Oxcart Christianity

The Oxcart is a metaphor for the journey. In the metaphor we are the ox stumbling over the ruts in the road while struggling to pull our baggage along behind us. The journey is as much spiritual as it is physical. Along the journey we sell our identity for materialistic gain and egotistical need, and in the process we lose our way; if we are fortunate, a divine shove comes along (in the guise of a person or event) and we are set back on the right path.

Sometimes along the journey it is we who give a lift in the oxcart to the one in need. The oxcart is now a metaphor for acts of hospitality, justice, and mercy towards others. The oxcart is a most humble way to journey, especially when we have no ox to pull the cart and we become the ox; the oxcart is now a metaphor for humility. The journey although not necessarily solitary, is a lonely one as we leave the old behind in search of the new; here the oxcart becomes a metaphor for the disruption of community.

The Oxcart is about the journey in all of its aspects: pilgrimage, community, doing acts of mercy and justice, and walking humbly in spirit before our Creator.

Frank A. Mills
Sheffield Lake, OH
July 27, 2025