The Listening Ear

A Sabbatical Experience

Pastor Danette Johns, assistant to Western Iowa Bishop Michael Last, is currently on sabbatical. In our last synod news letter Danette described an experience she had participating in immigration border immersion experience in El Paso, TX. Its obvious from what she writes that it was a challengingand life-changing experience. 

Danette writes about the life of Bertha who lives in Juarez just across the border from El Paso.

The living conditions looked much like Tanzania. Berth's family of six lives in a house consisting of a kitchen and a divided sleeping room. There is a waterless toilet but not shower. Bertha works for on the 2500+ factories (called maquiladoras) built by the U. S. after NAFTA was passed that employ up to 200,000 people, mostly women. These assembly plants can import parts and materials for free as long as the finished product is exported from Mexico, and they can be 100% foreign-owned and managed. Betha woks from 4 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. three days a week and from 4 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (yes, 14.5 hours) two days a week. She has a two-hour bus ride to and from work. With the overtime she works, Bertha is able to earn $70 a week. Contrary to what we might surmise for countries with such low wages, many food itemsw are actually more expensive in Juarez than in El Paso.

Danette goes on the report that a person like Bertha, who is uneducated and owns no property and has no financial resources would have to wait 20 years to get a visa to come to the U. S. legally. With a situation like that, its no wonder that people from other nations are tempted to come here illegally. We might ask ourselves, what would I do if I were in Bertha's place? 

Thoughts On Pilgrimage

I have been thinking about the idea of pilgrimage lately. As I began planning for a sabbatical next year, I've started to think of the travel I do while on my sabbatical as a sacred journey, as a kind of pilgrimage. I recently ran across two resources concerning pilgrimage. Eventually I write about both, but today I want to talk about a little book I found titled God At Every Gate: Prayers and Blessings For Pilgrims by Brendan O'Malley.

O'Malley notes that there is a key difference between a tourist and a pilgrim. The pilgrim seeks the experience of God that comes through travel. "Our real journey in life is interior," said Thomas Merton as he started out on his last trip to the East, shortly before he died. In that sense, we are all pilgrims, passing through life.

O'Malley notes that modern people tend to reject 'religion' in favor of 'spirituality.' "The sad effect of this attitude is that ritual as a vehicle of the spiritual is neglected," he laments.

He continues, "... to go on pilgimage is not simply to journey to a holy place. There is the inner journey as well as the outer journey. To enable the inner journey to take place we need to practice the presence of God."

It's for this reason that O'Malley has written a set of prayers and spiritual practices that can be used, beginning even before one sets out on a pilgrimage. There's a focus verse from Scripture, a meditation and some prayers to use for each topic.

O'Malley divides his book into sections: Preparation, Landscape, Inscape, Arrival and Blessing. I am sure that I will use this book as I prepare for my journey next year as well as when I am traveling. I think I may also use at least part of it with those who will be traveling with me.