John 15:9-17
15:9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
15:11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
My mom’s recent passing has given me new eyes for seeing and a new heart for the Lord. When I look back on my childhood with my mom, I remember her joy. She was not always happy, but joy sort of oozed out of her. I had the sense that she was satisfied with life. She could always make room for more, but I didn’t sense she “needed” more. Even so, Mama was always learning; she had some sort of self-help or parenting book on her nightstand. She wanted to understand and learn what she could do, how she might understand more, or maybe just how to figure the three of us out. She was joyful in her learning and in her deep caring for her family.
Over the course of my grief, I have leaned into the idea that my mom “remains” in me. We will know her by the memories that each of us holds dear and speaks aloud. We remember her by the DNA our family carries; biologically, she is in us. She lives on in each of us by what we inherited, biologically and from her influence in our lives. She abides in us.
Our Holy Creator, who made us all, lives in us, too. Our Father is in us, with us, and works through us by the power of the Holy Spirit; God chooses us. God gives us a wonderful love and life so that our joy may be complete. We are so deeply cared for by God that there is no doubt that God abides in us. God remains in us and asks us to abide with God. What a notion that God would choose us, as flawed as we are. And yet, God made us and always chooses us: to love, to forgive, to save, to live. It’s hard to wrap our brains around such a love. Maybe choosing to receive such love, and to abide in it, is all we can do. And find joy right there.
In a few weeks, I am embarking on a wonderful journey. I will walk a pilgrimage route across Scotland and England, following a path called St. Cuthbert’s Way. I will walk about 60 miles on the path (maybe closer to 80/90 miles altogether) over a week’s time. Tracing the path of Cuthbert, this walk is more than a sightseeing hike or a vacation. I will be setting off each day with food and water in a backpack and leaving (most) technology behind. I’ll have a phone for maps only and one companion for the journey.
We seek solitude and space to experience God through nature and time to listen for the voice of God. A pilgrimage journey gives us the opportunity to leave the busy-ness of the world behind, to walk in silence, to have conversations with fellow travelers also seeking to know God more. My hope is this walk is a re-centering, a being present to God and self that I overlook in all the “must-dos” of life.
You are invited to send a prayer request for yourself or others that I will share with God on my walk. Each day, I will lift prayer requests as I walk. I will print these out and take them on the journey; you will be with me! If you want to send me a request, please use this form to submit them. My pilgrimage walk to Scotland and Northumbria takes place May 25-31. I leave on May 23 to travel there. Please have your request to me by May 22 so I can get it printed and packed. It will be great to have you on the journey with me; I covet your prayers as I embark on this journey, seeking to abide.
There’s a chorus that says, “Remain in Me. Remain in Me. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Remain in Me.” I see this song as meaning this: Apart from God, our lives are only a fraction of what they can be. God has given us all that we are and all that we know and desires joy for us. May we abide in that Love that created us and continues to gift us for the journey.
Photo credit: All photos taken and offered by Rev. Tara Lain