Pilgrimages as Portals

 The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Dedham, Massachusetts

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

I am grateful for your rector’s invitation to be with you this morning at St. Paul’s in Dedham. Both in real time and virtually! I have a special place in my heart for parishes named St. Paul; and your rector and I share some commonalities. We are both relatively new to the diocese of Massachusetts; we love to take pilgrimages and, like some of you, we have shared the experience of walking on the Camino to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Most recently Melanie and I continued our education in a preaching course called Deep Calls to Deep.

One of the things that I have learned over time, through prayer and pilgrimages and life, is to pay attention to what the Spirit is saying to me. It’s how I continue to take a pilgrimage every day, one step at a time, one walk at a time, one day at a time. Spiritual pilgrimages are life long, even when we don’t leave home, or our chairs, or even our beds! Virtual worship is how the Spirit speaks to us from one deep place to another, and pilgrimages are portals to the Holy. 

The Spirit will “look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom secretly,” claimed the author of Psalm 51.Now I am always tempted to talk about how Nathan the prophet confronted King David about his sins. Or to talk about Jesus as the bread of life. Except, the Spirit called me from the Deep and invited me to reflect upon the letter to the Ephesians. Specifically, what does it mean to lead lives worthy of our calling?

My HarperCollins Study Bible tells me that scholars actually believe that St. Paul did not write this letter. Rather, they think that it may have been one of his disciples who penned it after St. Paul’s death. They also believe that the letter was not sent to any one church in particular but was a general letter written to all churches, specifically to the gentiles. Unlike today, where hate violence appears to be on the rise, there was no singular event, crisis, or occasion that precipitated this letter. 

 Another shift in the letter to the Ephesians is about sin. When we listen deeply to the Spirit, we often are able to acknowledge some truths about ourselves, where we have erred and strayed like lost sheep, how we have fallen off the path of righteousness, and how we can begin to understand a situation or people in new and different ways. Whereas, previously, sin was seen as a hostile power, coming from God or evil spirits, from one country or king against another, now sin was being viewed as individual trespasses. Sin was against God; and their removal was by God. The author of the letter to the Ephesians reminds us that in Christ our sins are forgiven.

The author of Ephesians did have a purpose. He stresses that since the gentiles are now “in Christ” they are no longer aliens to anyone. During these current times throughout our country and our world, it seems to me that we are in times of alienation - alienation within ourselves, and from God, and from one another. I think that the pandemic, sheltering in place, and wearing masks, as necessary as they are, have increased these feelings of alienation. And while virtual worship has helped people connect with one another, we long for real human contact and conversation.

I love pilgrimages and have gone to South Dakota, Ireland, Rome, Israel, and Spain in search of drawing closer to God and to other people. When I walked part of the Camino to Santiago de Compostela, I was in a time of transition from Connecticut to Massachusetts, from a settled cure in parish ministry to being a “free agent in Christ.” Walking helped heal my feelings of alienation, and restored my soul to wholeness. The Spirit spoke truth deep within me, and made me understand wisdom secretly. Walking helps me to discern God’s call for me at any moment in time. 

Recently I accepted a call to serve on the steering committee for the Friends of the Anglican Pilgrim Centre in Santiago de Compostela. After Jerusalem and Rome, Santiago is considered to be the third holiest pilgrimage site in Christendom; and yet it is currently without a welcome center. Thank you so very much for your past support of the vision of the Bishop of the Spanish Episcopal Church. He wrote, “I envision an ecumenical place that would offer hospitality, learning, healing, hope and love to pilgrims at the end of their journey across Spain.” Your rector’s testimony and your picture with the bishop can now be found on their new website as they reboot their capital campaign to purchase a building for this Pilgrim Centre. (www.anglicancentresantiago.org)

People walk the Camino for all sorts of reasons; and people attend churches similarly. I’ve heard recently that the primary reason people attend church is that they want to become better human beings; they seek a community where they can connect with God and with others, and find ways to lead lives ‘worthy of their calling.’ Eugene Peterson wrote the words of the letter to the Ephesians in this way: “In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk- better yet, run! - on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want any of you strolling down a path that goes to nowhere.”

In an article written by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson in Christian Century (July 28, 2021) entitled “Hungry for Physical Places”, he writes, “I’ve come to regard pilgrimage as a journey with a holy purpose to a place of spiritual significance. Walking on pilgrim paths for days allows us to leave our psychological baggage and mental distractions behind, opening inner space for probing questions amidst changing landscapes. Questions like Why am I who I am where I am?” 

We are invited every day to be healed and transformed by God whose mission is one of restoration, reconciliation, and re-creation. To that end, every day we are invited to be on a pilgrimage, listening to the Spirit deep within us, acknowledging our sins, gaining new perspectives, and redirecting our lives. 

What does this letter mean for me and perhaps for you today? While world-wide circumstances may be very different from the time of Jesus, or when the author of Ephesians wrote this letter, some truths remain. Remember that this letter was sent not to any one church in particular but was a general letter written to all churches. Honoring the covenants that we make at our baptisms, we can lead lives worthy of our calling.

In these times of COVID 19, with the Delta variant surging, travel is now being cautioned once again, especially in areas where the vaccination rate is low and hot spots remain. And yet pilgrimages can be made right outside your door. Walk your neighborhood looking for signs of God’s presence and invitation. What part of God’s creation needs restoration? And how can you help with your time, talents, and treasure to further God’s mission of reconciliation? When we pay attention to the Spirit of God calling us from the deep, we may not be sure of our destination, but we can be assured of God’s companionship along the way.

Then with humility, gentleness, and patience we can be kind to one another and not critical. We can bear the transgressions of others with love by loving others as Christ loved us. We can walk, maybe even run on our own pilgrimages, playing the bit parts that each of us is called to play in being agents of God’s transformative love. Pilgrimages are portals to God’s healing grace; and the Spirit will guide us along the Way.

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.