pilgrim theory and practice
The proposal The actuality
pilgrimages have destinations
My destination for this pilgrimage? Know Where I’ll Be Next Fall For My Next Phase. When my pilgrimage class began, that destination looked like “find out more about PhD locations.” Two weeks before making the pilgrimage, S. approached me about how I felt about doing a two-year congregational pastoral residency. Over the course of the […]
pilgrimage vs. retreat
Pilgrimages go — move — from point a to point b. {Or they are without an articulated destination — peregrinatio, wandering.}Retreats stay in one place for the retreat-time, though one might travel to get there and get home. Stabilitas, constancy. There is a “site” for most pilgrimages: a destination to come close to and go […]
bad at contemplation
I think I’ve mentioned in the past that I have a morning devotional routine… routine in that it has regular components, and a usual timeslot. Not routine as in “I do it every day,” but then, I’m a known-non-routiner in that regard. My drill? I read 3 poems (or 3 pages of poetry, or to […]
teaching inward
As I was looking forward (think: ahead, think: pleasurably anticipate) to my pilgrimage-in-place time, I made a list of the inward spiritual practices I’ve done. Ignatian exercises, in the 5-day format, up at Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House walking labyrinth meditations crafting a 3-day local retreat for myself and two other parent-artists, when all our progeny […]
discernment and work
How to move forward? When I make my way by stepping on the stones God sets before me, which are the sturdy ones? Which are set by the Adversary, and will drop me without a trace (like the puzzles in The Last Campfire)? One of the ways is to step through whatever door opens in […]
Pasado (Past) / Pablo Neruda
Pasado Tenemos que echar abajo el pasadoy como se construyepiso por piso, ventana a ventana,y sube el edificioasí, bajando vamosprimero tejas rotasluego orgullosas puertashasta que del pasadosale polvocomo si se golpearacontra el suelo,sala humocomo si se quemara,y cada nuevo díarelucecomo un platovacío :no hay nada, no hubo nada :hay que llenarlode nuevas nutricionesespaciosas,entonces, hacia abajocae […]
journeying away, journeying toward
What you are observing about yourself in this actual season of your life + COVID impacted-season?At this “moment,” what sense of fatigue/disillusionment/entanglement/anger/fear/etc would you like to journey away from, and what renewing blessing would you like to move toward? Dr. Bobbi Kaye Jones, Pastor As Pilgrim syllabus Observing about myself? I would say I haven’t […]
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
I’m taking a class this term called “The Pastor as Pilgrim.” It’s off to a slow start, mostly due to it needing to be reconfigured from a travel seminar, but I’m amused to note that the booklist and materials-list has a 75%+ overlap with what I already have. Mostly the books are on my, “Oh! […]
Towards a Relative Ending / Wyatt Prunty
Uninterrupted days occasion us,Affording light, withdrawing light,Almost as if someone too far away,Had thought but then forgotten why he thoughtOr, intuitive, had acted without causeAnd, looking again, wondered what it was he meant. Self-thinking and forgetful at one time,We live in rooms we know too wellUntil that ocular day,Vivid for the sky’s emptiness:The desk no […]