The Way to Land's End

I grew up in church. Some of my earliest memories are of the little Pentecostal church off of Deen Road in my hometown. The church of my childhood was picturesque; it was a white, one room sanctuary with wooden pews and a steeple. It is where my parents were married. It is where I fell asleep on my Papa Nipper’s chest, listening to the gurgle of his heartbeat as the pastor preached his version of salvation. It is where I first encountered the Divine. I’m not sure we can ever really know God except through other people. And that is the Divine I encountered at that little Pentecostal church of my childhood. It was there in those wooden pews that a little girl saw adults cry tears of repentance, lift their arms in praise and hug each other in love and fellowship. The vulnerability, the recognition of our human needs and frailty, the reaching out to meet another in that moment – that is the Divine.

And that little church is where I first learned my Bible stories. One of my favorite Bible stories was about Ruth and Naomi, a foreign woman and her mother-in-law. In the story, Naomi moves to Moab with her husband and two sons due to a famine. There in Moab, Naomi’s two sons marry Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. After a time, Naomi’s husband and both sons die. Naomi exhorts Ruth and Orpah to return to their families to find new husbands. But Ruth replies, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth accompanied Naomi back to Bethlehem, where she married Boaz and bore a child Jesse, part of the lineage of Christ.

As I prepare for this pilgrimage, this story keeps coming back to me.  I will be joining my mother-in-law, Laura, on a trip which is holy for her. Laura is devoutly Catholic and this journey to St. James tomb is deeply tied to her faith. Like Ruth, I am not of my mother-in-law’s faith. I am a foreigner to her in that respect. But like Naomi, she has welcomed me into her family with open arms anyways. And just as Ruth vowed, I vow to Laura that on this journey where you go, I will go and where you stay I will stay. And your God will be my God.

I plan on attending Mass with Laura each evening while we are hiking. I am honored to join her on this trip of faith. And though I am a long way away from that little church of my childhood, I am hopeful that I will encounter the Divine along the road, or perhaps in a cathedral on The Way to Land’s End.