Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
Proverbs 3:5-6, NRSV
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
In my final reflection upon the entire trip, the word “Trust” sums up the overarching theme. For my experience of this pilgrimage, I will replay the events of the last day of walking again and again in my head. Not because it was a terrible day, but because it has become a grace-filled day.
I mentioned in my previous post about day #3 that I pretty much had been left behind. I found myself around 3 hours into the walk, at the bottom of a cow pasture, with no cell service (because I am in the UK and need Wi-Fi), and only my backpack with water and snacks. I paused at a marker pointing the way to continue St. Cuthbert’s Way and stood for 15 minutes contemplating what I was to do. I wasn’t in a panic at this point; and truly, not even anxious. But I was hurt. I was hurt physically and emotionally. Physically my knees and my right hip were really in pain, and hard for me to bend at all. But what was I to do? I couldn’t just quit because no one was going to come by – there was no help. Emotionally I was hurt and angry (and let me make plain and clear, I was hurt and angry … I am resolved to peace now). I was hurt that I my colleagues and friends pep-talked me to continue the walk while I was in pain and that I could make it through; I was angry that my colleagues figured I could finish the 18 miles in the midst of this pain. I was hurt and angry that within 15 to 20 minutes of showing me what to stretch and giving the high-energy talk that they were nowhere to be found … I had been left alone. And for me, it did hurt, it did make me sad, and my mind continued to focus on and meditate on the word “Trust.”
I pick up from the day #3 posting where I am at St. Cuthbert’s Cave. I made it to the forest tree line and found a group of three individuals looking at their map. I asked them how far they thought I may be from Fenwick, to which they answered they had no idea. However, they pointed up to the cave at an older lady and a middle-aged man and said they were doing some touring and they probably knew. I make my way up the hill to the cave where I meet Nicholas and Ann from Lancashire. Ann had planned a day to travel about and see different sites. I asked them both the same question about how far away I was from Fenwick. Ann pulled out her paper map, and they both did some calculating. They figured I was around 3 to 4 miles away. I thanked them for their help and we parted ways. I stood around the cave for a moment to take a quick break to rest my hip. As I made my way down the hill to the gate to go back up the hill on the final miles to Fenwick, I ran into Ann taking a picture of the description of the cave. She expounded that she was a congregation member of St. Cuthbert’s Church in Lancashire and that she had always wanted to see a bit of St. Cuthbert’s Way and the Cave. And she had done so this day, only days before her 80th birthday. I wished her happy birthday as I closed the gate. She looked at me again asking how I was going to get to Fenwick. I shared with her that I had only a few hours to do so by foot, to catch up with my group. She asked where the group was. I told her how I had been the last of the group and sort of left behind. She was not too happy about this (she surely had that southern grandmother feel at this moment) and that she would give my “friends” a talking to! I told her how I needed to get to Finwick so I could continue to Lindisfarne and cross the causeway before they tide came back in. She took one look at my and my legs, and said, “We’re going to give you a lift. There is no way in your condition you will make that walk.” She yelled out to her adopted son (who I am guessing is like a great-nephew or the like) that I was coming with her, and that he wouldn’t mind. And truly, he did not mind, as he would rather have a car full of people than to drive individually – as it is sort of a waste of fuel. So this is where I introduce you to the most grace filled moment of the entire trip, and two individuals that were so gracious to take me to Lindisfarne. Which this can only come from God’s grace, Lindisfarne was their next stop on their day’s road trip.
Nick, Ann, Myself after we arrived on Holy Island
In all honesty, I would not have made it to Fenwick or to Holy Island without these two God-sends. I would still be in the middle of the forest near Cuthbert’s Cave trying to figure out my next move. But because I was able to keep calm, and focus on the word “Trust,” I was able to know and to encounter the presence of God’s peace along this journey. I say every time I pray and/or preach, “We never know how the smallest of encounters we have with any individual the impact we may have on the life of another.” This encounter I had with two folks that were strangers to me, changed into an across-the-pond friendship. This encounter helped me to realize the entire trip as a trip of trust.
We used a book titled, A Fragrant Offering: A Daily Prayer Cycle in the Celtic Tradition, to start and end each day in prayer. On the first day of the journey on Sunday, we did a midday Lectio Divina on this verse:
Blessed are those whose help comes from the God of Jacob,
Psalm 146:5-9, The VOICE
whose hope is centered in the Eternal their God—
Who created the heavens, the earth,
the seas, and all that lives within them;
Who stays true and remains faithful forever;
Who works justice for those who are pressed down by the world,
providing food for those who are hungry.
The Eternal frees those who are imprisoned;
He makes the blind see.
He lifts up those whose backs are bent in labor;
He cherishes those who do what is right.
The Eternal looks after those who journey in a land not their own;
He takes care of the orphan and the widow,
but He frustrates the wicked along their way.
The word I focused on was the word (in the book’s Biblical translation) “foreigner.” I like the way The VOICE translation puts it, “The Eternal looks after those who journey in a land not their own.” Here I was walking through towns, villages, pastures, forests, and wetlands along mountains and prairies of a place I have never been before. People, home and land owners, were trusting enough to allow me and the entire group (and the countless others who have made this pilgrimage) to walk their lands, to be trusted to close gates behind us, to cross a border, etc. This is TRUST! And this is beautiful. But the most beautiful act and the most beautiful moment is the engagement and the praxis of trust through the acts of God through Nicholas and Ann. God used them (and I get teary thinking about this) to, “look after me who journey in a land not their own.” Thanks be to God. Thanks that I have recovered what trust is … and trust is not found in fellow human beings; trust is only found in the one and only Holy Trinity.
Now, for the journey home. You can see the entire photo album from the pilgrimage here:
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