There’s a huge Irn Bru advert at Glasgow Airport emblazoned with the slogan: ‘It’s not about where you’re going, it’s about where you’re from’. The message is that wherever you might be flying to in the world, what really counts is where you’re from. And what could be a more iconic symbol of Scottishness than Irn Bru?
We don’t tend to look on it as a good thing if people forget where they’re from. If someone from Stranraer ‘made it big’ and was being interviewed on a talk show in America, we wouldn’t take it too kindly if they were asked where they were from and said ‘Glasgow’. It might be easier for the audience to locate on a map, but for us it would feel like a betrayal.
I remember heading off to university and a fellow-supporter of my local football team asking, tongue-in-cheek (I hope!), which of the two big Belfast teams I was going to start supporting. Of course the only time I actually went to either of their grounds was when my hometown team was playing – and I was very much in the ‘Away’ end. I couldn’t have done otherwise and maintained any level of self-respect.
So on one level the Irn Bru advert resonates deeply with me. Though actually, the advert doesn’t really work if we apply it to someone from a more affluent area moving to somewhere people see as less attractive. It would fairly grate on us if someone moved here from somewhere like Oxford and were always negatively comparing Stranraer to where they’re from. At times we might even feel the need to tell people ‘You’re not in Kansas anymore’ – in other words, you need to forget where you’re from and get on with things where you are. We need to live life where we are, not where we might want to be.
So the advert isn’t applicable to all situations, because there are times when we want people to stop talking about where they’re from.
There are also many people who would rather forget where they came from themselves. Not because they’re ashamed of the place itself, but because they were the victims of abuse, bullying, gossip etc. Or perhaps they did things themselves that they are ashamed of, and they know they would not be welcomed back.
In fact, one of the reasons why the message of the Bible is good news for people in those situations is because it’s actually the polar opposite of the Irn Bru advert. Rather than where we’re from being all-important, the gospel tells us that where we’re going is what matters. In fact, we could sum it up as: ‘It’s not about where you’re from, it’s about where you’re going’. That’s an important message for those who, for good reason, would rather forget where they’re from. It’s also an important message for those who think that where they’re from makes them better than others. Who think that because they come from a particular family or a particular place – or have been brought up going to a particular church – that they are a cut above everyone else. They need reminded: ‘It’s not about where you’re from, it’s about where you’re going’.
So where are you going? The Glasgow Airport advert is clearly a reference to where your plane is going to land. You can fly from GLA to 75 places – but the Bible tells us that ultimately there’s only two destinations that matter: Heaven or Hell. To continue the airport analogy, I can’t make it to Heaven by my efforts any more than I could walk to America. What really matters is who’s piloting the plane. Jesus’ ascension into Heaven means that our place there is guaranteed if our trust is in him.
In some ways, the reverse of the Irn Bru advert would be the perfect slogan to write above a church door. We have people in our church from all sorts of backgrounds. Some who’d rather forget their past if they could. Others who have had to learn that no-one has any right to see themselves as better than anyone else. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
You might be nervous about going to a church for the first time – or about coming back to church after years away. People worry about what to wear, or about what to bring or about not having someone to come with. But none of that matters. ‘It not about where you’re from, it’s about where you’re going’. And it’s never too late to start that journey.
Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 3 August 2023