Communion at the Sea of Galilee
I’m not sure one can ever be “post pilgrimage” which is the beauty of this experience, I suppose. I find myself answering the inevitable question, “how was your trip?,” with three words that cannot even begin to capture my two weeks: it was amazing.
I began this journey with the words of Herman Haggedorn – keep open, oh keep open, my eyes, my mind, my heart but what became so formative for me throughout the journey in Galilee were the words from the song we sang as we “cruised” the Sea of Galilee – Jesus draw me close, closer Lord to you. Let the world around me fade away… Wow, did it ever. I had identified what I needed from this journey without even realizing it in my application:
There will always be more that can be done: people to visit, letters to write, staffing situations to resolve, sermons and bulletins to prepare but what must happen first is the nurturing of my own relationship with the God who has called me to this place.
I was given the gift of making that connection anew. On our first full-day in the Galilee, Deb (a Lutheran pastor from the Atlanta area) begain reading from Matthew 14:13 now when Jesus heard this… The tears welled up as I realized that I was here… my feet were on the land, I was breathing the air and I there was nothing I HAD to do other than be.
Each day was filled with new connections – with my own soul, with the biblical text as it literally came to life as we walked in Holy places (more the land than the churches that have been built to mark them), with pilgrims whose paths we crossed each day (a group from Nigeria became our “choir” as they would often be singing), with the fellow pilgrims in my group (I haven’t laughed and cried that much in a long time!) – it was an experience that will live within me and shape me for years to come.
I really don’t think the CF Foundation will ever fully understand how transformative this gift is and will be for me.
On the plane to Atlanta there was a quote from John Steinbeck that captured the experience: A journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you can control it. It was a reminder to me that I didn’t need to be in control – and I was surprised how easily I gave that up. The synchronicity of watching this man on the plane get so worked up with one of my fellow pilgrims as he listened to his IPOD while we were taxiing and wanting to control him was a not-so-gentle nudge that I do the same darn thing in so many ways. And here I was on a trip where I didn’t have to control others!
Nancy shared a poem with us before we left that concluded with these words:
For each of us there is a desert to travel
A star to discover
And a being within ourselves to bring to life
The gift of life – it can indeed happen without returning to the womb.
There are more musings to bring to life, including some thoughts about the political strife that you breath and live when walking through Jerusalem. Those are for another time.
Oh, and the pictures will eventually be on our smugmug site. Stay tuned!
