Becoming Pilgrims: A Meditation on Mark 1:14-20

In the far northwest corner of Spain there is a path which dates back to the 8th century-- it is a path that has been traveled by hundreds and thousands of men, women, and children. They come from all over Spain, France, Italy, and in fact from all over the world. These travelers walk for days, sometimes through blazing sun and dust, other days through rain and mud. At nightfall they stop to share bread and a simple meal with other travelers that they have met on the road. They nurse their sore and blistered feet, stretch their aching backs, and prepare to do it all over again the next day. They are pilgrims. Pilgrims traveling to one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the world— the Cathedral of Santiago de Campostela. They come for many reasons-- some desire a miracle for themselves or a loved one, others feel the need for atonement over some past wrong. Most however, simply come to experience God on the journey. They come to connect to something larger than themselves, and ultimately, they come to be transformed.

Here at Park Church, you are also pilgrims-- though perhaps not quite in the same way. 500 years ago, to speak of pilgrimage was to speak of a physical journey to a sacred site— a cathedral or a shrine-- a physical place that was thought to be of special spiritual significance. In today’s modern world, however, we don’t necessarily attach the same kind of spiritual power to buildings or shrines. To be a pilgrim in today’s world has a much broader meaning. Writer Gregg Levoy defines pilgrimage as: “spending time searching for the soul— moving towards something that represents to us an ideal— truth, beauty, strength, or transcendence. For religious people, it is a journey towards deeper knowledge of God-- towards an understanding of God’s direction for our lives and discernment of where the Holy Spirit is leading us next. At its core, the word pilgrimage means simply a crossing place, or a point of transit.

Here at Park Church, you are also pilgrims. You are at just such a crossing place. You are pilgrims who have just completed one journey— that of seeking a new pastor- and are on the brink of beginning yet another. A journey of discovering who God is calling you to be as you move forward into the future. In many ways, it’s exciting to be pilgrims— on the brink of new adventures, full of hope and possibility about what is to come. But it’s not always easy to be a pilgrim either. Being pilgrims on a journey implies that there is work to be done, hazardous roads to be navigated, and uphill struggles to be overcome before one can arrive at the destination. Consider Jesus’ disciples— whom we hear about in this morning’s gospel message. Responding to Jesus’ call to leave their nets, they get up out of their boats--not knowing where they are going-- but willing to start their own pilgrim journey. A journey that would prove to be sometimes joyful, often bewildering, and occasionally even treacherous. In the end, however, it was a journey that brought them up close and personal with the living God in their midst.

Now there are times, upon hearing this remarkable moment in the gospel-- this moment when the disciples decide to leave everything behind to follow this man named Jesus, when I start to feel a little unsure of myself. If it had been me— I wonder-- would I have had the courage to do what they did? To leave everything behind to follow a man I barely knew? Is it all or nothing, we may ask ourselves? Can we really do this?? It’s natural, I think, before embarking upon a pilgrimage, to doubt ourselves. To doubt whether we have the capability to follow through with the journey. Maybe we don’t believe we are capable of the kind of total transformation and devotion that we read about in these old stories. Maybe we think our lives are just too full of other things-- work, family, financial obligations. And so we hesitate. But it’s important to remember that the disciples didn’t become perfect followers of Jesus overnight. Many of the stories that follow this one are not nearly as inspirational or impressive. There are stories in which the disciples misunderstand Jesus, question him, disappoint him, and even betray and deny him. It’s not until much much later in the story before the disciples really understand what they are meant to do. They didn’t know where they were going or how they were going to get there. And just like any pilgrims, they encountered plenty of obstacles, and made more than their share of mistakes along the way. But the important thing for us to keep in mind as we stand at the crossing point of our pilgrimage, is that they took that first step. They got up out of their boats and started the journey. One step at a time. So it is with us. We may hesitate before setting out on the path before us, but we can always find confidence in the knowledge that we don’t have to get there overnight. We don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to have it all figured out. That, in fact, is what the journey is all about. And so, the crucial question we must ask ourselves— having stepped out onto the road-- having recognized that we too are pilgrims on this journey-- is what exactly are we journeying towards? What is it that we are seeking? This morning I would like to suggest two things that I believe are at the heart of Christian pilgrimage-- vocation and transformation.

First, in seeking vocation, we are seeking answers to two very important questions: “Who are we?” and “What is God calling us to do?” In the words of one scholar, seeking vocation means to attempt to discover “our place in the world, what God desires us to do, and the ability to do that work with passion, purpose, and pleasure. Seeking vocation means moving towards God’s direction for our lives.” Now of course this doesn’t mean that we give up all of our own dreams and aspirations in order to pursue someone else’s agenda for our lives. Being pilgrims seeking vocation means discovering (and perhaps sometimes rediscovering) and cultivating all the unique gifts that God has given us, and finding ways to share those gifts with others. My favorite definition of vocation comes from theologian Frederick Buechner, who said that vocation is where “our greatest joy meets the world’s deepest needs.” It’s about finding those things that bring us the most fulfillment and satisfaction, and then discovering where that lines up with the needs we see in the community and in the world around us.

Which brings me to the second thing that we seek as Christian pilgrims—transformation. On the road to finding our vocation, we open ourselves up to deep and meaningful personal transformation. Asking who we are as Christians, and seeking to discover God’s purpose for our lives, will bring us into closer relationship with God and with ourselves. But that’s not all we are after. Seeking vocation is not just a journey towards self-discovery and personal meaning— though it surely is that. To truly become a pilgrim, following in the way of Christ, our identity becomes rooted in something so much greater than just ourselves. We become part of a larger story— a story of people whose vocation includes the work of transformative work of hospitality, welcoming the stranger, binding up the brokenhearted, feeding the hungry, seeking peace and hungering for justice. It means looking at the world as it is, and understanding how we, with the gifts that God has given us, can work towards transforming it into the world as it should be.

The people of God have always been a pilgrim people. From those first disciples, to the pilgrims of Campostela, to you and me. We are called to continue the tradition of all who have gone before us-- striking out on new adventures, seeking God in new ways and taking risks in order to get a little closer to who God is calling us to be. We may not know exactly what lies ahead, but we are called to get up out of the boat— to follow where God’s spirit leads, to find where our greatest joy meets the world’s deepest needs, and to seek transformation of ourselves, our church, and our world.