School of the Pilgrim

Day 50. "Man (sic) instinctively regards himself as a wanderer and wayfarer, and it is second nature for him to go on pilgrimage in search of a privileged and holy place, a center and source of indefectible life" (Thomas Merton). The word of the day is "indefectible, meaning "not liable to failr, end, or decay," meaning God or Godly. Every day, we are always consciously or unconsciously in search of the source of the Godly in life on life's pilgrimage. Some times it comes easy to find. Other times, we must search for it. And still other moments, it is best to be quiet, and let it come to us. The art is simply knowing which way is best to meet the indefectible in our lives, because it changes each and every day. Question: How have you met the source of the indefectible in life today?

Day 49. Seen on my Facebook feed: "Jobs fill your pocket, adventures fill your soul" (Travel Quotes). While it seems rather simplistic at first glance, the quote begs the question: How does one fill or feed or nurture one's soul or spirit? Isn't this part of the allure and attraction of any and all religious pilgrimages? Visiting holy sites, made holy by visits by generations of pilgrims? In our lives, we know how to feed our bodies and keep them fit. We know how to stimulate our minds, intellectually. But do we always take time and practice of the care and nurture of our soul? Our spirit? Think about that today as you go off on your daily, every day pilgrimage: feed one's soul! Question: At the end of the day's every day pilgrimage, how did you feed your soul? Your spirit?

Day 48. "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Eph. 5:1, 2). What an incredible feat this would be: to imitate God, of all people. To imitate Christ! To imitate Spirit! How do we do this? By following the earthly examples of Jesus, in his time with humanity and creation. Jesus becomes the pathway and the pioneer, cutting a path before us and nudging, pulling, pushing, cajoling, calmly taking us by the hand and, by grace, faith, hope and love, leading us to the next right place in our everyday pilgrimage of faith. Question: Have you seen where you've been walking in the footsteps or pathway of Jesus today? How did you know?

Day 47. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2a). While a pilgrimage is not a race, it is destination-bound, just like a race. We are moving forward to somewhere or someone, one step at a time, one day at a time. And we are moving forward, not backwards, though we can re-trace our steps from time to time. And in this pilgrimage of life, just like an intentional pilgrimage, we have a goal. For example, in an actual pilgrimage, pilgrims set their site usually on a place, like Canterbury, Rome, Santiago, or Jerusalem. On the pilgrimage of life, we set our goal, our sight, on Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." That's a heck of a goal and destination. In other words, when days are filled with joy on the pilgrimage of life, keep your eyes on the prize of Jesus. And when the day is full of challenge? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Question: How often have you looked towards Jesus this day on the pilgrimage of life? Or have you looked down on the ground? On the side lines of life?

Day 46. Flight, by Steve Garnaas-Holmes, from "Unfolding Light (www.unfoldinglight.net) Pilgrim, seek not some lasting feeling of the presence of God. If it comes it will be mysterious, and deep, but brief, like the flight of the great blue heron, opening his six-foot angelic wingspan with the sound of fire, the color of mystery, fluid and generous, like a priest blessing us--and then gone. It's not the wings, but the flight you want. To have it, you can't keep it. Let the wings open in your heart even when you cana't see them.

Unfolding Light Daily Reflections by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Day 45. "It takes as long as it takes. Be gentle on yourself." (Kelly Rae Roberts). On an actual pilgrimage, on the first few days of a pilgrimage there is a burst of energy. Adrenalin has kicked in. If it is a long pilgrimage, like the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, in which people have waited a lifetime to go, people walk really hard in the first few days. Then the reality of the pilgrimage length sets in, and some of the clothes they've brought along are deposited along the way. Along with the computer. The sleeping bag. Pacing yourself becomes the rule of the pilgrimage. When people find their own rhythm for the journey, the pilgrimage becomes a holy and wholly different experience. Same goes with the pilgrimage of life: we each have to find our own pace, and let it guide us. Self-care along the way is a good thing. Question: Have you found your pace on your pilgrimage of life?

Day 44, "A person’s steps are from the Lord; how then can people understand their path?" (Proverbs 20:24, Common English Bible) This is an intriguing passage. Does God watch our every step every day, knowing where we are going, even before we do? And if so, how do we understand this, our path? It is good to know that we are not alone on the pilgrimage of life, that God's Spirit is with us each and every step of the way. Perhaps the best thing we can do is pray with every step, thanking God for each step of the way. Question or practice for the day: Take time to thank God for each step we take for a few yards, saying, "Thank you, thank you," or "Bless me, bless me, bless me," each step of the way.

Day 43: "But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Is. 40:31). On an actual pilgrimage, there are times when one is simply exhausted of walking. Ankles hurt. Blisters hurt. Knees throb. Back aches. It is best to sit down then and kind of re-consider what is happening. Talk with someone about what is going on and is there anything we can do differently to alleviate the pain. Some times an ibuprofen helps a lot and we can move on. We also understand--athletically, psychologically, and spiritually--some times we can must up the ability to move forward anyway, and even some times, over come the aches and all. Likewise on the pilgrimage of life, metaphorically: we may pick up aches and pains in life in general. It is best to sit down, re-consider what is happening. Perhaps pray to the One who walks with us. Talk with a friend, Re-strategize what is stopping us from moving forward in the pilgrimage of life. And behold, some times we find the strength to move forward, one step at a time. Or not. Whatever the case, the Spirit of God is with us, so we can pick up where we were and move onward.

Question: What do you do when you find moving forward on the pilgrimage of life is too daunting? And how did you move forward?

Day 42: Ps. 62:6, 8: "(God) alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken. Trust in (God) at all times, O people; pour out your heart before (God); God is a refuge for us." On an actual pilgrimage, one of the concerns that continues to follow us along the way, no matter how many miles we walk, one is always concerned about where one will be eating, taking a bath or shower, and sleeping that night. Likewise in our daily life: we are comforted to know at night that we have a place to eat, shower, and sleep. Knowing where our physical refuge is, whether walking on an actual pilgrimage or everyday pilgrimage, is a comfort. And so it is in life itself: knowing that, come what may, we have a refuge in none other than God...well, that is an extraordinary comfort. And one life gets turbulent and more than a mere challenge, it is good to know we all have a refuge, a place to rest. God is and will always be a refuge for us.
Question: have you thought about where your refuge in your daily life?

Day 41: 1 Peter 2:21 "Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps." This sounds so easy, but is so hard. A simple command of sorts. There are books like "In His Steps" that challenge us to do what Jesus would do in our lives. Or was popular a few decades ago, the question: WWJD (What Would Jesus Do). To follow in Jesus' footsteps for a day would mean thinking carefully about where Jesus would go, as led by God, in Jesus' earthly ministry, be it to a tax collector, to sit by a woman on a bench, feed a few people with bread who are hungry, perhaps heal someone by listening to them with his whole being. Question: As we walk this day, and drive around, what does it mean for you on this earthly pilgrimage to follow in Jesus' steps?

Day 40: "For prayer is its own pilgrimage and a mountainous way. It tansofrms us into travelers who walk a steep and winding path. When we pause to pray or meditate, we leave behind our surroundings in the outer world, with its unceasingclamor, and journey to what St. Bonaventure called the interior Jerusalem--that place deep withint where Jesus awaits (Lisa Deam, 3000 Miles to Jesus, p. 90). There is no doubt that going or walking on an intentional pilgrimage leaves the pilgrim with lots of time and space to openly, verbally pray, or silently pray. Each step becomes a prayer. And in the everyday life of pilgrims, we can pray, going on the pilgrimage of prayer as we walk and talk with the Holy in our lives. There are many walks on city streets and parks that I have found myself talking to God and listening or attending to some kind of response from the Holy One. To pray is a pilgrimage. To be on a pilgrimage is prayer-in-action. Question: how have you been on a pilgrimage today? In prayer as pilgrimage, or pilgrimage as prayer?

Day 39: There is the picture of a small dragon on the back of a panda. And the big panda asks, "Which is more important, the journey or the destination?" "The company," said Tiny Dragon. This encapsulates one of the most profound parts of pilgrimage: the company of others, ourselves included among the others in people's lives. So often, we get pulled into the false binary choice of the "journey" or the "destination," which is more important question. I like the third option the best: the company. Question: in whose company are you finding yourself with today on life's pilgrimage?

Day 38: "Walk by faith, not by sight" (Paul in 2 Cor. 5:7). Pilgrimage is the practice of walking by faith, and not necessarily by the senses. It is, as one writer has written, to throw down the gauntlet to every day life and dare it to be unique and different. To walk by faith for Paul--and for us--is to walk in God in Christ. It is to practice living in a new way of being in the world, in which everything around us is of God, from the earth we walk upon, the air we breathe, the people we meet along the way, the environment in which we move. To walk by faith is a practice, because it is more natural to walk by sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Granted, the five senses still matter, and are of God themselves, and are the means by which we know God. To walk by faith is to walk in God. As spiritual writer Thomas Keating wrote: "The present moment, every object we see, our inmost nature, are all rooted in God." Question: how or where did you see God today, experience God today, in the pilgrimage of everyday life?

Day 37: Wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking. Antonio Machado. One way to interpret this engimatic statement is to remember that there is no pilgrimage pathway unless one walks it. Of course, there is always the one who blazed the trail or pathway before us on many pilgrimage trails. But the way that the path is kept alive is by people walking it. Without people walking the pathway, then there is no path. The path will be covered up. Be forgotten. What keeps our pilgrimage pathways open and lively routes are the people who walk the path way to wherever they are going. Question: where have you walked today? Who made up this pathway? How did it feel, or what do you think about maintaining the pathway for others to follow?

Day 36: When setting out on a journey, do not seek advice from those who have never let home." Rumi. Same can be said about a pilgrimage. Granted, there are armchair travelers and people who go on a journey, much like there are armchair pilgrims. My first, actual pilgrimage was taken because of a dare by a couple of friends who said to me while I was teaching at Duke University: "you write pretty things about pilgrimage. Too bad you've never been on one." Like some in the academy, I read a lot about the subject of pilgrimage, but had never been on one. Being on the pilgrimage itself changed everything I knew or could possibly think about pilgrimage. Question: have you read about pilgrimage today only, or actively set one foot before the other on the pilgrimage of life or an intentional pilgrimage?

Day 35: "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Muriel Strode. This is similar to the observation made by Robert Frost in his poem "The Road Not Taken," in which a path comes to a division, and the invitation is to either take the well-known, well-trod route, or the path that is less clear, in which the one who is hiking takes the less traveled path, "and that has made all the difference." Whether the difference is good or bad, we do not know. But the difference mattered, and that matters in the pilgrimage of life. To go on the less traveled path, or the way in which there is no path and leave a trail for others to follow, is a constant theme and challenge on any pilgrimage. Question: on your pilgrimage of life, did you follow only well-known trails and paths today, or did you make a new path on this journey of life?

Day 34: "To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday." John Burroughs. On pilgrimage, I am continuously reminded that when you walk one direction, you take in and see what set of images on that one way. When you reverse course, though staying on the same course itself, you get a wholly different adventure of new sights, just because you have a totally different vantage point. It is the same thing here: taking a pathway we took yesterday, there is always going to be something different and new to us, because life around us changes constantly, and there is always something new, no matter how small it may be, that is novel. Try it: take the same pathway two days in a row and look for the different and novel.

Day 33: "Let the adventure begin..." That was the sign in the garden shop, and I thought it a highly appropriate sign for life. "Let the adventure begin!" There are times that we need such a sign to get us going in the first place. And what a calling. We pilgrims are called to be on an adventure, a sacred journey, a quest. Let the road open up, and let's get to it: Let the adventure begin..." The question for the day is: have you started your adventure? Your pilgrimage? And if so, where are you going?

Day 32: "Eternal God, Author of our life and End of our pilgrimage: Guide us by your Word and Spirit amid all perils and temptations, that we may not wander from your way, nor stumble in the darkness; but may finish our course in safety, and come to our eternal rest in you" (from the Book of Common Worship, Presbyterian Church [USA]). This prayer is a reminder of where we are headed on this earth-bound pilgrimage as everyday, ordinary pilgrimage. Our destination is God. Is Christ. Is Spirit. Is heaven on earth. All those "perils" do take us, from time to time, off the pilgrim path, and some times make the pilgrimage more "interesting," and some times, more challenging. But finding rest in God? Priceless.

Question: how do we remain aware or "woke" to the destination of our every day pilgrimage?

Day 31: "Lewis and Clark built the first Parklet west of the Mississippi right here (x) in 1806" I saw this sign on a curbside in Astoria, Oregon, and thought it quite marvelous. It is good to know the history of a spot of people who are explorers, adventurers, wanderers, and pilgrims. Of course, before Lewis and Clark made it there, the indigenous people knew the area of Astoria, Orego quite well, but not known as Astoria, or Ft. Clatsop, but with their own name or way of calling the spot nearest the Columbia. But naming places, honoring the people who were there before us, is part of pilgrimage. Because, you know, we were probably not the first to traipse parts of the land we trod. Someone else came before us most likely. Nevertheless, we were there for the first time perhaps on any certain day, and that makes all the difference in the world. Question: where would you like to memorialize your presence this day on your pilgrimage of life?

Day 30: "If we were meant to stay in one place, we'd have roots instead of feet." Rachel Wolchin. One truism of pilgrimage, and the idea of pilgrimage, is that we are on the move. Whether one is ambulatory, uses a cane, a walker, or a wheelchair, pilgrimage is a dynamic practice of faith, or faith on the move. Granted, we have to, from time to time, sit and gather energy, eat, sleep, and relax. But pilgrimage is thought of most often as a walking exercise or practice of faith, in which we literally and figuratively do not stay in the same place, but have moved, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and physically. Question: have you moved today from one place to another? And what happened along the way?

Day 29: St. John Henry Newman, "Faith ever begins with a venture, and is rewarded with sight." One of the common themes or moments of all pilgrimages is that when we begin the pilgrimage, we aren't at all sure what we are going to learn along the way. We can have an agenda set for where we will stay for a night or a day, but what happens in between the place where we left that day, and what happens before we return, is truly a moment that is open to surprises and insights into life. That is why, at the end of the day, it is either a joy or a relief to share with someone else what happened in our day, because it is usually a surprise and not something planned for. Question: what have you experienced today that is a surprise of faith?

Day 28: Proverbs 20:24 (CEB) "A person’s steps are from the Lord; how then can people understand their path?" This is an intriguing passage from the book of wisdom which we know as "Proverbs." In a world of people who like to think we--each one of us, individually--are "masters" or controllers of our own way in the pilgrimage of life, this passage throws new light on our pilgrim pathway: God may know our steps even before we do, or the possibility(s) of where we may walk on life's pilgrimage before we do. If this is true, then perhaps it is good for us to consult, from time to time, the Spirit, who accompanies us on the pilgrimage of our lives. Question: have you asked or sought the Spirit's guidance on your pilgrimage pathway today?

Day 27: Proverbs 20:24, "A person’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way?" (NIV). On pilgrimages, I often wonder how much I am control of my own steps. The same is true of life's pilgrimage: how much am I in control of my own steps? Is God's Spirit directing me along the way? I know that I have free will, but I also know I desire to walk in the way of God, humbly (Micah 6:8). Try to imagine that every step we take, or move we make, is known by God, the very one who knows the number of hairs on our heads, and the number of sand granules along the coastlines of our continents. THAT God is aware of each one of our steps. Question: how do you experience God in each step that you take?

Day 26: Amos 3:3: "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Revised King James Version) I will come back to this theme of walking two by two on pilgrimage more than once in this Daily Devotion. Why? Because it is a profound truth, and a great habit, that a pilgrimage is to be shared among others. We are never alone on a pilgrimage. That doesn't mean that one has to walk with another person day in and day out, 24/7. But at the end of the day it is good to be able to share with another person what happened on the pilgrimage that day. This idea of walking two by two is reinforced and mentioned in Luke 10:1, Jesus sends out his disciples two by two. Why? For support. For camaraderie. For fun. It is good to walk on an actual pilgrimage and our daily pilgrimage lives some times by ourselves, but at the end of the day, it is a gift to meet up with someone and tell them about all the things that went on in the pilgrimage of life, whether in person, via Zoom, or writing a letter or a journal. Question: who did you walk with today?

Day 25: John 14:6:" I am the way, the truth, an the life." In Latin, it is "via, veritas, vida." John's Jesus literally and figuratively calls himself the roadmap of the Christian life. As we know on an actual pilgrimage we are always looking at maps, trying to figure out where we are, where we are going, and how far away we are from our destination for the day, and for the pilgrimage itself. Same with everyday life of pilgrimage: we are dependent on our GPS systems when riding in cars, or taking walks on city streets, and sometimes, even on a hike. We want to know the way where we are going. In this passage, Jesus proclaims that he is the way to God. But that leads to the next question: how broad is the way? How narrow? Who sets the parameters for the way? Finally, one more crucial detail: the earliest followers did not call themselves "Christians" or "followers of the fish" when hiding in catacombs. The earliest followers of Christ called themselves "people of the Way" (Acts 9:2). Question: how have you consulted or been in touch with "the Way" today?

Day 24: 2 Samuel 6:5, 14: "David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals...David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod." David is an extraordinary role model for pilgrims of faith to dance before God. We could all dare to dance more often before God. One of the aspects of life as a pilgrim on an actual pilgrimage that I enjoy once in a while, is dancing on the road. My children once told me I didn't need to buy an iPod because my head was already full of music. I danced with my children when they were small. I dance with my partner on the spur of the moment. And on an actual pilgrimage, I now and then break out in a dance move. I become like Twyla Tharp and Paul Taylor in life some times, and simply break out in a dance move in the pilgrimage of life. Question: when did you last dance on the pilgrimage of life, like David, before God, in a joyful dance of praise? No words needed! Just movement of the body in joy of God.

Day 23: 1 Cor. 12: "The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." Paul's ideas and advice about the parts of the body of Christ are fantastic, both in a literal and figurative sense. When on a pilgrimage, the foot and head are co-equals in terms of importance in the sense of moving forward. While there are times, when sitting at my desk, typing on my computer, I fail to remember the importance of the foot, it is upon moving away from the desk and take a daily walk with my partner that I remember the importance of the foot. All hail the foot! Likewise, in the body of Christ, those of us who are the "feet" in the body of Christ play an important role in moving the body forward. Question: when did you think of your feet today, and thank God for your feet?

Day 22: Ps. 42:1-2: "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." The one thing I was taught early on in actual pilgrimages is drink water. Gatorade and sports drinks are good, too, but drink plenty of water, even before you start to sense you are parched. Drink water. And if you are parched, your body has already told you to drink water. Even in my ordinary life's journey as a pilgrim, I drink a lot of water, keeping a glass of water near me when I am writing. What the Psalmist is writing is that our longing for God on life's pilgrimage is similar to our physical thirst. As much as we long to drink when parched, and thankful for when we get a sip of water on a hot day, that same kind of longing for water is what our hearts, minds, and bodies long for in our journey with God. Question: when were you last that thirsty in life? Tap into that thirst to know what it is our souls long for!

Day 21: Palm Sunday. Mark 11:1-11: "Then they brought the c**t to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. May spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut i the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!'" (vv. 7-10). On a pilgrimage, when entering the place that we hope to call "our destination," there is a sense of celebration in our spirit. Whenever I've gotten closer to the place where I'm bedding for the night, or the destination of the pilgrimage, there is always a shot of adrenalin that courses through my body. There is a sense of "we've made it!" or "I've made it." Jesus is entering the place where, in a few days, he will die. While he may know of it, the people don't. Nevertheless, the pilgrimage continues, and there will be good days, and days that challenge us to the core of our being. For today, how have you celebrated making it to your destination place, either on an intentional pilgrimage or life's journey?