Dear Beloved of Trinity Church, 

As the days to my sabbatical draw ever closer, I ready myself for this sacred season that awaits. Much preparation and planning has been done for sure, but I know that it’s the unexpected things along the way that will be the most nourishing, challenging, and life-giving.

Phil Cousineau, in his book, The Art of Pilgrimage writes, “For millennia, [the] cry in the heart for embarking upon a meaningful journey, has been answered by pilgrimage, a transformative journey to a sacred center.”  Our lives are most definitely “a transformative journey to a sacred center.” Holy travel across the seasons of our lives. And we take this sacred journey together.

Cousineau continues on to say, “With the roads to the exalted places we all want to visit more crowded than ever, we look more and more but see less and less. But we don’t need more gimmicks and gadgets; all we need to do is reimagine the way we travel. If we truly want to know the secret of soulful travel, we need to believe that there is something secret waiting to be discovered in virtually every journey.”

As we enter the months ahead, I invite us to reimagine the way we travel. I invite us to reimagine the way we live, the way we pray, the way we serve, and the way we love. I invite us to give ourselves the freedom to discover something secret, something sacred, something holy. And to remind ourselves to not simply look at the world around us, but to open our hearts and souls, so that we may truly see the wonderful gifts that God has in store for us. May we see with the eyes of the heart.

I invite you to join me this Sunday, and again on Tuesday evening for a more in-depth conversation (more information in the article below), as we prepare to embark on this pilgrimage that together we may indeed discover the sacred art of soulful living.

Peace and Blessings on the way,

Paul