March 14,2004
By Bob Rockford

Packy McFarland is 96 years old and not in good health.  For the past month he has been standing at deaths door, knocking.  Now just the other day he was lying in his bed thinking about dying when he fell asleep and started to dream.  He dreamed that he died and went to heaven.  As he walked through the Pearly Gates the most wonderful aroma filled his nostrils.  It reminded him of his wife Molly's Irish Lemon Tea cookies.  Now Packy always told people that taking a bite of one of Molly's Irish Lemon Tea cookies was like taking a bite of heaven itself.  The wonderful aroma was everywhere he went and it finally became so strong that Packy woke up back on his bed.  He looked around and realized he was still alive but the aroma of his dream was in his bedroom.  And then he knew that Molly must have been baking a batch of her Irish Lemon Tea cookies.  And with all his strength Packy McFarland raised himself up to a sitting position and lowered his legs over the bed until his feet landed on the floor.  He stood up, a little shaky.  So he reached out to the wall to steady himself.  Then using the wall he walked to the door of the bedroom out into the hall and ended up at the top of the stairs.  He looked down and knew that he did not have the strength to walk down the stairs, so he decided to take two steps down and sit his backside on the top step.  And with what strength he had left he began the long journey down the steps, one step at a time, until he finally had his feet on the floor of the living room and his backside two steps higher.  And Packy knew that he could not stand because he used what strength he had getting this far.  So he decided to lean forward with his hands out until he rocked over onto his hands and knees.  And then he crawled through the living room and down the hall leading to the kitchen.  It was there that he finally collapsed onto his stomach.  Packy lay there breathing hard, but the aroma of Molly's Irish Lemon Tea cookies was so strong that he regained some of his strength and lifted his head off the floor and looked into the kitchen.  And don't you know he saw Molly standing at the stove with her back to him and she was removing cookies off the cookie sheet with her big wooden spatula and putting them onto the counter to cool.  With his regained strength Packy crawled on his stomach to the massive oak kitchen table, that was between him and Molly, and began to pull himself up one of the legs of the table.  And he reached up to the top of the table with one of his hands and then the other and raised himself up until his eyes looked out over a field of Irish Lemon Tea cookies.  With his last bit of strength he reached out to pick up one of the cookies when he was hit in the knuckles with Molly's big wooden spatula.  He fell down to the floor and saw Molly standing over him saying, Packy McFarland, don't you be touching those cookies, they're for the wake.

All of us come into this world in the middle of what is going on.  We become part of family, friends, the life around us, and end up traveling together for a period time.  Between the time we're born and the time we die we try to make sense of why we're here.  Early Celtic Christians also tried to make sense of various pieces of their lives, their hearts, their souls, and their minds.  This search is called a quest.  And the spiritual part of this quest is the journey of the soul.  We can either move away from or towards God.  When we respond to God's love by loving God and God's people we become believers.  For Celtic Christians the next step towards spiritual maturity was discipleship.  They would join a Christian community and learn how to find peace with God.  Then they would become an apostle, someone who would be sent out to preach the Gospel.  In the early church this meant becoming a missionary.  When we become missionaries we share our faith with others.  And by doing this the faith is passed on from generation to generation.  

Pagan Celts occupied central and Western Europe for many centuries before the time of Christ, but Rome pushed them west to the fringes of the continent. They settled in Gaul, Britain, and Ireland.  Some people say the most influential way Christianity spread throughout Europe was by the Celts.  Roman forces withdrew from Britain around the year 410 and Christianity nearly died out. But the Celtic followers of Jesus established communities in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and Britain. Patrick, Brigid of Kildare, and Ciaran were some of these followers of Jesus.  According to the Center for the Study of Religion in Celtic Societies at the University of Wales, in the 6th century, Ireland became "a land of saints and scholars" and sent out "wanderers for the love of God."  Celtic Christians were the missionaries who shared their faith with others.  But with the expanding Roman church the Celtic way soon became the road not taken. 

Webster's Dictionary says,

"A pilgrim is someone who journeys a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion."  Now I believe that Packy McFarland was indeed a pilgrim. 

When you hear the word "Pilgrim" what comes to your mind?  Abraham, and his pilgrimage to connect with the "one God?"  Maybe pilgrims on the road to Canterbury Cathedral in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."  Or is it the Pilgrims who went to find religious freedom in the New World?  What about us, are we pilgrims?  We gather together for worship, teaching, sharing, and for prayer.  Are we pilgrims on a spiritual journey?

Bruce Reed Pullen in his book "Discovering Celtic Christianity" says this:

"The pilgrim travels light and wears comfortable clothing.  Serious pilgrims combine both the outward journey toward a holy place and the inward journey toward self-understanding.  Humor and laughter help to make the journey enjoyable when both frustrations and fun, rain and rainbows, and stark scenery and beautiful horizons are encountered along the way.  Worship, both private and public, is often part of the journey.  A pilgrim is patient, knowing that eventually the journey will end in arrival, and in that arriving will be blessings as never before."

The characteristics of a pilgrim include:

Quest: looking for what's important and moving towards a goal.  In his story, "Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll writes, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."

Flexibility: there for there are many paths to our destination.  I go back to what the Marine Corp taught me, to adapt, to improvise, and to overcome.

Patience: enduring the trying times.

Simplicity: take with us only what we need. 

Dedication: commitment to reach the goal.

Risk: having faith that what's ahead is better than what we left.  Brennan Manning says, "To live without risking is to risk not living."

Joy: delight in what we come across on the way.  Psalm 126:3 says: "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Celtic Christians say: "Let your feet follow your heart until you find your place of resurrection."   You go on a pilgrimage for two reasons.  To leave behind your comfort zone and discover God's will unfolding before you.   

            Last week Karen Blackwell talked about Crossroads Church and the last five years.  Listen to what she said, it's worth hearing again: 

"We were conceived at Mill Creek, then we wandered around "Pregnant" for awhile (a growing life inside and full of expectancy and hope) and that the arduous process of establishing our values statements, with its hardship and labor, was the Pangs of Childbirth.  But out of that Travail came the birth of a church!"

            So what happens next?  Listen to what Jeremiah says in chapter 6 verse16: 

    This is what the Lord says:

    "Stand at the crossroads and look;

        ask for the ancient paths,

    ask where the good way is, and walk in it,

        and you will find rest for your souls.

Maybe after five years we are about to take our first step.  We stand at the crossroads, 3800 Troost, and ask, "Where are the ancient paths Lord, where is the good way?  Lord, those are the roads we want."

There are always things we have to do before we die.  And as we get close to the end we look at who we are, what we've done, where we've been, and the roads we didn't take.  Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was reading the paper one morning and saw his obituary.  It read, "Alfred Nobel will be remembered as the inventor of the greatest destructive force known to man."  At that moment Nobel decided to create a force for peace, the Nobel Peace Prize.  The Robert Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken," says when the road divides; we can choose which road to take.  We can't change the past, but God has blessed us with the gift of the present in which we can move forward to a life of "Shalom."  Then we can bring together our mind, our emotion, and our spirit so we can take the words of Jesus to heart when he was asked, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"   And Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two                     commandments."

            How should we live, which road should we take?  The invitation is to choose "The Road Not Taken."  The ancient path, the road where the good way lies.  This road is the journey of our soul. 

Listen again to Psalm 121:

I lift up my eyes to the hills--

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip--

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you--

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm--

he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.