If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? …Pilgrims!
You may have heard me tell this joke at some point this past month. It’s one of my favorites. I even did a project in maybe 5th grade that involved writing a joke book and it was, of course, included. Who knew I’d wind up living in a place where real Pilgrims have had such a lasting influence.
The words “we are pilgrims on a journey” from the hymn Will You Let Me Be Your Servant have been running through my head, creating a connection, tenuous as it may be, between this joke and our journey. The Pilgrims were on a journey away from persecution. My journey of faith is towards God. There are journeys that take one from a certain place to another physical location. And there are journeys where we don’t have to take a single step.
The Bible tells many stories of journeys. Groups of people go from one place to another – Egypt to the Promised Land, Jerusalem to Babylon, through Samaria between Galilee and Judea, from one end of the Mediterranean Sea to the other. There’s barely a passage of scripture where place is not key and a map is a handy companion to understand what is happening.
Yet even if we are not setting out on an epic adventure of a journey, the journey of faith can be just as full of new experience. We can read of people’s journey inward – finding God in ourselves without going anywhere. In this latter part of the Easter season, moving toward the Day of Pentecost, I invite you to journey together more deeply into relationship with God, thus with one another.
Peace in Christ’s name,
Pastor Gaeta