This morning I was able to spend some time in our neighborhood coffee shop watching some of the goings on at a crossroads that connects three sections of our city. The rainy skies and post Easter fatigue allowed for some good staring, some fine mulling. Every now and then I feel the need to sit in a comfy chair in this place, cup of coffee in hand, and stare at the world going by. This was my plan…..to watch the two roads coming together and cars moving in the four directions as people made their way into this chilly, spring day.

I was doing just that when a man came to the sofa that also looks out at the crossroads. He had said ‘good morning’ to me earlier as he set his coffee down and headed out to get a newspaper from from the machine outside. Settling in with paper and cup, it was clear he wanted to engage me in conversation. I was polite and tried to keep my answers pleasant but short hoping I could once again focus my attention on what was happening outside the windows. But slowly I began to be pulled into this man’s questions and before I knew it we were deep in a conversation. He began telling me about a relationship he was in and the questions he was having about it. What can I say? I must have one of those faces that invites this kind of interaction. But once we really started to talk, it seemed the right thing to do.

While I had come to stare at a crossroads,the long and short of it was that this man was also at a crossroads. He had some important decisions to make about how he was going to proceed with this relationship and his own life. It was not lost on me that I had come to engage in a passive experience of observing a crossroad and then found myself in the process of an active living out of one.  I hope our conversation was in some way helpful and that this man can make the movement that needs to be made. Whether he turns east, west, north or south, the crossroads in which he was finding himself is likely to take him in a direction that will require change and perhaps pain. My prayers go with him. 

As I left the coffee shop and made my way home through the rainy morning, the experience had me thinking about all the people I know who are at some kind of crossroads. People who are making decisions about jobs, school, places to live, the act of taking on a new career, turning away from what has been and toward something that is yet to be. Of course, there is an element of this crossroads experience that is the gift of the rising of each day. But sometimes the crossroads where we find ourselves is more pronounced, more dramatic. The act of faith it takes to turn one way or the other or to go forward or in reverse will have far reaching consequences. 

This crossroads stream of thought had me remembering my time on the island of Iona in Scotland. This tiny island of only about one hundred permanent residents has only two roads and very few cars. The two roads make a perfect crossroads at the near center of the island. This crossroads becomes a part of the pilgrimage path that thousands of pilgrims walk each year following in the footsteps of St. Columba. Standing at that place where the two paths meet, pilgrims are invited to reflect on the places in their lives where they have come to a crossroads.What caused the choice of one path over another? How was the decision made? How was the Holy seen in each path? 

Reflecting on crossroads had not been my plan for the day after Easter. But in many ways it now seems a good one. As we entered into the story of this holy day that is a pivotal point in the lives of those early followers of Jesus, they also had found themselves at a crossroads. What to do now that their friend and teacher was no longer with them? How to move on from the violence and grief they had experienced? The path they took at their own crossroad led to us re-telling and re-entering that story once again just the day before. In many ways it is a crossroad we find ourselves at over and over again. How to live into this story and make it our own? What path of hope will we cling to in the midst of all the experiences of our lives? 

Whatever crossroad you find yourself at this day, here is a blessing for your walk….

That no matter which way you take, you know you are not alone……..That wherever the path leads, you will know kindness………That each step will be a step toward something that will bring you peace……..That you will arrive in hope and the promise of new life.