"The journey we begin as we answer the call is long,and filled with all we have been and all that we will become." Caristonia Worthington

In preparation for Lent which, believe it or not, begins in four weeks, I have been reading about pilgrimage and journey. This concept will be a part of our Lenten theme. The result of this reading is that I have been thinking about my own spiritual journey, its twists and turns, its rest areas, its time of great turbulence, its long periods of going nowhere. I share this because experience tells me I am not alone in this. Reflecting at all on the spiritual life brings with it ambiguity,doubt, general messiness along with revelation.

Caitlin Matthews writes:"Our spiritual journey leads us through many stations of experience. We feel the need to travel in company with others:we join churches, courses, movements, and groups, learning all that we can from the leaders and exponents. Sometimes sharing the journey is helpful and supportive to our unique spiritual call; other times it is very dissatisfying, causing us to give up and continue our journey elsewhere. This period of spiritual nomadism can be lengthy, as we move from place to place, from religious movement or spiritual group in search of the meaning beneath the meaning."

It has been a privilege of my life…my spiritual life…to have known so many people who have done such ardent searching. Their curiosity and deep longing has kept their spiritual life rich and growing, yet often painful. In our conversations I have grown and deepened my own faith life, my own journey. Being on a path with those who seek to understand the "meaning beneath the meaning" helps me discern my own long quest and how the Holy walks with each of us in traditional and very nontraditional ways. It one of the great gifts of being in community, of being a spiritual being having a bodily experience.

Every Christmas Eve my family gathers with life-long friends and others we’ve come to know and love throughout the year. Years ago,one of our ‘tribe’ began sharing a tradition handed down from her mother. We gather in a circle and she hands out to each of us this wafer-like cracker. Making the circle once again, she puts a drop of honey on the wafer. After we have our sweet white treat in hand, she says:"Now, during this year if you are ever lost in the woods, remember who you are with right now and you will find your way home."

For many years the children in the group heard these words and thought of fairy tales they knew. The teenagers often rolled their eyes. But as a group we somehow know that this ritual is both fun and very deep, a metaphor for walking the journey together, for sharing the spiritual path, for finding a way home to rest in the meaning beneath the meaning.

Blessings on your weekend journeys…………………