Thank God We Didn't Stay Put

It's such a privilege of my life to be connected to great young people of faith, who embody and reflect the life of God's Kingdom.

I recently listened to a great sermon by one former student, Kyndall (Rothaus) Renfro.  In it, she reflects on who the Magi were, and how they were seeking, and what it meant - and what it means - to be on "pilgrimage" in life.

Here's a link to her excellent sermon - and a few quotes [below] - that stood out for me as I myself want to "not stay put" as I work alongside others to establish and extend God's Kingdom of Peace to our world.

'In his book, The Sacred Journey, Charles Foster says, “Pilgrimage involves doing something with whatever faith you have.”'

'Barbara Brown Taylor wrote, “The church is not a stopping place but a starting place for discerning God’s presence in the world.”[ Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church, (HarperOne: 2006).] The church is one concentrated place to see and find and hear God, but God is everywhere. '

'Charles Foster paraphrases Jesus’ message about the Kingdom of God this way: “Get up, get out, wake up, walk on, open our eyes, ask for new eyes: you’ll see it if you are really looking for it. It’s here, it’s now, it’s on the road that I’m walking . . . Do you want to see it? Walk that road too. You’re blinded by indolence, by living in the center. It’s all happening at the edges, in the forgotten places, in the places you can’t get to by car or where your auto insurers wouldn’t let you drive, among the people you’ve put out with the trash. Reclaim the ability to be taken by surprise, and you’ll see it there, glistening so brightly you will never believe you could have missed it.”[Charles Foster, The Sacred Journey, 78.]'

'Fast-forward with me for a moment and wonder: What on earth was it like when the Magi got back home? Were they ever the same or were they forever changed? Had it been the pilgrimage of a lifetime? What stories did they tell their children and their grandchildren? And did they wake every morning ever after with this prayer on their lips, “Thank God. Thank God. Thank God we didn’t stay put.” Amen.'