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Advent Pilgrims!

Here's our email to you for this first week of our Advent Pilgrimage filled with information. During this week, the focus is on familiarizing yourself with the document "New Worlds Being Born" linked here, preparing for the practices that will be part of your pilgrimage (praying, writing, listening, etc.), and planning your route in your neighborhood. Here is a link to the first week of the Pilgrimage. 

If you would like to prepare your route online, here is a Link to Sample Route (screenshot) and a Link to Jackie’s video tutorial on how to make your route online

In addition to our large group gatherings on Sundays, there may be some of you who would like to be part of a smaller group of pilgrims during this time. This group could meet midweek on Zoom and share stories and experiences with each other. If you would be interested, please email Pr. Martin ([email protected]) and Pr. Jeff ([email protected])

We are including the Blessings of the Pilgrims which we used at the end of liturgy on Sunday, "Benedicto" by Edward Abbey: 

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous,
Leading to the most amazing view. 
May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. 
May your rivers flow without end,
​Meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells,
Past temples and castles and poets towers
Into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, 
Through miasmal and mysterious swamps
And down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas,
Domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, 
And down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm
Where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs,
Where deer walk across the white sand beaches, 
Where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, 
Where something strange
And more beautiful
And more full of wonder
Than your deepest dreams waits for you --
Beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”

A number of you have asked for links to these additional resources. Some of them you may wish to incorporate into your pilgrimage planning.

• Link to a description of Seven-week Advent
• Intern Clare's Guide for setting up a sacred space during Advent
• Link to Phil's website where you can follow his blog or find information about the film we watched together, Phil's Camino.​
• Link to “Who Was Howard Thurman," an article published by Boston University

Or these Links from Sunday's Joint Liturgy on Advent 1 (November 8th)

• "O Come, O Come, Emanuel" on the hammered dulcimer, used during the lighting of the first Advent Candle.
• Link to Ruth Mc Donnell's 1st harp piece:  Scarúint na gCompánach (Parting of Companions)
• Link to the Howard Thurman Reading from Sunday
• Link to Ruth Mc Donnell's 2nd harp piece:  Air to St Finbarr 
• Lord's Prayer (paraphrase from Central America), referenced in Pr. Jeff's Sermon
• Lord's Prayer (paraphrase from Lala Winkley in "Celebrating Women"), referenced in Intern Clare's Sermon

Blessings on your preparations. Be in touch with either of us with thoughts, questions, etc. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday 9am PST/5pm GMT

Pastor Jeff Johnson & Pastor Martin Sauter, partners on pilgrimage
​

This year our Pilgrimage in Place is a ten-week journey loosely structured around the writings and spiritual practice of theologian Howard Thurman.

The ten weeks include one week of preparation, seven weeks of pilgrimage, and
two weeks for the return journey. Except for the week of preparation, each
week will include four practices: 

• Reading (or listening) to Thurman’s wisdom
• Walking
• Prayer
• Writing

Plan to walk more than once a week and spend time each day in reflection/activity.

Reading/Listening

We will be learning from Thurman through his writings and recordings of his sermons and interviews. Links will be provided for all audio, video, and text selections. Spend as much time as you like with Thurman's words, resisting any urge to read quickly.

Thurman wrote in an era when masculine language was considered neutral, applicable when describing humans in general. The quotes we will use from his writing will maintain his original wording, even when we would phrase it differently today. 

Walking

Map out a one-mile (or longer, or shorter) route in your neighborhood to walk each time you walk. Spend 15 to 20 minutes walking in your yard or inside your home. Plan a route in your neighborhood, then travel this route mentally/imaginatively. Follow a labyrinth with your finger, either online or on paper. Find downloadable and printable labyrinths here. 

Prayer

Plan to spend at least ten minutes each day in prayer or meditation. This can take a variety of forms:

Thurman described prayer as "the movement of the heart of a man toward God; a movement that in a sense is within God—God in the heart sharing its life with God the Creator of all Life. The hunger itself is God, calling to God" (from Disciplines of the Spirit).

As a way to cultivate connection with the hunger of the heart, Thurman recommended practicing silence, both physical and mental.

If you are new to contemplative prayer, find a quiet place to be in silence. Focus your attention on the rise and fall of your breath. If you need more of an anchor for your attention, link each breath to a favorite passage from scripture, a hymn, or a word that represents the divine. You may choose to do the same prayer practice each day during the pilgrimage or vary it based on the hunger of your heart that day. Try beginning each session by inviting the Holy One to be with you. 

Writing

Throughout your pilgrimage, keep a journal each day and record your thoughts, reflections, and questions that come to mind. Try to write without self-judgment and without self-censorship. Do not read over your writing until the end of the pilgrimage. If that is challenging for you, consider sealing each day's journaling in an envelope to open at the end of the journey.

During your writing sessions, you may find yourself planning things you want to do differently in your life or actions you want to take. Write these down! However, the action itself can wait until next week. This week is for rest and renewal. The various readings and audio/video clips are suggestions, not requirements. Write about whatever calls to you.