Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

Winton Boyd, September 13, 2009

And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home. (Wendell Berry)
One of the enduring stories of the famous Dr. Suess, written for “outstarting upstarts of all ages,” is 1990 book, Oh the Places You Will Go. You may have read it to your kids, heard it read at a high school, college or even grade school graduation. We may have given it or been given it on the first day of our first job. With his clever use of language, Suess writes an encouraging, but honest, proclamation of a grand future for those beginning a new era in their lives. He begins with a sense of confidence and strength, reminding us “upstarts” that the world ahead of us is wide open…

Congratulations! Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
You’re too smart to go down any not so good street.

Andy you may not find any you’ll want to go down.
In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town.

As the book moves on, however, Suess points out that there will be challenges, surprises, and difficult choices. He continues…

You’ll come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right…
Or right and three quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple its not, I’m afraid you will find,
For a mind maker upper to make up his mind.

Wisely, he also points out that there will be loneliness, and that at certain points on our journey our biggest challenge will not be others, but ourselves…

All alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance
You’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
That can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But most of all, this ride called life will be exhilarating and quite probably not what you expect.

You’ll get mixed up, of course,
As you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
With many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life’s
A great balancing act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

One could ask, of course, whether WE are the strange birds.

The book was published when Seuss was 86, a year before he died. He was one of many wise, often older ones, seeking to share their experience of life in a way that is encouraging and uplifting to those following them.

In a playful way, Seuss reminds us that life’s journey is special and that we as travelers on that journey, are also special. Life is not just about going through the motions and that the sooner in life we realize this, the richer our life will be.
Almost every religious tradition shares this sentiment and has its own language for it. One of those images is that of Pilgrimage; and we start a series of sermons and services today on that idea. As a word with many meanings, and a spiritual practice common to every religious tradition, pilgrimage, is understood in many ways. Throughout the series, I invite us to reflect on its many nuances and traditions. Some of those traditions are inspiring; some are confusing. As we start this series, a simple, working definition of pilgrimage is ‘sacred journey.’ Sacred not because we are heading towards some holy place, but sacred because as we travel we experience the sacredness of life. As such, a pilgrim, is one that opens their heart to the possibility of transformation – the possibility that on whatever road we travel, or whatever situation we meet in life – a sacred encounter with God, a holy transformation, or a conversion of the heart – is possible. By this definition, pilgrimages may be connected to some special and holy place, but they are also connected to very ordinary, plain and every day things. And as such, they involve ordinary people like you and me.

Sometimes the journey involves physical travel – like the time in 1994 when I took my oldest son, Tallis, who was 7 years old, back to my childhood home before it was sold and later torn down. It was important to walk the ground, enter each room, sit under the trees, and tell the stories of that specific and unique place. It involved traveling across country and the engagement of three generations of our family. It involved movement and had an endpoint geographically, and it was a pilgrimage.

Many of us have taken such pilgrimages – to special places, special homes or cabins or churches or schools. Many of us have organized our life for a period of time to travel and have seen that movement, that travel, as integral to the experience. Many families, when they are burying a beloved grandparent, for example, travel back to a small town or church that they haven’t seen in years. Alternatively, for many young people the drive or flight to a new life in college involves travel, reflection on their past and their future and a hope that this new place and these new people will be an important part of a new life. In a myriad of ways, parents and students alike are praying that in some way the Holy One would be present and guiding in this new life situation. In fact, it is a pilgrimage that mirrors quite closely what happens in families when a child starts kindergarten.

But not all pilgrimages involve physical travel or movement. I was recently with a parent of a young child who was having major surgery. A few of us adults were talking about the resilience of children who, faced with such upheaval in their lives, don’t adopt the “why me?” attitude. In their youth, they simply understand that this is their life. They know nothing else. The parent then commented that for a long time they asked “why us?” or “when will this ever end?” but of late had tried to move to adopting the attitude of the child. What was significant about the statement was that for the parent it involved a change in attitude – a journey – from one “place” to another. This too, is a sacred journey, and that parent is indeed a pilgrim.

Understanding the many pilgrimages of our lives and understanding our life as pilgrimage is valuable because the life of faith is an invitation to be ever open to the movement of the Spirit in our lives, to be ever open to growth, transformation, insight and holiness in EVERY area of life.

What this familiar story about Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus reminds us is that so often in life grace surprises. So often in life, it is only in looking back that we realize the sacredness of our experiences. Just as the disciples only knew Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so we often realize grace as we look back on our lives, review the pictures of life’s stages, or read journals after the fact.

On Friday, C. Vivian Stringer, longtime women’s basketball coach at the college level – now at Rutgers – was inducted into the hall of fame along with Michael Jordon, David Robinson and John Stockton. The was the first coach, male or female, to take three different teams to the Final Four (Cheyney State, Iowa, and Rutgers). She is third in career victories. As one might expect her life has been full of joy and pain. She told of missing her father and late husband this week as they were instrumental in her life. She faced health challenges in her family. In an interview with the New York Times this week she said “she no longer sees her pursuit (of a national title) and near misses as a curse.” Looking back, she realizes they are part of the process, and that she has had a long, glorious and blessed life. In looking back, she has come to see things that once seemed anything but blessed, as an integral part of her life’s journey. They provided moments of clarity and insight and appreciation. While it is still her heart’s desire to win a national championship, she understands the power of her life in all of its twists and turns.

So it is with all of our lives – while we may know some moments as sacred in real time, we know others as sacred only as we look back.

Over the course of this series, we will try to explore the many pilgrimages of our lives in practical and concrete ways. We will ask, in each case, “how has God been present and where am I being called or led in the future?” We will revisit the truth that complacency is the greatest challenge to our faith.

In one way or another, most of us are or have been “outstarting upstarts” in life. We are somewhere in the midst of seeing “life’s place” – sometimes scared right out of our pants, wondering if we “dare to stay out? Dare to go in?” As we begin our series, I invite us to ponder pictures that many of you have sent of special places in order that we may open our hearts a “breaking of the bread” moment, a moment of recognizing that however mundane or profound, “everything is holy.” May our looking back be a first step in our journey together, a journey of trust and hope that the Spirit is with us at all times.