Called to be Pilgrims of Hope

The Second Sunday after Christmas
January 3, 2010

The Reverend Susan Pinkerton

Thesis: Jeremiah gives us a passionate and prophetic message of radical hope to all of humanity, especially those who are lost, repressed, marginalized and forgotten by the rest of the world, to return from whence we came; to return to the “household of God.” We are called to be pilgrims of hope, embarking on a journey homeward where all are loved, welcomed and embraced without hesitation and without exception.

The Christmas story is a story of divine hope that comes to full fruition in the tiny and fragile infant, Jesus.

“from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame…with consolation I will lead them back….Hear the word of the Lord, O nations…for one day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room…to stand at the threshold of the house of my God…for the Lord God is both sun and shield; he will give grace and glory; No good thing with the Lord withhold from those who walk with integrity.”

Definition of Pilgrims - While religious pilgrims usually travel toward a specific destination, a physical location is not a necessity. One group of pilgrims in early Celtic Christianity were the Peregrinari Pro Christ, (Pilgrims for Christ), or "white martyrs". They left their homes to wander in the world.^[1] This sort of pilgrimage was an ascetic religious practice, as the pilgrim left the security of home and the clan for an unknown destination, in complete trust of Divine Providence. These travels often resulted in the founding of new abbeys and spreading Christianity among the pagan population in Britain as well as in continental Europe.^[2]

The Way of the Pilgrim
Pilgrims’ Way
Pilgrims Lost
Canterbury Tales

Our heart aches to return home; to travel to those places deep within our hearts where we are received and loved without hesitation.

Jeremiah’s holy and prophetic message is for all of humanity. All times, all places. Prophetic message is not an ancient, anachronistic piece of sacred text. It is relevant and vibrant in its message today as it was when the ancient Israelites were in the Diaspora and longed to return to Jerusalem.

No matter your spiritual path and theology, we all share in our common identity as pilgrims of hope.^[3]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim#cite_note-1#cite_note-1

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim

[3] Walter Brueggeman, The Prophetic Imagination, 2nd Edition, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.2nd Edition. The prophetic message of hope runs counter to our surrounding secular culture. It offers us another of being in the world, a way that is life giving and not life taking.