Here's the change about to be experienced: I woke up at 7, leisurely, with cup of coffee brewed, dogs fed, morning news, computer on lap.
On pilgrimage? Up at 3:30 or so, moving by around 5 or 6, on the road walking until 12 or 1. Quite the change. Walking with no cell phone, no computer...detox!
Buen Camino!
Brett
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Wearing Walking Shoes in the Hot Days of Spring
I'm getting my feet ready for walking to Chimayo, NM. I'll be taking the eastern trek this time, having taken the north and south trek path. There are two more ways that I want to walk to Chimayo: the north and the one from Albuquerque.
In preparation, I am walking around with my walking shoes. I've had my shares of blisters, and hope and pray to the Holy One that this will NOT be a day after day experience of blisters. I wear a pair of Merrell shoes these days (see below). They work the best for my vote. I tried a lovely pair of Vasque, and they ripped my feet apart within a few hours. Not days, hours. Bloody blisters on the back. Just not pretty.
Preparation: it matters. Just like life: preparation matters.
Buen camino! Brett
In preparation, I am walking around with my walking shoes. I've had my shares of blisters, and hope and pray to the Holy One that this will NOT be a day after day experience of blisters. I wear a pair of Merrell shoes these days (see below). They work the best for my vote. I tried a lovely pair of Vasque, and they ripped my feet apart within a few hours. Not days, hours. Bloody blisters on the back. Just not pretty.
Preparation: it matters. Just like life: preparation matters.
Buen camino! Brett
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Protest as Pilgrimage
I've been engaged in a protest pilgrimage against Amendment One in the state of North Carolina. This amendment would make "marriage is between one man and one woman" as the only officially recognized union in the State.
I've been delivering and posting signs along the road, phone banks, handing out pamphlets; our dogs were on UNC's campus attracting young voters to vote against the Amendment, and tomorrow will be working at a polling place.
Just like civil right protesters before me, protesting is a pilgrimage, one step at a time, one day at a time.
Buen camino!
Brett
Friday, April 27, 2012
Faith of All Colors
This was recently posted in Chapel Hill News in April, 2012. It involves the pilgrimage I've taken with my world religion class at NCCU. Enjoy!
Buen Camino!
Brett
As I rushed into worship at United Church of Chapel Hill on Palm Sunday, an usher gave me the morning’s bulletin and a palm frond.
I looked at the banana yellow center and vibrant green edge of the palm frond in my hand, and was slightly overwhelmed by the rush of memories: I’d been collecting these exotic leaves from a palm tree for over 50 years.
At Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, N.J., I distinctly remember being handed a large palm branch, leading the other choristers down the central aisle of the church singing “Hosanna” at the top of my small lungs.
I cherished the moment of being able to shout in a sanctuary that was mostly cloaked in silence, dim candle-light, sleep-inducing sermons, and cringed during the singing of dirge-like hymns during the rest of the year. Thank God, literally, that there were stories of miracles and battles that kept my attention, with storylines that Spielberg and Lucas could one day replicate in a galaxy far far away.
Growing up in Maplewood as a young child, I was aware of primarily three “faiths”: Protestants, Roman Catholics, and those who were Jewish.
I knew where the various Protestant churches, Roman Catholic Church, and synagogue were in this New York City suburb. And granted, Catholics and Protestants are both Christian churches, but I was secretly envious when my Catholic friends took off from school for a high holy day of a saint, of left early for catechism. As for my Jewish friends, Hanukkah was an incredible gift-giving holiday, let alone the days they got to leave school too. I was oblivious to the fact that all the Protestant Christian holidays shaped the rest of the public school calendar, from Christmas break to Easter’s spring break.
What finally broke me out of this tripartite view of faith communities was education.
Moving out of Maplewood to Portland, Oregon introduced me to the faith system of Indian Americans who were the primary minority group in that region. Studying at a small evangelical college, a major university, attending two seminaries, graduate studies, teaching at a seminary, creating a non-profit – School of the Pilgrim – taking people on actual, intentional pilgrimages around the world, and teaching religions of the world at N.C. Central University (NCCU), has broadened and deepened my appreciation of the many ways people believe, love, live, embody, practice, breathe, and orient their daily lives.
Along with several students from NCCU, I’ve been on a pilgrimage of the faith communities in and around the Cary-Chapel Hill-Durham area. While it is still possible to grow up as a child in this area with the same three faiths that I grew up and around, my class has discovered the richness of vibrant faith communities right in our own backyard.
In Cary, we toured the Sri Venkateswara (Hindu) Temple of North Carolina, feasting our eyes on the intricate beauty of statuary, flowers, candles, and feasted on food that gave us a taste of a world faraway from barbeque. With the members of the Zen Buddhist Retreat Center in Chapel Hill, in our very sitting upon mats and pillows, we were taught contemplative practices that left us all wanting more time of silence in a world that is permanently driving in fifth gear.
At Durham’s Temple Beth El, we peered at the scroll open before us, mesmerized by the beauty of the language written, first communicated orally, that accompanies a people of faith to this very day. And in the coming weeks, the class will reflect upon our own Christian roots, as well as enter a dialogue with our Muslim friends in Durham as we seek to create common ground.
As I store and dry my palm frond, with plans of making ashes of it for next year’s Ash Wednesday, I savor the incredible diverse ways others celebrate, live, and are restored by their faith and sense of the Holy and eternal realities. The richness of the faiths, the religions, of the world is not far away in a distant land, but right here in our backyard. This colorful, dense, rich quilt work of faith communities remind me that there are many people making connections with other people, hoping to make this a better world for one and all.
Link to article: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2012/04/10/70897/faith-of-many-colors.html
Buen Camino!
As I rushed into worship at United Church of Chapel Hill on Palm Sunday, an usher gave me the morning’s bulletin and a palm frond.
I looked at the banana yellow center and vibrant green edge of the palm frond in my hand, and was slightly overwhelmed by the rush of memories: I’d been collecting these exotic leaves from a palm tree for over 50 years.
At Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, N.J., I distinctly remember being handed a large palm branch, leading the other choristers down the central aisle of the church singing “Hosanna” at the top of my small lungs.
I cherished the moment of being able to shout in a sanctuary that was mostly cloaked in silence, dim candle-light, sleep-inducing sermons, and cringed during the singing of dirge-like hymns during the rest of the year. Thank God, literally, that there were stories of miracles and battles that kept my attention, with storylines that Spielberg and Lucas could one day replicate in a galaxy far far away.
Growing up in Maplewood as a young child, I was aware of primarily three “faiths”: Protestants, Roman Catholics, and those who were Jewish.
I knew where the various Protestant churches, Roman Catholic Church, and synagogue were in this New York City suburb. And granted, Catholics and Protestants are both Christian churches, but I was secretly envious when my Catholic friends took off from school for a high holy day of a saint, of left early for catechism. As for my Jewish friends, Hanukkah was an incredible gift-giving holiday, let alone the days they got to leave school too. I was oblivious to the fact that all the Protestant Christian holidays shaped the rest of the public school calendar, from Christmas break to Easter’s spring break.
What finally broke me out of this tripartite view of faith communities was education.
Moving out of Maplewood to Portland, Oregon introduced me to the faith system of Indian Americans who were the primary minority group in that region. Studying at a small evangelical college, a major university, attending two seminaries, graduate studies, teaching at a seminary, creating a non-profit – School of the Pilgrim – taking people on actual, intentional pilgrimages around the world, and teaching religions of the world at N.C. Central University (NCCU), has broadened and deepened my appreciation of the many ways people believe, love, live, embody, practice, breathe, and orient their daily lives.
Along with several students from NCCU, I’ve been on a pilgrimage of the faith communities in and around the Cary-Chapel Hill-Durham area. While it is still possible to grow up as a child in this area with the same three faiths that I grew up and around, my class has discovered the richness of vibrant faith communities right in our own backyard.
In Cary, we toured the Sri Venkateswara (Hindu) Temple of North Carolina, feasting our eyes on the intricate beauty of statuary, flowers, candles, and feasted on food that gave us a taste of a world faraway from barbeque. With the members of the Zen Buddhist Retreat Center in Chapel Hill, in our very sitting upon mats and pillows, we were taught contemplative practices that left us all wanting more time of silence in a world that is permanently driving in fifth gear.
At Durham’s Temple Beth El, we peered at the scroll open before us, mesmerized by the beauty of the language written, first communicated orally, that accompanies a people of faith to this very day. And in the coming weeks, the class will reflect upon our own Christian roots, as well as enter a dialogue with our Muslim friends in Durham as we seek to create common ground.
As I store and dry my palm frond, with plans of making ashes of it for next year’s Ash Wednesday, I savor the incredible diverse ways others celebrate, live, and are restored by their faith and sense of the Holy and eternal realities. The richness of the faiths, the religions, of the world is not far away in a distant land, but right here in our backyard. This colorful, dense, rich quilt work of faith communities remind me that there are many people making connections with other people, hoping to make this a better world for one and all.
Link to article: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2012/04/10/70897/faith-of-many-colors.html
Monday, April 9, 2012
Eastern Orthodox Church: Happy Palm Sunday
Yesterday was Palm Sunday in the Eastern Orthodox Church, following the Julian calendar. While the world as I/we know it is based upon the Western Church's calendar, the Eastern Orthodox Churches (Russian and Greek, to name a few), are now in the beginning of Holy Week.
Prayers and blessing!
Buen Camino!
Brett
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Eastertide: The Pilgrimage Continues.
He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you" (Mark 16:7).
Buen Camino,
Brett
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