Pastor's Corner

Are You a Spiritual Tourist or Pilgrim?

"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls" (Jeremiah 6:16.)

Tourists become disappointed when the scenery doesn't look like it did in the brochure. A message I heard on a radio broadcast called Come Up Higher has had a deep impact on me. The question was asked:

"Are we tourists or pilgrims on this earth?" Think about it. The obvious and correct answer is that, as Christians, we also are pilgrims. But if we were to stop and examine the profile of both types of travelers, I wonder which one would our lives actually line up with. My dictionary defines a pilgrim as "one who embarks on a quest for something conceived of as sacred or holy." Under tourist it says, "One who travels for pleasure."

Pilgrims are on a mission; they are going somewhere, no matter what the cost. This journey is their destiny in life, their reason for being. Their energy and attention is focused on the truth that they are going somewhere, not anywhere, but somewhere in particular. Tourists, on the other hand, have the luxury of choice.

If they had planned to go one way and the weather turns bad or the currency rate changes, they can change their minds and go somewhere else, somewhere more pleasing to them or their circumstances. Much of their time is taken up seeing the sights, being in all of the right places at the right time. It is a self-driven, self-directed endeavour.

It is so easy today to live as spiritual tourists, reading the right books, going to the right retreats and dropping by the church occasionally. We can choose to live with great conviction -- until the weather changes and it doesn't feel as good anymore. So then we cancel part of our trip and rest a while. If we view ourselves as tourists, we will become discouraged when things don't go the way we had hoped, when the scenery is not as spectacular as the brochure promised. A tourist venture is largely to make us happy.

We, as pilgrims do not have that luxury. Our expectations are different. We are going somewhere because we have been called there and no other place will do. We don't expect it to always be safe or comfortable, but it is not about us or what makes us happy. A tourist may have a fistful of postcards and Kodak digital moments, but a pilgrim has a heart full of faith and love and commitment to a higher calling.

My final thought: the pathway to God is not found by fear, or following a creed, developing moral character, or attending church. It is simply found in those words we all learned in Sunday School or in catechism“ Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” This simple trust and simple faith is the key to understanding of God's great loving nature and the scope of how much He loves us, so much that he sent his only begotten Son to die for us.

When we understand that, then our service to Him will be with joy and our pilgrimmage will have a spiritual meaning. This is the attitude of the heart that will bring us home to God.

The pilgrim on a spiritual quest sees as Eugene Peterson writes, "The Bible is not a script for a funeral service, but it is the record of God always bringing life where we expected to find death. Everywhere it is the story of resurrection." With the past forgiven and the future opened with a cross- shaped hole blasted through the grave, the emphasis is on the present as it stretches through the future into eternity. It is Friday, but then Monday is coming!

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guide while life shall last,
And our eternal home.
~Isaac Watts~

Yours, Faithfully,
Pastor Samuel King-Kabu

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Roger Kenner & Jette Blair.
Content-New Topics Last Updated: 2014/03/04
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal