Pilgrimage 2

Pilgrimage 2

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent time this past summer studying the theme of pilgrimage in order to make some art for a magazine that Kris Camealy was compiling to coincide with a retreat she had planned for March of this year. Unfortunately the retreat has been cancelled, like so much of life in these days of the coronavirus pandemic. 

As promised in that previous post, today I'm going to share some of what I studied on the topic of pilgrimage, as well as more photos from the journal I made to accompany this study.

By definition, a pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place; a spiritual journey; a holy expedition. Often when we think of this word we think of long ago times when people would travel to go to a religious place for observance of a holy holiday. We see the start of this tradition in the Old Testament, where God spoke of his covenant with his people. Part of that covenant was to include pilgrimage:

"Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel." Exodus 34:23

We then see throughout the Old Testament stories and Psalms reference to the annual pilgrimages made to the temple, to Jerusalem. But there is a different use of the term pilgrimage that uses it as a metaphor for viewing our life in Christ as a spiritual journey; a journey of transformation.

A journey implies that a leaving takes place and that we travel with a destination in mind. We see this type of language as we read God's Word, where Christ-followers are on a journey of leaving their former way of life, of living a new life, of traveling on a journey with the destination being that of becoming Christ-like, and with our eyes on our true home. And so we read Bible verses and passages that use terms such as path, road, way:

"You have made know to me the path of life." Psalm 16:11

:...Lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:24

"And a highway will be there; it will be called the way of holiness...it will be for those who walk in that way." Isaiah 35:8

"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to Life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:14

"Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage." Psalm 84:5

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"Jesus said, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

In fact, in the book of Acts we see many references to early Christians being called "The Way" since they followed the way of Jesus and shared with others the way to be saved. (Acts 9:2; 16:17; 18:25-26; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14,22)

With the call throughout the New Testament to keep our eyes on our true home, Christians are often reminded that in this world we are aliens and strangers - pilgrims - who, while we make this place our home, we are merely passing through on the way to our eternal home. And while we have our final destination in view, our focus is on the journey, the process of becoming more and more like the One who redeemed us and called us to this new life.

Living life as a pilgrim calls us to view all of our life as one who is on mission, on a journey, making us all missionaries, whether we travel abroad or stay in our home towns. It's a way of seeing this life through the eyes of an exile in a foreign land. Author Elliot Clark, in his book Evangelism as Exiles, puts it this way:

"In my experience, many missionaries - even volunteers on short-term ministry trips - tend to consciously approach every moment in relation to mission. They saturate their days in prayer. They consider the intended or unintended consequences of their mannerisms and behavior, being careful how they spend their money, how they dress, and how they interact with others. They demonstrate the utmost respect and honor for locals, even to people drastically different from them. They also view random encounters as God-ordained opportunities, so they purposefully speak with just about anyone about their faith."

But then, this thought now leads me away from the focus of my journal and into a focus on  missional living and outreach.  I spoke on that topic last weekend at our Women's Ministry brunch, but I'll save that for another post, maybe "Pilgrimage 3" if there's an interest. Let me know in the comments. :)

So, this study and journaling was all done back in the summer, but in our current times it feels even more appropriate to remember who we are. And also to remember "whose" we are. In times that feel uncertain and even scary, it's good to remember that this world is not our true home. While we journey through this life, we who are Christ-followers are called to a particular way of life and way to live. In the midst of social-distancing and self-isolation, of no church services, of schools and businesses closing, of job losses and economic crisis, I feel the call even more deeply to be on the journey Jesus has called us to. I feel called, now more than ever, to serve those in need and to care for one another, while at the same time practicing wisdom and taking precautions. We need to find ways to care for those who will struggle with food crises during this time. To take care of the needs of the elderly and those who are immune compromised. To minister to the needs of those who are sick and quarantined. I'm finding ways for those in my church to minister in these times and I encourage you to do the same.

I'll leave you with the last few pages of the quotes I found on pilgrimage:

A Time for Seasons to Change

A Time for......

I love the start of new seasons, both on the calendar and in life. I'm not one who fears change. Change is good. Change helps us grow. Without change life would become stagnant. I also don't advocate change simply for the sake of change, but if nothing ever changed, neither would we. And this is not God's plan for us. He desires that life in Him be marked by transformation - continuously. Why? Because transformation - change, growth, maturing - is a process. A life-long process. A process that we need to welcome and embrace, good and bad, joy and pain.

Leaving the season of Summer is bittersweet for me. School starts here in mid-August and the slower pace I experienced in July and early August is waning. I like the slower pace of Summer. The renewal of energy as the busyness of my job and ministry slows down for a time. At the same time, I am (or will be) overjoyed to leave the heat of Summer behind. I look forward to the warm days and cool nights of Fall - if the heat waves ever end!

I love the change of the seasons, especially Fall and Spring, when the change is vivid and visual. The change of season often stirs within a desire to reflect on where you are at in life, what you are leaving and where you are going. 

My summer was busy this year in different ways than it is in the school year. I launched my first online class in July, so June and early July held lots of prep and learning curves. We remodeled our offices at work, which meant lots of planning, packing, moving boxes and furniture - and the fun part - picking out paint and carpet and lobby furniture! I started exploring the possibility of writing a book about spiritual formation with a friend. We even took a writing retreat in July to brainstorm ideas. We'll see how that goes in future months. I held a Words challenge in August, the first that was not tied to a season on the church calendar, as Advent and Lent Words were. Using key words to go through the book of Colossians was at first a challenge, a different way to go through a book of the Bible. But as we went I really began to enjoy seeing how the words were woven through the book and often interacted with teach other. I think the Words challenges connect my passions of art and Bible study together in significant and creative ways and I will be exploring more challenge ideas in the future. In addition, the Words Challenge group is a vital, active and encouraging community and I have really enjoyed watching it develop and become a place of significance for so many people. I'm so grateful to everyone who participates there.

So, as we change from one season to another, we also begin a new theme in the Everyday Journals group. Our theme for September is "A Time for..." We want to take some time this month and examine our word for the year as well as look at seasons and change using Ecclesiastes 3 as our guide. In the weeks ahead we'll have some questions to help you reflect on where you are at in your journey with your word for the year. Watch for further blog posts from Bernice, Valerie and I surrounding this theme. Join us! Information about the group and links to our blogs is at the end of this post.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Midpoint

July is the midpoint of the year and I find myself looking back - in fact, I've been doing a lot of that lately..but I'll save that for another post. Right now though I find myself at a place of contentment within this year. It's had some pretty rough spots, but it has also held some places of growth and healing, and of trying new things.

I have been on a journey over the past 6-7 years to find ways to use my voice. It has felt like a deep calling from God. Art, photography, and this blog have all been ways that have enabled me to, both find and use my voice. Last week I tried using my voice in a completely new way: I preached!

I have used my voice in different small ways before in our Sunday service - leading the service, doing an announcement, even partnering with my pastor a few times when we have talked about being missional or about outreach. But this was the first time that I took a passage of Scripture and preached a full message from it. You can hear it on our church website by clicking on the picture below:

Again, in a future post, I'll write more about the journey behind the message I preached. For now I just want to touch on the experience of it. I found myself amazingly calm and at home in the midst of speaking, which totally shocks me looking back at it. I was quite nervous in the time leading up to it. I love digging into Bible study and contribute from my studying on a team at our church which  collaborates to help form our Sunday messages and service. But taking what I have studied and turning it into a 30 minute message - that made me nervous! Being vulnerable and sharing parts of myself live and in-person in front of a bunch of people - that made me nervous! Yet I also experienced growth in the midst of it. And I think, in some way I haven't totally figured out yet, it was another step in my journey to becoming whole - my word for this year.

I shared a quote in my message from this summer's Grace Table Book Club book, Rhythm's of Rest by Shelly Miller. I find I keep coming back to this quote. It is ruminating in my soul. Especially when I combine it with a quote from a message my pastor preached from Galatians 5:16-21 earlier this summer. He said:

"There are these pockets of resistance within us that we continually struggle against." ~Doug Rumschlag

Shelly Miller writes mostly about practicing Sabbath. I find that God has so much for my whole being in the topic of Sabbath and rest. You can learn more about Shelly, her book, and Sabbath on her blog www.shellymillerwriter.com. 

While I'm sending you to read blogs I'd also like to send you to Kris Camealy's recent blog post, "When It's a Slow Transfiguration". I really resonated a great deal with what Kris' wrote in it.

On the art front, today I completed my final Rolodex scrap collage card for the 100 Day Project. While the project officially ended on the 12th, I'm okay with getting done late because IT'S DONE! It was a good challenge. It challenged me to work small, to use up scraps of paper and ephemera, and to get creative almost every day. I ended it with a favorite quote from Dr. Seuss. I like to end my travel journals with this quote, and believe me, this 100 day project has been a journey!

For the last seven weeks of the 100 Day Project I combined it with the ICAD (Index-Card-A-Day) challenge, using many of their prompts. The ICAD challenge doesn't end for another nine days. I'm feeling the itch to move on to other projects, but I may keep going and finish this one since I'm so close to the end. I have posted my 100 Day Project and ICAD cards on Instagram. (Link in the right hand sidebar.)

I feel somewhat caught up now. :)

I'll be back sometime this week with more on my journey and some thoughts on Commonplace books. I recently read a blog post about them and it reminded me how much I have loved this practice in the past.

So, how are you doing midpoint in the year?

Meandering 1.12.2016

"Meandering: adjective; the act of following a winding or indirect course. Ramble, roam, zigzag, circuitous. A blog post about a variety of things; a little bit of this and a little bit of that."

Today my meandering is about recent discoveries.

I discovered 2015bestnine.com, a website that will generate a collage of your nine most popular pictures on Instagram for 2015.

Last month I discovered a way to continue my bird watching/photography hobby in the cold winter months. We have an incredible Metropark system in the Toledo area and six of our parks have Window on Wildlife locations. A Window on Wildlife is an indoor room lined with windows that overlook an area that has been set-up as a bird refuge with feeders, water and plenty of trees for shelter. The glass in these rooms are tinted so that the birds don't see you watching them. I discovered the first one on Christmas day. The weather here was 50 degrees. Highly unusual for late December in the upper Midwest! So I decided that day to go to the park closest to my home and take a photo walk. At the end of that walk I peeked my head into the Window on Wildlife and was pleasantly surprised to see so many birds visiting the feeders. I discovered this to be a great way to continue my weekly commitment of getting outside and taking pictures as a way of nourishing my emotional and creative energy. I plan on visiting all six locations over the next few months. So far I have been to two.

Female Downy Woodpecker

I discovered that the male Goldfinch changes color in the fall and winter.

Tufted Titmouse - my first sighting!

White-breasted Nuthatch - I can watch these little guys for hours!

This past weekend one of my god-grandsons asked me if I would help him with a writing and art project he was working on for school. Sai'Vion just turned nine and loves animals and nature so I decided that before we dug into the project I would take him over to the Window on Wildlife at Wildwood Park. We discovered that he really enjoys watching the birds also. He made a list of the birds we saw as I took pictures. He even worked a bird into his report and drew an impressive picture of a Blue Jay. I printed out some of the pictures I took, made a binder with drawing paper in it and place to keep his photos and gave him a bird book to use as a guide for drawing birds. I discovered a nine-year-old who now can share interests in birding and art with me! His story for his writing report was about encouragement. He made up a saying for it that said, "Keep calm and believe in yourself."

Sai'Vion's picture

His model

My birding and art buddy, Sai"Vion

I discovered my word for 2016: REST. I was originally thinking my word would be solitude, as it is a spiritual practice that I want to embrace more. But the more I thought about it I felt like solitude was a part of a bigger picture of a rhythm of life and rest encompasses that picture more fully. I'm not using the word rest as in "I just need some more sleep", but rather as a mindset of developing a rhythm of life that works to better balance all areas of my life: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational. My job in full time ministry can get overly busy and stress-filled at times and I have been trying for years to find ways to rest in the midst of the busyness in order to keep burn-out at bay. I've discovered in the past few years that the busyness and resulting fatigue and burnout rob me of energy in all areas of my life and I have been developing practices that help refill that depleted energy. So this year that is my focus.Last year I added to my already busy life by taking on being a part of the founding team of the His Kingdom Come faithart community. It was a great experience and one I totally enjoyed and am happy that I participated in. But it didn't help me build a healthier rhythm of life, in fact it just added more to the busyness and that was pivotal in my hard decision to step down form the foundation team. So this year I am slowing down as much as is possible. I am re-engaging in two practices from prior years that I gave up last year in order to make time for my HKC responsibilities. I am once again participating in Ali Edward's One Little Word project which helps me stay focused on my word throughout the year. And I am joining in on the Documented Life Project again this year. I missed being a part of these projects last year and am looking forward to engaging in them in the year ahead. I'll give just a glimpse of what I've done in each so far.

My One Little Word (OLW) binder:

The quote I found about fatigue really sums up well why I need to embrace rest this year!

My Documented Life (DLP) binder:

January divider

Week 1 calendar page

Week 1 mementos 

What I missed about DLP last year was how the practice of keeping memories about my days and weeks kept me more present to the happenings of daily life. It is also an easy art practice that keeps me creative without having to do a lot of planning.

Well, that's it for my discoveries recently. I'm looking forward to the journey ahead this year and what I will discover as I dig into my word for the year and as I document my daily life.

What discoveries have you made recently?

Change and Advent Day 9

For the past year I have been a part of the foundation team for the His Kingdom Come faith art community. Helping to start this community has been a great experience and I have gained many wonderful friends all over the world. I discovered through coordinating the weekly devotional studies for the Take Me Deeper group that I really enjoy writing. However, in the past few months my job responsibilities in  my full time ministry job have changed and require more creative energy. One thing that I have found to be true of myself over the past few years is that, while I totally love being creative, it requires energy. Energy that I can't dig down and manufacture when I get overly tired and stressed out. So I have had to make the hard decision to step back from a few things in order to maintain that creative energy and keep myself from burnout. As you can imagine keeping up the weekly devotions and other duties I have for HKC, along with trying to maintain my own blog and Etsy shop, along with a full time job in ministry that generally will go far beyond a standard work week, has been difficult to juggle. My new responsibilities at my job will require creativity and writing as I take on keeping our church website and blog up-to-date. I have made the hard decision to step down from the HKC foundation team in order to be able to devote more time and energy on my own blog and shop and on the church blog and website. 

In all honesty, I went into the HKC foundation team with some hesitation. Only because I know from past experience that when a hobby becomes work it can be difficult to continue to enjoy the hobby. I managed a cross-stitch and quilt shop for 8 years and when I left that job to go into ministry I stopped both of those hobbies and never picked them up again. I enjoy art journaling and mixed media art too much to let this happen again. They have become more than hobbies to me and finding art journaling when I did was used by God as a tool for healing when I was dealing with issues of burnout. So it seems that spending one year helping the HKC community get started has been a good thing without it becoming something I don't want it to become. 

Today I sent off the last week of Advent devotions for the community and that ends my official responsibilities with HKC for 2015. Change is always bittersweet. There is sadness in leaving something you have put so much time and energy into. There is some melancholy in having relationships that have been daily and weekly experiences change. But there is also excitement and anticipation over the new adventures and opportunities that lay ahead. 

I have selected my word for the year for 2016 as is my tradition over the past few years. This year my word was RENEW as I felt there were areas in my life that needed renewal and restoration. In many ways that has taken place in 2015 and I will write more about that in the weeks ahead. Over the past few years as I have become more connected with the realities of being an introvert, I have partaken in activities of silence and solitude before the Lord. These are activities and practices I want to spend more time in next year. At first I thought that solitude would be my word next year, but after more thought and prayer, it seems that the word REST encompasses so much more of what I am after. And it includes solitude. I don't mean rest as in needing sleep or a break from activity. I am looking at REST more in terms of Sabbath rest, spiritual rest, being still and resting in the Lord. Again, I'll explore that more and write about it in the weeks and months ahead. 

Needless-to-say, my decision to step down from the HKC foundation team is tied up in this also. Next year I have a few art groups I will be participating in and exploring more areas of art and I will stay a participant in the HKC community. But I intend to slow things down as much is possible and explore what it means to REST - body, mind and soul. I will remain open, as always, to going after whatever opportunities that God places on my path. Life is a journey and I am enjoying the process!

My Advent Rolodex art card for day 9:

Today's Advent devotion for the HKC community can be found here

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30 Day Blogging Challenge day 21.

Journey of Transformation

I love the beginning of the year. Somehow it feels like, with the change of the calendar page, we can leave behind the past year and have a fresh start on January 1st. Whole industries revolve their marketing in January around this idea of fresh starts with the new year. We resolve to lose weight, gain control over our finances. organize our stuff better, change bad habits, add good habits...and we're going to start it all on January 1 with our New Year Resolutions. AND the companies and consultants and sales people in those industries are going to graciously help us overcome these issues..for a small fee.
But, usually after a few days or weeks of trying to push forward all this change for our fresh start in the new year, we begin to fade. We begin to slip back into our comfort zone and our bad habits. In Take Me Deeper this month our theme has been transformation. We are looking at God's desire that our lives be transformed into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. And our need to be willing, vulnerable and submissive to the process.
Personally, my favorite metaphor for the spiritual transformation that God calls us to is journey. Thinking in terms of a journey helps me keep in mind that spiritual transformation is a process. One that I will be on for a lifetime. I think this is why I read authors who write about spiritual transformation and spiritual disciplines -which are really just tools to help us along the journey. Some of my favorite authors on this topic are Terry Wardle, Ruth Haley Barton, Robert Mulholand Jr., David Benner. Jerry Bridges, Jan Johnson...I could go on and on.
I recently read a quote in a book by Terry Wardle that used this metaphor of journey for spiritual transformation and fit in well with our studies in Take Me Deeper. I put the quote on a page for my TMD journal:

The quote reads: 

"Real change occurs as Christians respond to the call to journey with Jesus, meeting God in the particulars of day to day life. It is not so important that one knows every detail about the path they will take in life. But what one discovers about oneself and God along the way is critically important to the process of transformation and change. In this process of discovery, the pilgrim allows the Spirit of Christ to redeem and recreate him in very deep and important ways. This change demands  surrender and willingness, foundational responses to the call of Jesus Christ. Surrender on the journey involves laying down personal agenda and self-interest. Willingness is the prerequisite for picking up the cross of Christ - the losing of one's life so necessary to finding true life,eternal life." ~Terry Wardle.

My pages for weeks two and three of Take Me Deeper:

What kind of a journey are you on? Or do you have a different metaphor that you prefer for transformation?

My Take Me Deeper Journal

As I've written over the past two months, my main focus for 2015 will be the projects we have running in the His Kingdom Come (HKC) community: Take Me Deeper (TMD) weekly devotions and art challenges and Logos365 word for the year prompts and challenges. Today I want to share my journal for these projects and some of the pages I have made so far. If you want to know more about the HKC community and our projects you can check us out here.

First, a little slide show of the stages of making my journal:

Last year for the year-long DLP project I ended up using two journals to fit 52 weeks of pages in. So, this year my plan is to make a journal per quarter as I believe I may have more content for my 2015 projects. I already labeled this first journal volume 1 with that in mind. I purchased this book at a library book sale and I loved the book plate on the inside cover so I didn't want to cover it up entirely.

Our purpose with the TMD project is to use devotions and deeper studies along with creative expressions to  go deeper in our relationship with God this year. Our theme for January is transformation. Since I like the metaphor of journey foe the process of spiritual transformation and growth, I think transformation will be a theme in my journal throughout the whole year. It also fits well as a foundation for my word this year, renew. My intro pages:

My Logos365 word and Scripture passage page:

Both side of the January tab page:

My page in response to the first devotion which I wrote about in yesterday's post.

I would love to know if you are taking part in the HKC projects. Let me know in the comment section below and, if you are, leave me a link to your blog as well. Enjoy your Saturday!

*Also, make sure you check out my Etsy shop where I have vintage paper and ephemera packs custom made to your Logos365 or OLW words.