As I prepared for this service and sermon, I did so initially with a sense of

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June Jackson
5 years ago
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1 Sermon Sunday 24 November 2013 Lessons Colossians 1: St Luke 23: Prayer of Illumination Let us pray. Holy, Sacred God, may we know You on our journey together, Your Spirit calling us forward, expanding our consciousness through encounter, redeeming us through community, conversation and presence. Bless our time. In Jesus Name. Amen. As I prepared for this service and sermon, I did so initially with a sense of bereavement. It has been a truly enriching year and I feel that individually, perhaps, but certainly as a community we have been blessed. In conversation, in spoken word, I have heard enthusiasm and gratitude with a renewed commitment to God s world, to justice, peace and the earth itself as well as a deep joy found in times of stillness and meditation. We are not the same as we were a year ago. Not everyone was able to benefit from one of the organized pilgrimages but because the community as a whole has been enriched we have all benefited. Atheists ask, Where is the evidence for God? I say, Look at the lives changed by encounter with the Holy, at people on pilgrimage, and at people whose fulfillment is found in faith. Changed people, people on a journey, we are the evidence for God. Our organized pilgrimages or retreats have been to the Island of Lindisfarne, off the north east coast of England, the Bield in rural Perthshire, Inchcolm Abbey in 1

2 the middle of the Forth Estuary, the ancient town of St Andrews in the east neuk of Fife, the holy island of Iona Columba s home - as well as following in the footsteps of St Cuthbert in the Borders, and to Coldingham Priory in the southeast of Scotland, to a holy, thin place first founded almost 1000 years ago. In Edinburgh, in the Upper Hall and in a member s garden, we have taken those who are physically less able on a spiritual journey. Throughout, on every single occasion, we experienced glorious sunshine or, at least, that s the way we remember it! There have also been house group pilgrimages to North Berwick and Melrose and personal pilgrimages undertaken by members of the congregation to places around Scotland, such as St Ninian s cave, in addition to far-flung destinations, such as Cappadocia following in the footsteps of St Paul, Crete or Vietnam. It was an ambitious programme and we have pulled it off. Each excursion was organised by a different person or, at least, a different person took the lead: Liz, Anne, Eilie, Christine, Aileen, Bob, Jenny and Boyd. The planning group included Philip, Laura and Melanie. Here, at base, a tremendous amount of work was done by Kirstine, William and Senga. Our devotions were sensitively led by Peter, Stewart, Amos and Nancy. The planning for the Year of Pilgrimage had not long started when, in memory of her husband, Ian, Jenny McCallum gifted 12,000 to help bring our vision alive. It certainly did that and I think Jenny s generosity captured the spirit of Ian, who loved this church 2

3 and was very dedicated to this community. The Year of Pilgrimage echoed his openness of both mind and spirit. The McCallum Fund was managed by Eilie and Anne. I have probably forgotten to mention someone: if I have, it is not intentional, so please feel included in this much deserved public appreciation. We live in what are difficult times for the churches. In Scotland, the institutional churches are disintegrating but, in my experience, there is genuine spiritual yearning, a searching, out there in society. I meet it regularly. It is true that for many in our society religion means nothing but I do meet people, again and again, who, often discreetly, want to engage in conversation about God, spirituality, the Bible and the nature of reality. Throughout the Church of Scotland, there is a sense of defeat and among the clergy ever increasing depression, burnout and despair, but here as no doubt in other places we have had the most wonderful experience of community and God. In Ignatian Spirituality, in the reflective exercise, as we look back on the day or the past week, it is important that we let the good rise to the surface of the mind, and to see the goodness of God in our life. We can look back over this year and clearly see the goodness of God in the life of this community. From that goodness, we can draw strength and encouragement, not pride or arrogance, and a sense of journey, achievement and the grace of God. 3

4 As you know, I asked people who had undertaken a pilgrimage to or write to me about their experience. Let me take a moment to share some of what was shared with me and let this testimony speak for itself. Listen for God in these experiences: Of Iona: I really wasn t sure if I could cope with the long journey never mind leaving the security of home! [Yet] Looking over to the beautiful.abbey church from the ferry is a moment I will NEVER forget. Sharing rooms and working together (patience sometimes needed!) [yet] afterwards [a real desire to hold] on to the vision of seeing God in everyone we meet [and] continuing to care actively about injustice and poverty. The great St Martin s Cross guards our entrance to the Abbey. Its Celtic pattern denotes the intertwining of Heaven and Earth, we have arrived at the thin place, the start of our spiritual journey. [And a question:] Will commitment to prayer and daily devotion, to the causes of peace and justice, and to accounting for my use of time and money grow and flourish? From a group of strangers brought together in a holy place we became a community of friends..eating, working, walking, talking, singing, praying and listening in the candlelit Abbey to Jesus message. On Iona, there was, as is the tradition, an opportunity for taking part in an evening of entertainment and relaxation, during which each group present is encouraged to do a party-piece. One of our pilgrims wrote: One highlight was being encouraged to be sufficiently uninhibited to don a mop-head wig and wield a loo-brush and toilet roll baton while conducting the Mayfield Salisbury choir (ad hoc!) in an inspiring rendering of the well-known musical song, A pilgrim s lot is a very 4

5 happy one. It might be some time before a group from Mayfield Salisbury can go back to Iona. The final experience I want to mention from Iona was linked to Peter Millar s sermon. Of pilgrimage, Peter spoke of Yearning, Risk, Enlargement of heart, Surprise and Healing. In one of his books, Seeds for the Morrow, Peter cites this Hasidic Tale: How can we determine the hour or dawn, when the night ends and the day begins? asked the Teacher. When from a distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep suggested one of the students. No, was the answer. Is it when one can distinguish between a fig tree and a grapevine? asked a second student. No. Please tell us the answer, asked the students. It is, said the wise Teacher, when you can look in the face of a human being and you have enough light to recognize in him your brother, in her your sister. Up till then it is night and darkness is still with us. What a beautiful story for yearning, risk, enlargement of heart, surprise and healing! 5

6 Of St Andrews, appreciation was expressed for the interaction between ages from both morning congregations, together on pilgrimage and, at St Andrews as elsewhere, the gift of revisiting a place which was first encountered years ago. Of the Bield in Perthshire, one pilgrim wrote: While walking at the Bield, I experienced a heightened awareness of the physicality of my personal space. I ran my hands through the soft new leaves of a beech hedge, ruffling them. My fingers explored the dry, cracked, irregular bark of a pine. I grasped the top of a low wall. The stones were rough, scratchy, undulating, but between were cushions of cool, damp, velvety moss. Beneath my feet were pebbles. I picked one up. It was smooth, warm from the sun. Quite suddenly, I became acutely aware of an enveloping wholeness beyond the tactile. I was held. I was safe. The moment passed, but the certainty remained. At the Bield, we used the Old Testament story of Jacob wrestling with God and Jacob placing a stone saying, Surely the LORD was in this place. Stones were given out and the group were encouraged to think about the Presence of God. One pilgrim wrote, I still carry the stone we got to choose around with me and holding it allows a speedy return to that sense of calm. Finally, more general comments about pilgrimage: Practising [the] presence of God turns [a] taxi ride to a holy place in garden or church hall into a pilgrim journey..silences in God s presence together seemed to deepen. 6

7 Made aware of my own frailty and being stripped of my church mask meant that encounters with the Garden pilgrims felt more tender and embracing. I have felt enriched by the various pilgrimages journeying with others, being quiet together, feeling part of the long line of silence-seekers in what is now a very noisy world. Altogether a most enjoyable year and one that has increased my meditative qualities and ability to be quiet and thoughtful alone in the presence of God. I ve said before that humility means being able to acknowledge the gifts and strengths of others without feeling jealous or wishing them ill. Humility also means acknowledging our gifts and strengths without feelings of pride or selfimportance. Rightly, we can say this has been a good year for us and we have done well, but what of the future? Surely, we must try to maintain this precious sense of being a pilgrim people? Since the Reformation, and for understandable reasons, belief became associated with doctrines. Belief was principally about right thinking. Doctrines more than hinted at truth about God; they became truth about God, in some cases, absolute truth concerning God. In a post-enlightenment, sceptical world that approach will not hold water. In a multi-faith world that will not hold water. The Franciscan friar, Richard Rohr, says that organized religion created fast-food religion, a religion of philosophical systems and rules, which do not satisfy. Spiritual things, he says, always have a character of mystery, seeming contradiction, awesomeness, invisibility, or a kind of impossibility about them. He says, that transformation of self or transformation of 7

8 consciousness, in other words, experience of God, is what is needed. Without the contemplative mind almost all religious doctrines and dogmas are just silly nonsense, and worse, they are not even helpful to humanity or God! So, what of our future? The Ian McCallum Fund remains in good health and so we hope, I hope, that we will continue to have a passion for pilgrimage. And I hope that here at home we will take to heart that spirit of pilgrimage, a spirit of openness to looking for God in new places. Over the next five minutes or so, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on pilgrimage, perhaps using the photographs in the memento you received when you came in or, if you did embark on a pilgrimage this year, take the time to go back to that place. We will pass round baskets in which there are cards carrying beautiful images and a sentence on the back. Take your time, choose a card, pass on the basket, and sit in this sacred space with that card, you in community, alone with God. John will play some music, perhaps use the music to meditate, but let us without embarrassment sit for five or six minutes, be still, look back, remember God s goodness, and may be think forward about your spiritual journey. Amen. 8

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