On Pilgrimage! Heb.12: 18-24, 28-29; Luke 13: 10-17 Glendora UMC! August 14, 2016 In Elizabeth Gilbert s book, Eat, Pray, Love, we get to look in on her travels and here journey into 3 different cultures. With absolutely no experience and driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl Strayed hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. She is a woman who has lost all hope and through her memoirs and movie, we find that in her journey she finds healing. * No matter what you think of the book or the movie, you have to admit we are intrigued by seeing how other people take on a quest for answers to life s spiritual questions. Heb. 12: 18-24, 28-29; Luke 13: 10-17 Many people throughout time and around the world have gone on a pilgrimage - they have taken a journey of great moral significance. Pilgrim s progress, Canterbury Tales - we hear of those traveling to sacred places, seeking a spiritual path, hoping for a sign from God along the way. And it is sometimes easier to let someone else take the pilgrimage and to read about it or watch it vicariously. To know that someone somewhere is daring to take a journey and to seek what he or she is looking for - well, it s a comfort to know that. It s helpful to see that there are people who may find a way through it all. But well, that won t be us. We re not going to do anything new, go anywhere exotic, or 1
have our old ways challenged. Nope. Not us. Not when the economy is so bad Not when I have to keep my Dr appointments Not while my kids are in school No I m not taking any spiritual journey right now Not while I m not sleeping well Not while I m this worried Not until the world settles down a little more No, when the world gets scary And when we sense way too many changes happening all at once People tend to choose comfort we chose routine We opt for the familiar and try to minimize the changes We seek surety and predictability We pull in tight and we rely on the rules to keep us safe We embrace our rules and regulations and make them the central thing We aren t the first to do this We can see this taking place in our gospel reading for today In the gospel of Luke, Jesus is in the synagogue worshipping with others on the Sabbath There is a woman there - a woman who has been bent over a for 18 years Jesus heals this woman And the leader of the synagogue - criticizes him The leader points to Jesus and tells all those around him that he has committed blasphemy He has broken the rules He has done an act of work on the Sabbath 2
Now go back with me to Mt Sinai where Moses received the law from God and where the 10 commandments where handed down There is one of those commandments that says to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy - and that you shall do no work on the Sabbath Yes the rule is there no work on the Sabbath But the leader of the synagogue - when faced with such a miraculous healing - did not rejoice in her cure but held rigid to the rules For this leader, the rules became the central thing Where as Jesus has to remind him and those listening that the commandments are there to help us remember that the central thing is actually our adoration of God and our relationship with those around us All of the laws given on Mt Sinai and after are there to point us to God and to help us to draw closer to God and to live in charity with our neighbors But when faced with a miracle When faced with a change in the unknown When faced with Jesus, this leader chooses to cling to the rules rather than to the revelation In our gospel we hear of a woman who for 18 years has could only see her feet, the street. She was in the synagogue She could not see Jesus that day It was he who saw her 3
What a gracious savior we have who see us in our need and calls to us without our even having to lay eyes on him When we - each of us or as a group - find ourselves only looking at the next step because we are caught up in staying safe, keeping with what we know, trying to take the safe steps the steps we can see When you are only looking at your feet you tend to only go where you have been before the path you recognize And then you miss what is around You can t see the other things God is doing And when Jesus sees us And tells us we are set free from whatever is keeping us from walking upright spiritually upright We hope we will have the grace to thank Jesus rather than to complain that he broke our routine and we can no longer see only the safe, predictable path And when Jesus sees someone else and straightens them out and sets them free may we be gracious in our joy rather than complaining that Jesus didn t do it the way we think is was supposed to be done The journey of life can be taken on the same road, the same path, and the same routine each day It can be kept to the same circle of friends the same restaurants; the same stores the same streets It can be kept to the same prayers, the same ideology, the same politics -- Each day The journey of life can be predictable or it can be pilgrimage It can be safe or it can be seeking 4
It can be about the rules or it can be about the relationships It can be about Jesus or it can be with Jesus Christ Each time we come to worship Each time we park in practicality the same spot, sit in the same pew Greet the same friends We can follow the order and walk our way through worship seeing where our feet are used to going, see the familiar path Or we can allow Jesus to call us in the midst of worship and to free us from what ever is holding us down in fear, in worry Free us from addictive patterns Free us from complacency tens of thousands walk or cycle the Camino de Santiago every year in an epic journey of 500 miles. El Camino de Santiago de Compostela (The Way of St. James) is a net of routes across Spain and Europe which all lead to Santiago de Compostela, in the northwest of Spain. In the Middle Ages, these routes were walked as a pilgrimage to the tomb of the apostle St. James. ** Jesus knows that we cling to comfortable familiarity when we re stressed and when we are tired and when we are fearful But that does not keep Jesus from being Jesus and calling our names and shaking up our routine Jesus calls us to remember what is central what is the Way, the Truth, the Life the love of God and living in charity with our neighbors 5
There is a story about two traveling monks who reach a river where they meet a young woman. Wary of the current, she asks if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitates, but the other quickly picks her up onto his shoulders, transports her across the water, and puts her down on the other bank. She thanks him and goes on her way. As the monks continue on their way, the one is brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he speaks out. "Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!" "Brother," the second monk replies, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her." It is in the journey that we find salvation, for journey is the a primary way God operates We discover in the scriptures that of God relating to us through journey - The story of creation stretches over the period of a holy week - the act of creating is as important to God as what God creates God walked before the people of Israel as they traveled 40 years through the wilderness - And in that journey a group of people who where once no people were now the people of God The journey of God's people has included the twists and turns that come when God and God's ways are forgotten 6
The journey of God's people has included such high mountain top experiences as the coming of the spirit in power at Pentecost And can be traced through the small dark stable and down into the valley of the shadow of death Our life is a journey. We travel through this world; we encounter each day, have forks in the road, and have traveling companions. Our life as God's people makes it a spiritual journey. Each day we are on pilgrimage. We have chosen to travel God's path. We have asked God to show us the way, to guide our very steps and to walk with us day and night. To journey as a Christian is to walk into lion's dens, walk the road less traveled to walk the second mile it is to walk on the way to Jerusalem with Jesus, it is to walk out of the tomb with Jesus leading the way. The journey of God's people has always included, even when denied, even when forgotten, even when discounted, The journey includes the presence of God God journeys with us - the journey is times of celebration and joy and God is there - The journey is seasons of wandering in the wilderness and God is there 7
- The journey is being ridiculed, spurned, and hated for Christ's sake - and God is there - The journey is everyday wants and needs, cares and hopes, the little bits that add up to our lives - and God is there And God is there, urging us to keep up the pace, carrying us when we cannot go another step, feeding us and protecting us. God is on the journey, too. The journey brings with it glimpses of the destination - the journey itself tells us what the homecoming is like The journey carries with it what we will find waiting for us We will find a Zion a holy city of God Where God is central Where the heavenly Jerusalem contains the spirits of those faithful who have gone before us - Where the is no darkness at all -- Where there are no more tears any more fears Not only do we have the promise of being led on a saving journey by God, out of our own places of exile, loss, where we are beyond despair We too can sing for joy and sing songs of praise because the vision of a rescue is ours also - God is gathering us up as well And this rescue, this salvation will take the form of our life journey. God will find those of us who had been taken away as prisoners - captives to time, money, demands, fear, and addictions - God will find those of us who have been missing in action, separated, not knowing if we would ever see be loved again 8
- God will seek out those of us who are shell shocked, we who have seen all the atrocities of neighbor fighting against neighbor - God will gather up all of us whose hopes have been dashed into little pieces -God will rescue and release us, we who thought we would never see our freedom again -God will restore the promise of the covenant and will lead us on our journey back to the holy kingdom of God This God is poised to do This God will provide All this is waiting for us as we take the journey As we straighten our bent backs, As we lift our eyes As we raise our heads Even before we see Jesus clearly Knowing that he desires for us a release from Our path of routine The default position of our own making Created through our fear By religious predictability By our upbringing By our own calculations By our need for comfort Jesus knows that as we travel this road of life We have places to go and people to see and things to do And we have so much to do 9
We don t have much time, energy, or inclination for much else The general rule in life seems to be The easiest way to go Is to go the way you already know And yet the very presence of Jesus in this life shakes our routine, shatters our predictability and calls us to move - move in new directions, new ways And with new people and experiences So that when we come across people in our lives We see them Not as obstacles but as opportunities That we see them not as problems but as people That we see them not as needy but that we see ourselves as neighbors That we can see beyond the rule to the revelation So that we can grow beyond comfort and into the comforting Starting on the journey begins when we allow God to begin to change our hearts to change our focus from our priorities to God s priorities when we recognize that we are able to leave our well-worn paths behind due to the grace of Jesus Christ who walks the road with us who comes to us in our needs, who provides us with saving grace so with the love of God whose way is compassion we are given the opportunity through the grace of Christ to have our hearts moved, converted and we are given power from the Holy Spirit to keep from falling back into those seemingly safe and comfortable ways 10
so that we may love our neighbor that we may help a wounded person to see that they have access to medical care to see that have somewhere safe to live to bring meals to those who are unable to care for themselves to do some hands on work to touch to minister to to pay our apportionments and mission covenants so that our money can go far in it potential for compassion to be politically active so that we can deal with the roots of problems to use the current system to make compassion happen for all people to answer God s call to be in ministry to be in ministry all along the journey putting our feet on a new path - putting our faith into action it is by being on the journey, our spiritual journey that we find our self-esteem our happiness, it is on the journey that we give and receive love it is on our spiritual journey that we become praying people by praying that we become intimate with the Bible by the very process of study and reflection That we who name ourselves after the Christ become Christians by walking the journey on the way with Christ 11
A teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas Day. A young boy in the class listened carefully as the teacher explained "The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other," she said. When Christmas Day came, the boy brought the teacher a seashell of lustrous beauty "Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell? The teacher asked. The youth told her that there was only one spot where such extraordinary shells could be found - a certain bay several miles away. "Why, why it's gorgeous" said the teacher "But you shouldn't have gone all that way to get a gift for me." His eye brightening, the boy answered, "The long walk is part of the gift." The long walk is part of the gift. Thanks be to God ++++ IMDB.com ** http://www.caminosantiagodecompostela.com/ *** tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pa_kza8eco **** the Cairn footsteps make the path 12