Out Our Way: The gospel according to Goliath: Riding the rails

"After John the Baptizer had been committed to prison, Jesus came into Galilee, announcing the good news about God saying, 'The appointed time has come, the Kingdom of God is here. Turn back to God and believe!'" 

- Mark 1:14-15

Out our way, the railroad has always been part of our lives. The reason we are here as a community, along with so many other towns along the Hi-Line is the railroad. Time was when folks traveled almost everywhere by rail as the highway system hadn't been built and automobiles were not as common. Go to the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum or the Frank DeRosa Railroad Museum and learn how the railroad built Havre and made her the Heart of the Hi-Line. Back in the day, all the swells rode the rails - the line went down to Anaconda and Butte for shipping but the Copper Kings also rode luxurious private cars through Havre on their way to Minneapolis, Chicago and New York. But the common folk rode the trains, too - and the old station was a busy place.

Nowadays, the Amtrak pulls in twice a day most days - although the schedule often varies. Freight and oil have priority over mere human beings these days. Even so - there is something pretty special about seeing the train coming down the line, the light shining, the sound of the horn, and the sight of those big engines, the occasional observation car, and the tinted windows of the silver passenger cars.

I was telling Goliath about days long ago when my sister, mom and I went to visit her folks in Oklahoma. We always took the train ... "Santa Fe, all the way" as the little Indian kid said on the commercials, but what I remember best was that time of anticipation when the train arrived at the station, but hadn't yet come to a stop. The engine was here and past - as were several baggage cars and what not, but the rest of the train was still coming in. It was here - and yet not yet here all at the same time. When the engine came into the station and went past us - the train had BEGUN to arrive, the process was not yet complete and wouldn't be for a bit. But the anticipation and excitement of the trip had begun!

There is a sense of that in the message both John and Jesus announced to the eager people of Judea and Galilee. They both proclaimed the good news that "The Kingdom of God is at hand!" It might be better understood as "The Kingdom of God has begun to arrive." Just like that big old train coming into the station - it is here and yet it is still coming, there is a great deal more!

John the Baptizer was like that loud diesel horn blowing out there in the boondocks late at night - telling you the train is coming, the arrival is beginning. John was also like that big old headlight you see a good mile or two down the track coming at you, getting bigger and brighter with every passing moment. Like the horn and the light, John announced to the sleeping world that the Kingdom train was coming in.

Jesus is like the engine - the One who is making it all happen - but whose coming not only marks the arrival of the Kingdom, but the continuing process of the whole train coming in. His coming was just the beginning and the whole train is still rumbling in even as we stand in awe and excitement. Car after car, century after century, generation after generation comes through this home station, each making its own contribution and adding a little more to the fullness of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven, like the old Northern, has arrived - and yet is still arriving. 

Goliath and I like to watch the trains from up high on the ridge - watching the whole scenario of the engines and the cars snaking across the prairie seemingly from one horizon to the other, light flashing, horn blaring and crying out "The Kingdom of God is at hand ... is here ... and is still coming." Leave it to an old hay burner like Goliath to teach me great theology while pushing cows on the Hi-Line. Thanks, "Doc."

(John Bruington, Goliath and Scout can be reached at [email protected] or at Box 1046, Havre, MT 59501. Copies of this column, sermons and Bruin Town Tales are also available on line at http://www.havrepres.org. The book "Out Our Way: Theology Under Saddle" is available at Amazon.com.)