Resting now with some closing thoughts

I have been meaning to create one more post for a few days but I have found that I am not in the state of mind to be "working".  Good thing really, my soul wishes to be at rest.  We have been in Madrid now for three days and have been shopping and seeing the sights.  The palace real is beyond opulent.  The palace is the prototype for all things opulent and spainish.   Madrid itself is quite something, most buildings are public art.  The guide books tell you to look up because many buildings have statues and cravings on the roof and walls.   

The shopping is quite something and I have been relaxed enough to just wander and let it happen.   Yesterday we went to open air market, the largest in Spain.   Clothing was purchased.     

Before we left Santiago we attended the pilgrims mass.  We took our own advise and sat down 45 minutes early to assure we had a seat.    It was amazing that at 11:55 people would come to the front and look for seating.  Really did they think that there would empty seats five minutes before the start at the front?   They often looked surprised.   The mass, of course, was in spainish and I only caught a few words here and there.  I was able to watch closely the priests manner of preaching since I understood little of what he said.  It was an interesting exercise.   The liturgy for the mass itself was easier for me since I knew which part was next. I yearned to go forward and recieve but non Roman Catholics weren't premitted to recieve.  

There was two observations I gained from the expereince.  One was how foriegn worship seems to someone with no exeperience of the church,   It must be like listening in a language you don't know.  When do you stand, when do you sit, do you go forward to partake....     However, my second point is this, at the end of the service the priest stepped outside the liturgy to offer a blessing to the pilgrims.   He turned to his many colleges behind him and ask them to raise their hands in a blessing as well.  It was an authentic moment and nearly moved me to tears.  Suddenly I felt included and I could feel the true desire to bless.  The church puts up barriers of language and behaviour that may cause many folks to feel shy and detached but an authentic moment can still reach through all social barriers.  

The chancel, from our best seats in the place.  

One interesting aspect of the Cathedral in Santiago is that it has a Celtic flavour.  Swills and curves.  Looking closely at the columns I noticed spirals of colours.  Also there far less emphasize on the crucifixion.   There were few pictures or sculptures of Jesus on the cross.  

Notice in the above picture that the Crosses on the top of the cathedral.  They bare. 

But as I indicated above we are now in Madrid. We have visited the royal palace, the Cathedral, the Zoo, and the park with the crystal palace,  Oh and the shopping district and the open air market.   I suppose you may think I am going to make a comparison between the commercialism of the City to the spirituality of the Camino.  It certianly is there and would offer a rich source of commentary, however, that is too easy a target. Rather what stuck me was the historical opulence of the city.  The royal palace was mostly created in the time of Ferdinand and Isobel and it out shown the cathedral and the rest of Spain.  It is reflective of the immense wealth being taken from the Americas.  Beyond the glitter and extravagance is the multitude of personal glorification.  Throughout the City there are statues of historical figures often on horses towering over the square below.   Ego seemed to, have ruled the world, particularly when there was an abundance of wealth.

 Yet all this ego and wealth left a city full of amazing public art.  In Madrid one most keep one eyes up to see the art on the buildings. 

This was in the middle of the park just because.   It was blazing hot day. 

The below image is from the staircase in the palace, we weren't premitted to take photos in the main rooms of the palace. 

But enough of this rambling.  We have had five days in Madrid and at first we thought this was too much time but now I feel that it is good to be very ready to return home to the busyness and the familar. Even if that familar is new and requires set up as it does for us.  We know that more time before September beginnings would only have meant more planning, more fussing and more work.  With less time to get organized then the work is less for the same accomplishments.  We return to a move, an ailing loved one, two or three grant applications, September start up at the church, plans for a special joint worship with our neighbouring congregations, a major renovation project at the church, the need for a stewardship and capital drive, and a have in my heart a deeper passion for an authentic ministry particularly in spiritual healing and a deep desire to see my people.  

The trip has been a blessing and I sure has changed me in ways I have yet to discover.   Peace to all. 

Nearer the Sacred Destination.

We are now only a few days from Santiago de Compostella.  A number of folks we meet along the way have arrived already and we think few are still behind us.  Because we have done a few short days we are experiencing a whole new set of pilgrims each day.  The Canadian family we met yesterday have moved on. They began in Sarria and hope to get to Santiago in four days.  Our American friends from Santiago cal. are a full day ahead of us now, although we get the occasional email.  She is hunting for a particular ice cream treat.  Our pace changes the experience but we promised ourselves not to get caught up in the stress and pace of others.  

After all of the wisdoms of the Camino is that "the right pace is your pace."  In other words listen to your own body and don't let ego needs or perceived social obligation push you beyond your capacity.  Good wisdom to remember in life. 

Now that we are well within the last 100km there are far more pilgrims and everything is busier.  At times we saw groups of 15 to 20 pilgrims walking together.  In the last two days we were rarely walking out of sight of other pilgrims.  Occasionally when there was a village with a few bars, pilgrim traps to capture the pilgrims, we might have a break from the crowds.   The walk is different now.  Reservations are necessary for the following nights and albergues want confirmation calls if we might arrive after two. The pilgrimage is taking on some of the stresses of life and I find that I am unhappy with the change.  

Part of this change in my reflective mood may also be that the end of the journey is near.  However in order to be truly ready to return home one must be tried of the journey.  When this happens then Home becomes a sacred destination as well and in a way Home becomes pilgrimage as well.   There is a another layer to this for us.  While walking we have decided that we will rent our condo to a friend serving a church in our area and we will move out to Abbotsford.  Soon after this decision a friend in the congregation, who has allow us use the basement suite in her rental house, sent us a message to say the the main floor of the house is available for rent as of sept.1st if we are interested.  So in fact our pilgrimage doesn't end in the home we left but in the task of creating a new home.   

The pilgrimage of the church, from what was to what is yet to be, is like that as well.  We would like all the necessary changes to lead us to a defined destination but the journey doesn't end at some sacred location.  The  pilgrimage, in the final stage, is always to home but like our situation a new home has to be created.  The church home many of us grew up with is know longer available and our new home won't be the same as that imagined past.   The destination of the churches pilgrimage isn't the part of the journey that is sacre rather it is the journey as co,minty that created the sacred moment and sacred event.  It like climbing the steep hill and arriving at the top only to see another climb and more journey.

Here in spain the Church is greatly depreciated from its former position in society.  The evidence of past influence is in the cathedrals but even more so in the central placement of the church in every village, town or city.  The centre of the community is always the location of the church.  In most communities the church bells still chine on the hour, half hour and every 15 minutes. Through these bells the church guided the daily lives of the people.   When to rise in the morming, when to eat, time for the afternoon siesta or time for dinner.  In the few masses I have attended there has been a gathering a few dozen local people.  Now the more influencial religion of Spain seems to be football.  Every newspapers, every tv news cast includes the daily update of trades, scores highlights and commentary and every third man or boy is wearing a team shirt.  The football stars have replaced the Saints.  

In most of our communities in BC the church didn't ever have this same role. Yet we still have unspoken expectations about what the church should be.  Just as I find I have expectations of what the daily pilgrimage should be, based on our first 25 days of walking.  This being our second times we knew that as of Sarria the character of the walking and the community of the pilgrims would change.   However I find I miss the way it was a week or so ago.  The church isn't what it was and can't be what it was.  Th journey is forward not backwards. 

The wisdom of this for our personal journeys is apparent in our habit of romaticizing the past.   We might yearn for our childhood home, or the quiet and safe community we grew up in. Or we idealize a past relationship, job, or situation.   We may know that we are on a journey to home but not realize that that home is new and different and that I fact it has to be.  It is not that the old home was necessarily flawed rather we have changed and the old home would not "fit" our souls any longer.   

So we walk the final 53km over the next three days and will arrive into Santiago early in the morning.  This piece of our sacred journey will be closed but pilgrimage doesn't end with a fancy document and collection of pictures rather journey doesn't end until we rest in God, in completion, in joy and in union. Walk on friends.   Blessings on th journey,   Bill

Connections and meetings.

Over and over again we run into folks we have seen in the past.  One wouldn't think this is unsual since we are all of the same trail but a moving object will more likely bumb into a stationary object rather than a moving obese.  A clock which is stopped twice a day reports the correct time.  A clock running fast will not report the correct time until it has caught up 12 hours.   Our meeting of camino friends seem to be less random and more intentionally planed by the universe.  In Ponferreda on our rest day, early one morning we text a family we had met a week earlier to tell them where we were.  We then headed out to a street market and as we entered the main plaza the mom and two daughters entered the far side.   We greeted each other with joy and a little amazement.  What were the chances that we would be the plaza just as they entered the city? There was only a 15 minute window of,there time in the city. 

This sort of thing happened to us a number of times and others reported to us the same experience.  In Pintin, the tiniest of villages which few people stop, we were sitting down to dinner and our friends from Santiago Cal. sat down to in the chairs right next to us.   They took a rest day to recover and we carried on.  This morning as we left our albergue they appeared around the corner.    We walked them the rest of the day. 

But it is more than just chance meetings that seems divinely initiated.  Over and over again we have heard stories of people meeting just who they needed to meet just when they needed it.  The Catalonia who met a surgeon who cared for his terrible blisters and gave wise advise to rest unless he risk losing his toe.  The pilgrim who met someone from their home country just when they needed it the most.  Our own expereince meeting our German friend who needed care and compassion just when we needed a clear reason to pause. The pilgrims who showed up around a corner when we thought we might be off the Camino.  We were on an alternative route with no markers and they were just as confused as we were but together we found our confidence and our way.  

I think these sort of "coincidences" happen all the time in our lives but we miss them or take them for granted.  I have often said that for a person of faith there are no coincidences, rather there is faith and mystery.  When we needed the distraction of new conversation today, our two friends appear and our day rushed by; 18km in no time.  Just a coincidence or gift from the divine.  

I also think these sorts of happenings occur for churches all the time as well and the role of the spiritual leaders within the congregation is to point them out.  When we miss the subtle intervention of the Holy One we miss opportunities to nurture the collective faith of the community. Missing the gift misses the mission.  Missing the gift impoverish our souls.  Disregarding, missing, or explaining away,the serendipitous events starves our souls of sustenance.  

On the Camino our souls are fed because we can feel the spiritual hunger.   A well fed soul gives one strength to endure the climbs of life.  At the end of today's walk a very steep set of stairs welcomed us into town.   With today's nourishment we walked quickly up the steps and took a picture.   Life is good even when there are steep inclines ahead.   

Mist and rain

The last two days have offered us mist and rain plus a long climb to the 1250 meters high alto pollo.  We had short day and nice stay in Los Herriros before powering up a 600 meter climb.  A good breakfast and a good nights sleep makes all the difference in the world.

Throughout that day of climbing the mist would change to rain and we would slowly get wetter and then with a break our clothes would dry out.  Our first day of mist and rain ended in the village of Pintin at very welcoming Albergue. We had a private room with a tub for 26€.  The village was essentially in the middle of a dairy farm with the expected smell and mess on the road.  However the room was quiet, clean and had a heater to dry our clothes.  

Walking in the mist for most of two days offers a different perspective on the surroundings.  The world is closed in.  A fellow pilgrim would pass us or we them and 10 meters later we would be alone once again.  The character of the sounds change in the close in mist.  The low of the cattle drifts from all sides.  The bells on their necks clang in the distance but the source was nearly impossible to determine.  The mist seems to embrace us.  I found that I watched the placement of my feet more perhaps because there was no view to admire.  The world became smaller.  Without the larger perspective of the path before us we had to trust path we could see and just keep walking into the mist. 

This was particularly true since we had lost our map book the previous day.  The way is marked at each junction with a marker or a yellow arrow. Sometimes when there has been no new signs after walking 30 minutes or so, our pace would slow and doubt would set in.  We would start looking for any signs or evidence that we were on the right path.  A well worn path, pilgrim litter, other pilgrims, a faded yellow arrow and then when a marker is seen we have a sense of relief, and unspoken anxiety disappears.  Since we had walked the Camino once before often our evidence was our own memory.  

In the mist the small hidden world of a path speaks to the heart of loneliness and solitude.   This is reflects a common human spiritual quest.   Do we walk alone in this world or do we walk in community? Both are evident on the Camino: solitude and community.  Loneliness is the first fear of life.  An infant may cry for hunger or discomfort or pain.  All of these are dealt with external help.  Food is provided, the source of discomfort or pain is removed but when a baby cries in the night for comfort because it is alone, the help comes in the form of someone who brings love, but it isn't the giving of love that alleviates the loneliness rather it is the receiving of the love.  Hence not everyone can comfort the child, the mother or father is needed.  Someone the child knows and trusts.  Our whole life we seek to receive what our heart needs to end the loneliness.  Love may abound in the world, from family and friends and from the divine but will we receive it?  Will we let our hearts receive the love that heals our loneliness?  Will we recognize the voice of our loving Creator?  Will we pause in our cry of loneliness to listen to the comfort offered by the divine within the world? 

Mostly in our lives we seek to end the loneliness with alternatives.  Entertainment and distractions to keep us from realizing our status.  Busyness and accomplishments to trick us into think we don't need others rather that material processions and ego gratification can replace love.   In the mist, on a long path, the truth is clear; we need community.  One of the pilgrim blessings I spoke of in an earlier post is: "blessed is the pilgrim that realizes it not that you arrive at the end of the path, but who who arrive with."   There is no true alternative to loving community, family, and friends.  The need of our human souls require divine love expressed in relationship with other loving beings.   In the mist this truth is clear. 

In the Camino Mist

My world collapses in the drifting white mist

I am alone, as I was at first

The path wanders ten meters forward and ten to the back 

Sounds of poles click and clack

 A pilgrim appears passes by and is lost.

I am alone on the misty path. 

We walk side by side,

         without her, have I being?

We talk in silence, sharing the endless moment. 

Nothing imposes, just our foot fall.

Soft chunch, on moistened gravel. 

Then a pathway decision 

          interrupts 

our private world.

In the whiteness,

          loneliness is my only fear.

Alone in the collapsed world my heart opens

Only an empty heart can be ready to receive.

Come to me now blessed One,

 the world has escaped the cage of my heart. 

And Now is my moment on the misty way.

The Iron Cross

We arrived at the Iron Cross at about 10:00 am, and sat down to wait for our opportunity to go the base of the 30 meter pole to leave our stones.  Eventually we each did so and we tried to get a meaningful picture.  However there were a number of spainish men taking multiple photos in their spandex biking suits.   For them it was a photo op while we were trying to have a meaningful spiritual moment.

There are lots of pilgrims on bicycles on the Camino often in couples but there is also many groups of six to ten of spainish men in matching spandex biking shorts. Lots of groups.  It seems that their journey is about a bicycle vacation and isn't about the spiritual pilgrimage.   They rush by and usually have little to do with the pilgrims from various nations.   Because they are on the bikes they aren't meeting people along the way during the day.  They are on vacation following a designated route but not on a spiritual pilgrimage. 

In the church we could possibly design our worship and programming to appeal to the spiritual vacationer.  Use only upbeat music performed by professional musicians, make the spiritual journey easy, and fast, avoid unnecessary relationships, avoid any inconveniences, but in doing so we will be feeding people spiritual pablum, food without substance that requires no chewing.   The church might gain in size but loose its soul in the process.  Many of the big mega churches have followed this route and many have felt the hollowness of this path.

True spirituality nurtures relationship and social and personnel transformation.  True spirituality engages the struggles of life and does not offer short cuts. 

Eventually the biking group left the iron cross and there was a break when no one else arrived.  In that moment the wind gusted at the base of the pile rocks and  created a little twister in the dust.  Our prayers, our letting go, symbolized by our rocks,  were gathered up in the wind of God and taken away.  It was a Pentecost moment.  It was a gift, unlooked for, unexpected, and perfectly timed.  To add to this as we contined on the journey, the path was filled with butterflys, a favourite symbol of transformation.

Three things this event offers for the spiritual journey.  One, sometimes one has to pause and wait for the Spirit to respond.  Sometimes the distraction has to move on before we are ready to see the work of God in our lives.  Two, we need to trust the Holy One to respond when we step forward and follow through on the planned ritual.  Three we must watch for the signs of The Presence in the timelines of the ordinary and the extraordinary. 

Describing this experience does not share the reality.  It is easy enough to explain away both the wind and the butterflys but spiritual meaning comes from the heart.  We give meaning to an experience because or our hopes and our spiritual needs.  

In our lives and in the life of our church, we need to keep our hearts open to the timely intervention of the  Holy One. 

Peace Bill

Pushing through and a Mountain welcome

August  3rd Sunday, one day short of,the iron cross, it was along 26km walk today but the weather was cool and we broken up the walk with early lunch stop in Astorga.  Tomorrow we will reach the ferro crux (iron cross). It sits atop a high pole at an elevation of 1500 meters.  

But just before Astorga on the hill top we were welcomed by David.  He lives in the ruins of an old stone house summer and winter.  Each day he welcomes pilgrims on their way, offering refreshments and food.   It is his ministry.  He has created a shelter beside one of old stone walls and has his bed under the roof the open air.  Imagine the committment to serve in this way.  He takes donations but this is hardly enough to sustain him.   Such committment is perhaps what is missing in our lives.  I not saying we all have go live on a mountian but it is a gift to live ones fully dedicated to your calling and passion.  

We admire people who give so much of themselves for the sake of others.  The Camino is full of stories of people who served beyond what seemed humanly reasonably.  In past centuries they were made saints. Santo Domingo is one example.  But our admiration and the sanctification becomes a means to  excuses ourselves from serving, working or giving to change the world, or even the sacred acts of simple compassion for others.  

It may seem monumental for someone to walk 780 km but while doing the walk it is truly one day at a time.  We aren't walking 780km but 20km today or just 4km between rest points, just a few more steps along the way between each breath.  Keeping this in mind in ines daily life will perhaps keep things in prespective.  Keeping this in mind for the journey of the church will perhaps help to keep the focus today's ministries rather future demise or glory.  

The days that followed were long.  We walked past Astroga to El Ganso in preparation to make our ascent to the Iron Cross.  The next day was 26km over the mountain and took us to Acebo.  There was long hard decent to finish the day.   

The evening gave us a beautiful so sun set viewed from the window of our hostel room. 

In my next post I will share our experience at the Iron Cross.   Bill

Hornets and Moving again

Fun times today with a hornet or two.  Stopping to take sand out of my shoes both Kelly and I were stung by a horent. First Kelly then as I was helping getting an antihistamine and one got me.  I jumped two feet.   Sometimes things just reach out and bite you.  It certianly took my mind off of the blisters on my feet which are much better.  We walked for the last two days, 20 and 21 kilometres which is so satisfying to be back in the waking partnering.  Last night true to form for a Friday night the local community had all night dance party with loud music, 9:00pm to 7:00am.   We had very distrubed sleep.   

But we are walking!  The walking gives us purpose again. The three recovery days were necessary but it was hard to stop our primary purpose.  I wonder if this is the feeling of congregation in  time of transistion.  The primary purpose is paused as the congregation seeks to heal, or seek the path, new or old.  But pausing I the journey requires courage.  Even while I knew that rest days were needed I resisted.  After the fact it is clear that it was the correct decision.  

Then on our second day of walking again we get stung by a hornet!  I could imagine a congregation experiencing the first new steps on a new found path and then giving up because something stung them.  A sacred elder passed, someone steals the office computer, the PA system fails, an essential volunteer moves away or no shows up for the new community outreach ministry or one of a thousand other perceived set backs.  What we discovered in our hornet incident is that we were prepared.  We had antihistamine, and iodine.  We also discovered help was at hand.  Moments later a couple arrived to hear our story and they offered cortisone cream.  Perfect.  I cannot help but think that the Divine Spirit was at play.   Be prepared but be willing to accept help.   Good advise for our pilgrimage, good advice for a church, good advice in life in general.  By the way hornets are even bigger jerks than wasps!

There is something deeply satisfying about walking again.  The purpose part is true and makes sense but there is more to than just a basic purpose. We are on the move, and once again experiencing new things and doing this with our own strength and intelligence. It isn't just purpose it is sastifaction, the pleasure of being good and tired at the end of the day, food tastes better, views are earned and thus more inspiring, and arrivals at the end of the days journey feels like an accomplishment.  Something has been gained.  

There is the reconnection with the moving community.  We met anne set of pilgrims these past two days, each with their own story,but each sharing some of our experiences.  We et a coupe from California starting a years travelling with the Camino.  We met a group six young women from Lithuania.  We met a Spanish man laid up for two days with a nasty blister.  The list goes on.  Our community of fellow, pilgrims expands and we are enriched by the experience.  This reconnection is very much part of the greater meaning of the journey.

Irony and hope.

In the cathedral in Brugos we came across an amazing chapel off the main nave.  The art work was marvellous.  There is an Da Vinci painting of Mary Magdalene.

  It is reminiscent of the Mona Lisa. Opposite this is the alter area of the chapel overlooked by a statue of Saint James on a war horse with sword in hand tramping moors and slicing off heads.  The irony in the scene is the placement to a modern statue of the flogging of Jesus.  The eyes of Jesus communicate sorrow and one can't help but wonder if the true sorrow is the use of his name to glorify violence just above in the figure of st. James.  

I wonder if it was done on purpose or did the Spirit speak in the placement.  

The irony is oblivious but is the same true of our lives and in our church?  If one person is hurting in our community the the irony is there.  On a wider scale:  How many of us live in luxury compared to the rest of the world?  In Canada we worry about 7% unemployment while there is 25% unemployment in Spain.  I walked with local Spanish man out for his morning walk run for a kilometre or two.  He told me he had been unemployed since 2008 and since he had no debt and owned his home he was able to live off savings.   He is fit, intelligent and seemed very capable but there is no work in his region.  

 We might whine about housing prices, and employment in Canada but we have it much better than most of the rest of the world.  Meanwhile our better world isn't shared with all in our communities. On July 31st, the homeless in Abbotsford  were once again  evicted from their camp just blocks from our church and just few hundred steps from the door of my office.  We still have the food banks started in the 1980s. They were suppose to temporary.  

Where is the irony in this?  Well, while we still must give food to the "needy" we have grown our economy and our wealth has multiplied.  New houses our bigger, and modern kitchens are a wonder and today's low end cars were yesterday's luxury cars.  We have improved medical care, food production, houses, cars, highways and transportation, and invented whole new personal information devices but we can't feed the needy, and can't house the homeless.  

More irony: we have more, we know more, we move faster in greater comfort but we aren't happier.

The message of the gospel should answer the irony of our lives.  The teaching of Jesus of Peace and meaning comes from being truly together.  There can be no true peace, no true hope, no true change until we overcome the irony of the wealth and poverty embedded in our cultural system.    Until we let go our ego needs to have more, and control more, we will never have peace.  I have with me two sets of clothing, washing up supplies and few others items, totalling 18 pounds of stuff, with this stuff and the means to purchase food and a bed for the night I have all I need.  

We aren't flogging Jesus, or trampling our enemies in the name of the Jesus but how can we see the suffering in the world and not remember Jesus provocative words; I was thirsty, I was hungry, I was imprisoned, I was homeless, I was alone and you offered nothing.  

Meanwhile we walk the camino and God has seemed to have decided to have us collect people in need.  A lonely one needing friends and a safe place, and a hurting one, almost lame, and needing support and care, an alone one in train station with us for few hours and it goes on, a hospitaller grieving the loss of the hostel,  a hospitaller struggling with a difficult pilgrim, a pilgrim wondering what to do about bed bugs.  The call to compassion is placed before us and is so clear on the pilgrimage where people are challenged and pushed to there limits.   and God joyously laughs as we realize  that there is no vacation from the call of compassion!

In the everyday life that we all live it is so easy to miss the call and forget the desperate need for compassion in everyone's life.   

So the journey continues.  Peace. Bill 

The gift of helping

We have been stopped.  Not in a bad way.  Resting is an opportunity to reflected and heal in all ways.  My littlest toe on my left foot is suffering so we are stopped for the day.  However we are not alone a German woman has paused with us with aweful blister and swollen ankle.  We all went to the clinic yesterday and briefly saw a stressed out doctor, then a very helpful nurse who took very good care and gave us motherly advise.   The spainish health care system is fully public so there was no cost.  Good thing we had all the travel insurance.   So we find ourselves travelling with Michelle from central Germany.   The decision to take a rest day was difflecultly for me.  I wanted to push on through it with stubbornness and strength.  When it was clear that Michelle needed to stop it was easier for me to make the decision.  I felt emotional, vulnerable but her tears helped me to release and let go.   So after a morning nap and soaking my feet the compassion and skill of the nurse was welcome.  

Both Kelly and I were independently feeling that somehow the divine spirit meant us to stay and help Michelle, maybe for her sake and ours.   The Camino opens ones heart up to see the intervention of God in the lives arround you.  Personally I felt that my little toe blister shouldn't have become infected.  It was the smallest of the three blisters I am contending with so maybe between my body demanding rest and Michelle needing our compassion all things have come together. 

The wisdom from this experience for the church is that we should remain open to the gift to offer compassionate ministry.  Something may come our way, or someone, and we should be willing to set aside our plans to respond.   What is the goal of the journey, to gain some great accomplishment, to earn some great honour, or to truly connect with other humans beings, and thus to truly connect with God?  Caring for another pilgrim has given our journey meaning, a new purpose beyond the designation.  "Blessed is the pilgrim who realizes it not the arrival to the destination that counts but who you arrive with that is the blessing."  Most congregations miss the obvious ministries, and callings, that abound in the world arround us.   Often the focus becomes the destination rather than the journey.   Maybe the destination is about the budget or just plain survival, but while all the people of the congregation are emotionally attached to some "crisis" then a suffering lonely pilgrim can walk right by with no one noticing. 

For a number of days we walked with a strong independent woman, she helped others, and was self reliant but she needed company.  Because we walked with her we stayed at a number of inexpensive hostels, including a refuge attached to a church in a small community.  She was the type of person that one would welcome into the church, to serve, to join in and contribute.  In Burgos we needed some extra rest so she went on ahead and we met her in Rabe, 13km out.  In Rabe we met Michelle and as you now know we rested.   Being needed for company, and friendship is lovely but when one is called to offer compassion it becomes Spiritual.  

I think there is a question in there for every congregation, is your ministry about fellowship and community alone or is your ministry about compassion.   A nice social club can meet the needs of fellowship, but feeling your heart ache because  you have been called to be compassionate towards another is a deeper, more purposeful, and maybe even a divine experience.  Likewise the difference between a book club and a book study or bible study with spiritual content.  The group of friends talking about a book they read can be instructive, and can create community.  However the study group who brings the Spirit into the discussion are inviting not only personal change but are invited to respond to the call to serve in the world.   

Meanwhile the hospitality of the local people continues to impress me.  Last evening we had asked our host to call a taxi to shuffle us on to the next stopped on the Camino.   It was posted on the wall that the trip would cost us 60euros.  Instead she found a friend to drive us for 45euros.  Advantageous  for us both.  She enbraced  us all, kissing our cheeks and sent us our way like children off to school.  

Today we rest in Castrosjeriz at a campground with an Albergue (hostel) in the shadow of a fort on hill that is a least 2000 years old.  Tomorrow we will see where the Camino takes us and with whom.

Tomorrow the church will see where the journey takes us and with whom, the journey never ends for the church if there are people of faith with compassion in their hearts. 

Rest and reflection

We are in Burgos at the municliple albergue.  An albergue is, like a hostel.  In our room there are 25 pilgrims.  Some are friends we met along the way, some are odd folks we met at other albergues, some are strangers.  Some of these pilgrims are young adults in their 20s and others are much older us.  But all are pilgrims on the camino, each with there own hopes, goals, and struggles.  

The nationalities represented include  canada, denmark, hungry, Germany, Spain, Italy, United States, Australia, holland, England.  And those are only the ones I am sure of.   The international character of our shared room is indicative of the whole camino.   This is a world wide pilgrimage. 

In the church we often become focused on our internal concerns; budgets, the pastoral need of our people, the building, the interrelationships within the congregation. But in reality we are not a local institution rather we are a World wide movement and family.  The woman who got my attention at the Mass the other day so that I knew to go forward for the pilgrims blessing was my sister. Her concern for my spiritual well being as a pilgrim was a family taking care of each other.  At Trinity Memorial we are fortunate to have Korean sisters and brothers sharing our community with us.  This reminds us that we are not an isolate community but part of something that is found throughout the world.  

We are in Burgos and tomorrow we begin the Mesetta.  It is gruelling two week walk over a hot semi acid grassland.  Few trees and few changes in the contours of the land.  It is a place of spiritual testing as often the personnel issues of life creep into ones thoughts.  Limitations, weaknesses, breakdowns, failures, giving up, struggling through, admitting decline, these can all show up on under the hot messeta sun.

The very same can be said for many of our congregations.  The way through is to except the limitations, weaknesses and not to let the failures and breakdowns to define the journey.  It is not that giving up is not an option rather it is that to give up because your ego is hurt is defeatists.  Give up because you physically are unable to continue but don't give up because you feel weak, or humble.  So too with the church,  a congregation  should never give up because it is humbled by its decline or a shamed of its status, while the people are still dependent on the ministry of the church to do their own mission in the world, then the church has strength and has purpose.  Stay true to the journey not to an ego goal.

We need to rest and recover after walking  for ten days.  Rest is important and critical to staying true to the journey.   Peace Bill 

Rhythm

I was too tired the other day to finish a post I had begun and so I lost a few paragraphs.  I sure it was very wise and interesting but I have been reminded to let go of things, so, so be it.   However I have so e things to reflect on now that may not have occurred to me a few days back.

One is that I can no longer say without considerable thought how long we have been walking.  Whe. I asked Kelly she said "YEARS." Not necessarily in a negative way.  I know that yesterday was Sunday so I guess I could count back from Sunday.  Best way I guess is to say we have been travelling for one week as of tomorrow. 

I attended the Sunday evening mass and had to try to translate the spainish and interpert the RC liturgy.   The second task was easier.   Greeting in the name of theTrinity, passing the peace of Christ, the invitation, the Sanctus, the Lords Prayer, the call for the presence of the Spirit, the benedictions, all were recognizable.   The language of faith and ritual and tradition, which brings me back to the reflection I starts the other day about language and rhythm.   

I have noticed that each language has a rhythm and even having a decent vocabulary without the rhythm of the language you are always a visitor to the language.  The rhythm shows up in folks in behaviour and attitudes as well.   I think I, heard once that language development in a child is more than just learning the langauge changes the brain.  Make sense to me.  

Interestingly I think this applies to church and faith as well.  There is a rhythm to the rituals and traditions of the church.  So even though I couldn't understood most of what the priest said last evening I felt I was part of the gathered people of God.  I knew the rhythm.   The question a church might wish to ask is if the rhythms of the life and worship of the congregation apparent?  Can someone catch on to the pattern?  Or is the rhyyhm so complex or subtle that is hard to find?  This "church rhythm" is not just in the worship but in the whole life of the church. 

Meanwhile the rhythm of life is very apparent on the pilgrimage: the daily pattern of sleeping, packing, eating, walking, eating, washing clothes, eating, and sleeping again,  the rhythm of the steps of the daily walk, the rhythm of the sun rising and setting and the moon rising at night and setting in the morning, and even in the sway for the wheat and flowers in the endless fields along the way. 

All our lives have these rhythms. We live by them and they give our lives meaning.  We see the rhythms in birth and death, and in all our normal mundane activities of life, and even in our bodies, breathing, and the beating of our hearts. 

Meanwhile we walk each day, in each our own way. 

Bill 

News from home

We walked 24 kms today.  Before we started I wouldn't have said that by day three we would be walking over 20k but the walk invites one to take on more than expected.  

 El Magitic Casa. 

Last evening we stayed at an albergue we had really enjoy last time.  The same folks were running the place but they had had to sell the albergue and change things up.   This will be Simone's last season for both her albergue work and her life partnership with Miguel.   She shared her story a bit when we reminded her that we had stay with them two years ago.  They had saved a beautiful old house from destruction.  It was sad to hear of two very hospital and caring people separating and loosing their dream.   Suffering is it part of life and part of the journey.  Of the 7 of us at three were had blisters and feet problems.   One young man was getting his family to send a different pair of shoes to general delivery a few days ahead.   He was also taking a day out to heal.

Meanwhile back home life goes on.

Arriving in Los Arcos, after our 24km walk, I was feeling a little warn out.  My shoulders hurt and my feet were ready for rest.   I checked my email to find a message from my sister.  My mother is in the hospital from a bad reaction to a new prescription drug.  My brother assures me by email that things are under control but still this was one of my concerns for the trip. Stuff happens Life continues just because I am on a pilgrimage doesn't mean the journey doesn't continue for everyone else at home.   

So I surrender my fears and my hopes to the Holy One and let go.  

The pilgrimage doesn't remove one from the trials of life but focuses the meaning, the priorities, the hopes, the fears, and the love.

Of course on a more trivial  note one of my priorities has to be food.  I discovered last time that eggs fried in tasty olive oil is very satisfying after a longs day walk.   It isn't entirely trivial note because food is a very basic need of every human being and there are so many who have to worry about their next meal every day.  Even in your own affluent communities.  Suffering is present all around is but we mostly remain sheltered and separated from it.   Being truly hungry after a long days journey sharpens ones view of the world, add in news from home and life does come in focus.   Imagine how sharp the view of the realities of the world are for the homeless in our community.

Last evening a conversation unfolded about church and attendance and the value of religion.m It often does when I let out that I am a minister.  I heard the views of three of the more talkative in the group but I avoided offering too much myself.  I know you are all surprised.  One comment was about how once the churches were all full because life was harder and people needed support and community.   In spain during the time of Franco the churches were full partly because the church was the of only place the fascist government had no influence or power.   The same theory applies to the 1950s in North American.  After ww2 the whole of society was seeking meaning and purpose, and the strengthening of communinty and mutral support, all things the church offers so th churches were full. 

Meanwhile even though in Spain, like at home, the churches are struggling to find their place in modern society the bells still ring in the Church towers and the doors still open to the sacred spaces inviting pilgrims to cool shelter and warm welcome. 

Bill

 

Why worry - live for today, us and the church and start with forgiveness.

 We have completed our first day of walking.  We decided to just walk 16 km today and at first I found myself calculating distances and coming up with stratergies for the walk.  Then I remembered my own advice and the promise to myself to just Be and just walk.  It is so easy to fall back into the everyday habit of making plans and tryIng to control the unfolding of one's life.  Jesus taught that today had enough worries without taking on tomorrow's as well.  So I will walk for today and not worry about tomorrow or about timing and destinations.

I think the church carries this burden as well.  We like to control the journey and seem to live in the past or be anxious about the future when all we have is this moment and this day.  What if the church was able to focus on today and today's work?  There is more than enough suffering in our communities that needs a compassionate response and more than enough individuals seeking spiritual wisdom in this moment to worry about tomorrow.  Will the church still be in 50 years? who cares!  we have a task for today, let the divine spirit take care of tomorrow and 50 years from now.

At the end of the gospel of John, Jesus askes Peter three times to care for the people, maybe he asked repeatedly because he knew the human habit of loosing focus.  Listen church let me make this clear take care of my people.  And of course Jesus' people are much more the just the folks in our church.  He told us his people include the "little ones" in need.  The thirsty, the hungry, the sick, the lonely, the prisoners.  Is there a shortage of such folks that the church can't find its mission for today?

On the pilgrim journey you meet forks walking who become your community.  Some you see once or twice some nearly everyday. They all become a living and moving community with a common purpose and common basic needs, food, accomadation, directions, protection from sun, heat and rain.  They all have common problems: hunger, thirst, blisters, weariness.   It is these commonalities that create natural community.

The same is true for a congregation or the whole church.  With common needs, common concerns community is formed.  However in our modern culture the people have  been convinced of two lies, one that their individual needs are unique and problems are unique and  that both are solved with purchases, that is money.   

On the pilgrimage such lies cannot be sustained.  Everyone experiences similar problems and the needs are basic and common.   The money lie seems less so since indeed money can buy food, accomadation and services but underlying this is that real value is found in the friendship of others and money just cannot purchase the emotional support one needs to continue the journey.  

Maybe the beginning of the journey of renewal for the church and for each of us personally is forgiveness.  Today we climbed the "Alto del Perdon". The mount of pardon, or forgiveness.   

----Forgiveness is a vital healing need:

----Forgiving ourselves for past stumbles on the journey, forgiving others for their stumbles. 

For the church to seek forgiveness and offer forgiveness.   

 The journey invites us to climb the mountain of forgiveness in order to continue.   And when we get to the top we will find a few things, there are those who went before us, there is always room, and the journey continues beyond the peak and the forgiveness.  I have decided to just be and walk on the journey.  Peace BB 

At the top of "Alto Del Pardon"

So it begins

On the eve of our first day of walking I feel a sense of excitement.  The travel from home to here went with a hardly a hitch.  Last time we got on the wrong end of the train while travelling in France. This was mostly from langauge issues and our anxiety, fuelled by jet lag.  Ironically while waiting for the Canada line train at Bridgeport  station we got on the wrong train ended up having to back track.  However 22 hours later we were comfortably settled in our room in Bilbao.  

The bus ride to Pamplona couldn't have been easier for 3 € it rooks through beautiful mountains reminding us the bc west coast.   

But back to excitement and anxiety.  Here is my thought. Anxiety is the adult in you telling the excited child in you  to settle down and be scared.  As adults we often don't permit ourselves to be excited, happy, and have joyful anticipation.    So tell your inner child to be excited.  If give you inner child premission to tell the anxious adult to butt out of the fun.  Maybe this is part of what Jesus meant when he said you must be like a child to enter the kingdom of God.   You must remember how to love life.

On that note my inner child thought it would good idea to have a German beer while in Germany for 5 hours.  It turned out to be good idea but a bit expensive.   Did you noticed the adult jumping in there? So much learn on this pilgrim journey. 

Today while walking about Pamplona we found ourselves wondering which people were pilgrims and which where tourists.   The locals were easy to spot.   That too is part of the excitement since we are looking forward to meeting some of our camino family.  

Tomorrow we begin. It has been  long journey to get this far.  Peace Bill 

A Message of Letting Go

A Message of Letting Go


One of the most powerful metaphors of the pilgrimage is "letting go" of the stresses and burdens of life.  This week I really need to remember this message.  As it turns out , as is often the case, last Sunday's sermon addresses this theme.  I have included it below.

You are welcome to hum "Let It Go" from the Frozen movie while reading.

Let Go of the Heavy Burdens on the Journey

Matthew 11:16-30

In 8 days I am once again heading to Spain to walk the Camino.  It is an 800 km long ancient pilgrimage across the top of Spain.  Many of you have heard me share stories about our last pilgrimage so I hope you won’t drift off.  There is always new wisdom from reflecting on our shared journey.  A pilgrimage is a spiritual journey that leaves behind the security of home to seek a new experience of the world and hopefully of God in the world.  I wonder could there be any better offering or challenge to the church?  Hey church, leave behind the security of what was and go experience God in the world.  That might even sum up the challenge for the church in this day and age.  For the church and for each of us there is many things that prevent us from responding to this call to the spiritual journey.  

The Gospel reading offers us a powerful affirmation in the words of Jesus: “All who are weary, and are carrying heavy burdens, Come to me and I will give you rest.”   On the journey who of us have not been weary at some point. Or are not all any of our churches, many of our people at times, just plain ordinary weary.  It is so easy on a journey to take too much stuff.  One of the wisdoms I gained on our journey was to take as little luggage as possible because you were going to take all your baggage and if you are going to make it to the Holy sigh, the baggage will have to be left at the side of the path.  Is it possible that Jesus walks with us on our pilgrim way whispering: let it go, put it down, walk with me, here let us share the burden but just the burden of my humble heart.  Is this the words of the gentle humble saviour we need to hear. 

Last time on our journey we met a family from Edmonton.  A very fit 72 year old, his 16 year grandson and two big men, the son in law and his friend.  The two big guys had both worked hard all their adult lives.  Work and business had cost one his marriage the others was at a transition in his life.  He had just left a long time career and job because the work contravened his values.  Each was carrying about 60-70 pounds in their packs. They literally carried their burdens on their pilgrimage. One had his laptop and his ipad in his pack.  He owned a software company and his employees insisted he stay in contact and have his laptop with him so he could work on line if they needed him.  At day five he shipped his laptop home, along with another 10 pounds of other stuff.  The weight of the stuff was significant but the letting go of the work at home was the greater decision.  We watched both men struggle. They were lifelong friends and knew each other’s weakness and strengths.  I recognized the over helping and over functioning of one.  I recognized the stubbornness to accept help and limitations of both.  The grandson and grandfather often went ahead each day and found accommodation for the night, leaving the two strong men to struggle along in their own way.  The two men walked a solitary journey, each at his own pace, good friends suffering, and weighed down.

Do you see all the lessons for our spiritual journey in their story?  Two friends carrying too much of life’s stuff, and because of it they suffered.  How much of our church is like that?  We are on this journey together, we deeply care for one another, but we carry so much stuff, our own life stuff and the stuff from our shared journey as the church.  Once we were strong, we had so many tasks, responsibilities, missions in the world. We were The United Church of Canada:  A new vision for the church in the world, part of the vision for Canada.  We helped to form the culture of this country.  We were the largest protestant denomination in Canada.  Our National church still starts press releases that way, as if anyone cares and as if it matters.  Baggage and burdens, past glories and hopes.  Former missions and former ways and traditions.  We are weighed down on this journey as  a church.  We can’t lose Naramata.  Oh no VST sold the Castle, that beautiful building, the original Union College build in celebration of Church union.   On the pilgrim way the non-essentials are left behind.  It is not the buildings but the community and the sharing of wisdom that creates the sacred event and story.  Once we were mighty we had such hopes.  On the journey the steps became harder.  All that extra weight, our knees give out, our feet blister.  Each step becomes painful, a struggle, each moment we become wearier.  And then there is Jesus, walking beside us, saying, “let go, you don’t have to carry that, here I have a much easier burden to share with you.” 

Our Edmonton friends did make to the sacred site at the end or the path, despite the weight of their packs and their injuries.  They limped in a day after we did.  Changed, as we were, a little lost about what would be next.  Would the software guy go back to working 90 hours a week?  Would the other man go home and start a new company using a digital 3d printer?  New things and a change of ways.  The software guy had connected with a woman from Australia.  Would she come to Canada?   Would he be willing to change his life to accommodate room for someone else?  Our spiritual journey teaches us and changes us but still life calls

Jesus did say lay down your burdens but he followed that with take up my yoke.  The yoke of a humble and gentle heart and he will find us rest.  The burden we must take up and carry is light because it is shared.  The yoke Jesus speaks of is double yoke.  This is such comfort and wisdom.  On the pilgrim journey when you must carry all that you need to survive, it is easy to take on too much. In your life you may feel that you must carry so much stuff.   Pain from the past, grief and sorrow, the failures, and even the successes.  Sometimes because you did it before you place an expectation on yourself to do it again.  The church walks this path with you.  After all what is the church but the collection of our shared journey?  The church hangs onto past successes, past pain, past sorrow.  The burdens we insist on carrying weigh us down and we don’t even know it.  And there is Jesus with his pack, walking beside us, whispering “let go, you don’t have to carry that, here I have a much easier burden to share with you.” 

What might that be for you?  Maybe no longer trying to correct the past and instead living for today.  Maybe no longer taking on the burden of meeting unspoken expectations, yours and others of you and instead loving, just loving?  What might it mean for the church? Maybe letting go of past glory or letting go of missions that were once vital.  Maybe letting of the way things should be, could be, or once was and instead go out into the world and discover God and just love the world.   Trying to keep it all, protect it all, save it all, is a heavy burden.  “Come to me, all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  

Will you let it go?  Put down the pack?  Take out the computer and send it away?  Or take out whatever represents the demands of others for your performance?  Are you willing to put aside the extras, the just in case stuff?   Are you willing to walk the pilgrim way with Jesus? 

Wrong state of being

Less than 20 days before we leave.  One would think that the preparation would be Spiritual as well as practical but I find that my life seems to be accelerating rather than slowing down.  Between now and our leaving I have two weddings, three worship services, a quick trip to Calgary, a baptism preparation meeting, plus at least five folks in the Congegation is some sort of transistion if not spiritual crisis.   One just arriving in palliative care.  I have decided to carry a small stone for each person I bear in my heart.  3 stones are packed so far.   I could carry dozens but maybe not all my prayers need a stone.  I will leave each stone at the base of the iron cross at the highest point on the camino.  This is a long tradition.  Life goes on.   

I have packed and re packed and taken out items and put them back in.  Latest debate do I include the heavy lacrosse ball to massage my feet each night,  it has been very helpful. (Thanks to our summer pastoral assistant Kirstin Autio for giving it to me after I complained about my hurting  feet.)  Presently with water and energy bars my pack weighs 18.2 pounds.   Add in the lacrosse ball and few other items I think I may be pushing 20.  

I remember last time having carefully considered all my items including changes of clothing only to lose and discard items that had seem so important.  Stuff can weigh you down in life.  Each item requires a place to hold it, effect to protect it, a little bit of consciousness to keep it.   The pilgrimage is all about letting go and sometimes the stuff is the first thing to go.  This so true of our everyday lives as well.  We are pilgrims through this world.  We don't own it.  We are only part of it for a short time.   So why do we try so hard to collect stuff to pack around with us.  Physical stuff and emotional stuff. 

I look forward to the slowing down of my days this summer.  I look forward to recapturing the sense of endless days we all enjoyed in the summers of our childhood.   I look forward to seeing the sunrise on the eternal journey of the pilgrim life.  

Thanks for taking the time to read my wonderings.   On to the next event of my journey - dinner at with a friend to talk about our pilgrimage in anticipation of her pilgrimage this Fall.

Peace. Bill

A new pilgrimage. Preparing

Jun 20th 2014

In less than four weeks we are off again on a pilgrimage on the Camino.  We are travelling without the assistance of our daughter and her spanish language skills so I have been practising what spanish I have.  This time we have not made reservations allowing ourselves to walk as little or as much as we wish on any particular day.

We have chosen to walk the Camino again because we want to re capture the feeling of endless days, and  living in the moment.   Last time we were transistioning in our lives as I began a new job and our daughter had just finished her University.   Life is full of changes but now that I have been at Trinity Memorial in Abbotsford for two years and Kelly has moved on from her work we are looking to have time to think about the "What nexts" in our lives.

I will be better connected this time and able to post more often.  I hope as well to reflect on the deep metaphor of pilgrimage and journey and the journey the church in our changing culture.  In 2012 I found that the camino was a "metaphor rich" environment.  I have been able to use the stories of our walk in sermons and teaching these past two years.  Hopefully the congregation won't get tried of me talking about it.


Stay posted.  Bill