The Way

As was mentioned before nomadic movements are never random. We outsiders sometimes have the mistaken impression that nomads "wander", like they are indefinitely lost in the forest or something. This is not the case.

There are two basic patterns. Circular and vertical. A circular migration pattern is repeated circles. Routes depend on which resources will be available in what areas, so local knowledge of weather and climate is essential. Herds need to be moved on before they overgraze an area, so size of herds and density of vegetation are also factors. The more arid the terrain the larger the circle. The Nenets people of Western Siberia have the largest migration route of any nomadic people. They move their reindeer up the Yamal Pennisula, south in Winter to find cover in the forests, north in Summer to escape the insects. Their route covers 2000km yearly, sometimes moving 8 - 20km per day.

Another common nomadic pattern is vertical, as in up and down a mountain. These are also repeated patterns determined by the needs of the animals. Generally, summer pastures are higher up and winter pastures lower down the mountain. Sometimes the nomads have villages in the summer areas and live in tents when going down the mountain to trade. Other times they live in the valleys and take the flocks up to the higher areas for the summer season.

Whatever the patterns, regardless of how big or small the routes, there will also be places in the rotation for meeting together either with settled peoples or overlap with other nomads. These are the social occasions, though they sometimes bring conflict.

As western urban people we tend to see life more in linear terms than in circular ones. This is a cultural perspective and one that we don't share with the nomads. We tend to see another birthday as a mark on a line, where it could just as rightly be viewed as another lap around the seasons. Life is both, it both repeats and moves forward.

Our linear perspective has affected our understanding of the Kingdom as well. We tend to think about the gospel in terms of destination and making a decision at a point along the line that represents our lives. We are very linear in our expressions of conversion, there was who I was then, then I got saved, and this is who I am now. We understand Jesus as "The Way" in the sense that he is with us along this one directional journey of life. This description works for us because it fits with our worldview.

But it's not going to sound like much to the nomadic worldview. God gave humanity a calendar of seasons (not the same 4 everywhere, but still a yearly repeating pattern). He also gave a yearly pattern of festivals to his people in the Old Testament. Life does move forward, but it also circles back around.

Some people have several encounters with faith before they choose to believe, and some might even after believing have repeated times of struggle. Jesus is The Way on a circular worldview as well. He is the one who marks the route and guides the seasons, bringing things back across our paths as he sees fit.

The Kingdom is not only about a destination. Jesus is the Way.

Life is both, it both repeats and moves forward.