on the Pilgrimage

The Love Candle  As my reflections this year have been inspired by messages from a particular pastor, I won't stop now and continue to put my personal spin on his Advent messages. Thank you to George Saylor in Colorado.  As the COVID-19 virus continues to impact our world, one of the beautiful blessings that has come from this is all the church services that have gone online, of which George's is one. I could tune in to many others, but for some reason, this is the one I've come back to throughout this season. And I am grateful.  The fourth candle - the candle right before the Christ candle. I didn't realize it but nowhere in the four gospels is there mention of 'love' in connection to the story of Christ's birth. Peace - yes, joy - yes, but no love.  Not in the narrative of Christ's birth in any of the gospels. Hmm.  We live in a world that seems to be devoid of love. Real, genuine love. People say they love you, people use the name for all sort...

Let There Be Peace On Earth, and Let It Begin With Me So goes the lines of an old popular song. The thing is, that is where it starts, doesn't it? If we can't have peace with ourselves, then there is no hope for any other peace in our world. This year is one that is going down in the record books.  And I can't help but wonder how much of it actually was external fact and how much was the creation of our own making. The pandemic that has ravaged the world, with mixed catastrophic results; but also, the seething hatred that rears its head every so often. There is so much pain, so much anguish. So many people have lost so much, and it reminds me of those passages in scripture where the people cry out for help, passages in Proverbs are full of this: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The thing is that joy in the morning hasn't come yet. And we are still in bondage ... or, so people feel. As I write, my city is in a lockdown of sorts ... again, an...

Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel Before the end of the year comes, those who follow the Christian Liturgical Calendar pause and reflect ... and prepare. And oh, what a year for this! Though there is still a month of 2020 left, and who knows if there is more to come, it has been a challenging one. On a global level and a personal one. So, to pause is a good thing. To breathe, to be still, to be present. To hope. I heard a message this morning on 'enough' ... not said in frustration or to minimize, but to accept. The talk was about Mary, who did not react in fear but with curiosity and acceptance. A teenager, a virgin, exactly like the 'perfect' girls of today, but not. And yet, she knew, at some level, that she was chosen. She knew she was enough for God's big picture.  I could extend that and say that we, too, are 'enough' for God's big picture. We, too, have a purpose and we should not look ahead with fear, but with curiosity and acceptance. The road is n...

Substitutionary Atonement  or Participatory Redemption? A couple of things before I reflect on this day: 1) What follows is not actually written on Good Friday. I chose to fast and pray yesterday, the actual Good Friday. In a Talking Circle on Thursday, we were asked by the elder to take the day for fasting and prayer. As I had joined them for a 3-4 day fast a few years ago (see  here ) and it was a profound experience, I figured it was time to do it again. I considered doing it for 3 days again, but chose instead, for one day. Good Friday. No food, no technology - only a book and prayer. 2) To be clear, I was raised in a Christian family - my parents were, their parents were, and so and back. Therefore, I am not a 'new Christian' and I am captivated by the history, the line of the faithful. As I continue to live, I have come to a point where I am embracing more of life and living, and my beliefs are a part of that. I believe God is where God will be, and not where I say tha...

Expectations Still in the middle of the COVID-19 worldwide shutdown. Life moves ahead, and not. What a strange time to be alive! Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week in the traditional, Christian calendar. Palm Sunday - a day steeped in Christian History, a detailed story about this day in the life of Jesus.  I was reading about the historical context, about what was going on in Jerusalem at this time. The Roman control, the temple politics, the leaders, and the oppression of the people. How they had lost their land, how they were - for centuries, a displaced people. I get how angry and frustrated they must have been. I get that they were ready for someone connected to their historical King David, a wonderful, prosperous time, to bring it back again. Kind of reminds me of the people from the USA - how they heard someone hoping for leadership who said, "I will make this country great again!" That's what these people wanted, that's what they longed for.  So...

The Difference a Day Makes ... or 12 of Them We are in unprecedented times .. for our time, anyway. We, who have become accustomed to living as 'I' see fit, and disregard anyone that does not fit 'my' way of thought ... we, as a globe, have been brought to our knees. Within a month, or less, an international pandemic has become the reality for everyone, except Antarctica (at this time). Our world will never be what it once was. The thing is, this is not the first world pandemic and not the first time everything has come to a halt. It's just the first time in about 100 years. And what a wake-up call it is! I should have started to document this when I first heard about 'something' in China. In December 2019. Then, I remember hearing something in the new year about a cruise ship that was infected. And then the reports throughout the world became more frequent. China, Italy, Iran, and now Switzerland all are in dire straights. For a long time, the USA was repo...

Changing your life is not easy. Old habits can be very entrenched in the day to day living. What do they say - a new habit can be made in 20 days, but it takes a lifetime to break them? Well, I'm not even sure about that. I have a couple of books on habits ... maybe I should read them and see what they share with me.  Look for a review later on The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Gretchen Rubin's Better Than Before. I own them both but have yet to read them. This last week has been a challenge ... it seems that has become the title for my life - "A Challenge"! ... and yet I look at the stories of others and I know mine is ... well, it's mine. And I don't think it would be right of me to compare mine with others. That would also mean that mine is for me to manage, to deal with, to overcome, and to build upon, right? I did sit and reflect on those words for Lent 2020 that I put forth last time - Sacrifice, Reflection, Contemplation, Preparation. And here...

I wish I had thought about this sooner and marked this year with contemplation through the liturgical season. I sort of started ... but it never registered to become a conscious journey.  Until today. Last week (February 25) marked Shrove Tuesday ... and then Ash Wednesday, to begin the 40 days. Today is 35 more days, and I think I can still do something and make these days count for something. I remember when I fasted with Pathways (see here  for the experience), and I learned that fasting is not only the removal of food but a conscious replacement with prayer. Lent is a time for reflection and preparation by replicating the sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for these days.  Perhaps this is a good time to embark upon what I need to embark upon .. Before Christmas, I made a rather significant discovery of self. In part, it has to do with cleaning, but it also has to do with preparing for death, for living this next chapter in fullness of what is possible. It seemed...