Sermon: To Be a Pilgrim

For years, in Digby, I posted the text of my sermon on the blog of the Church website. Now, I think I will do this each week on my own little blog. Here is my first sermon preached for First Baptist Amherst, with Trinity - St. Stephen's United Church in attendance (for all of July).

To Be a Pilgrim

10:30 am, Sun, July 3, 2022 - J G White / FBC Amherst

(2 Kings 5:1-14; Gal 6:1-6, 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20)

Five weeks ago today, I took up my heavy backpack, my broad-brimmed hat, many words of blessing given to me, and left Digby, NS, on foot. Three weeks later, I arrived on the threshold of this building, with the warm welcome - and even a few companions - from among you folks of the Baptist congregation that meets here. 

You may have heard about this personal pilgrimage. I even got my ‘fifteen minutes of fame’ on Nova Scotian radio and in the newspapers. Yes, it was a long walk - 463 kms, in twenty days - but it was quite doable.

This morning, you, and Trinity-St. Stephen’s United Church, welcome me into this, my first service here as a leader and pastor. I thank you.

I realize that the idea of being a pilgrim has appealed to me for a long time. My college yearbook from 1992 has my picture in it, among the other B.Sc. graduates, and this quotation I chose from a very old, Baptist hymn.

Who would true valour see,

Let him come hither;

One here will constant be,

Come wind, come weather

There's no discouragement

Shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim. (John Bunyan, 1684)

Back in April, in a newsletter to my congregation in Digby, explaining my walk, my pilgrimage, I quoted from Luke 10: 2 [Jesus] sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there.

One of the most deep thinking and also compassionate elderly men of the church got in touch with me, concerned about my walk, and that I truly was not going to carry any supplies with me! I did carry my wallet. I carried extra shoes, and sandals. I greeted people along the road. 

Today’s Gospel text from Luke is, of course, not about me taking a pilgrimage. It is about seventy Middle-Eastern followers of Jesus being sent out on a mission, a couple millenia ago, preparing the way for Jesus’ own tour. I did happen to follow some of the guidelines they were given. I stayed in one place in each town and ate what was placed before me. I’m sure I gained weight while walking 463 kms! The food family and friends provided was generous. 

I offered peace and blessing wherever I went. Those who walked with me for a mile or more, got a little nature card, with a word of blessing from me. The homes that hosted me got a symbol of the journey. Some of you must know the symbol of the Caminio de Santiago, well trod in Spain… a scallop shell. Now, then, what town claims to be the Scallop Capital of the World? Digby, NS. So, I painted some favourite quotations upon a dozen Digby scallop shells, to gave to those who cared for me. Here, First Baptist Amherst, is one for you, my destination…

I made my own camino, my pilgrimage in June, to take a sabbatical, and to remember and let go of the past eight years in Digby. I took a walk down memory lane in places where I had lived and worshipped: Annapolis Royal, Middleton, Wilmot, Wolfville, Windsor, Parrsboro. I visited the burial sites of some of my ancestors along the way. I practiced the ancient spiritual discipline of pilgrimage, shared not only with Christians but with people of other faiths. I travelled very familiar roads to me - Highway # 1, the 236, the # 2 - but for the first time, on foot, and saw so much I had not seen before. 

I saw a little cemetery in the back of a hayfield, where a tidal river reaches deep into Hants County. I saw how little traffic there is along the 236 and the number 2 - seems far less when you walk the shoulder. From the Valley railbed trail I saw peat mining and rhubarb harvesting and corn sprouting.

As an avid nature observer I saw so much; I was never bored. I took photographic evidence of many plants, and a few other things, and posted my data to iNaturlaist. I sometimes had companions join me for a day’s walk - from the dearest friends to a new acquaintance. Talking while walking, as you may know, is great therapy. As a group of walkers near Lower Debert say, it is better than psychiatry… and cheaper!

Jesus sending out the seventy (72?) was simply sending out His followers for a ministry - healing and proclaiming that the good ruling of God was near. I think the idea of Christian pilgrimage is rooted in Jesus’ many moments of going away to a quiet place - a garden, a hilltop - to pray and be thoughtful… and rest. That’s what I looked for.

I took a few good books with me, and had dropped off more along the way so I could pick up a new one or two: in Wolfville, then in Truro. I didn’t even get my first book read! There was too much talking with people to do, and too much sleeping to be done. 

Actual pilgrimages, and the idea of being a pilgrim, serve us as metaphors for our lives. Our ordinary lives. My twenty-two day walk was quite ordinary, actually. Not spiritually spectacular. Not a great vision quest. I did not behave as an amazing ascetic, praying constantly or feeling great wisdom come upon me. For the most part it was ordinary walking, like on any other day. Yet there was a more memorable quality to this time, for me. 

So, consider where you are on your life pilgrimage today. You have come a long way… and there are steps yet to take. Perhaps quite a few; and how unpredictable they may be. Some steps we must take are hard and painful. Other journeys and changes turn out not to be as difficult as we’d expected. The ‘walk with the Lord,’ as some call it, is about our ordinary lives. 

Author Richard Foster tells the story of a Russian spiritual director who was once severely criticized for spending an inordinate amount of time talking with an old woman about her turkeys. “Don’t you understand?” he responded, “this woman’s whole life is in those turkeys.” ‘So it is with us:’ writes Foster, ‘our whole life is in the daily, the ordinary. And we have a heavenly Father who delights in showing us that he is the God of the ordinary.’ (Foster & Smith, Devotional Classics, 1993, pp. 367-368)

To be a pilgrim, in the way of which I speak today, is to walk the Way of Jesus, in our usual lives. At times we do focus upon making good choices, and choosing good paths shown to us by the God of goodness. To be a pilgrim is not to be some kind of ‘super-christian.’ The journey of faith is for everyone, not only the ordained or the leaders. 

Almost eight years ago, I took up the theme in my new Church of pilgrimage. I invited folk to read with me John Bunyan’s classic book, ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress.’ I offered little prayer walks around town or in the woods. I had some friends who had walked the Camino in Spain come and speak of it on a Sunday morning. 

All this mostly fell flat. The old book was too difficult to read. The Spirit Strolls gathered two or three people. The theme of walking with God was there, but the people did not take ownership of it. They humoured me. 

In the course of eight years, I saw the journeys of their lives together. The ups and downs. The panics and power struggles of a small congregation. The beautiful ways they cared for one another, and their community. Their amazing creativity. And I got to know their stories, and view how far they’d come, by Faith. 

They were pilgrims; they still go forward, now without me and Sharon. And you are pilgrims. I happen to get to speak to you, a newcomer among you. For this chapter, we journey together, a pilgrim people. 
It is often a humble path we must take, we will take. Peek again at that story of ancient Israel, with Naaman looking to be healed. 2 Kings 5:13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"  Much of what we are to do is simple, not spectacular. 

The challenges today are great, in this shared life together, as followers of the Way of Jesus. Our world is complex, and hurting, and out of our control. Yet the path we are to take is simply that, a pathway, our path. Jesus’ call to us (seventy; are there seventy here?) sends us out differently than before. Yet I am confident that, in this era of great change, the new steps we are to take are possible. ‘With God all things are possible.’ (Mtt 19:26)

We are pilgrims on a journey; 

We’re together on the road. 

We are here to help each other 

Walk the mile and bear the load. (Richard Gillard, ‘77)

Together we ‘come to the table’ of Christ, remembering how resolutely He set His face towards the cross. His whole life, a journey to and through that moment. Perhaps we shall here be inspired to make the words of Galatians 6 our own.  May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14
So take up your simple supplies, and walk through the world with me for a while, and for always with Christ.

Beginning with silence, let us pray…

[Moment of silent prayer and reflection]

PRAYER: Wisdom of all, may we hold now to the good lessons we have shared and the healing that touches us; and any distractions and foolish ideas be forgotten. As we continue to offer worship in many ways, receive the offerings we have given that they may bless our world in the name of Jesus. Take us to the Table of fellowship with unity of spirit and hope for our world. As we gather, Triune God, we remember those who are unable to join us, those who are hurting and crying out for healing and help, and those who have asked for our prayers. Then, once we leave the Table, set us loose to be people of blessing in our communities. Guide us on the journey, we pray, in the name of the One who travelled much and had nowhere to lay His head. AMEN.