Walk to Jerusalem
Week Seven: Still in the Desert
We’re closer to our average number of weekly miles this week: 743.05. That takes us all the way across Tunisia and about three-quarters of the way across Libya. The terrain is still mostly desert. If we were making this walk for real we’d probably be a bit north following the coast of the Mediterranean Sea instead of taking the straight line through the sand.
The towns that we pass have all been here for thousands of years, since they grew around the oases. They are known for delicious dates (the fruit date, not the going-out kind of date).
The scripture for this Sunday is Acts 5:27-32. In it the apostles are accused of recidivism: doing again what they had previsously gotten in trouble for doing. Since in this case what they had got in trouble for doing was talking about Jesus they aren’t really planning to stop, even when the chief priest says “Hey, I thought we told you to knock it off.”
As we persist in walking through the desert we can consider where else God may be calling us to be stubborn. To keep going when it might be easier to stop. “Sorry, not sorry” says Peter, “We must obey God rather than humans.”
And since we made it half-way from our stop last week to our destination, our encouraging song this week is a modern anthem:
We’ve gotta hold on to what we’ve gotIt doesn’t make a difference if we make it or notWe got each other, and that’s a lot for loveWe’ll give it a shot
Oh, we’re half way thereOh-oh, livin’ on a prayerTake my hand, we’ll make it, I swearWhoa-oh, livin’ on a prayerLivin’ on a prayer
(–Jon Bon Jovi)
Week Six: Landfall
Great job everybody! We more than doubled our miles this week, not only making landfall in Morocco, but crossing all of Algeria and ending for the week on the border of Tunisia. There are lovely cities to explore along the coast, with historical landmarks and beautiful artwork. But, since we turned in so many miles we don’t get to linger long before heading out over some interesting rocky hills and into the Sahara Desert.
Much of the area we cross in Algeria is uninhabited, with small towns located near oases. Between the oases we won’t see much but sand and we stop for the week in the Great Sand Sea, an area of rolling dunes. Be sure to fill your water bottles before you set out for next weeks walking!
This Sunday is Easter, and so our text for the week tells of Mary Magdalene arriving at Jesus’ tomb and meeting the risen Christ. This story is the inspiration for the beloved hymn “In the Garden.”
As we trudge through sand dunes we might be more likely to notice and appreciate the oasis towns we’ve passed: small patches of garden in the middle of the desert. It’s a more dramatic version of the green we see poking up through the brown grass in our own neighborhoods.
I come to the garden alone
while the dew is still on the roses
and the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
the Son of God discloses
and he walks with me and he talks with me
and he tells me I am his own
and the joys we share as we tarry there
non other has ever known.
— C. Austin Miles
Week Five: Hey Look! Islands!
This week we have travelled 694.35 miles. We’re still leaning on our swimmers, but hopeful that we’ll reach landfall by Easter.
We end our miles just north of a part of the mid-Atlantic mountain range that actually breaks the surface of the ocean. The Autonomous Region of the Azores includes nine major islands and a cluster of islets all formed from undersea volcanoes.
Our scripture this week is Mark 11:1-11, the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, that we celebrate as Palm Sunday.
Christ be with us on our journey
as we swim and as we walk
Christ be with us as we wander
and when neighbors stop to talk
Bless our feet and hands and voices
that wherever we may roam
Christ is heard and seen and worshipped
Savior always guide us home!
Week Four: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge
In our fourth week of travel our swimmers are still towing us along. We’ve covered 977.55 miles through the deep water of the Atlantic Ocean. We’re now over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a range of underwater volcanoes that is part of the largest mountain range on earth.
The scripture we will hear in church this week is Luke 10:1-11, which tells the story of Jesus sending seventy disciples out to heal the sick and proclaim that the kingdom of God is near. So this week we can sing “Go Tell it On the Mountain” as we pass over the undersea mountains.
Go tell it on the mountain
under the sea and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
that Jesus Christ is born!
Week Three: Into the Ocean
In our third week of walking we’ve traveled 957.75 miles, almost exactly twice as many as our first week! Our swimmers are leading the way now, as we’ve dived off the coast of Nova Scotia and into the Atlantic.
Our rest break this week is just before the edge of the continental shelf. Here we find the Labrador Current, a cold water flow moving south along the coast of Canada. When it hits the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream moving north it creates an area of dense fog and good fishing. The cold water of the current can transport icebergs much further south than they would normally be seen, sometimes as far as Bermuda. If we stop to rest on an iceberg we’ll need to make sure we don’t get carried too far off course. This is also an amazing area for whale watching.
The scripture we will hear in church this week is Luke 24:13-35, which tells the story of two of Jesus disciples out for a walk on Easter Sunday. They’d seen Jesus arrested and watched him die, and then they’d heard crazy things from the women who went to his tomb on Sunday morning.
They were walking along talking about it all when a stranger appeared and asked what they were talking about. So they told him all about this guy, who they thought was a prophet, but now he’s been killed, but maybe not, because some women talked to angels who said he was alive. And the stranger called them fools and explained how all this fit in with what the scriptures said about the messiah. So they invited him to dinner, and when he blessed and broke the bread they realized it was Jesus.
We might meet fellow travelers on our walk (although maybe not in the middle of the ocean). They probably won’t turn out to be the risen Jesus, but you never know. In this we can take instruction from the sixth century rule of St. Benedict, who wrote “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.'”
And so today we pray
God of the iceberg, God of the whale, God of the oceans and seas; help us to see Christ in every person we meet this day and to be Christ for every person we meet this day. Amen.
Week Two: Montreal and Big Moose Mountain
This week we leave from Ocqueoc Falls in Michigan and cross Lake Huron into Canada. We travel across Ontario and into Quebec where we go right through the city of Montreal. We then cross back into the United States and end our travels for the week on Big Moose Mountain in Maine.
On Sunday in worship we will read the story of Jacob wrestling with God. Jacob was on his way back to the land of his birth. Years earlier he had tricked his older brother and fled in fear of his life. He took refuge with his mother’s brother in a neighboring country to the north.
On his way home Jacob crossed a river, and their he wrested with a stranger who turned out to be God. We have two border crossings in this week’s route, because the border between our country and our neighbor to the north is not straight. These might be times when we wrestle with God . . . when like Jacob we hand on and say “I won’t let go until you bless me!”
While we’re in Canada we pass through the city of Montreal, the ninth largest city in North America and the second largest French-speaking city in the world. We can admire the architecture including the gorgeous basillica, check out a museum or music venue, and grab some poutine to eat as we continue on our way.
When we leave Quebec we cross into that arm of the United States that reaches up to the Northeast and find ourselves pausing for the week in Maine. We come to the end of our miles near the top of Big Moose Mountain, home of the country’s first fire tower.
Our legs might be trembling after the long climb, so we pray with words written by Charles Wesley:
My strength is gone, my nature dies
I sink beneath thy weighty hand,
faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let thee go
till I thy name, thy nature know.
I know thee Savior, who thou art,
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
nor wilt thou with the night depart,
but stay and love me to the end:
thy mercies never shall remove,
thy nature and they name is Love.
Week One: Ocqueoc Falls, MI
On our first week of walking we have traveled 476 miles. Fortunately one person recorded laps swum, because our route took us right across the north end of Lake Michigan.
We stop for the week in the middle of the beautiful Ocqueoc Falls State Forest. The falls are the largest in Michigan’s lower peninsula. It’s probably a little too cold to play in the falls, but if we wanted to everyone could . . . Ocqueoc Falls is the nation’s first fully accessible waterfall. The park was designed with universal accessibility principles that let people who use wheelchairs and walkers get right into the water.
The scripture we will hear in church this week is Luke 9:28-36. It tells the story of Jesus taking three of his disciples on a hike up a mountain where they saw a vision in glory and heard God speak. Most of us will probably never hear God’s voice speaking directly out of a cloud on a mountian. But we can listen for God’s voice in the sounds we hear around us as we walk and see God’s glory in the signs of Spring.
As we take stock of our first week we give thanks for the beauty of God’s creation around us and for our ability to move in it. We pray for people for whom moving is challenging and those for whom it’s harder than it used to be.
O God, whose voice is heard in the thunder of mighty waters and in the sighing of quiet winds, teach us to listen. Tune our ears and guide our steps that hearing you we may follow you as we walk through life as disciples of Jesus Christ in the breath of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Departure: Ash Wednesday
Our virtual pilgrimage leaves from Inver Grove Heights on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025. We are headed east towards Wisconsin, moving through the United States and part of Canada to reach the Atlantic Ocean.
As we gather ourselves for the journey and tie on our walking shoes we think of the words of Psalm 121 that we will hear in church this Sunday: “God won’t let your foot slip.”
Psalm 121 is a psalm of ascent, a song that may have been sung by the people of Israel as they traveled to Jerusalem to pray at the temple. It begins with the beautiful lines “I lift my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD who made heaven and earth.”
The route of our virtual pilgrimage begins not with an ascent but with a descent as we head down 70th St into the Mississippi River Valley and turn north toward the Wakota Bridge. If we raise our eyes we won’t see mountains, but might see small planes taking off or landing at Fleming Field.
We think about travel, and pray for all on journeys. Safety for those who are physically traveling, fortitude for those whose life journey has turned down a difficult path, guidance for those who have lost their way.
O Lord God, from whom we come, in whom we are enfolded, to whom we shall return: bring us in our pilgrimage through life; with the power of the Father protecting, with the love of Jesus indwelling, and the light of the Spirit guiding, until we come to our ending, in life and love eternal. Amen
(Peter Nott, Bishop of Norwich)