School of the Pilgrim

Epiphany/Baptism of Jesus Sunday,

2012-01-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

This previous Sunday was Epiphany/Jesus' Baptism Day at First Congregational UCC Church in Asheville, NC, where I worshiped with my daughter Adrianne. It was incredibly moving because we both recognized the baptism of Jesus (Mark 1) AND recognized that the Magi showed up at the manger scene in Bethlehem.

What made it most memorable was the invitation to "remember your baptism and be thankful," with a bowl of water in front of the sanctuary. What was memorable was watching my daughter stick her hand in the bowl and touch her forehead. This is the same young woman who I baptized when she was but an infant.

The journey of our baptism continues.

"Remember your baptism and be thankful."

Amen.

Buen Camino!

B

The Pilgrimage that is Advent and Christmastide

2011-12-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

We are in a season of pilgrimages in the Christian tradition. Advent is a season of pilgrimage as we draw closer to Christmas, the birth of Christ. All the readings focus on the coming of the gift of Christ.

Christmastide is also a season, 12 days long, between Christmas day and Epiphany=12 days. The move this time is toward the coming of the Maji, the "We Three Kings of Orient Are." In her new book--a Jewish take on the New Testament by Amy Jill Levine--she reminds us that the Maji weren't necessarily wise men per se, but nonetheless players in this unfolding drama.

Soon, Jesus, Mary and Joseph would be taking off for Egypt on a pilgrimage. In fact, the Egyptian Coptic Christians in northern Egypt know of the wells where the family may have stopped by.

The pilgrimage is afoot!

Pace, B

Dreidel, Menorah, Check!

2011-12-21T20:02:00.000-08:00

Hanukkah is upon us. Second night. Another candle lit. The simple beauty of this story resonates again around the world.

I sat by a menorah at the Chapel Hill/Carrboro YMCA, and smiled. I helped make that menorah possible. It was small in relationship with the size of the Christmas tree in the lobby (huge). But it is there!

Dreidel...check!

Pace!

B

First Sunday of Advent: The Pilgrimage of Advent to Christmas Hath Begun

2011-11-28T05:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Nov. 27, 2011, was the first Sunday of Advent.

The pilgrimage toward Christmas has begun.

We are on our way.

The waiting, which takes discipline, has begun.

Come Lord Jesus, Come!

Buen Camino!

Brett

"The Way" by Emilio Estevez

2011-10-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

The Way" by Emilio Estevez

Wonderful review of a new film on the Camino de Santiago de Compestelo.

“The Way” takes place on the Camino de Santiago, a thousand-year-old pilgrimage route across France and Spain. Sheen’s character, Tom, is a doctor living a comfortable life in California who decides to make the trek after his son is killed in a freak storm while on the pilgrimage.

“I think that the film is a reflection of where I’m at on my spiritual path,” said Estevez, who wrote, directed, and co-produced the film, and makes a few cameos as Tom’s unlucky son, Daniel.

Sheen described himself as a “declared Catholic,” but he and his wife did not raise their children Catholic, and have let Estevez take “his own personal quest.”

Estevez said he grew up hearing arguments about religion, but never about spirituality. “It’s religion that divides us,” he said in an interview with his father, “and spirituality ultimately brings us closer together.”

In the film, Tom starts out as a lapsed Catholic. Along the pilgrimage, he meets others who slowly draw him out of his tight-lipped despair and help renew his sense of spirituality. None of these main characters is overtly religious and all have their own issues with God, but by the end each seems to have made some kind of pilgrim’s progress.

Estevez said he intentionally avoided “bludgeoning the audience over the head” with a religious message, although the film is filled with shots of churches and crucifixes.

“You couldn’t point a camera anywhere without seeing religious iconography, Catholic iconography,” Estevez said. “We highlighted it when we needed to.”

Read the review and enjoy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/sheen-estevez-find-the-way-to-make-a-non-preachy-religious-film/2011/10/07/gIQAYdJMTL_story.html .

Pace!

B

Happy Rosh Hashana (late)!

2011-10-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

I'm late on this celebration, but Happy Rosh Hashana! I was in Jerusalem three years ago, watching, listening, tasting food celebrating this occasion. It was also the very end of Ramadan the night before, and another point of celebration.

Beautiful!

Pace!

B

Divinity: A Memoir

2011-09-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

OK, no more apologies about it: DIVINITY is a pilgrimage tale.

B

A Pilgrimage Story

2011-09-19T05:41:00.001-07:00

My story in Chapel Hill News yesterday:

As I pondered coming out of my lamentable self-constructed gay closet in the 1990s, I was drawn to gay-friendly Chapel Hill and Carrboro, oases in a desert of homophobic shrillness.

My closet - built by me but well fortified by the Church, the place of higher education where I worked, and the American South - was slowly coming apart as I began to live more honestly and openly. I was heartened by the simple fact that out-gay men such as Mike Nelson was Carrboro's mayor and Joe Herzenberg was on the Chapel Hill Town Council, and by advocates at Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, United Church of Chapel Hill, and Church of Reconciliation.

For many of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ), such a public witness provides us a general sense of what the cultural "temperature" is in terms of knowing whether we can live honest and open lives, or if we need to be on our guard for our very survival.

In 2011, I am rid of the closet. I speak and write about the current hot button political, religious, and cultural issue of LGBTQ equality as an out-gay dad and Presbyterian pastor. As a board member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA I raised a ruckus about the Y sponsoring the Boy Scout troop, pointing out the anti-LGBTQ policies of the Scouts. I'm heartened by the presence of more out LGBTQ people and straight allies in public office and pulpits in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Municipalities have passed laws that provide LGBTQ couples civil unions. More private industries offer benefit packages that cover health care and retirement for same-sex couples.

Yet there are businesses and nonprofit groups, such as the YMCA of the Triangle, who do not offer LGBTQ employees the same benefit plans as they do straight employees. And the Republican-led legislature of North Carolina succeeded this week in putting a referendum on the May ballot to amend the state's constitution banning equal rights to marriage for LGBTQ couples.

Spreading misinformation around the state, some political and religious leaders stir up fear of the "Other," inspired by hate and institutionalizing injustice. While metropolitan parts may be LGBTQ-friendly, much work must be done in educating and advocating for LGBTQ people in the state's small towns and rural hamlets.

Like the prophet Amos, who declared that justice will roll on like a river over oppression, and Jesus' message of all-encompassing, inclusive love, especially for those oppressed, I write these strong words knowing that I'm not the first Presbyterian pastor - nor last - who has stood up against intolerance and bigotry.

On Sunday, Aug. 28, I watched as the Peace and Justice Plaza marker placed in front of Chapel Hill's Post Office revealed four new names. The one that stood out was Presbyterian pastor, the Rev. Charles M. Jones. In the footsteps of Amos and Jesus, Jones exemplified the virtues of justice, courage, and hospitality by welcoming African Americans to University Presbyterian Church.

For his actions, he was removed from that prestigious pulpit by our regional body of authority, the Presbytery, in hindsight an act of injustice and cowardliness. Nevertheless, the Rev. Jones with the support of others began the Community Church where all were welcome, regardless of one's ethnicity or national heritage.

Personally and vocationally I draw succor from the Rev. Jones' story. As he faced the hostility of racism in his day, naming the hideous nature of racist bigotry, it is his story that is honored to this very day and not those who opposed him trying to delay the inevitable day of justice.

Like my forbears, I too name and call out those who purposefully spread misinformation, fear, and maliciousness toward LGBTQ people, denying us equal rights in the arena of public, religious, and private life.

Working toward being and becoming a more just society is a constant, for immorality is insidious, forever changing in its mutant form. Working for justice is, for me, a sacred duty done with love. I draw hope for a brighter day from those who were successful in showing us a better way of living at peace with one another.

Brett Webb-Mitchell lives in Chapel Hill. Contact him at brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com

Passover: A Pilgrimage

2011-08-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Exodus 12:1-14

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Above is the Scripture reading for this upcoming Sunday, Sept. 4th, 2011. I am struck by how the people are to eat the lamb: with girded loins, sandals on feet, staff, hand, and eat it hurriedly. Sounds like a pilgrimage to me!

No real surprise, since God's people have been on pilgrimage from the word "Go."

Pace!

B

Pilgrimage of Teaching

2011-08-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

I've finished grading my first batch of English Composition papers, and the students wrote well.

I'm trying to place the course in the context of a pilgrimage of learning.

Learning is a pilgrimage.

Education is a pilgrimage.

Life is a pilgrimage.

Pace!

B

NCCU...a pilgrimage of education continues

2011-08-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching English composition and Ethics at NCCU. For both courses, I've set the syllabus in the form of a pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage continues in all aspects of life.

Pace!

B

Then there's this clip too

2011-08-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

I used to teach this kind of pathway to education at Duke Divinity School. REAL education involves moving people in a certain context, in a certain way, directed by the goal of what we are educating a person toward.

I'm so Aristotelian/Dewey.

Anyway: Pilgrimage is a way of teaching people the practice of being Christian/Muslim/Jew/Hindu/ Buddhist on the road of life.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Pace!

B

Move

2011-08-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

Saw this vimeo movie, and thought of pilgrimage.

Enjoy!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Turn Right at Machu Picchu

2011-08-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Last night there was an interview with Mark Adams over his book "Turn Right at Machu Picchu," which is a story of the discovery of Machu Picchu. This ancient Incan capital of the nation of Cusco has gone through an amazing history in and of itself, and is today a favorite among pilgrims.

This from the historybookclub.com:

On July 24, 1911, the young Yale professor Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and encountered an ancient city in the clouds: the now famous citadel of Machu Picchu. Nearly a century later, news reports have recast the explorer as a villain who smuggled out priceless artifacts and stole credit for finding one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites.

In Turn Right at Machu Picchu, adventure and travel magazine editor Mark Adams recounts his attempts to investigate the allegations against Bingham by retracing the explorer’s perilous path to Machu Picchu. Given Adams’ career, it isn’t an entirely far-fetched notion, even if it does require him to sleep in a tent for the first time. With a crusty Australian survivalist and Quechua-speaking, coca-chewing mule tenders as his guides, Adams takes us through some of the most gorgeous and historic landscapes in Peru, from the ancient Inca capital of Cusco to the enigmatic ruins of Vitcos and Vilcabamba.

Along the way, he finds a still-undiscovered country populated with brilliant and eccentric characters, as well as an answer to the question that has nagged scientists since Hiram Bingham’s time: Just what was Machu Picchu?

Think I'm going to read it...you?

Buen Camino!

B

Small world of pilgrimage

2011-08-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

My friend, Lisa, has a son who is visiting New Zealand. Over Facebook she put out a blurb asking if anyone has a friend in Wellington, NZ.

I do!

I wrote to Jaqui, my friend in Wellington, and so they are trying to hook Lisa's son with Jaqui.

The beauty? Jaqui is my pilgrim compadre. She gets pilgrimage.

This is beautiful.

Love it!

Buen camino!

B

Ramadan has begun...and where was I?

2011-08-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm aware that I failed to designate the beginning of Ramadan! It is an incredible holy time for my friends who are Muslim.

It is involves a rhythm of praying, fasting, and feasting that is incredible.

For me, having been in Jerusalem at the end of Ramadan with the beginning of Rosh Hashana I remember to crossing over the 2 world religions that vie for attention in the Old City.

To my Muslim friends, blessings in this season of Ramadan.

Buen Camino!

B

The Gospel: It's all about walking

2011-08-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

The Gospel is all about walking.

Today's passage from Matthew 14:22-33 is all about walking. First, you have Jesus walking on the water, and the disciples thinking it was a ghost. "It is I; don't be scared" was his response.

Peter then says "Lord, if it is you (as if), command me to come to you on the water."

Jesus: "Come."

Peter started walking on the water...and then he sank.

Jesus says to us all: Walk! Follow me.

Jesus doesn't say how far, where, or when we can stop, or if we ever really stop.

Just said "Come" and "Follow me."

The rest is history...or story.

Buen Camino!

B

God Walk

2011-06-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

My late friend and colleague at Duke Divinity School wrote this in "God Walk":

Christian life originated in God walk, on the road, int eh marketplace, by the seaside, and outside a city wall in a criminal's death on a cross. 'Disciple' is a word we use for someone who joins in the walk. Discipleship is the first and decisive word for God-walk in Christianity. It covers a way of life...in other words, God-walk means willingness to immerse oneself as a whole and to stand where Jesus stands in all walks of life, especially with those who society turns out: the invisible women,and men, also the injured creation. That is why the eucharist is so central. Only here do we touch--as it were, bodily--the real presence of God in history in terms of Christian community. So it is not activity in general that is called for when we reflect on our social location. It is first of all participation in the justice mission of Jesus. It is eucharistic immersion in conflict because Jesus is still caught up in conflict. Jesus' life has not come to an end as yet. It is still going on."

From God-Walk: Liberation Shaping Dogmatics.

Buen camino!

Brett

Trinity Sunday: Accompanied by the Pilgrim God

2011-06-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Trinity Sunday: a wonderful reminder that the pilgrimage we're on is in the host of, accompanied by the Lover, the Beloved, and the Enabler of Love.

The song that we sang at United Church that reminded me that Trinity Sunday is a day of pilgrimage too is "My Life Flows on in Endless Song," and the third verse speaks of pilgrimage:

I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smoothes
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since I am His—
How can I keep from singing?

Pace!

Brett

Pilgrimage of Recovery

2011-06-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

My mom recently had open heart surgery.

I was supposed to be on a pilgrimage in the desert of New Mexico (120 miles/6 days), but this surgery took place instead.

In its own way, the recovery is itself a pilgrimage.

Buen camino,

Brett

Pilgrimage of a different kind

2011-06-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to be on a pilgrimage to Chimayo, NM, but God had different plans. I was re-directed to a pilgrimage to taking care of my mom who had open heart surgery (successfully) in Portland, OR. She now has a cow valve helping her heart work far better. I was with her in the hospital and in her home.

Then I raced home to watch my son take his role in the ritual of high school graduation...another pilgrimage.

Life IS a pilgrimage.

Buen camino...

B

Ascension of Jesus: Now THAT'S a Pilgrimage!

2011-06-02T15:36:00.001-07:00

Today is Ascension of the Lord Day...June 2, 2011!

I've been to the place, the very chapel, and seen the very stones in which are a set of foot prints, which, supposedly, is the last place, or the place, where Jesus stood before he literally "took off" and ascended into the heavens.

Luke writes: While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
(24:51).

And so he ascends.

And we ascend with him as well.

Buen Camino!

B

Tibetan Buddhist Sand Mandalas in Chapel Hill

2011-05-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

It was an incredible sight, watching Tibetan monks take first what looked like a shaver, and then a brush, and brush away the intricately wrought sand mandala in Chapel Hill, NC this afternoon. The rituals before hand were fascinating: chanting, playing of loud horns, drums, cymbals; and then an explanation of the mandala, followed by the de-construction of the mandala, representing the ideal of Buddhism.

And the point? The impermanence of us all, of everything, of totality.

On pilgrimage, everything is, equally impermanent. I've learned and am learning to enjoy the moment, "be where my feet are planted" (12 step works), and living for today.

On this Memorial Day, we honor the impermanence of it all.

Buen camino!

B

Song, "My Shpherd Will Supply My Need"

2011-05-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

This was sung on Sunday at United Church of Chapel Hill, and the last line stuck out as true and daring, based on Ps. 23 arranged by Mack Wilberg:

"O may they house be mine abode and all my work be praise! There would I find a settled rest while others go and come, no more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home. No more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home."

This is the hope of a pilgrim on a journey.

Buen camino!

B

In the Holy Land (from Raleigh's News and Observer)

2011-05-18T12:52:00.001-07:00

Found this in Raleigh's News and Observer, about the Holy Land (continued source of fascination to me)...

About Jesus:

The leafy green region of Galilee in northern Israel is the place where Jesus spent most of his life. There, we found his hometown of Nazareth, now a Palestinian city, with its lovely Church of the Annunciation, a Catholic church finished in 1969 and said to be the largest Christian sanctuary in the Middle East. The art collection is wonderful, with a gallery of religious art contributed by nations around the world and a front door depicting events in the life of Christ.

Standing on the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, it is impossible not to be awed by the place where many of the guiding principles of Christian life were pronounced.

It was packed with pilgrims absorbing the meaning of this place, gathered in meditation and enjoying the pleasantness of its intense, colorful landscaping. We heard many languages, which gave the impression of a gathering of many nations united in common purpose. At the Jordan River, we swished our hands in the water. We also observed dozens of white-robed people being baptized as they stood in the shallow water.

The Journey, by Mary Oliver

2011-05-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

I heard this read the other night and thought this too good, and must share!

The Journey:

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver

Life's Pilgrimage: DIVINITY

2011-05-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

I recently sent my agent the revised revised revision of the proposal of my memoir DIVINITY. It takes my life story from birth to my time in a certain Divinity School.

What happened in this latest re-write is that I wove in and based the book upon the framework of pilgrimage, with verses of "Amazing Grace" throughout.

My sudden awareness? Life IS a pilgrimage! I embrace what I've written about.

Imagine that!

A writer who lives what he writes.

Buen Camino!

B

Emmaus: Today's Lectionary Reading (Luke 24:13-35).

2011-05-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

Two disciples, way to the Emmaus, meeting the stranger, and the rest is, well, a heck of a story of transformation. They met the Christ, unaware that it WAS the Christ. They finally warmed up to the stranger, sharing some bread along the journey.

Maybe it was the bread.

Maybe it was the act of sharing the bread.

Maybe it was a little bit of both.

The rest is a heck of a story.

These things continue to happen today. Sitting down with a stranger, meeting the stranger where she or he is, whomever it may be, and the rest is a heck of a story.

There, there is the Spirit of Christ, in both guest and stranger.

Pace!

B

Easter!

2011-04-24T05:45:00.001-07:00

Hallelujah!

He is risen!

He is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

Buen Camino!

B

Pilgrimage to Easter

2011-04-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

The trek began with Palm Sunday at United Church of Chapel Hill, with palm branches swaying;
next step, moving onward to Maundy Thursday and the upper room at United Church of Chapel Hill; then to Good Friday stations of the cross at Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill; and tomorrow, Easter pulls us forward to Eastertide.

Soon, the words will drip off my lips, "He is risen! He is risen! He is risen, indeed!"

Buen Camino!

B

Pilgrimage in Israel-Egypt, 2011

2011-04-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

Just got confirmation from Egypt: all is well in the Sinai part of Egypt.

Pilgrimage in the Wilderness 2011: Nov. 10-22, 2011, $2,500!

Come one and all!

B

Why We Travel (with thanks to Paul Theroux)

2011-04-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

This from the nyt.com by Paul Theroux:

The earth is often perceived as a foolproof Google map — not very large, easily accessible and knowable by any finger-drumming geek with a computer. In some respects this is true. Distance is no longer a problem. You can nip over to Hong Kong or spend a weekend in Dubai, or Rio. But as some countries open up, others shut down. And some countries have yet to earn their place on the traveler’s map, such as Turkmenistan and Sudan. But I’ve been to both not long ago — one of very few sightseers. And along with oppression and human rights violations, I found hospitality, marvels and a sense of discovery.

In my own “Tao of Travel,” the fact that a place is out of fashion, forgotten or not yet on the map doesn’t make it less interesting, just more itself, and any visit perhaps more of a challenge. But travel maps have always been provisional and penciled in, continually updated. The map of the possible world being redrawn right now — parts of it in tragic and unsettling ways — might soon mean new opportunities for the traveler who dares to try it. Travel, especially of the old laborious kind, has never seemed to me of greater importance, more essential, more enlightening.

What makes pilgrimage even more important is that it takes you to a deeper place, because pilgrimage is like making love to the world.

Click here for more!

Buen camino!

Buechner on Faith's Pilgrimage...again

2011-03-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Frederick Buechner wrote that "faith is the word that describes the direction our feet start moving when we find we are loved. Faith is stepping out into the unknown with nothing to guide us but a hand just beyond our grasp." From Magnificent Defeat

Buen Camino!

B

Spring Pilgrimage

2011-03-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

We have begun Lent. Shrove Tuesday set it all off, because it was followed by Ash Wed. So for me, Lent is a spring pilgrimage.

Well, imagine my surprise to find out that spring pilgrimage can also mean something about playwrights. Consider this from the nyt.com:

“DO you know what Spring Pilgrimage is?” asked Brenda Caradine, the chairwoman of the Tennessee Williams Birthday Celebration in Columbus, Miss. “It’s when you Yankees come down South to see our antebellum homes and we take back your money.”

Happy Birthday Tennessee Williams!

Buen Camino!

B

Zen Buddhist Retreat Center (Chapel Hill) and Hindu Temple (Cary/Morrisville)

2011-03-04T07:40:00.000-08:00

I took students from my world religion class to the Zen Buddhist Retreat Center in Chapel Hill last month, and this month we went to the Hindu Temple in Cary/Morrisville, NC. IT is fantastic to talk, read, and then immerse ourselves in the faith traditions we are exploring.

Buen Camino!

B

Injustice: Israel Refuses Anglican Bishop Residency

2011-03-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

Having spent a lot of time in the Middle East, I was very concerned about the latest news out of Israel, in which the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Bishop Dawani, has been refused residency because he is Palestinian. From Religious News Service:

By Judith Sudilovsky
Religion News Service

JERUSALEM (RNS/ENInews) Israel has declined to renew a residency permit for Anglican Bishop Suheil Dawani of Jerusalem, according to the leader of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center (ICC).

The action took place several weeks ago but the bishop's office was trying to resolve the issue without media attention, said ICC Executive Secretary Yusef Daher. Subsequent appeals and inquiries from Western diplomats have failed.

The ICC is an umbrella group sponsored by Jerusalem churches, the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches.

Born in Nablus, Dawani, like all West Bank Palestinians, must have a special residency permit to stay in East Jerusalem, where St. George Anglican Cathedral and the bishop's offices are located.

"There is a feeling among church leaders that Israel has no respect for Christians or Christian leaders," Daher said Tuesday (March 1). "There is no respect for the request of the issuing of residency visas."

Israel's Interior Ministry revoked the residency permit after accusing the bishop of selling property to a Palestinian, according to Daher.

In a written response to a question from ENInews, the Ministry of the Interior responded, "We are talking about a sensitive issue that was presented in front of the Interior Minister and our detailed answer will be delivered in the court, in the frame of the petition that was served."

Church leaders are following the case with concern, Daher said, because many bishops and clergy serving come from abroad, including Arab countries, and must renew Israeli permits every two years to remain in Jerusalem and enter Israel to reach the West Bank.

This is a injustice.

Pace!

B

Egypt: Victory Day

2011-02-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

Wanted to post that on this day, Feb. 11, 2011, the Egyptian people celebrated a milestone in the country's life as it lurched toward a more democratic nation. The politics and cultural issues are thick and knotty. Nonetheless, with President Mubarak becoming the "former President" of Egypt, the people, who gathered in Tahrir Square (literally meaning Liberation Square) brought forth what terrorists and anarchists could not do: true(r) liberation.

To the people I've met in Egypt on many pilgrimages, congrats!

B

An Argument for Pilgrimage ( by Dennis Praeger)

2011-02-10T06:54:00.000-08:00

This is sheer eloquence!

Saw it on anderwsullivan.com, by Dennis Praeger: a reason to be on pilgrimage (my paraphrase):

Enjoy!

B

It is major because all this travel has been life-changing and life-enhancing. For many years, I have urged young people to take a year off after high school to work and to take time off while in college to travel abroad, ideally alone for at least some of the time.

Nearly everyone grows up insular. The problem is that vast numbers of people never leave the cloistered world of their childhood. This is as true for those who grow up in Manhattan as it is for those who grow up in Fargo. And as for college, there are few places as insular and cloistered as the university.

Insularity is bad because at the very least it prevents questioning oneself and thinking through important ideas and convictions. And at worst, it facilitates the groupthink that enables most great evils. Although one can hold onto insular and bad ideas even after interacting with others, it is much harder to do so, especially when one interacts on the others’ terms, as must be done when traveling to other cultures (and especially when traveling alone).

It is therefore one of the most maturing things a person can do. It is also one of the most humbling. I will never forget the effect of hosting a weekly radio show in which I was the moderator among clergy of every religion. After five years, I announced this conclusion: “The moment you meet people of other faiths whom you consider to be at least as decent, as least as religious, and at least as intelligent as you think you are, you will never be the same.”

This is not to suggest that the inevitable consequence of international travel is multicultural relativism — the belief that every culture is equal, that no culture is morally or culturally superior. On the contrary, my going abroad every year for 42 years has strengthened my appreciation of both Western culture and America’s unique value system (what I call the American Trinity: liberty, in God we trust, e pluribus unum).

But there is one benefit to international travel that probably cannot be gained in any other way: Other nations and other peoples become real.

Pace!

Buen Camino!

B

Rilke and Pilgrimage

2011-02-09T20:59:00.001-08:00

Rilke wrote on pilgrimage, there is only one journey: going inside yourself.

Pace!

B

Desert Pilgrimage 2011

2011-02-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

I had a great session of welcoming people to the Desert Pilgrimage, 2011, at United Church of Chapel Hill (NC) this morning, and wanted to share it broadly:

DESERT PILGRIMAGE 2011!

Purpose:
This pilgrimage explores the wandering nature of the Pilgrim God. We will begin with our sojourn in Jerusalem, visiting the Holy Sites, then to the town of Bethlehem to work with Palestinian Christians. We will then strike out to the desert of the Sinai for 5 days and 4 nights on pilgrimage with Bedouins, followed by a day and night at St. Catherine's Monastery o, and a night at a resort on the Red Sea.

Dates: Nov. 10-22, 2011

Cost: Around $2,500 (depending upon everyone coming, meaning at least 15 people).

Write me at Brett@schoolofthepilgrim.com
919-444-9111

Pace!

Brett

DIVINITY and pilgrimage

2011-01-29T19:54:00.001-08:00

The language of pilgrimage and the song "Amazing Grace" are now woven throughout DIVINITY.

It is helpful in pulling it all together.

What I've learned is that while I wrote a book about actual pilgrimages (FOLLOW ME), gave a theology of pilgrimage (SCHOOL OF THE PILGRIM), and how to do pilgrimage (PRACTICING PILGRIMAGE), this is a book that puts "meat" on the "bones" of pilgrimage. I'm now providing a living example of life as pilgrimage.

Pace!

B

Hindus on pilgrimage

2011-01-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

I've been teaching world religions at NC Central University. Hindus (as I have learned and taught) go on pilgrimage in order to rid themselves of bad karma as well as to be closer to their gods and goddesses.

It is amazing that all these world religions, like Hinduism, based in India, practice the ancient act of walking toward wholeness, healing, and devotion.

Pace!

B

DIVINITY: a long journey

2011-01-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

Lao Tzu said that the longest journey begins with the initial first, single step.

My proposal to DIVINITY feels just like that.

Pace!

B

Beer Pilgrimage in Belgium

2011-01-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

Gotta love this.

A pilgrimage is calling: Belgium, beer, and Trappists. What I love about Benedictines are the choices that they make to support their communities. St. John's and St. Ben's in MN support themselves by colleges and other crafts. Other Benedictine/Trappist communities do things like coffins, and in this case, beer.

From NYT.com: a pilgrimage is afoot:

Nestled in this province’s verdant farmlands, the St. Sixtus Abbey houses one of six official Trappist breweries in Belgium. The monks have perfected their craft over more than 160 years, and despite closing the brewery to visitors, shunning advertising, retail outlets and even labels, their beer has taken top honors from enthusiast sites like RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com. (The only sure way to bring home the brew — save the black market — is by calling the Abbey’s “beerphone” to reserve a case for pick-up. And even then the monks will supply only one case a person, a month; no resales allowed.)

Pace!

B

A Pilgrimage Continues: A Service of Witness to the Resurrection

2011-01-14T05:08:00.000-08:00

Pilgrimage not only takes place on this earth, but in the context of the Christian community--and other faith communities--it continues beyond into the life to come.

My father Donald P. Mitchell, is now on a pilgrimage in a land I know little to nothing about. He follows the Pilgrim God. He died on 1-11-11, at 88 years old, in Tigard, OR. He died just like he wanted: in his sleep, with no alarm, no emergency treatments...he simply slid and passed away.

A Service of Witness to the Resurrection is at Valley Community Presbyterian Church, Portland, OR, at 2 PM on Sunday, Jan. 16th, reception following.

The journey continues!

Pace!

B

Bus Ride in Israel

2011-01-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

Attached is a guest column article in Chapel Hill News from the latest pilgrimage in the Holy Land.

Click here for the original: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2011/01/09/61786/mideast-conflict-plays-out-on.html

And here it is below:

Anger is expressed with sharply honed words.We use ferocious gestures to accompany angry words. Indignation caused by powerlessness can rip into placid lives, leaving long-lasting scars.

I experienced such toxic anger on a bus ride in Israel the week before Thanksgiving.

As part of my Carrboro-based non-profit, the School of the Pilgrim, I was on a pilgrimage in Egypt's Sinai desert. Before the pilgrimage, I followed news of the uneasy cease-fire between Israelis and Palestinians.

It is a transitory truce contingent on the building or freezing of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. And while Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas engaged in the erratic dance of diplomacy internationally, on an Israeli bus I witnessed the perceived absence of peace and sense of injustice underneath the appearance of the general public's civility.

I experienced unbridled rage, conjured up by decades of hostility. I remembered that I am not only a Chapel Hillian: It is important to take my place as a world citizen.

I sat in the front seat on the bus from Eilat, Israel's southernmost city, to Jerusalem. The first four hours were calm. I smiled as an Israeli assumed I was a citizen, talking to me in fluent Hebrew. Sitting next to me was Shookie, an Israeli. We shared photos of our familes and swapped stories of our careers.

The easy-going environment was shattered as we neared Jerusalem. It was nearly 6 p.m. on Friday, the beginning of Shabbat, the sacred Sabbath for observant Jews.

This means that all businesses and public employees - including the driver of the government-owned bus - must cease work by 6, or face a fine.

It also meant that military buses and armed Israeli security would be routinely posted to block passage from Jerusalem into the Palestinian territories of the West Bank. This made it difficult for the Palestinians riding on our bus to get home.

Not knowing the bus stops around Jerusalem, I was unaware we passed the one stop that most of the Palestinian passengers used to go home. Seeing that we skipped his stop, a young Palestinian man stormed to the front of the bus, his hands banging the overhead rack, yelling, "Stop" to the driver.

The bus driver yelled back angrily. With Shookie translating, I understood what was happening: The Palestinian loudly asserted his right to get off the bus to go home.

In vulgar language, the driver explained that he couldn't stop at the usual stops. Shabbat was approaching, and he would be fined if his bus were on the road after 6. Hoping to quell any violence, the driver promised to stop soon.

The young Palestinian seemed placated, but then the bus driver drove by another stop where the Palestinians might have gotten off. This stop was blocked by another bus, and armed Israeli soldiers.

Angrier, with more Palestinians enraged at the driver's action, the young man ran to the front of the bus, demanding the driver stop immediately, "or else!"

Shaken by this aggression, the driver brought the bus to a jolting stop, farther from the Palestinian homes.

Tension between Israeli and Palestinians, evident for generations on the world stage, enveloped that bus.

Feeling a great wrong had been done to them, the Palestinian crowd on the bus let go with a fierce barrage of menacing words. Shouting at the top of their voices, bodily gestures engaged in swearing at all Israelis, the Palestinians stomped off the bus, rocking the vehicle, yelling threats at the driver for his insensitivity.

The driver wasn't innocent either, verbally engaged in this war of acrimonious words.

I was scared for my own well-being as I listened and watched. I worried that the violence would escalate rapidly in the tight confines of the bus.

Israeli citizens huddled next to the window, wanting to avoid the rupture of peace. I felt helpless as the crowd stepped off the bus, banging their fists on the bus' side as it departed.

Then Shookie leaned over and said: "The land belongs to the Jews! It's in the Bible. They'll have to learn to live with it."

I was scarred by brittle barbs of hate and distrust.

In hindsight I realize that what happens there - from international diplomacy games to the exposed, savage wound on a bus - affects us here. I witnessed people in the Holy Land demand equal measures of respect and justice, which is necessary in order for peace to exist.

Until justice comes as a prelude to peace, all peoples will be in constant turmoil. Until justice comes, we will continue to witness repeatedly an unraveling of every tentative truce between warring human souls.

Egyptian Coptic Christians: Under Attack

2011-01-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

Coptic Christians are under siege in Egypt.

What is weird and sad? This is nothing new. The bias against Christians in Egypt has been long running.

This is from the NYT.com:

CAIRO — The worshipers erupted, hundreds of them, loudly chanting “No! No! No!” and drowning out the priest, making it impossible for him to continue offering thanks to President Hosni Mubarak.

It was two days after a suicide bomber killed at least 21 people as a New Year’s Eve Mass was ending in Alexandria, and the Coptic Christian church leadership had assumed its standard posture as ally of the president, loyal institution of the state. “We direct our thanks to the president,” the priest said during a Mass.

But this time the parishioners would have none of it: “No! No! No!” “We want our rights!” and “Remove the governor!” they shouted during the ceremony.

The bomb attack exposed a troubling sectarian divide between Egypt’s Christian minority and its Muslim majority. But it also revealed disagreements within the Christian population, and within the church, too. An increasingly conservative and restive segment of the population expressed frustration with the church leadership’s nonconfrontational approach to the state and its reluctance to aggressively challenge practices seen as discriminatory, churchgoers, politicians and political scientists said.

Prayers for our Coptic brothers and sisters.

Pace!

B

A New Year on the Pilgrimage...

2011-01-01T20:05:00.001-08:00

Working hard on the book DIVINITY, which has become a story of a pilgrimage of coming out. This will most likely become the theme for the book, and for my life this year.

Blessings on your journeys in 2011!

Buen camino!

B

Pledge Reminder

2010-12-30T22:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Friend:

A few weeks ago I sent a letter announcing the winter pledge drive for the School of the Pilgrim. Many of you have responded kindly – some by sending in pledges, some by asking for prayers, while others have inquired about the upcoming pilgrimage to the Holy Land to be held November 12-22, 2011. For this I thank you!

Since we wrote you a few weeks ago, the Chapel Hill News has accepted for publication an essay about my most recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land (see attached). Last week I had a great lunchtime conversation with one of the campus ministries at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill about the School of the Pilgrim guiding their upcoming mission trip to a Navajo reservation in Arizona this May 2011. Opportunities to create pilgrimages with others groups are starting to percolate.

The School of the Pilgrim is becoming an exciting opportunity to provide an alternative way of educating and nurturing people of faith in a way that the world has either largely forgotten about or never considered before. But we cannot stop now; we need your continuing help to keep building upon the School of the Pilgrim’s progress.

Here's where you can help: please consider pledging $25, $50, $75, $100, or as much as you feel comfortable giving. You can contribute online at www.schoolofthepilgrim.com . Simply go to the menu on the left of the website, click "Contribute" and follow the instructions. Or you can send a check with a contribution to: School of the Pilgrim, P.O. Box 572, Carrboro, NC 27510. Remember that the School of the Pilgrim is a 501c3 tax-exempt organization. Your contribution by December 31, 2010 is deductible this tax year.

If you cannot give at this time, please consider ways you can support us with volunteer efforts during the next year. Meanwhile, I will continue to post insights regarding the life of a pilgrim on www.schoolofthepilgrim.blogspot.com. You can look for new images from recent pilgrimages on our website www.schoolofthepilgrim.com.

Thank you in advance for your support of the School of the Pilgrim! Through the kindness of you and others like you, we continue to make progress. Please feel free to forward this letter to others who might be interested!

Pilgrim Peace,

Brett Webb-Mitchell
www.schoolofthepilgrim.com
P.O. Box 572
Carrboro, NC 27510

End of Year Report of the School of the Pilgrim

2010-12-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the School of the Pilgrim!

On behalf of the School of the Pilgrim, I want to share with you the latest happenings within the School.
* I just returned from a pilgrimage in Israel and Egypt, in which the School of the Pilgrim participated in a pilgrimage-on-camel back led by our dear friend Dr. Henry Carse. This pilgrimage is the subject of the latest newsletter attached to this email.
* The School of the Pilgrim is working with East Caroline University's Presbyterian Campus Ministry program for a service pilgrimage in the Dominican Republic in March 2011, and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Presbyterian Campus Ministry pilgrimage with the Navajo people in Arizona in May 2011;
* The School of the Pilgrim is leading a pilgrimage in the Holy Land the third week of November in 2011. We are going to spend three days in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, followed by four days in the Sinai wilderness, and a day at St. Catherine's of the Sinai Monastery. More news forthcoming of this pilgrimage.
* Desert Spirituality Pilgrimage: we are working on plans for a Desert Spirituality pilgrimage in Egypt in 2011. Plans are flying in and out of Cairo to St. Antony's Monastery; St. Markarios, and then five days on pilgrimage in the wilderness of the Sinai, ending with time at St. Catherine's;
* I am currently teaching world religions at North Carolina Central University for Spring 2011. This course is going to be framed as a pilgrimage among world religions;
* Pilgrimage to Chimayo, New Mexico: The first week of June, I will be joining the brothers and sisters who walk 120 miles in 6 days to the sacred chapel of Chimayo, New Mexico. The School of the Pilgrim will be hosting our Egyptian friend, Moussa Hanna, who leads our pilgrimages in Egypt through Abanoub Travel Company. Moussa is an Egyptian Coptic Christian, and this will be his first time visiting the United States.

As we head to fourth quarter of the calendar year, along with your prayers and other volunteer work on behalf of the School of the Pilgrim, please consider sending a tax deductible donation by December 31, 2010, so that this new and growing non-profit will have funds throughout 2011! There are two ways you can contribute: (1) go to www.schoolofthepilgrim.com and click on the word "Contribute" on the side bar, and follow the instructions on www.justgive.org, or (2) simply mail a check School of the Pilgrim, c/o Brett Webb-Mitchell, P.O. Box 572, Carrboro, NC 27510.

Thank you, again, for your support that makes the School of the Pilgrim possible! We are dependent upon the generosity of you, kind donors, to sustain and grow the School of the Pilgrim. Keep us in your prayers, and we shall do the same!

Pilgrim peace,

Brett
www.schoolofthepilgrim.com
919-444-9111

Homeward Bound

2010-12-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

Above is my felafel. It was lunch for my return trip to Jerusalem. I got it at the bus station in Eilat, waiting for the 1:00 PM bus for Jerusalem. On this leg of the trip, I sat by Shookie Abo, an Israeli whose parents were from Jews from Morocco. Shookie ran a boat for scuba divers in Eilat, and was on his way to China to see about purchasing new boats for his business.

The most important part of this leg of the journey was the uneasy, unraveling truce between Israelis and Palestinians that erupted on the bus outside of Jerusalem as we neared the beginning of Sabbath. The article from that eruption, "The Bus Ride" will be linked later.

There is no doubt that I will be back in the area next year, third week of November. Come, one and all, for this pilgrimage!

Buen camino!

Brett

Day Five: Heading Home

2010-12-24T14:01:00.001-08:00

This is a picture of the sun rising over the Sinai. On the left side of the pic you can see the Jeep of Abanoub travel agency. My camping equipment is in the foreground. The desert beauty of the Sinai surrounds me.

Yesterday we said good bye to our camels and Bedouin friends, promising to see each other in the new year, "God willing." The days in the desert seemed to fly by. It all ended so soon...too soon...I want more.

On this day I traveled in three cars simply getting to the border crossing in Taba. I was just ahead of the crowd of Muslims coming back from vacation. I caught a taxi and found myself on the Egged bus to Jerusalem. The experience on the bus as we neared Jerusalem is itself an article, which I will post soon. After a delicious dinner at the Jerusalem Hotel, I got on the Nesher to Tel Aviv, leaving early in the morning (12:30 AM) to JFK in NYC.

Buen camino!

Brett

Day Four: Between Holy Mystery and Violence

2010-12-23T13:00:00.001-08:00

What I have come to understand about this land--after four consecutive years in this part of the world--is that it is a holy land that embodies both mystery and violence. There is nothing about this landscape (picture above) that shouts "lush" and "verdant." It is a raw beauty that is saturated with holy mystery. And yet the landscape is also violent to the touch and even from the look. There is nothing in this landscape that necessarily speaks of peace. Thus the walls between this river of rock and sand is "holy mystery" and "violence."

Buen camino!

Brett

Day Three in the Sinai: The Lunar Landscape

2010-12-22T13:20:00.001-08:00

On day three in the Sinai: what I noticed most about this holy, mysterious land is how eerily it resembles what I think the moon or lunar landscape would look like. Now and then a brave acacia tree takes root and springs forth. Sandstone captures whatever water descends. How can one's mind, spirit, and imagination not soar, or descend, as one looks for a point of reference that is smooth and reassuring. Austere and wind-swept acreage surrounds me as far as the eye can see, or the ear hear.

In the season of Advent, I hear of new growth emerging from deserts. The pic is the desert. Hard to see, with the naked eye, how anything can grow.

Pace!

B

Day Two in the Sinai: Imagination Station

2010-12-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

The second day in the wilderness of the Sinai: we come to Imagination Station. This was no time to ride camels as the steep decline is enough for the camel to do by him or herself. Imagination Station received its name because the rock formation elicits all kinds of images. For example, above is Elephant Head Rock...of course! See the trunk? See the ears?

It is here where Henry Carse--friend and guide--challenges people to wonder about the word "miracle" and how the word "mirror" comes from the basic root of the same word.

In the desert, we can imagine anything we want, because the canvas is so wide and beautifully exposing our creative minds to dream dreams...just like brother Joseph from the Hebrew Texts, who was sold by his brothers in the land of Egypt.

Wonders of wonders...

Buen camino!

Brett

First Day in Egypt

2010-12-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

The bus ride to Eilat was uneventful, and border crossing took just a little bit longer than usual because we found our way in the middle of the beginning of a Muslim holiday, which celebrates the safety of Ishmael (not sacrificed).

In Taba, we were met by the good people of Abanoub Travel, especially my/our friend Moussa Hanna. For a delicious lunch, we ate at a seaside resort, owned by a Christian family, in the seaside port/holiday spot of Nuweiba.

Ater our lunch, we drove out to the desert, taking a right off of the road, and drove miles into the desert to our Bedouin camp. The Egyptian government is starting to reduce the number of Bedouins (in a kind of way) by building them homes in the middle of (what feels like) nowhere.

Dusk greeted us as we neared the Bedouin tent, surrounded by our camels. The pilgrimage is engaged.

Buen camino!

Brett

Destination: Egypt!

2010-12-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

On November 15th, we were on a small mini-van at 6:00 AM, in order to get onto a bus (government owned Egged bus) from Jerusalem to Eilat, Israel. It will take around 4 1/2 hours, going down the spine of Israel, passing sites like the Dead Sea and Masada.

Pic is of me FINALLY in Taba, Egypt. Only hours away from walking in the beauty of the desert.

Buen camino!

B

St. George's College, Jerusalem, Israel

2010-12-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

The morning of the 14th of November was warm, almost sultry. Joined by Henry Carse--who was officially the leader of the pilgrimage to the Sinai--and his companion Carole, we helped ourselves to breakfast at St. George's Pilgrim Guest House. Then a small gropu of us joined the congregants who gather Sunday mornings at 9:30 for the Arabic-English worship in the Cathedral of St. George's. We listened to the lilting voice of the Anglican priest who spoke in Arabic, not understanding a word he was saying.

The rest of the day was busy with meeting of other pilgrims, and a quick dash through East Jerusalem, the Old City, and the refurbished Israel Museum. That evening, dinner was at my favorite place, Al Azahra's Restaurant for a great feast, getting the logistics down for the next day, in which we would officially begin the pilgrimage of the Sinai!

Buen camino!

B

The Damascus Gate: Day One

2010-12-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

I left Raleigh-Durham Intl. Airport at 7:45 in the evening of Fri., Nov. 12th, 2010, arriving in Tel Aviv at 5:30 the next afternoon (Nov. 13). I took a minivan--Nesher van service--to St. George's College, Cathedral, and Guest House, where I began meeting with various members of the pilgrim group. We went to dinner that night at Pasha's Restaurant, feasting on dishes of hummus, olives, cucumbers, and roasted chicken, lamb, and tomatoes.

The pic above is the Damascus Gate, one of the entry ways into the Old City. At other times it is simply a bazaar of extraordinary proportions.

Buen camino!

B

Remembering Jerusalem

2010-12-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be posting pics and narrative from this previous pilgrimage to Israel and Egypt. Reading and hearing all the Scriptural references to Sinai and Jerusalem in the readings of Advent, I can't help BUT think of these places.

Newsletter from the School of the Pilgrim

2010-12-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Here it is, folks! Some photos from the latest sojourn in Egypt!

Buen camino!

B

Classes

2010-12-03T21:24:00.000-08:00

At North Carolina Central University, I was showing them all the various blogsites, and showed them this one (among many others). The students are coming to a resting place in their pilgrimage of life.

Blessings!

Buen Camino!

Brett

Sinai Reflections

2010-12-01T06:34:00.000-08:00

First Sunday of Advent was this previous Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. First hymn that we sang at United Church of Chapel Hill was "O come, O come, Emmanuel." Having sung this hymn too many times to count, I was suddenly smiling at the words in the fourth or fifth (depends on version) stanza. The words brought me back to the Sinai quickly:

Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times gave holy law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Having just been on pilgrimage on camel back in the middle of the Sinai, I quickly remembered that the Holy appeared not to scholars, scribes, or learned professors in seminaries and universities, but to average, ordinary, Bedouin-like folks...like the people who led me on camel back, who have never been to college, let alone finished any kind of formal schooling.

Pic above is from the latest trek!

Buen Camino!

B

Tethering and Un-Tethering

2010-11-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

While out in the Sinai peninsula, I had a chance of living the untethered life. After all, there was nothing I could do in the arid wasteland of the Sinai desert. Nothing.

The gauntlet that I threw down to the "ordinary" life in going on this pilgrimage is living un-tethered, un-hooked from the daily obligations.

As I re-connect, I find that everyone survived and thrived without my being around.

It's all good.

Buen camino.

Brett

A Wandering Aramean

2010-11-21T13:39:00.000-08:00

Today's lectionary reading at United Church of Chapel Hill, NC touched upon the theme of pilgrimage in the land I just left. From Deuteronomy:

"A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and live as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression...bringing us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm."

Powerful when the Scripture points to where I just left, literally and figuratively, the last few days.

Buen camino!

B

Returning Home Yet the Pilgrimage Continues

2010-11-20T20:27:00.000-08:00

Just returned to the States after a wondrous pilgrimage in the desert of the Sinai.

One of the things I learned was to be in awe of what is around the corner, or over the mountain, or through the gap we walked through in our time in the desert.

Next year: third week of November, we're going on pilgrimage in the Sinai again. More information forthcoming.

Buen Camino,

Brett

Back in Jerusalemn

2010-11-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

The pilgrimage in the desert was wonderful, exotic, joyous, soul-ful, enchanting, and mystical. My camel's name was Aida, and I called her "Diva."

We traveled a part of the desert that I did not traverse last year, and that made all the difference. Warmer than last year as well, sleeping in t-shirt and boxers in the evening rather than long sleeve t-shirts and pants.

Next years pilgrimage in the desert is in the works: third week or so of November, flying in and out of Cairo, with focus on the Desert Fathers--like St. Antony--and Desert Mothers--like St. Catherine--and four nights/five days on camel in the Sinai.

More to come!

Buen Camino!

Brett

Pilgrimage: Day One in Jerusalem

2010-11-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Jerusalem. It has been a wonderful pilgrimage so far. I've met some wonderful people, and am eager to see what the Holy One is to reveal or is revealing.

Smooth flights from Raleigh-Durham to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Tel Aviv. I was picked up from the airport by a van--Nesher--and taken to St. George's Guest House, Cathedral, and College. Here, I met six of the other pilgrims, plus Jaqlynne, from the Netherlands (doing a documentary on German Jews who were refugees in the Netherlands during WWII). We all walked to Pasha's for dinner, with a table spread of food and wine. Delicious!

This morning (Sunday) there was a leisurely breakfast of meats, cheeses, tomatoes, cucumbers, pitas, eggs, hummus, grapes, olives, and other savory and delectible treats. Strong coffee helped me stay awak for the Arabic-English worded worship in the Cathedral this morning.

Soon we were off to see some sights: we walked the noisy and fascinating throngs of Palestinians in E. Jerusalem, walking through Damascus Gates toward Joffa St. We grabbed lunch at a small whole in the wall (more hummus), and then one of the other pilgrims (Debbie) and I made a bee-line for the Israel Museum. We toured the Shrine of the Book, housing the Dead Sea Scrolls, and looked at the model of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. Then we ducked into the Modern Museum, which has recently been re-opened, and were fascinated by the modern and contemporary art, along with work by contemporary Jewish artists.

Dinner was back in E. Jerusalem, at a favorite restaurant, Al Azahras. Delicious. All the pilgrims were there. I'm one of the two youngest on the trek among the eleven of us.

Tomorrow is a bright and shine morning: meeting at 6 and on the bus to Eilat by 7. We cross the border into Taba, Egypt, and soon whisked into the desert-land of the Sinai Peninsula.

Buen Camino!

B

Leaving on Pilgrimage

2010-11-11T19:23:00.001-08:00

Not sure what is ahead--which is the treat of being a pilgrim--but going to Egypt with the ease of grace to know all will be well; lives will be changed; and throwing down a challenge to the ordinariness of life, being open to the Spirit.

I leave tomorrow on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010, for Tel Aviv, arriving on Sat. afternoon, and then off to Jerusalem. From Jerusalem to Egypt on Monday morning. Then five days in the Sinai: two days in a jeep and walking, and three days on camel back.

Eager to see what the Spirit is opening me up to in the mystery of the desert.

Buen camino, wherever you may be,

B

p.s., pic of my friend Moussaa and Brett

Being on a Pilgrimage Versus Being a Traveler on a Trip

2010-11-05T14:44:00.001-07:00

Found this fascinating comparison between pilgrimage and traveling on "Zero News." There is a difference between the two, though travel and pilgrimage overlap:

Of the three archaic reasons for travel - call them «war», «trade», and «pilgrimage» - which one gave birth to tourism? Some would automatically answer that it must be pilgrimage. The pilgrim goes «there» to see, the pilgrim normally brings back some souvenir; the pilgrim takes «time off» from daily life; the pilgrim has non-material goals. In this way, the pilgrim foreshadows the tourist.

But the pilgrim undergoes a shift of consciousness, and for the pilgrim that shift is real. Pilgrimage is a form of initiation, and initiation is an opening to other forms of cognition.

We can detect something of the real difference between pilgrim and tourist, however, by comparing their effects on the places they visit. Changes in a place-a city, a shrine, a forest-may be subtle, but at least they can be observed. The state of the soul may be a matter for conjecture, but perhaps we can say something about the state of the social.

As I get ready to go on a pilgrimage with School of the Pilgrim, these are good words to remember.

Pace!

Buen Camino!

B

Countdown Begun for Pilgrimage on the Sinai Peninsula

2010-10-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

I've begun the countdown to the next pilgrimage: the Sinai Peninsula! Leave on Nov. 12th, arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel on the evening of the 13th, and then on the morning of Nov. 15th, down to Eilat and then over the border to Taba! Walk for the day into the evening, find the camels, and the next three days: camels on pilgrimage!

This is a beautiful part of the world. There are no email connections, no computers, no electric wires...only a stray jet flies overhead now and then.

This desert land is the writing place of those who wrote the Hebrew sacred Scripture and the New Testament texts.

Pace!

B

Going on a camel pilgrimage

2010-10-28T16:02:00.003-07:00

Leaving Nov. 12th for a 5 day "wilderness" pilgrimage in the middle of the Sinai desert.

It is time to go and be lost!

Pace!

B

NT Wright on Piligrimage

2010-10-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

NT Wright on pilgrimage, from The Holy Land Today:

When we go on pilgrimage today, then, we do not go in order to comment on or criticize other people for their inability to solve political problems. God knows we can’t solve our own, which are much smaller and less rooted in history. Of course, we will grieve over injustice, oppression and violence wherever it occurs and whoever instigates it; but in highly complex situations it behooves us to go with our eyes and ears open, ready to learn rather than to condemn. But as pilgrims we go, above all, to pray. In the same passage where Paul speaks of God’s intention to make the whole world his Holy Land, to renew and liberate the whole of creation, he also speaks of the whole creation at present groaning in travail; and then he declares that we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we, too, wait for our final redemption (Romans 8.18-27). It is in that context that he says that all things work together for good to those who love God (8.28).

Pilgrimage is a teaching aid: at this level, it teaches us not only about the roots of our faith, but about the ways in which injustice still rampages through communities, some of them within our own family. It opens our eyes to see God’s world the way it is, rather than the way we would like to imagine it. Second, pilgrimage is a way of prayer: both a way of drinking in the presence and love of God in Christ, as we visit places particularly associated with him, and also now a way of standing at the place of pain, at the foot of the cross literally and metaphorically, holding on to that pain in the presence of God in Christ, not knowing what the solution will be but only that God is there, grieving with and in us, in a perpetual Holy Week at the heart of the Holy Land. Third, pilgrimage is a way of discipleship: both to be reinforced in our own daily life and work as Christians, and now also to be reinforced in thinking, working, speaking, writing and praying for justice and peace to be restored to the Middle East, to Northern Ireland, to the Sudan, to God’s entire creation.

We do not go on pilgrimage, then, because we have the answers and want to impose them. That would make us crusaders, not pilgrims; the world has had enough of that, and I dare say God has had enough of that. We go on the pilgrim way, we follow the way of the Lord, because he himself is the way – and, as he said himself, the truth and the life as well. We go to meet him afresh, to share his agony, and to pray and work for the victory he won on the cross to be implemented, and for his way to be followed, in Israel and Palestine, in our own countries, and in the whole world.

Pace, B

Frederick Buechner on pilgrimage...again

2010-10-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Found this quote under "Religion" in Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner:

The word religion points to that area of human experience where one way or another we come upon Mystery as a summons to pilgrimage.

Way cool.

B

Bedouin Blues

2010-09-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this clip of an article about snow in the Sinai mountains and Bedouin culture:

It is getting cool during the day and downright freezing at night. The mountains are at an altitude of over 2,400m (over 7,500 ft) and the tops receive snow during the winter season. Snow is good because it means water for the Bedouin gardens, but it also means fewer customers because nobody wants to spend a chilly night on a mountain and wake up to frozen pools of water. South Sinai is in Egypt and as every Westerner knows, Egypt is where the pyramids are and therefore it must be hot. Always. All the time.

Explaining to visiting Westerners that actually no, the pyramids are not next door and yes, that is real snow, takes some time. We have endless tales of visitors arriving from the coast, wanting to climb Jebel Mousa (Mt Sinai) and arriving in their best beach clothes only to find that the top of Jebel Mousa at 4am in the morning during winter with a high wind, is, shall we say, somewhat cold.

Click here for more.

Buen camino,

Brett

Pilgrimage Destination: Ein Gedi, Israel

2010-09-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Wonderful story about the oasis of Ein Gedi in Israel from the nyt.com:

Ein Gedi is a place whose burnt-red crags and incongruous pockets of greenery can make you feel as if you’ve landed, Charlton Heston-like, on some highly cinematic planet. In fact, you have. Ein Gedi is the planet of the epic Biblical past. The niches in the cliffs are where David hid from his enemy King Saul, and the rocky paths are where Saul hunted for him. The vineyards of Ein Gedi produced glorious henna flowers that the singer of the Song of Songs compares to his beloved.

Our plan was to spend two days exploring the Ein Gedi oasis with a guide who had once been the director of the field school there, which is run by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and one night camping in the desert nearby. It was June, and the guide had assured me that we’d cope with the desert’s incandescence by hiking in water and hiking by moonlight. Friends raised their eyebrows. I hoped he was right.

The drive to Ein Gedi from Jerusalem took us past the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth, which has a bright and slightly creepy turquoise cast. This is partly because the water is framed in red by the surrounding mountains, partly because it is supercharged with salt and other minerals.

Click here for more.

Pace!

Theologians on Pilgrimage: Karl Barth

2010-09-13T20:46:00.001-07:00

Looking at other theologians and their take on pilgrimage.

This is Karl Barth:

Such men and women (like Abraham and Sarah) are pilgrims, prepared always for surrender and dissolution, decrease in honor, ever tireless in descending the ladder of renunciation and death. To be pilgrims means that we constantly return to a starting point of that naked humanity which is absolute poverty and utter insecurity...god is not found on the throne, but on the plain where men and women suffer and sin.

(From Barth's Commentary on Romans 3:22, 23)

Pace,

Brett

Pilgrimage...East Coast Style

2010-09-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

From the NYT.com today, this article on the seven highest peaks on the East Coast:

THE world’s Seven Summits — the highest mountain on each continent — were in the news this year when the Alaskan climber Vern Tejas set a record by ascending them all in just 134 days. Inspired by him, I set out to climb a few peaks of my own. My challenge would be to hike what I call the Six Summits — the highest point in each New England state. I required no pack animals, porters or supplemental oxygen. Armed instead with a map, compass, hiking boots and a blue Honda, my journey lasted six days and brought me to six unique places. Below is a guide to my quest, presented in order from the point with the highest elevation to that with the lowest.

Click here for more.

Pace!

B

East London: Great Place for a Pilgrimage

2010-09-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

Found this in the nyt.com about a part of London I love:

his is East London, a sprawling area known for its artists, anarchists and immigrants. Neighborhoods like Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Hackney Wick have long been where a creative class could afford to live and work. Now it’s also where they play, shop and eat.

Though the main arteries are often choked by traffic, the side streets of East London can be as tranquil and pleasant as parks. The area feels light years away from central London, and totally self-sufficient, thanks to a host of enticing restaurants, shops, markets and hotels.

As Clarise Faria, the curator of the Loft Project, a private club that invites acclaimed chefs to cook meals in an airy apartment for select guests, said: “There’s no reason to go to the rest of London.”

There’s certainly no reason to go elsewhere to eat. In 2005, a shed behind a former school that now contains an artists’ studio, where Rochelle Street meets the leafy traffic circle Arnold Circus, became Rochelle Canteen, a restaurant open only for lunch. The food is bright, direct and unapologetically English: fare includes dishes like a salad of fresh peas, favas and pea shoots, and a whole sole sautéed in butter and served with cucumber and fennel. The spot has a casual elegance, and it’s easy to linger over a midweek lunch, with dogs napping in the restaurant’s walled garden and neighbors catching up with one another.

On the other side of Arnold Circus is Leila’s Shop, a small specialty store with raw wood shelves, drying sausages and nougat imported from Isfahan, Iran. On a recent visit, I was browsing the shelves of house-made jams with the cookbook author Anissa Helou, who sometimes holds cooking classes in her nearby loft, and after we stepped outside, a perfectly silent electric car whipped around the corner. The driver and Ms. Helou knew each other, and as they said their hellos under a bank of trees four stories tall, I felt that I was looking into the future, to a time when cities are gentle and everybody is friendly.

Things are busier a few blocks to the south on Redchurch Street. There are boutiques like Caravan (tasteful bric-a-brac) and Hostem (sartorial concept designs for men), and there’s Boundary, a hotel and restaurant that the designer and hotelier Terence Conran opened last year. Shoreditch House, a branch of Soho House that opened as a hotel this spring, is nearby. So is Dirty House, a soot-gray private artists’ residence designed by the conceptual architect David Adjaye; the building’s cantilevered roof seems to hover at night, as the interior lights below give it a luminescent glow.

And then there’s Columbia Road, home to an open-air flower market on Sundays since the 19th century. More recently, it has welcomed dozens of tiny shops that bustle during the week.

Enjoy!

Pace!

Book Pilgrimages

2010-08-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

There is something about Stieg Larrson and his books about Elisabeth Salander and Mikal Bloomkvist in the series of "The Girl..." set in Sweden. I've heard on blogsites and cable channels that there is a wonderful "pilgrimage" around the places and sights and sounds where the book took place around Stockholm and beyond.

In the NYT.com, there is another idea of a pilgrimage where books are set. Context matters, according to Joe Queenan who wrote this interesting essay on a staycation, in which he visits places in which authors lived or set their books in:

Most staycations combine edification with retail: you visit a battlefield or a museum and then hit the amusement park and the outlet stores. This sounded too downscale for me. Instead, I planned a literary staycation in Pennsylvania. My destinations were Reading, where John Updike’s “Rabbit, Run” is set; Pottsville, where John O’Hara set dozens of his New Yorker stories; and Scranton, where Jason Miller, who won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1973 for “That Championship Season,” grew up. All are within two hours’ drive of my home outside New York City. The idea was to combine local color and cuisine with a visit to the old stomping grounds of these three very different American writers. Throughout the trip, I would reread the works that made these men famous. I thought it sounded like great fun. But in the end, I had to go on my own because my wife and kids declined to accompany me. They preferred to just stay.

Pace!

Buddhapath

2010-08-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

Interesting website...

Buddhapath.com

A way to discover the footsteps of Buddha.

Peace,

B

God, guide our feet into the way of peace...even in troubled lands

2010-08-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

I am at a conference on people with disabilities in Wilmington, NC. I gave a talk yesterday on the place and presence of people with disabilities in faith communities. What I have heard since I've been here has been numbing but not shocking:
* Parents of children with disabilities told not to come to a faith community by a pastor, priest, or other religious leaders;
* Death threats by members of faith communities if a group home of people with disabilities were to open up because it would decrease the value of homes nearby;
* Sequestering people with disabilities into parts of worship in which "they wouldn't disturb others," as if the Holy Spirit isn't the great disturber of life.

So: in the Canticle of Zechariah (NT, Luke), we pray "Guide out feet into the way of peace." This is poignant in lands and people's lives that are torn asunder by such violence.

Pace!
B

Hebrews 11, from the Good as New Version of the Bible!

2010-08-08T10:53:00.001-07:00

Powerful reading today at Church from the Good as New: A Radical Retelling of the Scriptures of Hebrews 11, which refers to the sojourners of yore:

Abraham trusted God too. He took God's advice and set out to find a permanent home for his family. He had no idea where he was going. He had to keep on trusting because, although he spent a long time in the land God had in mind for him, it didn't seem like home. He only had tents to live in. The same was true for Isaac his son, and Jacob his grandson. they shared Abraham's dream. He had a vision of a city built on firm foundations. God would be the architect and the builder.

Sarah, Abraham's wife, was able to have a baby, even though she was past the normal age of having children. That was because she trusted God to keep a promise. Although Sarah and Abraham were coming to the end of their lives, they had as many descendants as there were stars in the sky or pebbles on the beach.

Nice translation.

Very nice.

Pace! and Buen Camino!

B

Pilgrimage and Buddhists

2010-07-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting exhibit of artwork of Buddhists on pilgrimage. Like pilgrims throughout time, Buddhists go on pilgrimage just like Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc.:

"Materially it's cornucopian, with all manner of painting and sculpture and a North Face supply of pilgrim travel gear: rucksacks, hiking staffs and fanny packs, not to mention charts and maps, some cosmic, some not."

Sounds like a pilgrimage to me!

Buen camino!

B

Journeying Stage

2010-07-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

In Radical Grace, Richard Rohr posits that there are four ages of human life--well, he says men, but I'll say human life.

First is student time: learning from our elders. Second age is the "man/woman the bread winner," creating and living within a family unit. Rohr suggests that many people get "stuck" here in this age/stage/move/step, and sadly remain here for the rest of their life.

The third? Journeyer. Nomad. Accumulator of experiences from near and far. Pilgrim!

The fourth: the one who has gained experienced, only obtained through going through the other three ages.

Food for thought.

Chomping...

Buen camino!

B

Being a Pilgrim: A Matter of Life and Death

2010-07-07T14:36:00.001-07:00

Reading in the nyt.com today about the Shiites who were killed while on pilgrimage, visiting a holy shrine. From they nyt.com:

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims at a police checkpoint in Baghdad on Wednesday night, killing at least 28 people and wounding 81 others despite intensive efforts by Iraqi security forces to foil such attacks.

There is a price to paying homage at such holy sites in a dangerous world.

Salaam...

B

Pilgrimage Text in Lectionary Reading's Gospel Choice

2010-07-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

Herschel H. Sheets, from "The Protestant Hour" wrote this:

Jesus ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics." They were to travel light. When you are loaded down, the normal tendency is to think about your load. Too heavy a load distracts oru attention; it saps your strength, drains away your joy, and keeps you from accomplishing what you might otherwise accomplish.

As I read this this morning at United Church I thought: "Yep, been there, seen that, done that."

Lectionary Gospel account was Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, in which Jesus tells the "70 others" what they are to do as they go out into the world on their pilgrimage. While God's Spirit precedes them on the journey, they are in for the time of their lives...of our lives, actually. For we are the "70 others."

Pace!

B

The Dalai Lama on Pilgrimage

2010-07-03T05:45:00.000-07:00

Pilgrimage is a part of the 5 major world religions.

I'm not the only one who sees it or knows it.

The Dalai Lama understands this as well:

Pilgrimages are a part of nearly every religion. The faithful set out in hopes of finding virtue and gaining merit. Among Buddhists, they visit places where a spiritual master once spent time meditating. His presence makes the place seem somehow blessed or charged, as if there is some kind of electricity around it. Pilgrims come to feel these mysterious vibrations. They try to share in the visions of the master. Along their road, they undertake hardship with no thought of material reward. Their every step, every movement, becomes filled with a sense of spiritual progress. Many intensify the sense of hardship along the way by going barefoot, or reciting prayers or mantras, and so increase the spiritual merit they gain.

Pace!

Buen Camino!

B

The Interior and the exterior journey

2010-07-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Richard Rohr writes that on pilgrimage, there is more than is going on in terms of the "outside" or exterior journey: there is an interior journey, in which there is a need for a deep listening and obeying to the movement of the Spirit.

At the beach today, listening to the Spirit while being on the journey of life.

Pace!

Buen camino!

B

Peace in and is every step

2010-06-28T08:09:00.001-07:00

Thich Nat Han posits that what made someone more mindful of our connection between inner and outer life, and our connection with the world in which we live, is in focusing on each and every step we take in this world.

I am mindful that I am not aware of each and every step I take in this world.

On this earthly pilgrimage, maybe we should be more mindful. Mindful of what? Of the peace and joy that is in each and every moment of the day.

I am so not there today.

Just perhaps I should be then.

Perhaps.

Buen camino...B

Romania: A Place of Pilgrimage Amid Monasteries

2010-06-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

Fascinating article in the nyt.com about monasteries built by Moldavian Prince Steven the Great, who, every time he won a battle he built a monastery.

What he left in his path is a treasure trove of monasteries.

From the article:

The result of his victories — 46 in all — was an unprecedented building spree within the densely forested terrain of the Bucovina region in modern Romania. The tradition was embraced by his son and successor, Petru Rares, and their vassals. Many of the mural-covered monasteries and churches survive, nestled in a valley, having withstood the withering summer sun and winter winds for centuries. What started out as Stephen the Great’s war trophies have become some of the world’s most stunning works of art.

They exist now as the present-day Monastery of Voronet, about three miles south of the Romanian village of Gura Humorului, and its sister sanctuaries, scattered within a radius of some 25 miles and collectively recognized as Unesco World Heritage sites.

Pinpointing the area that contains this trove is not easy. The region, which became the eastern outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is now divided between southern Bucovina, in northeastern Romania, and Chernivtsi Province, in present-day Ukraine. To further complicate matters, some Romanians also refer to it as northern Moldavia, not to be confused with the independent Republic of Moldova, which borders northeastern Romania. But there is good reason to make the trek, geographic confusion and pothole-pocked roads notwithstanding, as I did last summer.

Click here for more...

Buen Camino!

Brett

Abraham Joshua Heschel on Pilgrimage

2010-06-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day!

"Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart," by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Buen Camino!

B

Thomas Lynch Hymn, My Faith, It Is an Oaken Staff

2010-06-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

A fitting pilgrim/pilgrimage hymn by Thomas Lynch:

My faith, it is an oaken staff,
The traveler’s well loved aid;
My faith, it is a weapon stout,
The soldier’s trusty blade,
I’ll travel on, and still be stirred,
By silent thought or social word;
By all my perils undeterred,
A soldier pilgrim staid.

I have a Guide, and in His steps
When travelers have trod,
Whether beneath was flinty rock
Or yielding grassy sod,
They cared not, with force unspent,
Unmoved by pain, they onward went,
Unstayed by pleasures, still they bent
Their zealous course to God.

My faith, it is an oaken staff,
O let me on it lean!
My faith, it is a trusty sword,
May falsehood find it keen!
Thy Spirit, Lord, to me impart,
O make me what Thou ever art,
Of patient and courageous heart,
As all true saints have been.

Richard Rohr on Pilgrimage

2010-06-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts of pilgrimage from Richard Rohr, Franciscan priest:

A pilgrim must be a child who can approach everything with an attitude of wonder, awe and faith. Pray for wonder, awe, desire. Ask God to take away your sophistication and cynicism.

Ask God to take away the restless, anxious heart of the tourist, which always needs to find the new, the more, the curious. Recognize yourself as a pilgrim, as one who has already been found by God.

Though pilgrimages are good for the spirit, if you can't find Jesus in your hometown, you probably aren't going to find him in Jerusalem.

...We go on pilgrimage so we can go back home and know that we never need to go on pilgrimage again. Pilgrimage has achieved its purpose when we can see God in our everyday and ordinary lives.

Peace!

Buen camino!

Sucker for Sunrises and Sunsets

2010-06-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

In OR, my mom and I watched carefully as the sun "set" over the western horizon, sinking below the tree line. Colors were rich and varied: pink, purple, yellow, orange, blue...and gray. Shades of those primary colors were everywhere splashed across the horizon.

In NC, I've enjoyed sunrises of pinks, yellows, and the light blue sky as the sun rises and peeks through the trees of our forested backyard.

Sunrise and sunsets: constants for a lively pilgrimage of life.

Pace!

B

Holy Trinity: A Holy Community Accompanies Us

2010-05-31T01:32:00.000-07:00

Today, in NM (Albuquerque), went to Catholic Mass and was brought up to date: today is Holy Trinity Sunday...aha! We are accompanied by the Holy Trinity! What a great accompaniment.

Off to a silent pilgrimage at/in/with the community at Christ in the Desert Monastery.

Best,

Buen camino!

Brett

Wisdom Speaks

2010-05-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

From this week's lectionary, and we better listen!

Pace!

B

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
"To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live."

A Henri Nouwen Day

2010-05-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

Found this Nouwen quote today:

"I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn't be to know people by
name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories, and tell your
own."

Henry Nouwen

Not a bad way to live each day.

Buen camino!

B

Century Club: Traveling to 100 Countries

2010-05-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Along with the theme of pilgrimage is travel. I bumped into the novel idea of traveling to 100 countries and becoming part of the Century Club: a group of traveling to 100 countries. It is fascinating to see so many people eager to see, taste, touch, smell, and be part of the world.

Click here to learn more about this experience.

Pace!

B

Pilgrim Quotes for the Weekend.

2010-05-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

On this Friday, there are some quotes that are going to rest on my soul for the weekend...at least:

First is the Afghan saying, "The world is a traveler's inn."

Indeed: we find places in and around our lives to rest in and upon.

And the second is like it:

Pilgrims are poets who create by taking journeys, by Richard Reinhold Niebuhr. As I work on yet one more essay, I know that my creativity is fed by living and breathing and drinking deeply from life.

Pace!

B