I feel as if I’m walking within a great congregation. It includes pilgrims walking now and those who walked before us, back to the ninth century—what we call in our tradition the “communion of saints.”
And I feel more and more as I walk that we are all pilgrims, here, at home, and everywhere, even when we don’t think of it. We are all drawn to that which inspires… lifts us… opens our awareness. We are all finding our way. As Pierre Teilhad de Chardonnay writes, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Here are some pilgrims with whom we have bonded during this walk:
These folks are from Japan, South Korea, England, Slovenia, Scotland, Mexico, and the U.S. All of them have shared with us from their hearts. It reminds me of sharing with friends and family at home, as in our Leverett congregation. We are all on the lookout for goodness. We all yearn to share the goodness. We are brothers and sisters on the way… pilgrims!
Sometimes when we can see a daunting climb ahead, we have to fight discouragement, as we did leaving Castrojeriz a few days ago:
About halfway up, we were boosted by the beauty:
And at the top, looking back at where we’d started? We felt capable.
It was yet another lesson on this pilgrimage. We were reminded that “fear” can be an acronym for “False Expectations Appearing Real.” In pushing through, we may discover we have been given more strength than we knew, and with it a special beauty we might have otherwise missed.
At the risk of spamming you with new-post emails, here’s a prayer for the day I read just after posting, and I can’t resist…
Peace and blessings - Lee
Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
There is no longer Jew or Greek,
there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male and female;
for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
—Galatians 3.28
It is not that there are no distinctions,
that somehow we are all alike—
oh, no, we're different in so many ways.
It's not that we're not different,
it's that we're not separate.
We are one body, with all our differences,
one Being, one Love.
What is no longer is the ”or.”
There is no longer “red or blue;” there is rainbow.
We love our neighbor as ourselves
because they are part of ourselves.
We love our enemies because we are part of them,
part of what they are part of.
God grant us the mind of One,
none of us separate and distinct,
all of us in you,
with love.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________ Steve Garnaas-Holmes Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net
June 16, 2022