Flaneur

Barbara Brown Taylor was talking about the meaning of old words yesterday, or words from other languages, which including the word "Flaneur." The meaning of the word: basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll" (From Wikipedia).

More or less kind of like a nomad.

Not quite another word for pilgrim, but a helpful word.

Today, the word is "Flaneur."

Buen camino,

B

First Reading from BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY

Nice, friendly gathering at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC for a reading from BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY.

Next stop? Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC!

B

The Movement of the Road...

Richard Rohr makes this point: the beauty of Catholicism--or catholicism--is the process theology of the Church. Take the stations of the cross: it moves along the route, from Gethsemane to Golgotha, with people who help Jesus along the way, e.g., Joseph of Arimethea, Veronica, Mary Magdalene.

In life, we move along the way with God bringing friends and associates along the way in unexpected places. Today was such a day. I kept on meeting I had appointments with, and people I had not seen for a long time.

It was a day to see, greet, and be with friends.

Pace!

Buen camino!

B

BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY: In Your Bookstores Now

Book Nine is out: BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY: TOWARD FULL INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN FAITH COMMUNITIES (Church Publishing, 2010)!

Book Ten: PRACTICING PILGRIMAGE: A HOW-TO MANUAL TO BECOMING A PILGRIM PEOPLE.

Stay tuned...even more coming...

Pace!

B

Returning to a Well Known Land

It is incredibly weird being at Princeton Seminary.

I went here for my M.Div. degree from 1980-1983. I learned a lot in my time here. I was being fashioned and formed into a Presbyterian minister.

I am not the same person.

I've been here before and felt some sense of "Oh, I know this place!" But this time, it is a little bit less familiar.

It is new land on familiar terrain.

Buen Camino!

Pace!

B

Embarking on a Journey

From Pema Chodron, a Buddhist Nun:
Embarking on the spiritual journey is like getting into a very small boat and setting out on the ocean to search for unknown lands. With whole hearted practice comes inspiration, but sooner or later we will also encounter fear. For all we know, when we get to the horizon, we are going to drop off the edge of the world. Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what's waiting out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.

Wise words for the pilgrimage of life.

Buen Camino!

Brett

Living in the Power of Resurrection: Easter Monday

The day after.

Or is the day that everything truly has changed?

Are we not living in the power of resurrection?

Richard Rohr suggests that the resurrection of Lazarus, which he needed the Christ to rise from the dead, is emblematic of what we are to do and be: we are to live in the power of resurrection, in which we are and are becoming the life of the resurrected Christ.

We live and are inspired by the resurrection event.

Feel it?

Trying to let go and feel it...be in it...be it...

Buen camino!

B

Easter...

and many Christians find themselves both living in the here and now, as well as living in the hope of tomorrow.

The hope of tomorrow is found today, in the mundane, the quotidian, the daily, in which the possibility of re-creation amid the revealing of the new and always new is discovered.

Easter wonder...

Buen camino...

B

Holy Saturday

Richard Rohr writes this about Jesus' pilgrimage to death and the gates of hell on Holy Saturday:

So what was Jesus' plan to overcome evil? Attack it? no! Love it to death.

Practice love.

That is the answer to the openness of fear: practice love.

Pilgrimage to Easter continues.

Buen camino,

Brett

Good Friday

It is finished.

The body of Jesus of Nazareth hung from the cross limp, lifeless, and presumed dead as a door nail.

This was the end of the story of his life...or so thought many people (pro- and con- alike).

Pace,

B

Maundy Thursday

Feet being washed, with the words, "I give you an example," an example of loving one another.

Taking the bread, dipping it into the wine: "Take, eat, drink...This is my body...this is the cup of salvation."

The way of living out the Eucharist, of Holy Communion, is given flesh with the example of washing feet.

All part of the journey.

The Easter Triduum...mid-stride.

Buen camino,

Brett

Pilgrimage During Easter Triduum

Found this article today in the Raleigh News and Observer about the pilgrimages sprouting up in and around the area on Easter Triduum:

Each year in Raleigh, a group called the Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace holds a five-day pilgrimage across North Carolina. Carrying wooden crosses and placards, the crowd makes an annual stand to end war and the death penalty. It culminates in a 14-stop procession in downtown Raleigh.

Gail Phares, the leader of the group, said she got the idea for the pilgrimage, which begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Good Friday, from a Roman Catholic priest named Miguel d'Escoto, who during Holy Week walked throughout Nicaragua praying and fasting as a protest against U.S. policies in Latin America.

"For people of the Christian faith, it's the ultimate time we're thinking of the crucifixion of Jesus," said Phares, a former nun. "It's a way to connect people's struggle of justice with the story of Jesus."

Pace!

B