I know what it’s like to feel dry. To feel Jesus is distant. To know in my head I couldn’t be closer; that my life is now hid in Christ. But not to sense that in my heart. To feel my eyesight is clouded and my heart is stale.
And the Keswick Convention is not the answer to my problem. But it can help. Because our good God gives us many ways to bring our hearts closer to the sunshine of the gospel; many ways that will melt our hearts as we look to Jesus. And what I love about the Convention is that it’s like an oasis. It’s an opportunity to be refreshed. And then sent back out again.
Lifting my eyes to Jesus
Because in everything Keswick does, at heart it’s always about hearing God’s word. And I need that! I need to have my eyes lifted again to see Jesus. To have my horizons re-enlarged and my heart rekindled. To sing truth about God, to sing my response to Him, and to sing with a few thousand brothers and sisters. And over the course of the week, to be able to do all this multiple times. But also, because everything at the Convention is free, to feel free not to be at everything when I need to take time out.
But hearing God’s word alone is not the destination. Keswick has also always been about becoming like God’s Son and serving His mission. And that’s how a week in a tent sets us up for 51 weeks in ordinary jobs and streets and families. Because that’s what an oasis is for. It’s not the destination either. But it’s a place to recharge and then continue the journey. And that journey involves learning to walk more closely with Jesus in the everyday, which is what I most want, the more I see who He is and what He’s done for me. My delight increasingly is to delight in Him; to want to become like Him from the inside out, because I want to enjoy Him more.
And the more we’re thrilled with Jesus and look like Jesus, the more we won’t be able to shut up about Him. Because there are opportunities everywhere today to join His mission. Because the Spirit is at work. He’s drawing people across this country into His family every day. And that mission is not just a strategy or programme. At heart, it’s simply the overflow of our joy in our relationship with our gloriously good God. It’s the overspill of hearts that are filled with Him, like a cup held under a gushing tap.
And that’s what thrills me about the Keswick Convention. It exists to serve the Church – every church – across the UK and beyond. So that everyone who comes or joins online is refreshed and sent back to live and speak for Jesus, wherever He has rooted them. For His glory and our joy.
