This Life!

This life, therefore,
is not godliness but the process of becoming godly,
not health but getting well,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.

We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way.
The process is not yet finished, but is actively going on.
This is not the goal, but it is the right road.

At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle,
but everything is being cleansed.
Martin Luther

This past Sunday afternoon, my new friend George, from Michigan
shared the above thought from Martin Luther at the concluding worship gathering
for "Great Plains Pilgrimage #1" at Calvin Crest, our presbytery camp located along the banks of the Platte River here in Nebraska. Actually, he gave this quote to me on a printed page as a parting gift. Something in the words and in the spirit of the giver made Luther's observations come alive for me.

In just a couple of meetings with George, I experienced a grace-filled man who later on in life, in his retirement, has discovered a deep calling to invite others into a relationship with the living Christ. It was just last Tuesday that I met some of the 40 lay and clergy Pilgrimage leaders who flew in from North Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa.
All came at their own expense to offer service and leadership for the inaugural Great Plains Pilgrimage. It's based on Cursillo, a Spanish renewal movement in the church that came to the United States and has been appropriated by Methodists in Walk to Emmaus and by Catholics and Lutherans and Presbyterians among others. Cursillo means a short course in Christian faith.

What I experienced in meeting these Pilgrimage new friends was a deep joy about growing in faith. My wife Cheryl was the Pilgrimage pastor for the week-end and far more involved than I, since I had other commitments. But sitting around a table for lunch even on the first day of the arrival of Pilgrimage servant leaders was enough for me to see how contagious this movement of Christians can be.

Arriving late on Sunday afternoon with a couple of vans to pick up these new friends and drive them to the airport, I had the delight of experiencing the closing worship celebration. Joyful music, inviting worship leaders, an embracing feeling of fellowship and hospitality all drew me in. And imagine this! Hearing Presbyterians getting up and briefly speaking about their faith and experience of grace over the course of 3 1/2 days of a renewal week-end. I heard and saw all this and thought, this is the kind of discipleship experience that I want to have with other followers of Christ.

Luther said it well, in the quote my friend George shared:

We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way.
The process is not yet finished, but is actively going on.
This is not the goal, but it is the right road.