Pilgrimage

I have often heard people say that they believe in God, but don’t see any point in religion. I suppose it’s difficult publicly to disparage God; few people have the courage to proclaim themselves true atheists. But it is easier to put down religion, the religious life, as somehow flawed, or pointless, or at the very least a chore. We might do well on this Easter Day to ask what we really mean by religion. What is the religious life we are offered through the church? It is, after all, the church that has drawn us here today. It is the church that gives us a day and a way to celebrate and share in the wonder and glory of Christ’s resurrection. Religion is what we are doing as we worship together on this greatest of the church’s holy days.

The Presbyterian minister and writer Frederick Buechner is a master of quotable quotes. Here is how he defines religion. "Religion is that area of human experience where one way or another women and men come upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage." Religion is where we come upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage. Encountering mystery, stumbling upon mystery in the midst of mundane lives, we then feel within ourselves longings and stirrings to explore, to draw closer to that mystery, to become pilgrims into mystery’s wonder. Religion is not, therefore, a rational choice to be either intellectually accepted or rejected. Nor is religion anyone’s (even God’s) prescription or command. It is more like falling in love; it is the inevitable result of an encounter with true mystery… a desire that grows unbidden within our hearts and souls… a call, summons to pilgrimage.

I like this word pilgrimage. We often use the word journey to describe the religious life. And journey is a very good word. And, of course, for many folk here at St. John’s the "Journey with Christ" program has been enriching and significant. But I like the word pilgrimage even better.

People tend to "set out" on a journey. We are "drawn" on pilgrimage, drawn forward. Drawn towards a specific destination. A pilgrimage always has a specific goal. It is not aimless. It is not undertaken just for exercise or for the general enjoyment or enrichment of travel. Those are good things, especially if we are talking about spiritual exercise or travel. But a pilgrimage is always to a holy place. Pilgrims’ sights are set on their journey’s end. Yet a pilgrimage always does involve a journey… the traveling is important. The steps along the road are somehow essential means to the pilgrimage’s end.

"Religion is that area of human experience where one way or another women and men come upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage."

It is mystery that summons us to pilgrimage. It is mystery, one way or another, that summoned us all here today. Something beyond that which we know, something we cannot fully describe or understand. Yet something that is somehow more important than anything else in life. Mystery. Mystery is not always mysterious in the goose bumps sense. It is not always spectacular or dramatic, yet it is always filled with awe. It is not always pleasant or happy, but it is always rooted in hope. Mystery is the conviction that there is something more real than what we see around us… that there is something truer to the human purpose than war or enmity, something purer in human life than sickness or estrangement, something more enduring than the treasures we tend to store up for ourselves on earth. Mystery raises these questions. Mystery tugs at our hearts and souls, promising us holiness. It is some sense of mystery that has drawn us all here today.

Drawn us here this morning as one step in our own pilgrimage. Our worship is a step along the road. Remember that a pilgrimage always reaches towards a holy place, a goal. Do you see that holy destination upon the horizon? To borrow a wonderful phrase, the place we seek in the pilgrimage of our human lives is "mystic sweet communion." Mystic sweet communion with God. Life is full of journeys hither and yon, roads that may be full of satisfaction, detours that may lead to despair. But there is only one true pilgrimage worth taking, the one that leads to God’s presence, the one that draws us into mystic sweet communion with our God.

It is not a pilgrimage that we will take alone. Many of you probably have heard the well known passage that reads, in the King James’ Version of the Bible, "In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." We often read this passage at burials. It is a comfort to us to picture those whom we have lost to death dwelling in God’s mansions. But listen to another interpretation of this passage. Dorothy Sayers has written a series of plays on the life and ministry of Jesus. This is what she has Jesus say to the disciples as he sits at his last supper with them: "There are many inns on the road to my father’s house. I am going ahead to prepare the lodgings for you. You will always find me there to welcome you, so that at each stage we shall be together."

Inns as we travel on our pilgrimage. Inns where Jesus awaits us to heal us if we are footsore, to encourage us if we are disheartened, to guide us if we are confused or have lost sight of our destination, to give us rest and renewal, and to teach us, stage by stage, as in our traveling we grow and are transformed more and more into the holy people God would have us to be. The pilgrimage itself is the process by which, with Jesus’ love and guidance, we grow into holiness. Holy people seeking a holy place.

The church, by God’s grace and gift, is the resident manager for many (maybe not all, but many) of those inns along our pilgrimage route. This is the place where the Lord’s table is set, the Lord’s word spoken, the Lord’s healing touch made real, and opportunities for holiness are offered.

This past week at a diocesan clergy day I had the opportunity to hear a notable theologian talk about the four primary theological theories on the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection. His teaching was meant to help us in our Easter preaching. It was helpful, at the very least, to realize that different people and different times resonate with different perspectives on what is the greatest thing that ever happened.

As a pilgrim this particular Easter morning what resonates with me is God’s absolute Easter assurance that nothing in the world can keep me from my pilgrim’s goal. Nothing. Nothing in this world can come between me and mystic sweet communion with my Lord, my God. God will do anything, has done everything, to build the road that, step by step, will bring me—and you—into the fullness of God’s holiness and love. It does not matter who you are. It does not matter where you are when you sense your own summons to pilgrimage. Some people take their first steps towards God in the midst of childhood’s wonder; some began their pilgrimage only three days ago under the bitter shadow of the cross. Some peoples’ pilgrimages are gentle and gradual; others are fiery and passionate. Some times, some of our pilgrim steps are marked by warm gratitude for God’s blessings; other steps are taken with fierce respect for God’s judgment. Yet, no matter what… no matter what or where or when or who, the pilgrims’ road always lies open before us. Nothing in heaven, on earth, or under the earth—not even death itself—can keep us from reaching God’s holy presence. This is Jesus’ Easter gift.

As the psalmist says:

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