The Listening Ear

A Guide for Modern Pilgrims-2

Near the beginning of their book The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim Maria and Michael Scaperlanda ask two related questions: Do you want to live as a tourist or a pilgrim? And what does the journey (especially the journey of life) mean to you?

Drawing on the thought of Gerald Smith, a Minnesota State University economist, they suggest that tourists seek entertainment and adventure in themselves. A pilgrim, on the other hand, sees each journey as part of the greater quest toward the mysterious destination called home. A pilgrim desires true happiness. That longing leads a pilgrim into self-awaeness and eventually to rest and to fullness in communion with God.

Because tourists and pilgrims have different goals, they approach travel differently. Tourists try to figure out how to pack in as much as possible. By contrast, a pilgrim knows like St. Augustine that the human heart remains restless until it rests in its highest good which is God.

The same is true for life. We can live as tourists. Consumption can be the goal of our lives. Or we can choose to live as pilgrims, seeking ways to open ourselves to God’s presence. It may even be the case that the experience of living tends to transform us from tourists into pilgrims. We recognize the inadequacy of our frequent obsession to own big houses, drive the latest car and to take luxury vacations.

The alternative is to develop a pilgrim heart that leads us to a deeper center for our lives. We come to know ourselves better. A movement toward such self-knowledge is spiritual because it leads us to what we yearn for most deeply, to a relationship with God.

A Guide for Modern Pilgrims

Ever since I finished The Journey: A Guide for the Modern Pilgrim by Maria Rutz Scaperlanda and Michael Scaperlanda a few weeks ago that I’ve been wanting to write about it. I wanted to share some things I’ve learned and to internalize them as well.

The Scaperlandas begin by recognizing that the urge to travel that can be found in most people. The desire is for both inward and outward movement is common among humans. Even those who never go more that a few miles from their birthplace still love to hear the stories of other travelers, to travel vicariously through tales of fiction and nonfiction.

Furthermore, the inward journey that we make as we follow the path of our lives can be even more important that the physical trips we make. Even though we are physical beings, limited by space and time, we desire to transcend those boundaries.

Sometimes we travel mainly as tourists, seeking rest for body and soul, wanting to look with awe upon upon scenes of natural beauty or desiring to experience a different culture than out own. Too many people in this world travel as refugees, trying to escape natural and human-made calamities. And frequently people of many different faith traditions has engaged in pilgrimage, travel for a sacred purpose.

Often the travels we undertake can combine more than one of these elements. Yet, the Scaperlandas maintain that all travel can include a spiritual element.

New Opportunities For Inviting Others

One thing that I am convinced about is that our new Saturday evening service offers us a unique opportunity to invite other people not just to Saturday Night Light, but to all our services.

Since some of our members will be supporting the new service, there will me more room at our Sunday service. That’s a great time to invite new folks in.

It almost goes without saying that Saturday Night Light gives us a new chance to invite others. It might be a member who hasn’t been active in church for a while or maybe someone who is looking for a new church or someone who has conflicts on Sunday morning that keep them from attending worship then. Be on the look out for people you can invite. It will help our church grow.