Palm Sunday, 28 March 1999
Once upon a time people used to go on pilgrimages for religious reasons. Today our pilgrimages tend to take us to big football games, golf tournaments, museum exhibits, or Disney World. But not so long ago people would make a pilgrimage for religious reasons. And even today, you can still find men and women and families making pilgrimage for religious reasons, though not in the same numbers as long ago.
For those who study the phenomenon, pilgrimages were made for a variety of reasons which seem to cross religious boundaries.
Whether the place was Benares (Hindus), or Mecca (Muslims), Jerusalem (Jews/Christians), or Rome, or Canterbury, or Lourdes ... the journey to a special place highly favored by God could constitute a life-changing event for the pilgrim. Whether it was to express deep devotion, to find supernatural help, to offer up great thanksgiving, or to satisfy heartfelt curiosity—whatever the reason—going to places where the great heroes of the faith lived and died possessed tremendous power for the sojourner/pilgrim.
And you can see why. First, expectation was high. The Divine activity that had taken place in the past, the pilgrim hoped, would reoccur in some way or fashion for him or her. Furthermore, the sacred memory of the tradition was brought alive for the pilgrims as they traveled. Among the assembly, tales were told. Songs were sung. Memories and experiences were shared. For instance, Psalms 120-134 were thought to be "Pilgrim Songs" sung by post-exilic pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for Passover, before they were accepted as Psalms into the Canon of Scripture.
Going on pilgrimage also meant a change of routine. It meant departing from "business as usual," a "separation" from the customary and the habitual. The regular and the well-known were left behind in the "transition" to a new place, and a new understanding of old truths. Preparation—both inwardly in the soul and outwardly by making travel arrangements and the journey itself—heightened the feeling of anticipation in the pilgrims.
Finally, with the arrival at the holy place, "incorporation" into the new pilgrim community ensued. The result: a reinforced faith. A deepened commitment. A new way of seeing. An excitement about the future grounded in a holy hope. (1)
Today I call you to join me in a pilgrimage of faith. Come with me, filled with expectation that we might experience the power of God in Jesus our Lord. Come with me — ready to change your routine, ready to leave behind business as usual. Come with me to that holy place called the Paschal Mystery, the Empty Tomb, Easter. Come with me as I join Christians around the world, rearranging life in the next two weeks to renew and reinforce the faith that Light and Life and the Love of God are always and everywhere stronger than darkness, and death, and sin.
The route of our pilgrimage will take us through the sacred stories of our Scriptures. Commit yourself to reading the lessons appointed for the days of Holy Week and Easter Week. Twenty to thirty minutes each day get out your bible, find the lessons and, as our Church exhorts, "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" this Holy Word. You can find the lessons appointed for the celebration of Holy Communion during Holy Week and Easter Week on page 892 of the Book of Common Prayer and we have provided the listing of these readings on a handout available in the Narthex. You might even want to keep a little notepad handy to write down some of what you discover, or question, or wonder about as you make your pilgrimage through the readings.
Start this part of your pilgrimage tonight. Return here at 6:30 pm to hear how quickly the Hosannahs we just heard turn to shouts of "Crucify him." This evening join me and others right here as we tell the story of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew, during a Service of Holy Communion. Make time to start your pilgrimage this evening. Then, during the week, in addition to reading the scriptures at your own time, rearrange your schedule to come here for Morning Prayer at 8:30 am. Different lessons will be opened and shared. Come on Wednesday evening for a Tenebrae Service (6:30 pm). Through music and the interplay of light and darkness contemplate in a new way the sacrifice made by Jesus and the terrifying darkness of a world without the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
Come on Thursday evening for a Service of Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday (7:30 pm) where we retell the story of the Last Supper. With the eyes of a pilgrim seeking deeper knowledge of God, listen to the story, and feast on the details of the breaking of the bread. Allow yourself to use holy imagination to be at that table and wonder at the words of Jesus "do this in remembrance of me." Use this imagination as you leave the table into the dark of the night with a strange foreboding.
On Good Friday rearrange your schedule and quiet your heart to look and listen and journey with Jesus through betrayal and arrest, condemnation and death. Open your heart, in the time you have set aside, to the wonder of God's love for you that is revealed in the death of Jesus on the cross. With holy imagination experience this moment through the eyes of Pilate, or Peter, or Mary, or the others who encountered Jesus on that day. As a help to you, come join other pilgrims here at St. Margaret's on Good Friday: at 8:30 am a group will leave from the church to hike to the cross on the hill, pausing along the way to recount the story of the Passion and death of Jesus in the Stations of the Cross. At noon many will gather here for a Reading of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to John, and for prayers. Finally, you could join others for the Stations of the Cross remembered here on our church grounds at 6:30 pm. As our modern day pilgrims have shared in the Soup Suppers, walking the stations of the cross can have a powerful affect on the one who will make the time to open their heart to God's love and walk the Via Dolorosa.
On Holy Saturday, gather with others making the pilgrimage here in the sanctuary for the Liturgy of the Word. Rather than being totally caught up in the frenzy of last minute details, deliberately carve out some time for solitude. Though it sounds impossible, find a way to make quiet time on this day to consider the mystery of God's love for you—a love neither deserved nor earned, but offered freely. Consider your life, our world's life, without that love, without that gift. Again, let your holy imagination take you into the hearts of Mary the Mother of Jesus, or Mary Magdalene, or into the heart of Peter or any one of the disciples who abandoned Jesus in the moment of crisis. Imagine their thoughts and feelings in their belief that they would never see Jesus again, that his life and work were indeed destroyed and shut away forever in that tomb.
Having walked through that darkness of Friday and Saturday, join us at the Vigil of Easter on Saturday evening at 7:30 pm. Experience the light that comes into the world anew and the life giving water that is offered freely to all who come, ring the bell you have brought at the hymn of praise to the Risen Lord. Let the joy of the baptisms in the service thrill you anew with the knowledge of God's life and love flowing in the water of baptism. Return in the morning with others (at 7, 9, and 11) greet the day that the Lord has made with joy, with singing, with smiles and Alleluias. Enjoy Easter Day at St. Margaret's. But understand that Easter is more than a day, it is a season. By your pilgrimage through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, you will be able to enjoy the whole season celebrating the abundant life flowing from the love of God with renewed joy. In the days after Easter, keep up with your reading of the stories of our scripture, savor the moment of God's victory over death and God's invitation to this new life in Christ.
Let this church building be a holy place for your pilgrimage. Let these your neighbors be fellow travelers with you, encouraging you with their presence, prayers, songs, and stories of their heart. Let the grace and love of God flow through you as you join in song and prayer and share the story of your heart. What we have received freely in Jesus Christ, let us share freely, to God's glory. Amen.
The Rev. Daniel Rondeau
drondeau@stmargarets.org
28 March 1999
(1) Synthesis, March 28, 1999