Pilgrim Soldier

My name is Graeme Smith and this is me …

I’m a follower of Jesus, who I currently serve as leader of The Salvation Army in Godalming, Surrey. I am married to the wonderful and beautiful Zoe and we have two gorgeous children, Sian & Abigail. My passions are discipleship, community, mission and justice. Reading is something that has been a big part of life for as long as I can remember and you can often find my head stuck in a book, much to Zoe’s consternation at times!

Zoe and I have recently been recommended to start training to be Salvation Army officers in September this year so will be embarking on, or rather continuing in a different area, the adventure that is this life of faith we profess.

I’ve been blogging since February 2006, originally under the name of ‘UK Salvationist’, but in the lead up to our return to the UK in August 2007, after 6 years working in Latvia, I felt a change of name was needed.

So why Pilgrim Soldier?

As I write this I am very aware of the journey that I’ve been undertaking for the whole of my Christian life, but especially over the last 18 months. I’m concious of being on a pilgrimage that started when I was only 10 years old, but for too many years was spent within the safety and security of a walled bastion of faith. Gerard Hughes puts it like this:

“Ideally, the Church is a pilgrim people, blissfully happy in their indifference to wealth and possession, unworried by the insecurity of all systems and institutions because they know they have no abiding city here. They are en route, a learning people, always ready to admit their errors in the face of truth, welcoming the truth where it is found, and knowing that it can be found among all peoples, whether Christian or not.

“What a marvellous Church that would be! … [but] it is as though the pilgrim [Church has] … accumulated too many possessions on the way, found the weight too heavy to carry and so settled down to look after and protect the overloaded rucksack. The pilgim Church became the settled Church, the static Church. The pilgrim people, unable to cope with marauding bands, settled down to protect themselves, threw up stockades, then high walls. The pilgrim Church became the parade ground Church, the beleaguered garrison of Christ the King. Within its high walls the loyal troops performed their outmoded arms drill and manoeurves in the parade ground, assured that as long as they kept up the drill and obeyed orders without question, they could be sure of ultimate victory.”
(Gerard W Hughes, In Search of a Way (first edition), pp 125-6 in Hughes, God of All Things, pp 141-2)

My experience for the first half of my journey was of a fight from behind garrison walls. Occasionally I would foray out, either in a small group or alone, and disillusioned I would retreat back to the safety of the parade ground. Some who were around me, were outside the walls all the time but I simply didn’t realise it.

Now though I understand that my place is not inside but outside taking the battle into the wounded communities of this world and constantly moving forward towards the goal. I am called to pilgrimage not parade grounds!

As for soldier, well as well as being a Christian, God has called me to be a Soldier in His Army of Salvation. Even though my path is taking me down the path of officership, first and foremost I am a Soldier. A Pilgrim Soldier!