loneliness. But what I love is how my family increases, my life becomes enhanced, my perspective changes, my heart becomes more open, and my spirit more sensitive; I wouldn’t trade these for comfort ever. Displacement is a gift; a place of redemption and community. In the weeks to come, I want to attend to God’s word in this area of displacement. There are many persons and stories that align with this way of life, and it doesn’t end in devastation or loneliness, but rather in fulfillment, blessing, growth, and wisdom. It is a path in which we can journey as pilgrims without fear who embrace being outside the ‘usual place’ for the treasures discovered in the uncomfortable bits. It is a part of who we are that can tear down barriers built throughout our human history. Our displaced state is the common ground for us pilgrims as we journey toward wholeness.
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