The Rev. Dr. John Toles
Please comment below. When I return, we’ll combine some of your journal entries with mine and produce a printed journal of our adventure.
WEEK ONE PROMPT
Walking the Camino de Santiago is about letting go and relying on God’s grace and the kindness of others. “The Camino provides” is a common expression for those on the way. How do you turn your life over to God’s grace and the kindness of others? In what ways do you not only receive grace and kindness but also express it toward others?
It is 11:09 AM and I am in the airport in Oklahoma City. My flight doesn’t leave for a couple more hours so I stopped for some breakfast. It was Andy who drove me to the airport and he took a before photo.
The next leg of the journey will take me from here to DFW, where I have another short layover before heading out to Paris.
The flight to Dallas was uneventful and short. I am hopeful that the next flight will at least be uneventful! It will be long…. about 10 hours/5,231 miles. I hope to sleep which is something I can never do on a plane. Don’t take that as complaining! I get to do this thing. Having a few French fries before boarding because you never really know about what will be served.
It is 12:02 Paris time and we are taxing to the runway at DFW.
Sunrise at 37,000 feet. About an hour out from Paris.
Arrived in Paris without any trouble. Only was able to sleep for about an hour or so. I wish I could learn to do that. Sleep on the plane that is. Took a taxi to the Montparnasse train station, and then waited on the train.
Arrived in Bordeaux. 24 1/2 hours after I left. Long trip but not a complaint. I see sleeping in Babyland in my future.
A room with a pretty nice view.
I have two trains tomorrow, but really a pretty easy day. Only about three hours of traveling and then I will be at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. I have two nights there, which I’m really looking forward to. Not only will it give me the opportunity to rest up from the trip, but I can also explore the town at a leisurely pace.
In the final hours leading up to departure from Sherwood Forest, I am finally at rest. Everything is packed, and the house is clean. If I have forgotten it, I probably don’t need it. If it is not clean, it’s probably not all that dirty. I now sit with a glass of wine and a movie that I found–The Wall (I know nothing about it, but the blurb says it is a tour-de-force performance by Martina Gedeck. I don’t know her either, but I’m glad she had a forceful tour.)
The alarm is set for 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. My trusty chauffeur will be picking me up at 9:00 a.m. (trusty chauffeur is good for a snarky comment below.) Roughly 24 hours after I wake up in the a.m., I will be landing in Paris. Bonjour. Merci. Parlez vous Francais? Nope. I’m from Oklahoma, and the only thing we parlez vous around here is… well, I was hoping for another Come-for-da-bull joke there, but it didn’t work out.
The Queen is on her perch, glaring down at me. She is beginning to catch on and the claws are flexing. Maybe I’ll make it out the door before she goes all screaming terrorist.
You all have a good night’s rest. I’ll try and update tomorrow, but I’m not sure how all that will work out, so it will likely be sometime Sunday and I’ll be in Bordeaux, France (poor me…. bwaahahahaha.) With that, “Good night, and good morning, in case we don’t talk before that!)
I’ve packed and repacked the backpack about 6 times now. In the process, I’ve lightened the load by 7 pounds and got the weight down to 25lbs, which includes water. Several items in the first picture did not make the cut. The only real luxury item is the iPad. On a shorter trip, I might consider leaving it at home, but I plan on doing some other writing while I’m there, and a keyboard attached to the phone just wouldn’t work.
I’ve done plenty of walking with weight, so I believe all shall be well. If not, all my pictures will be of me sitting on a beach somewhere in Europe (life could be a lot worse.)
I’ve scheduled sixty days on the Camino with 46 walking days and 14 days off. This is what those stages look like, but could change once I’m there.
It looks a bit overwhelming when I look at some of the daily distances, but then I remember that it is not a race–although those 15+ mile days are a bit intimidating. On average, I’ll be walking 4 to 5 hours per day. Walk for a couple of hours in the morning, have lunch, have a siesta by the gurgling fountain, walk for a couple more hours, take off the boots, and enjoy the rest of the day. No problem (and everyone reading this rolls their eyes!)
I fly out on Saturday and arrive in Paris on Sunday Morning. From Paris, I take a train to Bordeaux where I’ll spend the night. The following day is a train ride to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, where I’ll spend two nights getting my days in order and breathing. The pilgrimage officially begins on Wednesday, April 10th. If all goes well, I’ll be in Santiago around June 10th. Regardless of what happens, I’ll need to be back in Paris by June 26th–that’s my return flight.
For those who know her, the Queen is not pleased.
Am I nervous? Hmmm…. un poco.
I’ll be on sabbatical from April 1st through July 8th, with 60 days walking the Camino de Santiago. During this time, I’ll be journaling and blogging, and I invite you to join in the conversation. On Sunday evening each week–beginning Easter Sunday–I’ll post a journal prompt on my blog. I will need to approve your first comment, but afterward, you will be free to comment as you like.
Please comment below. When I return, we’ll combine some of your journal entries with mine and produce a printed journal of our adventure.
WEEK ONE PROMPT
Today, we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord. Through this great act of love, how will you live into this new life that has been offered to you?
The words of the Exsultet, “This is the night, when…”
This is the night when the Church attempts to read all of Holy Scripture in one sitting.
This is the night when the choir and organist threaten to go on strike if I add one more piece of music.
This is the night when the parish administrator double-dog dares me to make one more change to the bulletin.
This is the night when the congregation asks, “Are we there yet?”
This is the night, the eve of our salvation when we enter into the darkness of the tomb and create a spark that becomes a flame that sets the whole world ablaze with the Light of Christ.
This is the night when we baptize Nolan, and Crawford receives his first communion.
From the song, December, 1963, by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, “O, what a night!”
Of all the liturgies throughout the church year, this is the highest and most grand. It is the culmination of all the other days and festivals, from the Incarnation to the Transfiguration to Good Friday to Easter. On this night, we remember all that God has done for His people, we give thanks for what He has done for us, and we celebrate the bringing into the Kingdom those new members who receive the cleansing that comes through Baptism and the participation of others in Christ’s body by becoming one with Jesus through receiving the Holy Sacrament. O, what a night.
Tonight is a reminder that we are not alone in this world. It is a reminder that the Church Triumphant—those who have gone before us—and the Chruch Militant—we today—are bound together in love through baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. That through Jesus’ giving of Himself, we truly become one with Him and each other.
I will not be long-winded tonight because everything you see and hear is a sermon. So, I’ll encourage you to be one in Christ Jesus. So many things seek to divide us, but the bonds of love are stronger than any of these, and the only way those bonds can be severed is if we intentionally cut them ourselves.
You are Christ’s one holy catholic and apostolic Church. Let us receive Nolan into our family through her baptism and then participate with Crawford in his first communion. O, what a night.
“The candidate for Holy Baptism will now be presented.” BCP p.301.
Doc Pierre decided that he wanted to get into the ranching business, so he went out and purchased himself a bunch of cows and put them out on the pasture. He also knew he would need a bull, so he called up one of his hands, Ol’ Boudreaux, and gave him the plan.
“Boudreaux,” he says, “I’m going out to find the bull. Once I’ve purchased one, you hook the trailer to that pick ‘em up truck of yours and come fetch it.”
“How will I know?” Bou asks.
Doc Pierre says, “I’ll send a telegram,” and it was all set.
Doc Pierre goes out searching for the bull with $5,000 in his pocket. He finds one for exactly $5,000. Hoping to lower the price, he asks the rancher if that is the best offer. “Well, I suppose I could let it go for $4,999.” Doc Pierre thinks it’s a good deal and takes him up on it. Then, he heads to Western Union to send the telegram to Boudreaux, but it is there that he learns it’ll cost him $1 per word, and all he’s got left is a $1. He thinks on it a moment, then writes out a one-word message to Boudreaux.
The telegraph operator looks at it questioningly, then back up to Doc Pierre. Doc Pierre nods in understanding and explains, “Boudreaux don’t read so good, so he’ll have to sound it out first. He’ll get the message.” The telegraph operator said OK and sent the one-word telegram: “Comfortable.”
About an hour later, Boudreaux showed up with the pick ‘em up truck and trailer.
Doc Pierre sent, “Comfortable,” and Boudreaux had to sound it out, “Come.. for… da… bull.”
Have you heard of response latency? It is defined as “The interval of time elapsing between a stimulus and a response.” (Source) You may not have heard of it, but you may have just experienced it. I told you what I hoped was a good joke, and hopefully, you laughed! However, there was a short period of time between the punch line and you getting the joke and laughing. The time between is the response latency. It is the time when you have all the necessary information, but not quite yet understanding. It is the time leading up to a moment of clarity or an “Aha!” moment or epiphany. Response latency.
Our Gospel reading this morning tells us that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus, found the stone rolled away, and ran back and told Peter and John. Hearing this, the two disciples take off. John outruns Peter and arrives first. John stands just outside the tomb, but Peter—never really one for restraint—goes barging in. After gaining his courage, John follows. There, they discover the linen shroud that had covered Jesus’ body and the veil that had been over his face, but the body of Jesus is not there.
The image on the front of your bulletin depicts the scene. The painting St. John and St. Peter at Christ’s Tomb (c.1640) is by the Italian artist Giovanni Francesco Romanelli. Peter, on the left, is pointing at the shroud and seems to be staring off, trying to understand, but for John, the response latency is ending. The pieces are falling into place. It is like he is holding up his hands to tell Peter to be quiet so that he can think. The reading tells us that the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, “saw and believed.” Romanelli captured that moment.
The reading then tells us that the two returned home, but Mary, who must have followed behind the footrace, remained. She leaned into the tomb and saw and spoke to the angels, then turning, she saw the gardener, not knowing it was Jesus.
Now, this is an interpretation on my part, but the gardener was there all along, watching. Maybe he was out of sight, or maybe, in all the excitement and rushing about, all three saw him but more or less dismissed him. Either way, I believe the gardener, Jesus, was there watching this entire scene unfold. And I believe Jesus anxiously anticipated the end of John’s response latency when all the pieces came together. When they did, Jesus smiled and said to Himself, “That’s my boy.” Working behind John’s understanding is God’s grace.
St. John later tells us, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and St. Paul tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Believing in Jesus is a grace—a gift from God. Jesus anxiously anticipated all the pieces falling together for John to believe, but the reason this could happen for John was because God first loved John—God’s grace was given to John so that he might believe.
Today, we are the ones standing in the tomb. We are the ones seeing the shroud and other linen. Like John, we have all the teachings of the Prophets and all the words and deeds of Jesus at our disposal. In addition, we have the teachings of the Apostles, the Saints, and the Church. We have all the information. Question: have they fallen into place for you, or are you still in that time of response latency? If yes, if they’ve fallen into place, then have a passion for souls and pray that others may receive the light of the Gospel. If not, then pray for God’s grace, so that He might give you understanding.
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,” and before Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb, Jesus rose from the dead—He is “the firstborn from the dead.” (Colossians 1:18) He did this out of His great love for us and accomplished it so that you and I might also be given eternal life with Him.
This is your first day of the week. The empty tomb is before you. Pray that all the pieces, all the information falls into place and that God’s grace pours out upon you that you might believe and live.
In 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared six times to three young children near Fatima, Portugal. On the second appearance, she gave them a prayer that she asked to be added to the end of each decade of the Rosary. Whether you pray the Rosary or not, it is a prayer worth learning. It is known as the Fatima Prayer.
Let us pray: “Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.”
Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He emptied himself freely accepting death on a cross.” So, if Jesus died, where is He on this day? You know the words of the Creed: “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.” That’s why this Church seems so strangely empty. The one for whom it was built, whose presence draws us on Sunday, is not here.
Crucified, he died and was buried; he descended into hell. Nineteenth-century Methodists removed that portion of the Creed, claiming it unbiblical. But it’s not. The First Epistle of Peter speaks of Christ’s descent into hell, called by the Church “The Harrowing of Hell.” Harrowing is a military term meaning to “make predatory raids or incursions.” Therefore, after Christ’s burial yesterday and through today, Satan’s territory is being invaded by the One who yesterday died upon the cross.
Following His death, when he breathed his last, Jesus descended to hell. Having preached to us, the living, he descended to the dead and is there proclaiming the Good News to those who lived and died before his coming.
It is inconceivable that only those who lived during Jesus’s time and afterward would benefit from the salvation He brought to the world, and all those who died before His coming would be excluded from that salvation. So, everyone who died before He came, all the way back to Adam and Eve, had the opportunity to receive His word of salvation.
He is there, doing what He does so well: preaching, teaching, touching, relentlessly seeking, persuading, inviting, healing, and announcing God’s love and mercy. As the Psalmist says, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.” Even Byzantine art depicts Jesus in the jaws of hell, giving a hand to those who had died, lifting them out of the darkness.
And though He is down there and, therefore, not here, there is something to be said to those of us He has temporarily left behind—Because I am there, descended into the deadly darkness, confronting the enemy on the enemy’s turf, you have hope.
If He is there, literally fighting for the souls in Hell, then we can know with all certainty that there is no darkness, sorrow, or pain we can experience that His loving presence cannot enter into. If He is willing and able to risk it all, to wade deep into the death we so fear and avoid, then what might He risk for us?
Do you remember the stories Jesus told about God and the kingdom of Heaven—the good Shepherd who forever seeks the one lost sheep, the faithful father who awaits the return of the one lost son, and the relentless woman who does not rest until she finds the one coin? Jesus meant those things when He said them. He is willing to fight for our souls today and for the righteous souls who departed this world before His first coming.
On that first Saturday before the resurrection, the disciples, Mary, and the rest mourned the loss of their Savior, but He had not truly left them. He had only gone to continue His Father’s work.
Candle in a Cave 