An Elder Pilgrim's Reflections

Then Jesus took the 5 loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” (from John 6:1-21 ) Rev. Dr. Tracy Blackmon tells the story of her “most holy” of Holy Communions. Dr. Blackmon tells of being fed by Cathy “Mama Cat” Daniels. Mama Cat had been serving Sunday meals to demonstrators outside the Ferguson Police Department’s headquarters nearly every week since Michael Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. In Mama Cat’s words, “These [sic] our mothers, and fathers, and brothers, and sisters, and nieces and nephews. It’s our people, so when we say black lives matter, we need to know that we need to include every last one. I can’t sleep at night knowing people is laying out in the cold. I spent the night out here two days before Christmas because you got to understand w...

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” (From Mark 6:30-34) Sometimes I just feel like I need a Creemee (Google it) to take me back to the beginning of my pastoral ministry in Vermont. I feel a need to get grounded as I reflect on the road of my pastoral ministry and where I am still traveling. Like the disciples, I have worked and taught faithfully in each parish and the Lord’s work in retirement. I’m experiencing the world in a precarious, ever-changing situation politically, nationally and globally with continuous brutality and new challenges. Jesus call to the disciples to “come away to a deserted place” seem like just the place to go. Deserted places are critical places, places to get re-grounded. Significantly, the Gospel of Mark begins in a deserted place: a wilderness of forty days. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan, the heavens are opened...

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. (from Psalm 83) Friday, July 12, was a day in which I felt a sense of deep peace gently surrounding me.  One place was sitting on a bench alongside a quiet pond surrounded by trees a view of nearby mountains with billowing clouds above. Another was the peaceful singing of Psalms by a small group accompanied by acoustic guitars. Psalm 85:8–13, portrays the abundant life that God wills for all people in all times and in all places. Later, into this pastoral scene of deep inner peace burst the exterior scene of violence at a political rally leaving physical and spiritual wounds. In Psalm 83, the Lord speaks peace to his people by summoning and challenging his people “to look for and pray for” the abundant life that God wills and to work toward that abundant life for all. The basic challenge is to shape a world where everyone is fed, clothed, and c...

"Jesus took her by the hand and said to her, 'Talitha cum,' which means, 'Little girl, get up!' And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement." (From Mark 5:21-43 ) There’s a song in the musical “Hamilton” called “It’s Quiet Uptown” sung after Alexander and Eliza Hamilton’s firstborn son Philip is killed in a duel. It begins like this: There are moments that the words don’t reach There is suffering too terrible to name You hold your child as tight as you can And push away the unimaginable.   Unimaginable. That had to be the parent’s feelings sitting by their son’s hospital bed. He had attempted suicide, it failed, and now he was on life support, his parents facing the hardest, most heartrending decision possible. I stayed with them, sometimes silently, sometimes in prayer, sometimes offering what felt like inadequate answers to difficult questions. What do you say to parents...

"As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us." (from Psalm 123 ) My way of "observing the Sabbath to keep it holy" (Ex.20.8) is by attending church somewhere on Sunday.  When I am away, I usually locate a nearby United Methodist Church, or occasionally a Baptist, Presbyterian, or Episcopal church to experience the Spirit moving differently within them. I make this Sunday Pilgrimage out of two needs, the first is by looking to God helps me focus on heaven where God is crowned as creator and ruler over all the earth. Just as the servant and maid look hopefully to the master for providing, so I look hopefully to God for providing a sign of divine mercy as God completes God’s purposes for the world. The second need comes from seeing a world filled with contempt by people in authority looking down on those around them. The arrogant looking at ...