This August, we are doing a worship series at my church on Summer Pastimes and how they speak to us of the life of faith. So each Friday I will turn from the lectionary to the gospel I’ve selected for worship that week.
The second installment in our “Summer Pastimes and the Life of Faith” series focuses on hiking. There are no more gospel passages dealing with hiking than there are with swimming or baseball – those guys needed to get out and have more fun! But we can take a look at Jesus’ instructions about living in each day and trusting in enough – which is pretty important advice for hikers.
I enjoy hiking – except when I’m cold, wet, lost or in pain. Which is kind of like saying I enjoy being a Christ-follower, except when I’m scared, disappointed, confused, doubting or didn’t get what I wanted; in other words, on any given day! The life of faith is a lot like hiking – it involves discipline, sometimes pain and discomfort, and a lot of beauty. It goes better when we are intentional about where we’re going, yet often presents side paths that lead to profound experiences. We don’t always know where we are, or how we’re going to get from here to there – so we develop our trust muscles.
And speaking of muscles – both hiking and faith go better when we’re in shape, and they also help us get in shape. Both are richer if we have companions on the way, even if we don’t walk together every step. And when the going gets rough – the trail is steep, or rutted, or we’ve lost the path altogether – we need to focus all our attention on the next step and the next step. And just when we’ve developed that level of mindful focus, we find ourselves arriving at a place that gives way to a panoramic vista, and we get a glimpse of the big picture. Just like in our faith lives.
In his teaching about not worrying, Jesus commends both perspectives, the mindful focus on living in the now, and the larger perspective: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.”
Though we do need to plan what we will eat, drink and wear when we’re going hiking, we don’t need to focus on these things, or on any of the thousand things that might distract us from the beauty of our route and the sheer joy of moving our bodies through space. Jesus invites us to learn from lilies and grasses and birds – in other words, to take lessons from the creation of which we are a part. When I am hiking, I make so many connections between the natural world and my life in God, it becomes a walking prayer.
And this is the where I most feel a consonance between hiking and walking by faith: no matter where I am, I always have the chance to encounter God on the trail. It might be in navigating a difficult part, or being kept safe from harm, or praying to be kept safe from harm, or in an encounter with another person, or in the “mountaintop” experience or the river running alongside or the encounter with wildlife… God is in all of it, and often quite specifically. Every hike can lead us closer to the One who made us, and the trail we’re on. So... happy trails!
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