Pilgrimage

Three times today I have been asked in I am travelling for business or pleasure. Can I say, "Neither, I am traveling for spiritual purposes."

In the airport today, starting with the TSA agent people have remarked how dangerous it is to be going to the Middle East. Seeing my yarmulke, the big burly agent asked "Aren't you frightened? I am not even a Jew, and I would be scared." There is not even an ounce of fear--(well, my fears are about restrooms, their availability and cleanliness) in traveling to Jordan and Egypt only a sense of adventure. There is also the excited feeling of an anticipated deep reunion to arrive in Jerusalem.

When I explained the purpose of the trip, that people of Abrahamic faiths (Jews, Christians and Muslims) from Atlanta are traveling to better appreciate each others faith, and to visit each other's holy sites, he seems intrigued. Jill Ulrici, a Presbyterian Minister, and one of my fellow co-leaders jokes that I am already proselytizing. The line is empty so we speak for a few more minutes and I can tell the excitement has hit me.

This is my 3rd pilgrimage and each time not only do I return with an admiration of the beauty of Christianity and Islam, more allies in building a connected Atlanta, but I also fall in love with Judaism all over again.

This is what happens on the best pilgrimages, one comes armed with gifts, hopes and expectations. There is something in the transaction of the offering that draws everything closer. Sometimes leaving home, relinquishing the familiar allows an awareness to emerge and this lens brings us closer to what we hold dear. Dislodged from our crutches we are humble, more authentically human and if fear does not impede we rely on each other and upon our own wisdom allowing a connection of spirit. We leave home and yet we return to a home within ourselves that is less place and more Place. In Hebrew, it is Makom--a sacred name of God mean place.

There are 16 of us simultaneously searching for messengers of peace and holiness and offering those same messages to those we encounter on the journey. (Currently, the Imam behind me, Plemon El-Amin, the 3rd leader is explaining Islam's view on God to his neighbor.) We are Pilgrims leaving home to find it around the world and within ourselves.