To be a pilgrim

1 Kings 19: 4-8     John 6: 35, 41-51

Commissioning of Marius Mazuru as Local Church Leader at Pilgrim church.

It is great to be here at Pilgrim Church – named to remember the puritans who left from Plymouth to find religious freedom in America. I thought it might help us, as we are a new stage of the journey for Pilgrim church, to remind ourselves what it means to be a Pilgrim?

Sometimes we talk as if pilgrimage was just an inner journey that we make – to become better people or stronger Christians. But today we cannot forget that there is actual journeying involved if we are to be faithful to God. The Pilgrim fathers (& mothers) set out to cross the great dangerous expanse of the Atlantic Ocean: and Marius has crossed many borders to make Plymouth his home.

Where I was brought up, in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, we used to make an annual pilgrimage to the ruins of a tiny chapel outside the town, called ‘Cwm y Glo’.

In Welsh that means : valley of coal. A name that wouldn’t really help you find it easily among all those valleys and all that coal!

It was a great spot for a walk and a picnic and a service – a small, sheltered spot, out of sight of any houses except a rambling farm, nestled in the hillside.

We went there to celebrate and remember those who had worshipped centuries earlier. The chapel was built in 1690 – just the year after the Act of Toleration made it legal for non-conformists to assemble to pray – but before that the people of Cwm y Glo worshipped at the farm. They chose the spot because it was isolated, and sheltered, and not easily visible from the hills around.

We were told stories of how the people would have a look out who, if they saw soldiers, would signal to the congregation to stop singing, so that they were not discovered and punished. These were like-minded folk who would have understood the desire to sail away in the Mayflower in 1620.

As a young person I loved that pilgrimage – even if it rained (& it was South Wales…) – I loved the sense of history, I loved the story that we felt part of, and I loved that as we were walking along together you would meet new people from other churches, talk together, swap stories, and then gather to worship and deepen our faith.

A pilgrimage can do all those things. It is why the United Reformed Church has chosen the title ‘Walking the Way’ to describe its focus on discipleship, and why the World Council of Churches has called on its member churches to embark on a ‘pilgrimage of justice and peace’.

We are not called to sit still as Christians, we are called to walk, to be pilgrims, not reading our Bibles alone in our homes or our churches, but reaching out with others, going out to the world with the good news of God’s justice, joy and peace in Jesus Christ.

But our Bible helps us.

We heard the story of Elijah.

I love the honesty of Elijah – he lies down to die in the shade because it is all too much. He has reached the end of his tether, No more journeying for him, he is a weary and disillusioned prophet.

But his story shows us that when we reach the end of our human resources, God’s resources are unlimited.

An angel comes with food and tells him ‘rise Elijah, sit up and eat’.

God can nourish this weary traveller, and give him the strength he needs to go back onto the road with God’s message.

We also heard the words of Jesus in John’s gospel – Jesus says “I am the bread of life”. God gives us even more than food to sustain us – he gives us his very self in Jesus Christ. The presence of God in Christ nourishes us, strengthens us, and sends us out again as pilgrims who bear the good news.

We, too, are fed and sustained by God’s word and God’s presence as we travel as pilgrims through this world – seeking to Walk the Way of Jesus.

I started by saying that the call to pilgrimage is not just an interior journey, that we are also called to go out and do good in the world, and it is good to know that we do this not in our strength alone, but with Jesus as companion and sustainer.

But being a pilgrim is not just about being a doer of good works, the very journey with Christ changes us.

I am reading at the moment a book by a young man called Guy Stagg, “Crossway” – where he describes walking a pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome and then on to Jerusalem. When he began his amazing journey he did not see it as an act of faith. A young man in his twenties, he had had a nervous breakdown and felt that the walk would help him in his healing and also help him understand the people he met who did have faith.

As he walked he experienced loneliness, fear, illness, hunger disillusion …but slowly he discovered purpose and faith.

Here is his description of staying in a dormitory on the outskirts of Rome:

“Gabriella was a volunteer, cooking meals for pilgrims ...[but first she] knelt to wash my feet, rinsing them in the bowl, rubbing soap over the arches and soles, and cleaning the suds with more water from the jug.”

Guy Stagg finds Christ kneeling at his feet in Gabriella.

From today you  - Pilgrim people - enter a new phase of your pilgrimage.

You have a new church leader, Marius.

He will encourage you to go out, to walk to new places, to meet new people.

He will help you remember that you can always come here to be fed by God’s word, and in communion by God’s self.

As he serves alongside you, you may meet God with you, not, perhaps washing your feet, but with you at every step.

God with you -

as the Father who loves and cherishes

as the Son who cleanses, feeds and sustains

and as the Spirit who guides and empowers.

Go forward in the name of God – the one and three

Amen.