Change is a Constant

By Pastor Dan Robinson

“For everything there is a season…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

As I write this, the sun is pouring through the window in my office on a warm day in February. So far, we’ve mostly had an “old fashioned winter” this season, with lots of snow and cold. But the weather changed, as it usually does, and almost all the snow and ice are gone after a few days of warmer temperatures.

But the weather will change again, and again… that seems to be the way that God made the world, with change built right in. We move from winter to spring to summer and fall, changing with the seasons. Our lives are filled with seasons, too, and the time will come when each of those seasons will change into a new season.

We at Pilgrim are entering a new season with the change of our staff. Sandra Ives, after 12 years as the Office Manager, is finishing up her work here at the church. She’s choosing to make a change of her own, and while I’m excited for her as she moves into the next stage of her life, I’m sad to see her go. She has done excellent work during this past year as I started at Pilgrim, and for that I’m very grateful. She goes with our love and our prayers, as well as with our invitation to always connect with us in the future.

Change, of course, always brings in something - or in this case, someone - new. And so I’m pleased to announce that we have hired a new Office Manager to fill that role. Deb Romaneschi, who, along with her husband JD, has recently joined Pilgrim, and will be serving as Pilgrim’s part-time Office Manager. She starts that role on Monday, February 23, so when you see Deb, please give her a big welcome as our church’s Office Manager.

Deb has a lot of office experience, having worked for a few different municipalities. But she also has experience working as a church Office Manager and with working with me - she is the part-time Office Manager at Zion UCC St. Joe, the other church where I serve as pastor.

Change is never completely smooth and simple, so I ask for your patience and help as we work out new schedules and new ways of doing things. For now, Deb’s schedule will be 12:30-3:30 Mondays through Thursdays. My office hours will change slightly, at least for now, and I’ll be at Pilgrim on Mondays, 12 Noon-3:00 PM and Wednesdays, 9:00 AM-12 Noon.

Sandra has been a “Jill-of-all-trades” over the years, accomplishing lots of different tasks. So, if there is something she has done in the past for you, and you would like that to continue, please let me know. I can’t promise it will continue. But we want to be on top of the good work that’s been done, and then make the best decisions we can about what will be done in the future.

Finally, then, I send a heartfelt “thank you” to Sandra for all her faithful years of serving this community, as well as a hearty “welcome” to Deb as she moves into the Office Manager role.

Pilgrim has experienced a change in pastors over the last year-and-a-half, and now a change in office managers. But one thing remains constant… the love of God for all of us. It’s that love that can bring hope and peace in any season.

We are Bound Together in God

“Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
The sharing of a common life is like to that above. -
vs. 1 of
”Blessed Be the Ties that Bind” lyrics by John Fawcett”

”Blessed Be the Ties that Bind” lyrics by John Fawcett

Do you know that hymn? John Fawcett wrote it in 1782. Fawcett was an English Baptist minister in Wainsgate, England and served a very small and poor congregation. As the story goes, he was offered a more prestigious and lucrative position with a church in London, but at the last minute changed his mind and decided to stay in Wainsgate, where he remained for 54 years. He wrote “Blessed Be the Ties that Bind” for the Wainsgate congregation.

Those lyrics remind me of something that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail: "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."

In 1963, King had been arrested in Birmingham, AL for nonviolent civil disobedience and protesting unjust laws against black people. While in jail, King had been criticized by white ministers for pushing too hard with protests to change these unjust laws. King’s Letter was his response to them, making the point (among others) that it is wrong to expect people to wait patiently for injustice to end. “Justice too long delayed,” King wrote, “is justice denied.”

Before our God we come and pour our ardent prayers

Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares -vs. 2 of ”Blessed Be the Ties that Bind”

Fawcett and King wrote in two very different situations. Fawcett wrote his hymn in a loving, supportive community in rural England. King wrote his Letter in a moment of conflict with both the Birmingham political leadership but also with the white ministers. And yet, they both came to the same conclusion... what affects one of us affects all of us, because we are all bound together in God.

This idea of solidarity, of community with each other - even if we don’t know each other - has been on my mind a lot lately. From Gaza to Ukraine, Venezuela to Greenland, Minneapolis to Berrien County, we are all tied together. We are all children of God. What happens to people in those places affects me and you here in our community.

No matter where we live, and no matter what our situation, we all want very similar things - enough food to eat, a place to live, people to love and be loved by, clean air and water, freedom to worship and think as we choose, the opportunity to pursue the life we desire, and a life without oppression and violence. Our Creator has put these same desires and dreams in all of us.

While it’s easier to realize this shared humanity with the people we know, or the people who look like us or think like us, we are called as the Body of Christ to also realize our shared humanity with people who seem different or are far away from us. We are called to put ourselves in the shoes of an immigrant living in fear in Minneapolis or a woman mourning the death of her husband in the war in Ukraine, because we all have known fear and grief in our lives.

We share each other’s woes, each other’s burdens bear,

And often for each other flows a sympathizing tear.

Our shared humanity in God, though, is what makes it possible for us to bear our own burdens as well as the burdens of others. God’s Spirit binds us in community, and it is in this community with people - wherever they may be - that we find the strength and courage, to make it through the moments of pain, celebrate the moments of joy, and care for each other on this Earth.

Both Fawcett and King echo the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote, “Above all, clothe yourselves in love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony,” (Colossians 6:14)

To Be or Not to Be...Dual-Denomination.That Is the Question!

We start 2026 as one congregation, one people of God, a merger of Pilgrim and Riverview Park. A lot of wonderful work has been done by so many people to get us to this point, and we have more work to do, as we consider whether or not to be a dual-denomination congregation, one that has a foot in both the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

We’ll be discussing that question at our annual meeting on Sunday, January 25. To help us prepare for that consideration, I thought I’d do a quick recap of some of the points I made during my series of sermons this past fall on the differences and similarities of the two denominations.

Both the UCC and the DoC have historically worked to bring about Christian unity. For the UCC, that meant the coming together of four Christian traditions in 1957: The Evangelical Synod of North America, Congregational Churches, Christian Churches, and the Reformed Church in the United States. Much of the UCC’s roots can be traced back to Europe.

The DoC didn’t start out as a denomination, but rather a movement of Christians that sought to take away what they saw as dividing us, including denominational requirements. This movement was started on the frontier of the U.S. in the late 1700s, but it became a formal denomination in 1968.

Both denominations work to make the gospel real and applicable to today’s world. We can see that in their “tag lines.” For the DoC, that’s “A movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” For the UCC, it’s “God is still speaking.”

To make the gospel real and applicable, both denominations embrace compassion, diversity, and justice. For example, both denominations are committed to being anti-racist as well as open and affirming to the LGBTQ+ community. And both denominations work together through the Global Ministries partnership to reach out to the wider world in service to all those in need.

Both denominations are strongly based in congregational leadership, meaning that decision making ultimately rests with the local congregation, rather than with state, regional, or national church leaders.

Both denominations emphasize the importance of baptism and communion as their two sacraments, although they do differ somewhat in practice. In the UCC, the frequency of communion varies, from quarterly to monthly to weekly, while in the DoC, communion is celebrated weekly. We have made the decision here at Pilgrim to celebrate communion weekly, like other UCC churches.

For baptism, the UCC celebrates baptism of infants with the sprinkling of water, while the DoC practices baptism by immersion at a later age, when someone can decide for themselves to be baptized. Typically, this starts around the early teen years.

A number of congregations around the country are dual UCC-DoC denominational churches, and they have managed to celebrate our similarities and come to an understanding on our differences. For example, with baptism, a congregation might just accept whatever form of baptism someone or someone’s parents want to celebrate.

If we were to become a dual-denomination congregation, we would need to work out other administrative issues, such as how to handle both denominations’ special collections. But, these would not be difficult to settle.

While this is an important decision, I don’t know that there is a “wrong” decision. Whatever Pilgrim decides, we will still be doing the important work of spreading the Good News of God’s love and justice, and being the presence of Jesus in the world. Of that I have no doubt!

A God of Possibilities

Nothing is impossible with God... That’s quite a statement, isn’t it? And yet, time and again, the stories in scripture, and perhaps the stories in our own lives, tell us that that is indeed true.

Advent is my favorite season of the year, and I think that’s because it’s a season of possibilities, or God doing the things that we think couldn’t ever happen.

This year, we’ll hear from the prophet Isaiah quite a bit on these four Sundays of Advent. To the people of ancient Israel and to us, Isaiah says:

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4, first Sunday of Advent)

“The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6, second Sunday of Advent)

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” (Isaiah 35:5-6, third Sunday of Advent)

“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14, fourth Sunday of Advent)

A world without war, enemies living together in peace, healing for all, and God coming to live with us, Immanuel. That’s quite a picture that Isaiah paints for us, isn’t it? And a picture that doesn’t seem possible, especially with the world we’re living in now. And yet, Gabriel told Mary and us, “nothing will be impossible with God.”

Advent fires our imagination with what God can do in our lives. But Advent also doesn’t let us sit back and do nothing. Yes, it’s a season of waiting... waiting for Christmas, waiting for Jesus to return, waiting for God to come into our lives each day. But it’s not a season of passive waiting.

As Isaiah also tells us, we have to act like we think the impossible is possible. We have to turn our weapons of violence into instruments of life and flourishing. We have to take the risk of reaching out to our enemies in peace. We have to seek healing not just for ourselves but for others. We have to believe that God is with us in Jesus and in our everyday lives.

“You give them something to eat.”Luke 9:13

“…the feeding of others, whether it’s spiritual or physical food, is part of our core vocation as followers of Christ.”

This article’s title is from the story of Jesus feeding over five thousand people with just five loaves and two fish. The telling of that story is remarkably consistent between Luke’s, Mark’s, and Matthew’s gospels. All three have a large crowd gathered to hear Jesus (4000-5000 men plus women and children). All three have the disciples saying that Jesus should send the crowd away because they don’t have food to feed them. And all three have Jesus saying, “You give them something to eat.”

Jesus then took the little they had - five loaves and two fish - and fed the crowd, with plenty left over. In this story, Jesus is calling the disciples to feed people who are hungry and in need, even when it seems like there’s not enough to go around.

For us who share in communion each week, the feeding of others, whether it’s spiritual or physical food, is part of our core vocation as followers of Christ. But it’s hard to focus on our spiritual hunger if our physical hunger - and the fear it can bring - gnaws at us.

Right now, our country is facing a hunger crisis. As I write this, Congress is still deadlocked on the budget and health care, and the federal government is shut down. As a result, regular funding for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps) has been shut down as well.

Starting November 1, over 40 million people in our country will receive reduced food assistance or no food assistance at all. And the Administration has chosen to not spend the over-$5-billion it has in reserve for the SNAP program. This decision will cause hunger to greatly increase across our country in the coming weeks.

Who are the people that receive SNAP funds?

● In Michigan, 492,225 children benefit from SNAP funding.

● In Berrien County, 23,000 residents qualify for SNAP, or 15%

of the county’s population.

● Households receiving SNAP include those with children

(43%), with older adults (36%), and with a person with a

disability (51%).

● Over three-fourths of all households receiving SNAP have

someone earning an income.

Right now, food pantries and feeding programs across Berrien County are trying to figure out how they can help fill this huge gap in food access caused by the federal government shutdown and refusal to use its reserve fund to keep SNAP going. There is no way to completely cover that gap, but they are trying.

How can we help? Four things come to mind:

We can donate food. Please consider bringing food donations to Pilgrim as part of this month’s food drive (see the list of possible items to donate at the end of this article). All donations will go to St. Augustine’s Food Pantry in Benton Harbor. At the end of October, they served over 800 people in one evening, a record number for them.

We can advocate for SNAP funding to be restored. We can contact the Administration, as well as our Representative and Senators, asking them to use the SNAP reserve funds to feed people in need, to negotiate an end to the shutdown, and to restore regular SNAP funding. Here is a link to more advocacy information from the Christian organization, Bread for the World: https://bit.ly/42YqmZD

We can volunteer. I was on a call this week with food pantries around the county, as they tried to coordinate with each other to address the coming crisis in food insecurity. A common theme among all of them was the need for volunteers. Let me know if you’re interested, and I can get you connected.

We can pray and learn more about hunger in scripture and in our church’s tradition. Bread for the World also has some great prayer resources at its website: https://www.bread.org/pray/. And if you’d like to learn more about what our scriptures and tradition have to say about feeding people who are hungry, please talk to me, and I can put you in touch with some other resources.

We have no higher calling than to follow the lead of Jesus, who shared a meal with his disciples. We continue to imitate that meal each week in the Lord’s Supper. Feeding people - physically and spiritually - is what we’re called to do. Especially in times like these, Jesus still says to us, “You give them something to eat.”

Items to bring to Pilgrim as a donation for St. Augustine’s Pantry beginning Sunday, November 2 through Sunday, November 23:

● Any non-perishable food

○ canned vegetables or fruit, soups, pasta sauces, etc.

○ rice, pasta, boxed potatoes, etc.

● Toiletries like…

○ single toothbrushes or toothpaste

○ deodorant and bars of soap

Coming Together: Two in One

We are stronger together

It’s been a joy to see how well our two churches - Pilgrim and Riverview - have come together as one congregation. That’s been a real sign of the Spirit’s work in our community, and for that I’m grateful.

As part of that “coming together” is the consideration of whether or not we want to be a dual-denomination congregation, with a foot in each of our denominations - the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. There are actually a number of congregations in the U.S. with dual-denomination status (and some with three or more denominations, like Methodist or Episcopalian as well!). Let me know if you’re curious to see the websites of some of those churches; I’d be happy to get them to you.

What could that mean for us? Well, that’s something we’ll be exploring in the next few months, to see if dual-denomination status would be a good fit for us as well.

To help with that consideration, I’ll be sharing information about our two denominations in our newsletter, as well as during sermons, weekly updates, this blog, etc.

I’ll be sharing more information as we go along, but always feel free to ask me questions. If I don’t have the answer, I’ll find out where we can get it. And please continue to pray that we grow as one church in Jesus… that is the blessing that God has provided for us, and a blessing for which, as I said, I am very grateful. - Pastor Dan Robinson

Change, Compassion and the Body of Christ

“…In the coming weeks and months together, let us be grateful for all that God is doing, this “new thing” that springs forth from Divine Love. And let us be patient with each other as we figure out how we practically live into this new reality.”

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” - Isaiah 43:18-19

Lots of new things are happening at Pilgrim! We’re grateful for the merger with Riverview Park Christian Church, the coming together of our two congregations, and the blessing of a renewed spirit that comes when we gather with even more members of the Body of Christ. 

We are fed by our decision to have communion every week, experiencing the healing and inspiration that comes from sharing the bread and the cup, the body and blood of Christ each Sunday.

We are hopeful for the ongoing conversation and connection with Zion UCC, as we explore what a shared future might look like.

That’s a lot! And while change can be good, and a blessing from God, it can also be a little disorienting and challenging. We all need to allow space for both rejoicing in the new things God is doing in our church, but also getting used to new realities, new people, and new ways of being a community of Jesus’ disciples.

One blessing to rejoice in is that our two congregations coming together gives an example of uniting the Body of Christ. Both Pilgrim and Riverview Park come from denominations (the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ, respectively) that are committed to Christian unity. Our merger is a real-life application of that commitment.

So, as we unite our congregations, some things will work well right away, and other things will take a little longer to figure out. But in our faithfulness to God and each other, we will grow in ways we never expected and discover the Love of God in places and people that will surprise us.

In the coming weeks and months together, let us be grateful for all that God is doing, this “new thing” that “springs forth” from Divine Love. And let us be patient with each other as we figure out how we practically live into this new reality. That love, patience, and discovery is yet another example of being the Body of Christ in the world, an example for which I am deeply grateful.

The Gift of Peace

“If we truly want peace, we have to work for the Shalom of all people, the healing, wholeness, and flourishing of everyone, even those we think are wrong or dangerous”

This Fourth of July, we’re celebrating the 249th birthday of our country. That makes us one of the oldest modern democracies in the world (although some historians suggest the Native American Six Nations confederacy is the world’s oldest democracy, which goes back eight centuries).

249 years is worth celebrating! So what kind of gift do you think a 249-year-old would like? I know anniversaries have “symbols,” like paper for the first anniversary and gold for the 50th. If I could pick out a gift for our country’s 249th birthday, I would pick Peace.

Now, “Peace” is an interesting word. It can mean so many different things to different people. It might mean the absence of conflict between family members or between countries. For others, it might be something that flows from making sure people are treated justly and with dignity. For many of us, it might just mean a moment of calm and quiet in the middle of a crazy day! Not only do we have conflict in the world, we often can’t even agree on what true peace is! So, what does “peace” mean to you?

Jesus saw that we have trouble with understanding peace. In fact, he wept over this in Luke’s gospel. Jesus cried out as he approached the city of Jerusalem (whose name means “City of Peace”), saying to the people of Jerusalem, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” (16:42)

In the Jewish scriptures (which were the scriptures of Jesus and his time), the word for peace was “shalom,” which means more than just an absence of conflict. It means flourishing and wholeness, not just for the individual person but for the entire community. It means more than just “live and let live.” Instead, peace calls us to reach out and work for the well-being of all God’s people.

So, how do we get to that wholeness, flourishing, and well-being? Or more to Jesus’ point, what are the things that make for peace?

There are many things that make for peace, more than could be covered in this one column. But there is one in particular that seemed essential to Jesus, yet incredibly hard for those of us who follow his teachings and life: Love your enemies.

This idea of loving and caring for one’s enemies comes up repeatedly in the Christian scriptures. In Luke 6:27, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” And those words are echoed in Matthew 5:44 and Romans 12:14.

Now, that’s a tough one, because it seems like our world is chock-full of enemies. It could mean our neighbor who lets their trash blow into our backyard. In our country, it might be people who think differently from us on politics, religion, the economy, and so on. Or it could be people who come from a different country than us or have a different color of skin, or perhaps are poorer than us.

Around the globe, there’s no shortage of conflict and war, all filled with the “other,” people who are the enemy to folks on “the other side.” You can’t have a war - whether it’s in the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia, or somewhere else - if you don’t have an enemy.

Sometimes it feels like it’s worse now more than ever. But I suppose it feels like that to every generation. Certainly it can’t be as bad, at least in this country, as when we had our own Civil War, right?... Right?!

And yet, in the midst of all that morass and conflict and mess, Jesus said, “Love your enemies...” And even more, Jesus says we actually have to show that we love them by doing “good to those who hate you.” To set an example, Jesus forgave those who called for his execution and those who crucified him on the cross.

Loving your enemy seems so radical and so counter-intuitive. We all want peace, of course, but to have peace we have to get rid of our enemies. There’s a push now to do away with our enemies, sometimes expressed in the phrase, “Peace through strength,” or seen in violent acts against neighbors, elected officials of a different party, or immigrants to this country.

But strength, particularly military strength and violence, never really gets rid of an enemy. It may stop the conflict for a while, but it doesn’t bring true peace. The things that make for peace, Jesus tells us, are our efforts to stop seeing other people as an enemy. We need to transform our hearts and the relationship we have with them and to see them as equal children of God, whether they are black, brown or white-skinned; Jews, Christians, or Muslims; people of the United States, Israel, Iran, Ukraine, or Russia.

Is that easy? Heck, no! Is it practical? Absolutely!

If we truly want peace, we have to work for the Shalom of all people, the healing, wholeness, and flourishing of everyone, even those we think are wrong or dangerous. Only that will practically bring about the peace that we all seek.

That’s a tough job, especially in a time when our country and our world are divided and conflict seems to be everywhere. But that’s the job description of the followers of Jesus - to love our enemies - for that is the thing that truly makes for peace.

In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” That is the gift that Jesus gives us, which we can pass on to others, and which might make a nice gift for our country’s 250th birthday next year, too! 

A New Pentecost, a New Future

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other… and though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not easily broken.” - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12

The passage from Ecclesiastes (see above) came up at the recent gathering of people in leadership roles from Riverview Park, Pilgrim, and Zion churches. We gathered for a soup supper on a Thursday evening in May to discuss something that’s been on the mind of a lot of people, I think… whether our three churches can discover a shared future together.

The person who quoted this passage was making a comment on how good it might be for our three congregations to be connected in some way. What that connection might look like is for all of us to discover together, but the general point is that we might be stronger together.

I’ve been thinking about this idea of the three churches coming together quite a bit, and it seems especially appropriate now,

because we’re coming up to the celebration of Pentecost on June 8. This day marks the end of the Easter season and celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early followers of Jesus. On that day, we’ll hear again the story as it’s told in Acts 2, when all the disciples were gathered in the upper room and “were filled with the Holy Spirit.” (vs. 4)

Some people consider the coming of the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost as the “birthday of the church.” When they were filled with the Spirit, those early followers of Jesus had no idea where they would be led, how other people would react to them, or what their community would look like in the years ahead. All they knew is that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection had shown them the power of God’s love and justice, and their mission was to share that love and justice with all they met.

So, perhaps we are now at our own “Pentecost,” when the Holy Spirit is calling us to a new path in our mission to share God’s love and justice. We might not know yet where it will lead, but we can be confident that God will travel with us, that Jesus’ ministry and resurrection give us the example we need for that journey, and that the Holy Spirit will guide us.

In the coming months, we will consider a shared future between our three congregations, whether that be a once-a-year shared worship, some kind of consolidation between the three churches, or something in between. As we consider all this, the most important question is, “What form of church will best serve our mission of helping build the Reign of God?”

I continue to believe that the Holy Spirit is leading us to a future where all three of our churches are connected in some way. That connection may very well give us the best opportunity to serve our mission. As the passage from Ecclesiastes says, the mission of a three-strand cord can not be easily broken.

 May God continue to bless and uphold us as we together enter into this new future, this new Pentecost, this new birthday of our churches.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Dan Robinson

Hospitality for All

Benedict of Nursia wrote a rule for living that has been followed by monastic communities and average Christians for centuries.*

“All guests who present themselves are to be received as Christ, who said, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”(Matthew 25:35)

* Benedict of Nursia was a monk who lived during the 5th and 6th centuries in the lands of the Roman Empire.

Given all that’s happening in our country around immigration, I thought I’d share this column I wrote that was originally published in the Herald-Palladium in September 2024.

I’ve lived in 23 different places. I know... that sounds like a lot! Two years ago, my wife and I moved to Berrien County, and we hope to make this our community for the rest of our lives, but it’s been quite a journey to get to this point.

Some of those places where I’ve lived were in different states, a few of them were in the same town, but all of them involved packing up, moving, and settling into a new spot. Moving, migrating, journeying, whatever you want to call it, takes a lot of physical and emotional energy.

We’re not the only ones that are on the move, though. According to Steinway Moving and Storage, people in this country move on average almost 12 times during their lives. With all that moving comes a lot of new faces and places.

From my own experience, experiencing hospitality in a new location makes a huge difference. When we moved into our house last year in Berrien Springs, our neighbors across the street left a small gift and note to welcome us to the neighborhood. That gesture let us know that we had found a place we could call home.

Hospitality has been part of the Christian way of living since the days of Jesus and the early Christian communities. Benedict of Nursia was a monk who lived during the 5th and 6th centuries in the lands of the Roman Empire, and he wrote a rule for living that has been followed by monastic communities and average Christians for centuries.

In his rule, Benedict wrote, “All guests who present themselves are to be received as Christ, who said, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’ (Matthew 25:35)” All of us who are on the move from one place to another are strangers to our new community, and yet we all are to be received as Jesus himself.

Benedict also wrote, “Great care and concern is to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims because in them more particularly Christ is received.” Those of us who are struggling or seeking God and a better life reflect the person of Jesus even more, so we, again, are to be welcomed as if we are Jesus himself.

This kind of hospitality was no small task in the days of Benedict and his monastery. The Roman Empire at the time was constantly at war, and those traveling through his part of the world could easily have been people intent on violence. Yet, they were welcomed by the Christian community of the monastery.

What does this call to a spirit of hospitality mean for Christians today? It means welcoming those who are moving into our community, whether they are from Cass County, Chicago, Mexico or Africa.

Welcoming and hospitality can take on different forms, from a small gift left on a front porch to help with housing and those things we need to set up a home. But whatever we do, those of us who are Christians are called to treat the person new to our community as Jesus himself.

Beyond what each of us does to welcome “the stranger,” we need to create a culture of hospitality, where society functions in a welcoming way. Creating such a culture requires leadership that models and shows the path towards hospitality.

Benedict also wrote in his rule that, “The prioress or abbot shall pour water on the hands of the guests, and with the entire community shall wash their feet.” The leaders of the monastery - the prioress or abbot - were expected to show humble service to the guests as if they were Jesus, modeling for the rest of the monastery residents how to show hospitality.

Many people argue that immigrants and those traveling to our country pose a danger, maybe even as the travelers did during the time of Benedict. Yet, immigrants do not commit crimes at any higher rate than people who were born in this country, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. At the same time, many studies show that, overall, immigrants strengthen our economy, providing workers that employers need and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.

Make no mistake, then... hospitality is not easy. Whether it’s someone retiring in our county from Chicago, or someone immigrating here from South America, a changing population means a changing community, with new stresses as well as opportunities.

Those of us who are Christians, though, are called to treat our newly arrived brothers and sisters as Jesus in our individual actions as well as in how we create our culture and society.

As Jesus said in Matthew 25:34,35, hospitality models in this life what Jesus tells us awaits us in the life to come: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ... for I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

 Peace in Christ,

Pastor Dan Robinson

Our Holy Week Journey

“The power in Jesus’ story is that it is our story as well”

“… We must always remember those people who are experiencing their own Good Friday moments in their lives - moments of heartache from loneliness, of pain from discrimination, of suffering from poverty, or even of death from war and violence”

Life is a journey… that’s kind of cliché, right? But it’s a cliché because it fits our experience so well, I think. We travel from one day to the next, from one year to the next, moving through time, and sometimes even moving through space, from one place to the next.

We’re reading Luke’s gospel during worship this year, and in this version of Jesus’ story, he’s a man on the move, particularly in the latter half of the gospel. He’s making his way to Jerusalem, where he knows what awaits him - the events that we celebrate in Holy Week.

Our Holy Week celebrations and worship are a journey, too. We remember Jesus traveling from the highs of Palm Sunday, to the seeming ordinariness of Maundy Thursday, to the depths of Good Friday, and finally to new life and joy beyond our expectations on Easter Sunday.

That’s quite a journey packed into one week, and it’s quite a story, one that has survived over 2000 years. Why is that? And why do we tell the same story again and again every year?

The power in Jesus’ story is that it is also our story as well. Maybe we haven’t finished the journey yet, but we’ve all had high moments in our lives, like Palm Sunday, when everything and everyone around us seems right.

We’ve all had moments that seem ordinary, like Maundy Thursday, when something as simple as a meal is actually a moment of incredible grace and love, if we’re open to it.

We’ve all experienced moments of struggle, pain, or suffering. In a way our own unique Good Friday experience. Maybe we were wrapped in grief over the death of a loved one. Or perhaps we or someone we love was dealing with a serious medical problem. Or maybe it was just a moment in the middle of the night when our fears and our stresses came crashing down on us.

No, our story and our journey isn’t over. But the final leg of Jesus’ Holy Week journey tells us how ours will end. The depths of Good Friday do not have the final say. Resurrection is not only possible, but it’s a reality. Jesus rose to new and eternal life, and we will as well. God’s love is stronger than anything, even the one thing that seems inevitable… death.

In just a couple weeks or so, we’ll once again be taking the Holy Week journey with Jesus. This year, we’ll have the blessing of traveling not only with our family here at Pilgrim, but also with our brothers and sisters at Riverview Park Christian Church and Zion UCC.

Jesus’ story - his Holy Week journey - is our journey, too. That’s true. But because it is our journey, it is also the journey of our sisters’ and brothers’ in this world. People close to us and people around the world are, as you read this, having their moments of celebration, ordinariness, and suffering.

In particular, we must always remember those people who are experiencing their own Good Friday moments in their lives - moments of heartache from loneliness, of pain from discrimination, of suffering from poverty, or even of death from war and violence.

Jesus gave his life in love, service, and sacrifice so that we all may know new life in this world and in the world to come. As his followers, we also are called to give our lives in love, service, and sacrifice, so that our sisters and brothers who are experiencing Good Friday on their journey can know some measure of healing and new life in the here and now.

May the coming Holy Week be a journey of healing and joy for you. I look forward to seeing you as we make that journey together.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Dan

Finding Beauty and Healing in that Which is Broken

Kintsugi is the Japanese tradition of pottery that celebrates those places of brokenness. A broken piece of pottery is glued back together, but instead of hiding the cracks, they are celebrated with gold highlights. It is the brokenness and the healing that creates the beauty of the piece.

These days, we and our world can often feel shattered. And many times the pieces don’t feel like they fit back together. But from this brokenness, God can create healing and beauty in our lives. May we have the courage to accept that healing and beauty this Lent, and then share it with all of God’s creation.

Photo rights purchased on Etsy

If you think about it, Christianity is kind of an odd way to live. We base our lives on someone who seemingly failed, who tried to convince the people of his time of God’s love but in the end was killed for trying.

But as we know, it is that very failure, that willingness to die, that did indeed show God’s love to us. Jesus’ faithfulness, even in death, created the space and the reality of the resurrection. God and new life did not triumph in spite of Jesus’ death but BECAUSE of it.

Failure, sin, unfaithfulness, have been a part of our faith story from the garden of Eden until today, and from the looks of things, they will continue to be an integral part of being human.

Lent has historically been a time of renewal for Christians, a time to fast, pray, and give alms (or donations) as a means to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the resurrection. Too often, though, that time of renewal has focused on our failings and our lives of sin that we often can’t seem to overcome, no matter how hard we try.

Don’t get me wrong! We need to do our best to change the ways we are hurting ourselves, other people, and God’s creation. And change is possible. But the path to change doesn’t focus on our sins and all the ways we fail to live up to the people God created us to be.

We need to accept the reality of our failings and to take a different path (the biblical meaning of the word “repent,” to turn away). But that path is not filled with guilt but with love and forgiveness.

This Lent, my hope for all of us is that we discover our brokenness, and the brokenness of the world around us, are actually glimpses of God’s beauty and the means to healing and wholeness. 

Jesus’ Mission Statement

“ It’s a pretty good summary of what Jesus is about - spiritual, physical, social, and economic healing, so that all people, no matter who they were or what they had done, could live as a child of God.”

I’m so grateful to God and to all of you for the privilege of serving as Pilgrim’s pastor. Worshiping with you on Sundays and visiting members of our congregation in their homes since last August has been a joy, and I’m excited to see what God will be doing through our community in the coming weeks, months, and years.

Before looking to the future, though, I’ve been reflecting yon these past few months, and one of the many things I’ve appreciated about our congregation has been the practice of saying Pilgrim’s Mission Statement together:

Inspired by Christ, we strive to create a reconciling community where ALL are welcome to seek, worship, and serve as individuals interwoven by God’s love. Our goal of spiritual wholeness encourages:

Open dialogue, Mutual respect, Spiritual quest.

A mission statement focuses our energies, time, efforts, and spirits around the most important goals and priorities of the group or person. I think Jesus had a mission statement, too, and that was the Sunday gospel reading during our Annual Meeting on January 26.

In Luke 4:14-21, Jesus is in the Nazareth synagogue to worship on the sabbath and to start his public ministry. Up until this point, Luke’s story has focused on Jesus’ preparation for his public ministry - his conception and birth, childhood, baptism by his cousin John, and temptation in the desert. After all that preparation, Jesus is now ready to start his public ministry, and the first thing he does is read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah:

“‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me

Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’

...then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:18-19, 21)

Luke actually takes a few different passages from Isaiah and combines them into Jesus’ words. The purpose seems to be to emphasize that the work of Jesus wasn’t just spiritual, it was also material. The poor, release to the captives, letting the oppressed go free are all images of the Jubilee year in the Jewish scriptures.

In the book of Leviticus, chapter 25, the scriptures lay out the Jubilee, which was to happen every 50 years. In that year, according to Leviticus, the land is to lay fallow and not be planted so it can rest. All debts are canceled. Slaves were set free. And everyone could return to their original, ancestral land. A general restoration of the economic and social life of the community was to take place, bringing it back to its original intent as the people and reign of God.

That’s quite a mission statement, isn’t it? Inspirational and powerful, and if you look at the rest of the story that Luke tells, it’s a pretty good summary of what Jesus is about - spiritual, physical, social, and economic healing, so that all people, no matter who they were or what they had done, could live as a child of God.

What would it look like if we were to take up that mission statement from Jesus? How would we live as individuals and as a community if people who are poor, in prison, sick, or suffering injustice saw in us “good news”?

I can’t help but contrast this with the “mission statements” I hear from many of our elected leaders, promising to take away protections for the vulnerable, to deport mass numbers of immigrants from this country, to imprison people who don’t agree with them, and to further elevate and promote those who are already wealthy and powerful.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said the church must be the “conscience of the state.” That means not only celebrating our nation’s gifts and joys but also critiquing our actions in light of Jesus’ mission statement. Another way of saying this is that the church must be a prophet.

As a prophet, it is not enough for the church to say where we as a people fall short. We must also lift up a vision of where we are headed, one that inspires, gives joy, and paints a vivid, real picture of love and justice. For me, this passage from Luke’s gospel does just that.

In the coming years, we will probably encounter increased threats to the well-being of those of us who already suffer from injustice ... folks on low-incomes, people who are immigrants, those who can’t afford decent health care or health insurance, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community... people who are us or are our brothers and sisters.

The Good News in Luke’s passage is that the Spirit of God is with us - just as the Spirit was with Jesus - to guide us, to help us act with love, justice, humility, and peace. May all of us together be about the same mission as Jesus, to be good news for a world struggling with injustice and longing for the love, justice, and peace of God.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Dan

Loving Extravagantly

“We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! … until that completeness, we have three things to do: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, and love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

-1st Corinthians 13

I was first introduced to the term “loving extravagantly” when I bought a translation of the Bible called The Message, a little over 20 years ago. The last verse of 1st Corinthians 13 in this translation says this: “We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing God directly just as God knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, and love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

Loving extravagantly – what does that look like, sound like, and feel like? Bob Goff in his book Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in An Ordinary World, says that love that is a “theory” is warm and mushy and when love puts on hands and feet it can get messy and maybe even risky. When you love with your whole life – with your heart and your hands and feet – you love extravagantly and you make a difference that is palpable.

I have always loved watching how all of you at Pilgrim love each other and how you love the outreach ministries to which you are committed. I have consistently seen a willingness to care compassionately for each other and an intentional mission to reach out to those that are marginalized, feeling alone and confused, and in need of some kind of support. You have loved extravagantly for all the years I’ve known you. Your love DOES. When I see love in action I am inspired to put my love in action too. Extravagant love is contagious. Extravagant love is life changing; it is world changing.

All of the major world religions and spiritual paths teach about love. It is the universal language and extravagant love in any language is a love that does. I hear messages of extravagant love in the stories of Jesus, Gandhi, the Buddha, Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Theresa, St. Francis of Assisi, and others. They not only loved extravagantly, they lived love. They loved those who persecuted them; they loved those that others cast aside; they loved so extravagantly that many called them foolish or crazy. Extravagant love is not about wanting to fix or change people; it is simply about deciding to be with them unconditionally. Extravagant love is not something you think about; it is something you do. Extravagant love isn’t always easy; but it is always worth it. Extravagant love is not something only a few chosen ones can accomplish; it is a part of our Divine Being.

All of you beautiful people of Pilgrim are going through a tough transition. It’s been a blessing to me to be with you for this first month. I know that for many of you, it’s hard to see things clearly right now; it’s like you’re looking through a fog or a mist. There are differing perspectives and, although the future isn’t as clear at the moment as you would like it to be, you can be sure that one thing is very clear…. God is walking along side you every step of the way. Remember the Serenity Prayer and the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, as well as the teachings of Jesus that are most inspiring to you as you continue on the journey in front of you. Be gentle with yourselves and with each other and choose to trust God steadily, hope unswervingly, and love extravagantly as you bring to clarity your new vision for Pilgrim for the future.

With gratitude and love,

Linda Beushausen-Gunter

Weaving Together the Beloved Community - Ordinary Times

“God makes all that is ordinary sacred through you”.

With the beginning of June, we enter the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. I have always loved the name of that in the liturgy and particularly because in our hemisphere Ordinary Time begins in late spring on into summer. Grass grows, flowers bloom, and the goodness of God is in the every day.

During Children’s Sermons, I will often explain that Ordinary Time is like the time when an aunt or your grandparents haven’t seen you for some time. It may have not been noticeable to all the people around you but to them, “My, oh my, how you have grown.”

That is who we are supposed to be as a spiritual people. Sometimes our growth builds up over time and those around us can see that growth because it crashes through like the water breaking through a dam. Often, however, our growth is like watching the grass grow. Like an athlete, we must work on spiritual practices, be more intentional with our values, knit together important communities, sometimes without seeing much progress.

I remember keeping a journal on several of my delegations to Mexico where, as the facilitator, I just had no hope for our group. Why did I think this was a good idea? By the end, however, my journal reflected the incredible growth, learning, and transformation that had taken place. The journal reminded me that not all good things start that way.

So I had to cultivate practices that grew like grass, slowly, surely, so that I wouldn’t be locked in my initial negative opinions. So that, in the end, I could meet the group and their growth and transformation.

What spiritual practices, values, communities will you give yourself to this spring and summer so that you grow like grass? God makes all that is ordinary sacred through you.

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Weaving Together the Beloved Community - God’s Intent and Our Role

Jane Goodall

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.” - Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall reminds us that “the greatest danger to our future is apathy.” And it can be so overwhelming. Change feels like it happens at an evermore rapid pace. Not only is it happening through technology and innovation but also now through our changing environment.

I know pandemic still weighs heavily on some individuals and families. Our family experienced strong breaks as a result. Climate catastrophe has become regular and commonplace for some places in our world. Relatives of former parishioners in the Philippines wonder if the next natural disaster, and they are bracing for hurricane/typhoon season, will bring the end to all of their infrastructure. (One of the reasons the Philippines has one of the most advanced plans to reduce emissions). Put on top of all of that major wars and civil unrest which carry so much death to so many in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and Haiti. And it feels like any of those could balloon into something much more.

We are nature. And in the midst of so much ugliness, we can forget that we must find our own alignment. When human beings find themselves out of sync with nature - when we lack sleep, when we feel cramped by the small spaces which winter has held us in, when we're smothered by those walls, when we lack fresh air and a sense of the seasons - why are we surprised that we become depressed, sluggish, irritated, and on edge? Nature is our home. And I hope some spring warmth and sunlight will remind us of who we are as the Beloved Children of God.

Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister tells the story. "One day, I overheard a conversation between two old men, one of them sitting on a stool at the edge of the roof, the other still inside the building: 'Come out here and see my garden,' one old man said to the other. 'There's something new in it all the time.' The other old man, obviously new to the place and the view said, 'Well, ain't this really somethin’. We're really lucky to live in a pretty place like this.' "

Apathy ends when we begin finding ways to cultivate both places for our own souls which then radiates out to wanting goodness and life for the world entire. God loves this good earth. How do we show our obligation to make life beautiful so that we remember God’s intent?

✝

Pining for “The Good, Ole Days”

Be not lax in celebrating

Be not Lazy in the festive service of God

Be ablaze with enthusiasm

Let us be an alive, burning offering before the altar of God

- Saint Hildegard of Bingen

As church enrollment and budgets have declined, I have been frustrated with faith communities and faith community leaders whose sole response is to pine for the good old days. Yes, I know there has to be grief involved.

But sometimes I think we forget the long view. Namely, the church has only flourished like it did in the good, old days for a couple generations. Before that, church life was often a struggle to cobble plans and programs together, to scrape together the money for a church building, and to bring multiple generations into the life of the church. For example, Sunday School is a recent invention. We find ourselves, however, maintaining Sunday School rooms with the only plan being that we hope kids will someday return.

My hope is that we can begin to dream what God may be dreaming for us in future generations. How can we use our church buildings or properties in creative and novel ways to experience community, celebration, and fun? How can we use our smaller numbers to focus on what is really important mission in our day and age?

Instead of pining for the glory days, maybe we could start stitching together a smaller and more nimble day of goodness, celebration, and justice? I hate dreading and vexing over not being what we were or what we don’t have.

We have you. And that person who sits way over there in the next pew. So let’s go. Let’s find a path together.

To that end, the Southwest Association Meeting will be at Tower Hill in Sawyer (my home!) on Saturday, May 4, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. We are trying to design something for children, grades 1 to 6 to start imagining a church that is intergenerational, locomotive, and celebratory for that age group. I hope you will join us! - Pastor Mike

Weaving Together the Beloved Community - Easter Vigils

“Lent is that time when we ask ourselves how we can draw closer to and deeper with God. I pray that these extra services along with the Easter Vigil will be meaningful for you.”

I so miss all the extra services, planning, and spirituality that went into Lent. My boyhood pastor was someone who did so much wonderful planning for these special services and made them something my whole family remembers. Being the brat I was, I had convinced one of my best friends that I was going to use one of those special services to talk about how goofy she thought I was. I was just enough of a brat that she thought that is exactly what I might do until I went another direction.

My favorite for Lent was the Easter Vigil. I would always pick two times, back to back, that would have me walk into the church chapel when there was still daylight and walk back out into my hometown when it was pitch black. Just that transformation made it feel holy and sacred and meaningful to me.

So as churches have done away with special services and Easter Vigils, I have mourned that quite a bit. An important part of my devotion and faith just ended up absent.

In most of the churches I have served, I have tried to keep the Easter Vigil alive. I’ve added playlists for a musical feel for each day from Maundy Thursday to Easter Day. I would lug my whole spirituality library into a dedicated space. I would provide votives and the ability to turn on or off lights for reading and meditation. I also put together a devotional handout where people could walk their way through a simple worship. Sometimes I would even find a finger labyrinth to include.

Lent is that time when we ask ourselves how we can draw closer to and deeper with God. I pray that these extra services along with the Easter Vigil will be meaningful for you.

We are offering potential times when you might attend to the Easter Vigil in 15-minute increments. Feel free to sign up for more than one slot and even visit other churches to participate. This year we will work with Riverview Park Christian Church, St. Joseph; Zion UCC, Baroda; and Pilgrim Congregational UCC, St. Joseph.

Genuine, Humble Fasting

We must always know our “humus”, our humility and connection to the earth, and our “imago Dei”, our divinity and connection to God. For this is who we are.

When affluence allows people to feast too frequently and independently of others, feasting loses much of its joy and integrity. It results in ill health and dulls our sensitivity to the needs of others.

- Joetta Handrich-Schlabach

Lent is to be a time of deep hunger for God and an ache for a fleeting glimpse of God’s face. But without spiritual practices or disciplines such as fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, we have no balance and our feasting is deadly.

For the Bible is clear about unacceptable feasting. The rich man, who goes unnamed, gorges himself while Lazarus, in a twist, is named as the person who dies at the rich man’s gate. The Bible is clear in its call for genuine, humble fasting. Not as a pious gesture or a grim act of will, but as an act of repentance, a seeking of God, a creating of extra space in our lives for spiritual reflection. Within Muslim spiritual practice, fasting is used to convey solidarity and remembrance of those who go without food on a daily basis. So to feast without fasting is to dismiss connection, forget our own mortality, and refuse to undergo an inward looking.

To quote Joetta Handrich-Schlabach:

“When affluence allows people to feast too frequently and independently of others, feasting loses much of its joy and integrity. It results in ill health and dulls our sensitivity to the needs of others. Reclaiming the feast may require learning to fast. Regularly abstaining from meat and other rich foods can be a spiritual act of walking with other people. Reserving for special events foods we might easily afford, but that are luxury items in the world economy, unites us with those who have less.”

In our Ash Wednesday Hebrew Scripture reading, the prophet Joel calls for the whole nation to abstain from those things which bring about violence, destruction, and domination. Can we even imagine the power of a whole nation strong enough, with humility and hope, that they would tear their hearts away from that which brings violence, destruction, and domination? Can we imagine a whole nation admitting that they might be wrong and there is another way? How could we, corporately, begin to fast in this way? To not gorge ourselves on the blood of others?

As we enter February, we also enter the liturgical season of Lent. Lent is a call to turn from gorging ourselves on the hearts of others. We fast. We remember who we are.

German scholar, Dorothee Soelle, believes that knowing we are all mystics, is the grounding for knowing we were also created in the image of God. She writes, “The greatest sin of humans is to forget that we are royal children. ‘Rabbi Bunam said to his disciples: 'Everyone must have two pockets, so that [they] can reach into the one or the other, according to [their] needs. In the right pocket are to be the words: “For my sake was the world created,” and in [their] left: “I am earth and ashes.”’”

As I shared above for Ash Wednesday, in the book of Genesis there are two creation stories. Each has a different view of what it means to be human. One was told when the people were proud and mighty and conquerors. That story said, “You were made out of the tillable soil, the dust of the ground, and to the dust you shall return.” Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. For that reason we apply the ash.

The other was told to the people when they were broken and despairing and conquered - living in Exile. That story said, “You were made in the image of God.” For that reason we apply the oil, a sign of God’s blessing and messianic choice.

We need to tell and hear both stories, for we must always know our “humus”, our humility and connection to the earth, and our “imago Dei”, our divinity and connection to God. For this is who we are.

✝

Weaving Together the Beloved Community - Pilgrimage

“Are we asked to do so to some geographical place? Or, … is there a ceremonial pilgrimage we need to take to reflect on the path to which God is calling us?”

Pilgrimage, as a spiritual practice, began to wane when the pilgrimages to the Holy Land came to an end. Muslim control over much of the Holy Land made travel to places like Jerusalem problematic. Christian cathedrals adjusted by designing labyrinths to reflect the pilgrimage people might make over long geographic distances.

As we begin Epiphany with the Magi making pilgrimage to Bethlehem, the Holy Family making pilgrimage to Egypt to escape persecution and then back home again to Nazareth, and Jesus beginning his public ministry with his baptism and pilgrimage into the wilderness, what pilgrimage are we called to in this day and age?

Are we asked to do so to some geographical place? Or, like those pilgrims who could not make it to the Holy Land, is there a ceremonial pilgrimage we need to take to reflect on the path to which God is calling us?

I have used labyrinths as holy space to symbolize beginnings and endings of church camp for children. Parents have remarked that they have never experienced their children so quiet and reflective. Children become aware that they are walking on holy and sacred space.

Our spirituality has been too often relegated to sitting quietly or reading and study without much activity. If your spirituality is anything like mine, however, I experience the Divine when I am in locomotion, moving. Most nights I take a short pilgrimage down to Lake Michigan for meditation. The walking is just as important a spiritual practice as my meditation.

What daily, regular, or planned pilgrimages do we continue to make or plan to make which bring meaning to our lives? If none, how do we begin? And what does our story tell us about the meaning of pilgrimage?

Planned Book Study, Jesus and John Wayne

Rev. Mulberry is planning a future book study of Kristin Kobes du Mez’s best-selling book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. Kobes du Mez teaches at Calvin University in Grand Rapids and her book has become a source for reflection and discernment for many Christian churches. The strength of her book is in observing the history, telling it with interest, without making much commentary on it herself. If you are interested in the study, please let Rev. Mulberry know.

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