Pilgrims' Home

The  Lord  said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’  And the  Lord  said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!  And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength;  you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth .’  Cain said to the  Lord , ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear!  Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face;  I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.’   Then the  Lord  said to him, ‘Not so!  Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And the  Lord  put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.  Then Cain went away from the presence of the  Lord , and settled in the  land of Nod ,  east of Eden.

I begin sabbatical on July 1, 2018. Part of my sabbatical is pilgrimage as leadership discernment. I will say more later about why I am doing this in relationship to my role at WTS. However, between now and July 23, when I begin my first steps, I will blog weekly about my preparations, whether spiritual or physical. I am walking the Camino in Spain. I will do the Way of Francis for 33 days. the first 23 days I will be alone, and the final ten days will be visited by three close friends. I covet your prayers and invite you to join me as a reader and friend. Welcome back to Pilgrims' Home.

Global Orb by James Fissel, from Mystery Revealed -  www.eyekons.com Bernard Christiansen summarizes the habits of the pilgrim, “An earnest desire for spiritual instruction, a continuing hidden life of prayer, simplicity of life and honesty of speech, brotherliness and helpfulness toward all whom we meet, sincere participation in the life of the church, faith and divine guidance along life's way" ( The Inward Pilgrimage: An Introduction to Christian Spiritual Classics) In the classic Russian text,  The Way of the Pilgrim , the anonymous Russian pilgrim seeks to understand prayer. His sage explains that prayer is the secret of pilgrimage, indeed the secret of life. The pilgrim is invited to pray the Jesus’ prayer, “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” This ancient Hesychast prayer is tied to our very breathe. The pilgrim breathes prayer in-and-out for not simply moments but hours. This prayer finds a home in him during his homeless wandering - it is his bre