I have a friend and colleague who serves our United Church of Christ on the national level who has expressed his discomfort with the images of "pilgrimage" and "journey." He says he thinks it gives a blank check of sorts to those who are afraid of commitment, those who think that setting measurable goals is too "limiting," and those who are simply uninterested in getting things done.
Sometimes (his argument would be "most times") when people talk about "my experience" or "my pilgrimage" or "my journey" people may well be saying "I'm in process," or "I'm not willing to make a commitment," or "I simply don't really want to think about these things in any depth or detail."
I almost completely disagree with him about this. Like Yvette Flunder argued in the video we watched the other night, I think God's intention for and relationship with us become clearer and deeper as we imagine God being with us "on the way," and as we relinquish our need to defend at all costs our long-held ideas about how things should be, and where things should go, and how things should ultimately turn out.
None of that means that our behavior, or thinking, or prayer is aimless, goal-less, willy-nilly or non-intentional. Quite the opposite is true. Long ago, in his little book Intimacy, Father Henri Nouwen shared this from one his college students that talks about a different kind of destination for the kind of journey we'll be talking about:
I hope that I will always be for each person what that person needs me to be.
I hope that each person's death diminishes me, but fear of my own will never diminish my life.
I hope that my love for those I like will never lessen my love for those whom I do not.
I hope that another person's love for me will never be a measure of my love for that other.
I hope that every person will accept me as I am, but that I never will.
I hope that I will always ask forgiveness from others, but will never need to be asked for my own.
I hope that I will always recognize my limitations, but that I will construct none.
I hope that loving will always be my goal, but that love will never be my idol.
I hope that every person will always have hope.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I suppose I can see it both ways. Setting a vague, ill-defined "goal" is an escape from responsibility; possibly fooling others as well as oneself. Some have availed themselves of this excuse. Possibly even a well intentioned journey. But it is difficult to move towards your destination if you do not have a picture of where you want to end up.
In our journey, it is hoped that as we travel down whatever path we are on, our vision will become, if not more clear, at least more focused. And this is the other side of that coin. The journey, the path we are on, is what will make the light grow brighter. Along this path, we do need to be open to the unexpected. Like this blogging thing...LOL
My favorite line is: "I hope that every person will accept me as I am, but that I never will." Is this is another journey, or the same?
Stephen
Post a Comment