Easter Monday

Many lectionaries have the passage from Luke relating two travelers' experience of the resurrected Jesus while traveling to Emmaus.
Where are you finding experiences of the Resurrection that call you forth to new roads and insights?

Lao Tzu:
Keeping to the main road is easy, but people love to be sidetracked.

In our willingness to be sidetracked are moments of grace. Are we open to seeing resurrection? The experience of the Divine, or even our expectation of having such an experience, opens the "veil" of our travels infusing them with a different light.
"The practice of soulful travel is to discover the overlapping point between history and everyday life, the way to find the essence of every place, every day: in the markets, small chapels, out-of-the-way parks, craft shops. Curiosity about the extraordinary in the ordinary moves the heart of the traveler intent on seeing behind the veil of tourism."*
*  Phil Cousineau Art of Pilgrimage: the Seekers Guide to Making Travel Sacred. Conari Press, 1998. 121.

Easter Morning (Mark 16:1-8)

Jesus is risen, alleluia.
Christ is risen indeed, alleluia.
According to Mark's gospel:
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, so that they might go and anoint him [Jesus]. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to the Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.

Happy Earth Day

I was doing some reading over the lunch hour when I read the following quote. As I thought the theme fitting for Earth Day here it is:
"We know, then, that the conflict between the human and the natural estates really exists and that it is to some extent necessary. But we are learning, or relearning, something else, too, that frightens us: namely, that this conflict often occurs at the expense of _both_ estates. It is not only possible but altogether probable that by diminishing nature we diminish ourselves, and vice versa."*
This quote from Berry reminded me of something I once read from James Wharram (the catamaran designer) stating that it is easier, and cheaper, to adjust ourselves to nature, than to adjust nature to ourselves.
Hope you get to spend some time enjoying Earth Day.
*Wendell Berry. Home Economics. Counterpoint. 1987. 10.

Maundy Thursday: or Friends Leaving on Sacred Journeys

Maundy Thursday celebrates Jesus' last meal with his disciples. This meal institutes the sacrament of Communion (Last Supper and Eucharist are other terms). Jesus' ministry is full of meals shared with still sorts of people. So it is no surprise to find Jesus at another meal.
While the meals post-Easter, that are so full of the resurrection appearances, also play a profound roll in the sacrament that is instituted, it is the Passover meal that takes center stage tonight.
During the Passover Jerusalem would be run over with pilgrims coming to celebrate their liberation from the oppressor of Pharaoh. Amidst all these pilgrims, we continue our own reflections on pilgrimaging. For what if you couldn't join your friends on a trip? Is there a way to participate?
For those of you watching as your friends head for the distant horizon, there is a way you can participate in their journeys. Creating special gifts and/or rituals to be opened or undertaken at way points (half-way between port A and cove B) or at certain places become meaningful connections. Especially if they are rituals you will also be holding at home.
I recall reading Bernard Moitessier writing about how friends gifts connected them to him, and he to them, while on The Long Way around the world non-stop by the three capes.
These gifts need not be elaborate.
Anthony Lawlor writes: "Recently, friends of mine went to India, and I created a little ceremony for them. I handed them a sacred bundle and simply said, ' Open it when you reach your goal.' Anyone can do this for their friends and family: a book, a candle, a pencil, a prayer written out by hand. They become sacred through your intention and the place they are opened."*


*as quoted in Coucineau. _the Art of Pilgrimage._ 117.

Holy Week & the Five Excellent Practices of Pilgrimages

As we enter Holy Week, I am reminded of Jesus' own life of travel. Rather than settle in one location, setting up shop as a healer, and creating patron-client relationships, an expectation of at least his own family and perhaps his hometown, Jesus felt his ministry was one of iteneracy. We are reminded of Jesus' constant travel with this weeks start of Holy Week: Palm Sunday and his instance into Jerusalem.
Many traditions celebrate this week with smaller pilgrimages inside a church or around the church grounds; following the stations of the cross. Perhaps you just find yourself walking through countryside or town.
No matter what time off year, may these five steps be helpful to you.
"Inspired by a fifth-century conversion between Zi Zhang and Confucius about the practices of wise rulers in _The Analects_, here are five excellent practices for travelers on sacred journeys:
_Practice the arts of attention and listening._
_Practice renewing yourself every day._
_Practice meandering toward the center of every place._
_Practice the ritual of reading sacred texts._
_Practice gratitude and praise-singing._" *
* Cousineau. _The Art of Pilgrimage_ (126)

The Art of Pilgrimage

Ok, time for another book review. Phil Cousineau's Art of Pilgrimage: the Seekers Guide to Making Travel Sacred (Conari Press, 1998) is a wonderful book looking into ways in which any of us can turn our traveling into pilgrimages, journeys of the heart and/or soul. These journeys need not be made to overtly religious sights, he points out. Traveling to the place our ancestors migrated from, or a famous bookstore in which an author, who has impacted us, was first published or hung-out, maybe even the baseball hall-of-fame. The destination is not so important as the journey itself. Cousineau provides questions to ponder, insights into journeying, and resources to turn our travels into opportunities for soulful delight, insight, and work/growth.
What struck me about this book, was the sense that many of my conversations with you have centered around ' holy travel' or  'this is where I have experienced the Holy'.
When traveling by boat I find myself becoming more reflective, and from conversations, it appears many of you do too. As such, I found the topics Cousineau writing about insightful, and a reminder to appreciate the soulfulness of travel.
As you may have noticed, I have been referencing his book. I will continue using some of his insights for the next few blogs. Hope you enjoy.

Sauntering

At breakfast the other day, we got to chuckling over our first car trip after last summers cruise. I thought we were speeding down the road, and so was looking for police cars. You know ...to avoid a speeding ticket. Laura looked over at me and said, "The speed limit is 25 mph."
"I know," I murmured, looking down at the speedometer. It read: 15 mph. No wonder there was a line of cars following us!
Going at a slower pace does help us to notice things. I remember walking our late dog in the rain one evening to see the rain drops making phospheresence circles in the water off the dock. I wouldn't have seen this amazing sight had I not been there, and looking.
"In his essay on the art of walking, Henry David Thoreau described his daily regimen of four-hour walks, a time when he could gather himself, hear the sound of his own heart beating - all the while _sauntering_, as he was fond of calling it, a word, he wrote, "which ... is beautifully derived 'from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretense of going a la Sainte Terre,' to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, ' There goes a Sainte-Terre,' a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander."*
Sauntering, whether walking, or sailing, (or, might we add, driving?) Is then an opportunity for soulful travel.
Blessings on your journeys.
* Cousineau, Phil. _The Art of Pilgrimage_ 104-5.

April Tom Foolery

Nature has a way of poking through human created boundaries. Do we allow our souls to poke through too? Today may be just such a day.
If memory serves, there is a reason April Fools falls in the middle of Lent. The day provides a break from our somber Lentan disciplines. In the middle ages, those in authority were lampooned. Must have brought some humility, too.
Enjoy your day - and don't forget to laugh, especially at ourselves. Laughter is good for the soul!