I made this path in the woods behind my house. It isn’t a long path but enough for me to walk it briefly when I wish. It cuts through a maple grove of trees, some low growing plants that look like a green carpet, and then into the mature trees that hover high in the air. I love to walk on this path praying and sometimes singing quietly (note, quietly) worship songs. My heart is lifted on this walk through the woods as I watch turtles in the swamp or look at the hawk’s nest and I see the multitude of deer tracks.
On September 8, we start our own Pilgrim walk. For us, the school year becomes our calendar. September has us running forward into the fall after the summer of quiet, the summer of vacations and escaping. Now, we are back to reality and the walk can be weary as well as exciting but we know one thing for sure, we will have to engage the activities of the fall. It is the way life is. We have to walk a Pilgrim’s walk.
Here at the sites of St. Luke we have our vision of what is healthy for the Christian’s spiritual life. We want each individual to join on the pilgrim’s walk of faithfulness. It is a life long walk where God reaches down to us and we respond to His love (UP) through any complex life circumstances we have (Psalm 121). God calls us into community. In fact, He loves our unity of faithfulness and celebrates our intimacy (IN) of partnership we share. Take a read of Psalm 133. And we are called to look OUT so others will come into this faith relationship. Psalm 126 says, “Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them…for us and we are filled with joy.” On our own walk we wish our neighbors, friends, family to see that God works in our lives and does great things. It is our vision that each of us grow into a mature relationship that celebrates the great things God does in and through us.
So, over the three weeks of September, at the start of our walk, use this series to take a look at your life and celebrate God’s relationship with us. Then, just as the Jewish pilgrims of the past, we come running into the presence of God honoring Him with our lives. For me, it is an ongoing acknowledgement of saying over and over again, “God, thank you for all you give me. Let me live in unity of faith and be open and willing to share that goodness with those around me.” This is my prayer on that path in my woods. A short path but a profound one that I walk as a constant reminder of all that God has done for me, for us.
