We are on a journey! You hear a lot of that at Crossroads and probably at many other churches. And clearly the idea that we are on a life journey is not limited to church! Each person is on a journey through. We grow up. We grow old. We set goals and make plans. Life comes at us, sometimes in harsh ways, and we do our best to cope. We love and are loved by others. At the end of life, we face the great mystery that lies beyond our ability to know or explain. Still, we seek understanding and meaning.

Following Jesus is one way that we can talk about the journey of life from a Christian perspective. To follow Jesus, to walk his way, involves learning from the best scholarship about the historical Jesus, his life and teaching. It means seeking to know all we can about the early church's experience of his death and resurrection. It includes learning all we can about their experience of him after Easter and their growing understanding of the significance and nature of, to use Marcus' Borg's description, "the post-Easter Jesus."

Following Jesus means more than learning in an intellectual sense. It also means developing a capacity to experience the mystical presence of Christ in our lives – an experience that can by-pass conventional avenues of church structure and doctrinal understanding. It means gradually shaping our lives in light of our journey to respond to God's invitation. We respond to God in light of our own gifts and passion. To follow Jesus is to live in such a way that we, as individuals and as congregations, can influence the journey of all humanity toward the biblical ideal of Shalom – oneness with the divine and intimate relationship with each other in God.

We are on a journey. It is vitally important to bring your deepest life questions with you and to ask them aloud. Honesty is important on the journey, so bring your confusion, whatever it is that troubles you or causes you to stumble. Finally, bring your wisdom because, on the journey, each person has invaluable wisdom to share.

The Way of following Jesus is narrow and winding because it takes intentionality, determination, and often sacrifice to follow it. At the same time, the Way is very wide because so many of us walk it side by side, each with our own understanding and our own experience. There needs to be room for us to wide side by side with our differences.

The journey of life always happens within God. God is that reality lying at the heart of all of life. God is also the context in which we live and move and have our being – the air we breathe and the path we walk. Within us, between us, and beyond us, God is – and we are blessed.

Thanks for blessing me on the journey.

--Jack Price

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