New Year's Eve Pilgrimage

The Pilgrimage is a practice of worship and discernment that some of us at St. Peter's began in late October. Its purpose is to be an opportunity for us to very intentionally listen and act in our role as stewards of God's people and God's universe. Jody and I have tried to weave together an experience inspired by our local worship tradition, Quaker thought, emphases on authenticity, intimacy, and personal --> world-transformation, and the all-important church potluck.

Click here for the "order of worship."

Here for my "Primer" post.

And by starting here and reading forward, you'll catch most of what I've written about the story so far.

OK. Thanks for sticking with me this far. Because of a wild week, this post is mirrored at the CrossWalk America blog and the St. Peter's [blog] - and I'll be subverting the expectations of the CWA crew for another meditation on the loose theme "God's promises kept, but not how we expect." :-) So meta.

Last week on the Pilgrimage, New Year's Eve, we had a larger-than-average crew of regulars. When we came to the time for Circles of Trust, the heart of the experience, everything went in a different direction that it had ever before. We have created a set of markers to mediate how we speak, and respond, in the Circle of Trust; the goal is to maintain a very safe space so that we have a chance to hear and share our deepest inner voice. (See the Primer or Order of Worship links above for details on the markers.)

Right away, the circle began to stretch outside of our markers. I was surprised, because have moved through the learning curve for this new practice much faster than I expected we would, and keeping to the boundaries had never been an issue before. Now, we were saying great things; people were sharing their various points of view on what we sensed was some new energy and momentum after several months of apparent stagnation at St. Peter's. But my first response, as a facilitator of the Pilgrimage, was to think "Hey - where is this going? Do I need to slow it down by saying anything about keeping our markers?"

I waited. We kept going.

And as I thought a little longer about the journey we've been on thus far, and about the people in the circle, I realized that we were doing exactly what we needed to do. Our excitement couldn't be contained in our boundaries that night; the departure wasn't scaring away our inner voices, but was caused by our deepest selves feeling safe enough to share the excitement out loud.

I relaxed. Went with it.

Everything was fine. Being outside the prescribed borders served our purpose; we didn't diminish the goal, but actually reached it. (In a way I never expected! Ha! Found it!)

What happened New Year's Eve was not something I could have processed or responded to as I did in week one or two of our Pilgrimage. Then, I think I would have felt it necessary to break in and remind the circle of the markers, possibly squishing the spirit out of the moment. So I am blessed by the rare, clear glimpse of how I am being transformed. It's never much, but it's enough to show me that Something is Happening. Journey on, -howie