Palestinian Walks

Embedded in the nyt.com this morning was a wonderful video clip called "Palestinian Walks," in which a Palestinian gentleman , Raja Jehadeh, walks the West Bank, laying out the physical and political challenges of this area. It is an incredibly moving "pilgrimage" clip, letting us see and hear the challenges and beauty of walking this land.

I am moved by watching the images of his buy bread in the morning at a corner stand, and wondering aloud if he would make it home that night because of the possibility that he would get shot for simply walking in the West Bank, with nothing more than a back-pack.

Incredibly moving.

Click here for more. The title of the book is "Palestinian Walks." Buy it!

Buen camino,

Pilgrim peace, Brett

The Pilgrim Pastor: An Interim Pastorate at 1st Presbyterian Church, Henderson, NC

Approved by the Committee on Ministry of the Presbytery of New Hope, I am starting my sixth interim pastorate at First Presbyterian Church in Henderson, North Carolina! I am excited about this venture. My time will be 1/2 to 2/3 time, in which the other "1/2" will be focused on the School of the Pilgrim of course.

As I told the Committee, I see my work as interim as pilgrimage-in-practice in the Church: I come along the side of a church on pilgrimage, walk with them a little bit after their previous pastoral-guide leaves their side, and walk with them until their called pastor--and they--discover one another. I like doing this work part-time. It reminds me of why I am "the Rev." as well as "Dr." as well as pilgrim guide.

Buen camino!

Pilgrim peace, Brett

Wandering God

In reading up on Barack Obama, reading his first book about growing up, Dreams of My Father, there was a verse attributed to Chronicles, which I can only find in the Psalms. I'll go looking again.

But I did find this verse in 1 Chronicles 17:1, 2: I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent. Nathan said to David, "Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you."

Nathan continues: "Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the lord: You shall not build me a house to live in. For i have not lived in a house since the day I brought out Israel to this very day, but I have lived in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people saying Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"

We are a pilgrim people, made for following a Pilgrim God, who moved his people Israel hither and yon, never leaving their side, but moving with them, as they moved with Yahweh.

No wonder pilgrimage is in our very blood as people of faith: the God who created us is a wandering God, the Pilgrim God.

Buen camino!

Pilgrim peace, Brett

School of the Pilgrim: The Movie

Enjoy the movie, "The School of the Pilgrim!" We're now "up" on Youtube. Go to "www.youtube.com," and enter "School of the Pilgrim," and that does it.



Buen camino!

Pilgrim peace, Brett

Feeling Hungry on Pilgrimage

I am in the middle of a pilgrimage route. My stomach will soon speak volumes to me with the first little "eek" of hunger pang. I learned on pilgrimage to keep drinking and eating, even if you don't feel the thirst or pang. I drink a lot, and eat more trail mix than I care to think about. I do what I learned on my first long bike ride (1700 miles from Spokane to San Francisco when I was eighteen years old): I eat as much as I want, when I want, however I want, because I am about to burn it off. On my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela I walked with a group of American women who kept on asking how they were going to keep the weight off that they had lost on the Camino when they got home.

Weight. Hunger. Thirst. Pangs. This is pilgrimage.

I''m working on this upcoming Sunday's sermon, based upon Jesus feeding the five thousand...those folks who were on pilgrimage, following the prophet, the miracle worker, the craftsperson, the learned rabbi from Nazareth. They came and listened to him as he preached in the middle of fields and from the end of boats.

In the middle of it all, Jesus showed hospitality, feeding the 5000 men, along with a few thousand more women and children (Matt.14:21). Having been hungry and thirsty on pilgrimage, I can only imagine the joy that swept the masses.

It is that hungry pang, that thirst, to draw closer to God, that mimics the physical hunger and thirst. And as a result of God knowing of this thirst, the result is amazing: bounty is the answer, provided none other than the God of creation.

Manna. Fish. Bread. Wine. Water.

All part of God, and God's good care of us all.

Buen camino!

Pilgrim peace,

Brett

Pilgrim Quotes

Of course, being ALL about the pilgrim and pilgrimage, I cannot help but find these quotes and pick up on them, reflect and ponder, and then write them down.

So this is today's quote: Abraham Cowley, "Curiosity does, no less than devotion, pilgrims make." As a writer, pastor, professor, and artist--and pilgrim--I have to say that Cowley's quote strikes me about right.  I am constantly asking, "What's coming around the next corner?" or the next day when I am on pilgrimage.

It is this "spirit" that I work toward integrating in my daily life.

Bien camino!

Pilgrim peace,

Brett

Martin Buber Understood Pilgrimage

Tonight on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" radio show (7/26/08, broadcast/aired on WUNC, 91.5), Garrison made this point about pilgrimage and journey by the philosopher Martin Buber that I had to write about: All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. The truth of this statement in regards to pilgrimage resonated in the deepest parts of my life and life-experiences. On pilgrimage, while I think I know about the physical, geographical destination, clearly the relational, spiritual, educational, psychological, intellectual, and physical destination or goal or purpose remain, at best intangible...or at worst totally incomprehensible, and thus missed totally by the pilgrim or pilgrims. Buber simply reminds us that pilgrimage is not a "sure fire thing," in which goals and purposes and behaviors can be quantified, known, studied, put on a chart, examined, and parsed. Pilgrimage is all being in the moment, reflecting upon the moments, living in the wonder of it all, before, during and afterwards.

The journey is "on"!

Buen camino!

Pilgrim peace, Brett