Well, this Sunday was a blessing. Annie, my co-conspirator in “turning the world upside-down”, and I went and did some open air readings from the Word of God, and had good discussion time- that’s what I call Church! The night before, I did some studying and really going through my mind and heart, and couldn’t get the topic of “pilgrim” out of my mind (this may have had a lot to do with my reading the Pilgrim’s Progress by Paul Bunyan earlier in the week).
So, I did as I usually do and researched. Conspire magazine is now online (http://www.conspiremagazine.com/) and sure enough this month’s topic was Pilgrimage. Wow!
A Pilgrim is described as someone who is in search of home. This caused me to think a bit, first off we know that the Word describes our home as a heavenly one (Hebrews chapters 11-13), also we are told to live as pilgrims.
So with that said, I began to dig a bit deeper. What really are we in search of? “Seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew chapter 5)”. Psalms 84:5- says that blessed is him whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Well, since I am not on pilgrimage for Jerusalem or Mecca, what really should be captivating me?
Our heavenly city as described in the book of Revelation is the presence of God. The presence of God is the kingdom of God. In Hebrews we read that the saints endured all kinds of torture to obtain and invite others; to this new city, thus the presence of God.
Being me, and being critical of all things, I still wanted to dig a bit deeper. How can I express this is my life, how can I explain and be an ambassador of this kingdom, if I don’t know the characteristics and how to define it??
LOVE, DYING TO SELF, RESTORATION, RENEWAL, REVIVAL, PASSION (PURPOSE), IDENTITY. – Characteristics of the kingdom of God!
Reading through Shane Claiborne’s book- Jesus for President (an awesome depiction of what life is like in the kingdom of God); I was loving the chapter titled: A Peculiar Party. He said, “we need to be about discovering lost relatives and forgotten ancestors”.
I thought that made a great point. As Christians we need to realize that we must begin to explain and re-iterate the kingdom of God properly. In our society, what do most conversations consist of- family, friends, activities, views, …that’s pretty much it. So how do we explain or world?
THE SAME WAY! Tell about our family in Christ, our holy days, our activities, etc…
This just once again puts into thought my vision of Christians as master storytellers, just like our Savior.
Let our pilgrimage be expressions of His presence.
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