Life is a Pilgrimage

“Pilgrimage” is the word for Lent 2025. In Lent we are invited to make our way with Jesus to Jerusalem.

If we accept Jesus’ invitation to follow, we already have a destination. We travel with Jesus to deepen our relationship with God, to complete our mission, and ultimately to find our home in God. We are more than sightseers, more than tourists, as Jesus’ followers.

“Pilgrimage” more accurately describes our trip toward Jerusalem. When we hear the word “pilgrimage” we may imagine someone on a serious and intentional quest to a place of great or sacred significance.

The first Christians understood life in the world as a pilgrimage. A lifetime is a temporary residence where we taste and prepare for life in God’s realm, on the way to a home not made by human hands. You don’t have to travel anywhere physically to qualify as a pilgrim, you never have to leave the neighborhood. As human beings we are pilgrims.

The Apostle Paul tells us: “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. . . Our life experience is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory. . . We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary. . . But what cannot be seen is eternal.” (2 Cor: 4:16-18 excerpts)

What does it mean to re-envision our life journey through the eyes of faith? The life of a pilgrim is intense, challenging, and unpredictable. Being a pilgrim requires inner work and inner strength. Pilgrims also travel outwardly, dependent on a community of other people. Joy, pain, beauty, and loss are all part of the pilgrimage, and all are to be savored. A lifetime is a precious gift where every day matters. And yet, all of us are sojourners, foreigners, resident aliens on the way.

In this Lenten season of spiritual preparation let us explore “pilgrimage” together and grow as faithful disciples of Jesus.

Pastor Bill