Young Adult Pilgrimage Announcement and Information

“As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow.” A.C. Benson

Pilgrimage has always been a strange word to me. I have always thought that life itself was a pilgrimage, and it is, but I have recently begun to understand the very spiritual nature of being intentional about a trip somewhere. Wikipedia defines a pilgrimage as “a long journey or search of great moral significance.” Great Moral Significance.

When I first started planning for the Young Adult Pilgrimage coming up in June, I sat with that statement for a while. We decided that going to New York, to the headquarters of The Episcopal Church, would be a great way to get to know how we fit into a larger picture.

We asked for an audience with the Presiding Bishop because we thought it would be a great way to understand what The Episcopal Church wants from us and what it is doing for us. We want an opportunity to show her who we are and why we are so important to the life of the church. We also think that having an opportunity to explore our cultural and religious history and its significance in the way the church interacts with the community is important. And our last goal is to try to get a better understanding of what the church does in times of crisis, like our relief work after 9/11. I think all this plays in to the exact definition of a pilgrimage, a “search of great moral significance.”

I never really understood the difference between a vacation and a pilgrimage until I went on a trip to Quito, Ecuador, in South America. I never thought that a “vacation” could change my life in the way that trip has.

By going with a group of people who were also there trying to have a life-changing experience, I was able to transform what could have been any other trip with something that opened my eyes to the love and grace that Jesus left when he died on the cross. I was given the language to put my spirituality into words. Having people around you who are searching for a deeper relationship with God is essential to the spiritual growth of any person.

Here’s what we are planning:

• Leave June 20 and return on June 27
• The cost will be $1100 for an entire week in New York City, which includes flights, lodging, activities, and transportation while we are there.
• The activities, which are subject to change at any time and are included in that price, are:
  --visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, The Episcopal Church offices, Trinity Wall Street (one of the first Episcopal churches ever built)
  --tours of General Seminary (the first Episcopal seminary), The Cathedral of St John the Divine including a spire climb, Ground Zero and St. Paul's Chapel (where most of the 9/11 relief was housed)
  --a day of mission work
  --a Broadway show and a show at St. Mary's put on by the Episcopal Actors Guild; and
  --A MEETING WITH THE PRESIDING BISHOP!!

The only thing not included in this price is your food. You will be required to bring extra money to cover that. I suggest you budget $50 a day, which is $350, but you can eat for cheaper than that if you try.

A non-refundable deposit of $500 is due by April 10. An additional $300 is due on May 8, and a $300 payment on June 5.

I hope you will consider joining us for this meaningful trip of discovery to learn who we were, who we are, and who we want to be as Americans, Christians, and Episcopalians.

Lauren Woody
Young Adults Coordinator for the Diocese of Atlanta

For more information or to register, please contact Lauren Woody at lwoody@episcopalatlanta.org.

March 2009 Article

A Lenten Reflection
by Michael Asmussen

Well, it is that time of the year again. We are now halfway through the time when we give something up or take something on for the 40 days of Lent (well, really more than 40 days, as you are allowed to indulge on Sundays). Growing up I would typically give up something that I had so rarely that I really wouldn’t miss it for those 40 days (like Dairy Queen blizzards). In fact, I got to be pretty good at picking something so specific that I really didn’t have to change my lifestyle. Obviously it was easy for me, but now I feel as if I was really missing the point (although, as a little kid, I think missing the point now and then really isn’t that big of a deal).

In recent years I have taken to giving up candy and ice cream for Lent, which is difficult, because I am a HUGE fan of some of the Easter candy. (Especially Cadbury mini eggs-- in fact, I have been munching on a few while writing this). I figured that these things would be simple enough to give up, and really didn’t think they would be that hard. But the first time I decided to give up candy and ice cream for Lent I really struggled. I would often wrap up work doing groundwater sampling at a gas station, and an ice cream bar or milk shake really would’ve hit the spot. Somehow I managed to restrain myself, and in the process I felt as if, in a strange way, my faith had been strengthened.

Something that I have not tried myself is the idea of taking on something for Lent. As strange as it might seem, for those of us who feel like we have too much going on, or maybe for those that find it too hard to give something up, taking something on might be the better fit. It can be something like trying to exercise more, eat healthier, make an attempt to make a difference in somebody else’s life, or even something as simple as making the effort to take time out of each day to clear your head and re-focus.

If you haven’t started a Lenten discipline yet, it isn’t too late to start. We still have half of Lent left, so whether you decided to give something up or take on something, take the opportunity to step back and think about the promise of Easter that comes at the end.