Several years ago, I was awarded a grant by Austin Presbyterian Seminary College of Pastoral Leaders, funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.  The program offers pastors a chance to practice lifelong learning in the context of supportive long-term relationships with colleagues.

On the evening of May 22, I will embark on the final leg of this adventure as I set sail for Greece with five women clergy from around the U.S. Our theme for the project is pilgrimage. Our application for the grant describes our purpose:

Long before ordination vows were spoken and hands were laid upon shaking shoulders, our pilgrimage was underway. Long before we became official pastors, we knew what it meant to be a child of God. The journey that led us to respond to God’s call is the journey that continues to energize us and exhaust us.

As disciples on the Way, we take our cues from the One who taught us how to serve. In our serving, we know that on some days the journey will be easy and our step will be light. On other days, we know that the path will certainly be filled with potholes. Nonetheless, we travel on.

Seeking to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination and love, we realize quickly, or at least eventually, that we have limits. We find all too often that our cup is empty and that it is crucial for us to intentionally map out times and places to tend to our own sacred journey. We discover that opportunities for continuing education and for self-reflection become opportunities for growth and transformation in our own lives.

Along the way, we begin to understand that the Holy Spirit guides and sustains us and that the excellence we might achieve is not our own. At this juncture in our journey, we are eager to welcome colleagues to walk with us, to be our companions, sensing that our pilgrimage will be somehow more excellent and more meaningful with others at our side.

Therefore, we enter into this cohort eager to explore the many facets of pilgrimage—specifically Christian pilgrimage—as a historical, scriptural, spiritual, cultural and physical experience.  On pilgrimage, we will learn to rely upon God’s provision for our journey, and upon the wisdom, humor and courage of our companions for sustenance along the way.

I hope that you will be in prayer for me and for my colleagues, Beth, Pat, Grace, Kitty, and Joyce as we make this sacred journey, and I look forward to sharing with you all when I return.

Shalom, Margaret