Hi Folks,
I've been try to do double duty on blogspot and vox, but find I'm really drawn to vox for right now. I hope you will check out my blog there until this one comes to full term ;)
http://onpilgrimage.vox.com/
Thanks - Michael B
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Pilgrimage or Fugitive: Lent
Run, run, run, as fast as you can - you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man! Okay, rediculous strart, but it came to mind. My dad and I used to, and still sometimes do, take rides through the countryside. We'd eat fried pig skins (disgusting, huh?), and drink whatever our favorite soda was (usually, for me, rootbeer). Now that I have revealed to you how thoroughly Mississippian I am, I suppose I can share with you have formative it was. Not only in developing a bond with my father - strong enough for me to chose to "come out" during one of our drives - but in helping me think about pilgrimage.
As I ponder Holy Lingering, I am promoting moments of stability that punctuate our pilgrimage. Pauses for reflection allow our roots to grow a little deeper and find some sustenance, before picking up and moving on. This is countercultural , especially the USA. When I look at my father, I wonder if his own love of travel was not only a movement forward, but a movement "away from". Pilgrimge, like any travel, has often included those who were fleeing.
The difference, I think, between a pilgrimage and a fugitice is the pilgrim runs toward and with love. The fugitive is running away. Perhaps my study and interest in holy lingering is a call for me to engage the practices of the season of Lent: to thoroughly search myself, to present my sins to God, to make ammends as possible with those whom I have offended, and know by grace and mercy the compassion and love of God.
As I ponder Holy Lingering, I am promoting moments of stability that punctuate our pilgrimage. Pauses for reflection allow our roots to grow a little deeper and find some sustenance, before picking up and moving on. This is countercultural , especially the USA. When I look at my father, I wonder if his own love of travel was not only a movement forward, but a movement "away from". Pilgrimge, like any travel, has often included those who were fleeing.
The difference, I think, between a pilgrimage and a fugitice is the pilgrim runs toward and with love. The fugitive is running away. Perhaps my study and interest in holy lingering is a call for me to engage the practices of the season of Lent: to thoroughly search myself, to present my sins to God, to make ammends as possible with those whom I have offended, and know by grace and mercy the compassion and love of God.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Idleness and Benedict's Rule
I've read the Rule of St. Benedict many times, and every time I notice new facets, new depth.
Tonight, I'm reading from John Chittister's commentary on the Rule. For class, we were asked to read just the rule, not her commentary, so maybe next week after reading her commentary I'll have a better reflection on it. But, I've enjoyed reading the rule again.
Of the many lines that have stuck out to me, one is his rule on idleness:
"Idleness if the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the community members should have specified periods for manual labor as well as for prayerful reading."
As I contemplate the motion of Holy Lingering, a distinction should be made between lingering and idleness, though they are often associated. To be idle, to dawdle, is to indulge in nothing, to avoid, to put off, or, if we look at automobiles, to run without going anywhere. To me, it connotes a lack of meaning or purpose, a lack of drive, a disinterest.
Holy Lingering, however, is purposeful, oriented and orienting: eyes wide open and bated breath. To linger with the Holy or to linger for the Holy is to take time and space to pay attention to the inner working of God in one's life, to seek revelation or realign insight without, to insight within. Yet, it is not individualistic, however solitary it may be. Holy lingering brings us out of ourselves, requiring us to pay attention to others, to "seek and serve Christ" in them.
This Holy Lingering may be made holy not as a search for a distant God, but in finding God within the relationships: our fellow pilgrims and the strangers we meet, or who meet us, along the way.
Tonight, I'm reading from John Chittister's commentary on the Rule. For class, we were asked to read just the rule, not her commentary, so maybe next week after reading her commentary I'll have a better reflection on it. But, I've enjoyed reading the rule again.
Of the many lines that have stuck out to me, one is his rule on idleness:
"Idleness if the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the community members should have specified periods for manual labor as well as for prayerful reading."
As I contemplate the motion of Holy Lingering, a distinction should be made between lingering and idleness, though they are often associated. To be idle, to dawdle, is to indulge in nothing, to avoid, to put off, or, if we look at automobiles, to run without going anywhere. To me, it connotes a lack of meaning or purpose, a lack of drive, a disinterest.
Holy Lingering, however, is purposeful, oriented and orienting: eyes wide open and bated breath. To linger with the Holy or to linger for the Holy is to take time and space to pay attention to the inner working of God in one's life, to seek revelation or realign insight without, to insight within. Yet, it is not individualistic, however solitary it may be. Holy lingering brings us out of ourselves, requiring us to pay attention to others, to "seek and serve Christ" in them.
This Holy Lingering may be made holy not as a search for a distant God, but in finding God within the relationships: our fellow pilgrims and the strangers we meet, or who meet us, along the way.
Holy Lingering
Here is my "profile" at vox. This is a good attempt at identifying why I am on pilgrimage, and the particular work of pilgrimage I am focusing on right now, both spiritually, in my blog, and in my academic work.
Holy Lingering is an important motion of pilgrimage - it is more than taking a break or a lack of movement. Holy lingering is holding back, hanging out. To me, it implies expectancy, anticipation, the assumption that by lingering, we can have a rich experience with the Holy; but it is also the work of taking time to look beyond our individual faith travels to a wider community and a broader space. In holy lingering, we acknowledge that there is something worth savoring in life's pilgrimage.
In my life's pilgrimage, it has been not only the movement through the liturgy, the moving towards something: it is in the moments I have stayed a little longer in a particular place, that I have been able to pause and reflect or slow down and notice God in new way. Life is a pilgrimage, it is not stagnant, but part of the movement of pilgrimage is the action of lingering. There I have found God in shadows and corners, in an unanticipated companion, in rest and contemplation, in discovering a pearl of great value. How many of these, I wonder, have I passed by, because I hurry on.
Perhaps there is something countercultural there, too. The culture of rushing says "don't stop to notice, don't stop to think." This culture urges on, always moving, never pausing. If we live this way, we never have to stop and pay attention to what God is calling us to do - we can keep shopping, earning trophies, climbing the ladder of "success," and avoiding the realities of failures and pain, avoiding relationships and events that can help us find the greater meaning in our movement. Holy lingering is an attempt to make a case for a vision of pilgrimage that is about more than a rat-race. Holy lingering reminds us that we are in fact pilgrims, and not fugitives. Running towards and not away. Hope you enjoy.
There are many motions of pilgrimage, "gestures" as Brett Webb-Mitchell calls them. This is only one of them.
Yes, I am on pilgrimage - on a journey towards God with the delicious sweetness of communion in a crazy, diverse pilgrim band. But in this sacred travel, there are motions we learn, practices that help us understand who we are. One of these is Holy Lingering.Holy Lingering is an important motion of pilgrimage - it is more than taking a break or a lack of movement. Holy lingering is holding back, hanging out. To me, it implies expectancy, anticipation, the assumption that by lingering, we can have a rich experience with the Holy; but it is also the work of taking time to look beyond our individual faith travels to a wider community and a broader space. In holy lingering, we acknowledge that there is something worth savoring in life's pilgrimage.
In my life's pilgrimage, it has been not only the movement through the liturgy, the moving towards something: it is in the moments I have stayed a little longer in a particular place, that I have been able to pause and reflect or slow down and notice God in new way. Life is a pilgrimage, it is not stagnant, but part of the movement of pilgrimage is the action of lingering. There I have found God in shadows and corners, in an unanticipated companion, in rest and contemplation, in discovering a pearl of great value. How many of these, I wonder, have I passed by, because I hurry on.
Perhaps there is something countercultural there, too. The culture of rushing says "don't stop to notice, don't stop to think." This culture urges on, always moving, never pausing. If we live this way, we never have to stop and pay attention to what God is calling us to do - we can keep shopping, earning trophies, climbing the ladder of "success," and avoiding the realities of failures and pain, avoiding relationships and events that can help us find the greater meaning in our movement. Holy lingering is an attempt to make a case for a vision of pilgrimage that is about more than a rat-race. Holy lingering reminds us that we are in fact pilgrims, and not fugitives. Running towards and not away. Hope you enjoy.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Why "on pilgrimage"
Psalm 84 says "Blessed are those whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way," and I figure there are different ways to interpret that.
I felt a delicious blessing as I walked across Northern Spain on the medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela along the "camino frances."
However, I have come to see that there is a different kind of blessing for a different kind of "being" on the way. That is the way of the hospitalero.
I felt a delicious blessing as I walked across Northern Spain on the medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela along the "camino frances."
However, I have come to see that there is a different kind of blessing for a different kind of "being" on the way. That is the way of the hospitalero.
The person who lives along the "way" and receives the person passing by and passing through. The little old lady who runs after me with a diet coke, the man who invites me into his home and pulls a slab of meat out of his smoke house, and picks fresh vegetables from his garden... the priests who pray the mass at the churches along the camino, and the volunteers who run the refugios. Even those who wave at you as you pass by.
The ministry of hospitality 0 this is the school I need, I want to learn from. I was given a wonderful suggestion by a mentor: go stay in a Benedictine retreat house, and follow the guest master for a few days. I'll check back in when I've done that, and let you know how it goes.
What are your thoughts on hospitality? What are your thoughts about being on pilgrimage? I want to be on pilgrimage in a way that helps people in their journey.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Spiritual Biography and Memoir
I'm in a class in seminary, called "Spiritual Biograpahy and Memoir." I'm going to dedicate this blog space to developing some of my work in that class. You can also see my blog, "holy lingering," on Vox at: http://onpilgrimage.vox.com/
pax v.
michael b.
pax v.
michael b.
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