On Our Way. . .

Stand at the crossroads 
and look; 

   ask for the ancient paths, 

ask where the good way is, and walk in it, 

   and you will find rest 
for your souls.

Jeremiah 6:16

Yesterday, my pastor covenant group finally arrived in Israel. After more than 48 hours of travel, countless delays, re-routed trips, overnight in New York, the weary women arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv a bit beaten up but ready for the next steps in the journey.

Gail, Jeannie, Wendy and me!

We immediately went to the Caesarea Aqueduct to put tired feet in the Mediterranean and let the ocean breeze renew seared souls. I brought a simple lunch of pita bread fresh from the ovens in Bethlehem, labneh and hummus, and a simple salad of cucumber and tomatoes, the kind of meal common here in the Middle East.  

And so our pilgrimage together begins. After months of planning, praying, and now traveling, we all are together in the Chosen Land. God planted this idea in our heart – a longing to enter into soulful travel, to journey together on a transformative trip that would invite us from mindless meandering to intentionally mindful encounters with the holy.

Many assume that pilgrimage is serious business and I guess it is. Attending to God’s presence invites shifts in perception, surrender and submission, an organizing principle beyond the self. But the "how" comes in embracing the unexpected, allowing surprise and serendipity to playfully lead. 

And so we laugh, we pray, we eat, we rest. We walk, we run, we sit, we sleep. We attend, we wait, we question, we confess. And we allow God to resurrect what has died and renew what’s alive. We watch for signs of grace in us, in others, in the places we find ourselves on the journey.

As St. Benedict reminds us, we listen with the ear of our hearts.