THE LONGING (feel it)

for things to be different for there to be a way to surrender the past

and move ourselves intentionally into the unknown future one step at

a time to give ourselves to something so profoundly transformative

that we would be changed forever

 

THE CALLING (hear it)

Go out from this building and know yourself apart from this place

which you have called home for many years. Go on a deepening and

renewing journey together… Yet the Lord pleads with you still: Ask

where the good road is, the godly paths you used to walk in, in the

Days of long ago. Travel there, and you will find rest for your souls. 

(Jeremiah 6:16)

 

THE PREPARATION

How will you prepare? What do you need for the journey? What will

you take? What Spirit-centred practices support you as you anticipate

the journey?

 

DEPARTURE

This is a threshold place, where we release the old and the new has not

yet come into fullness...the moment is approaching when you actually

leave this familiar place, knowing you can never be here again in the

same way.. You can feel at a visceral level your yearning for the new

tearing you away from the security of the past.

 

THE PILGRIM’S WAY

We make the way by walking, letting go of our preconceived ideas.

Trust the hospitality of the strangers you meet on the way. Tell stories

as you go. Trust the gifts and experience of those in your pilgrim

community. Risk disclosing your vulnerability as you go on the

unknown way. Can we tell ourselves the truth of how it’s going?

 

 THE SACRED EXPERIENCE

Follow the thread of spiritual deepening that others have

followed before.  We thought we were going away from

ourselves, but on this journey we come to the centre of our

own existence. We thought we would be alone, but we find

 

ARRIVAL

There is a great moment, when you see, however distant, the goal

of your wandering. The thing which has been living in your

imagination suddenly becomes a part of the tangible world.

(Freya Stark) We arrive back home again, transformed by what we

have experienced. 

 

BRINGING BACK THE BOON

Here’s how we have changed! These are the gifts we received

along the way that we could never have imagined would be ours.

 

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. T. S. Eliot

 

 

Blessing the Way

by Jan Richardson

 

With every step you take,

this blessing rises up to meet you.

It has been waiting long ages for you.

 

Look close and you can see the layers of it,

how it has been fashioned

by those who walked

this road before you,

how it has been created

of nothing but their determination

and their dreaming,

how it has taken its form

from an ancient hope

 that drew them forward

and made a way for them

when no way could be seen.

 

Look closer and you will see

this blessing is not finished.,

that you are part of the path it is preparing,

that you are how this blessing

 means to be a voice within the wilderness

and a welcome for the way.