10 August 2007
Dear Friends,
In June Chris and I returned to Omaha from a life-altering pilgrimage. We took time to ease back into life in community here by walking three days a week to and from the office—our slow pace and painful steps reminded us of where our feet had traveled. In Spain we walked 6-10 hours per day for 33 days before reaching our destination, Santiago.
Each step was really difficult—you see our packs weighed us down and the long distances worked our bodies harder than anything we've ever experienced. We met physical, mental and emotional barriers almost daily, surprising ourselves with what we could overcome. The silence and solitude on the road made space for us to reflect and tend to our souls. Sometimes we would walk and talk. Other times we would walk together in silence. And at some points we would indulge our different personal paces giving room for the other, walking ahead or behind the other.
Each day was marked with external experiences that mirrored or begged attention to the internal and the eternal. On the Road to Santiago we felt as if we were somewhere between heaven and earth. Because of the physical and mental difficulties of the journey, we seriously wondered if we would really be able to make it to Santiago. Thinking of the day we walked into the city of our destination, hand in hand, still stirs emotion for me.
We did it! We journeyed to the depths of our inner lives and life together; we embraced an alternative way of living in the now. We were stripped and abandoned of nearly everything that could tempt us to engage the false self. And we received the gift of time and endurance and courage to face tomorrow. In journeying to Santiago we received Grace. Pilgrimage is Grace.
I knew before starting out on the road that pilgrimage is not a round trip. There's a beginning and an end. We began El Camino in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and ended in Santiago, Spain. We now find ourselves on a perpetual pilgrimage. We are in process. We are on a journey of life that consists of rhythms of service and rest; action and contemplation; going inward and going outward.
Two months later, our bodies are still recovering and our mind and emotions are trying to integrate the Grace we have received. We wake up each morning with sore joints and stiff bones and upon significant reflection of that mysterious Road, we are moved to depths of emotion. We have tasted more of The Way and our lives will never be the same.
In July we gratefully received our community of friends from around the world serving Jesus among some of our most destitute human family. After 14 days together, my heart has never known more gratitude. We are blessed by the presence of some of the most remarkable men, women and children we will ever know.
Now it is time to re-enter sabbatical rest. In just a few days, Chris and I journey to Durham, North Carolina to spend about 3 months at The Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. The Center has invited Chris and me to take part in their visiting practitioner fellowship. At Duke we will have more opportunity to explore rest and renewal, unique to our individual expressions of our shared vocation in marriage and service together. (See http://www.divinity.duke.edu/reconciliation for more information.)
Chris will explore a number of writing projects and engage some theological and missiological conversation partners to renew his imagination. And I will pursue a greater concentration of contemplation, reflection, and study. We are both looking forward to meeting regularly with a spiritual director and while Chris takes part in a couple of conferences to gather with like-minded thinkers, evangelists, pastors and practitioners, I will journey to a few retreat centers and other places of solitude and prayer.
We are overwhelmed by the hospitality of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke and look forward to engaging the students and faculty in an "iron sharpening iron" posture. Our hope is that this sabbatical rest will be renewing for our marriage and vocation.
Much like God commanding the land to rest from its toil every seventh year, we too are realizing the gift and grace to rest from our labor. We are anticipatory for the rains to come and drench the soil of our lives. Submitted to the God of all creation, withdrawing from a compulsion to give, we posture ourselves to receive.
Will you pray for us as we humbly seek to accept the fullness of the rain of God's mercy in our lives? We want our souls to be drenched with all that God has for us. What lavish kindness our God displays for us! We are so grateful for the gift of sabbatical that our community is giving us. Please be in prayer for them as well during our absence.
We thank you from the depths of our heart for journeying with us.
be well, live well, rest well,
phileena