Do you have any big travel dreams?
Britton and I have a dream of traveling to Europe and walking the Camino de Santiago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago. The Camino is a network of ancient pilgrimages that Christians took in the 5th and 6th centuries, and many people still walk today. Beginning in France and ending at a cathedral in Santiago, Spain, the Camino is a walking journey of over 700 km. Our dream was to walk 100 km of this trail by the time I turned 50, but life and COVID got in the way and prevented that. Our dream of walking the Camino someday still remains strong.
Earlier this summer I discovered that you can walk the Camino virtually. There is an app that helps you with your virtual journey along the Camino. Every time you get up from your desk or take the dog for a walk, the app tracks your steps and counts them towards completing the 772 km journey. At the end of the journey you receive a medal which says that you have completed the Camino. For a while I thought about downloading the app and taking this virtual journey, but then I realized that it’s not really the same as walking the Camino.
To journey the Camino, you have to train for months. The days are long and the path is difficult at times as you walk up and down hills and through mountainous regions. To journey the Camino, you have to set aside a month to walk the 772 km. To journey the Camino, you have to live differently, you have to get up every day, and you have to make a solid commitment that you will not turn back even when the way gets tough. To journey the Camino virtually you don’t have to do any of that; in fact you can just tack the virtual Camino onto everything you are already doing. You don’t have to live differently at all. If you are walking in Regina, there isn’t even a single mountain between you and the finish line (unless you walk around Mt. Pleasant or the dump).
As I have thought about the difference between walking the Camino for real and walking it virtually, I have realized that sometimes I have treated my journey with Jesus like a virtual Camino. Following Jesus requires commitment, it requires training, and it requires a change in the way I live. Yet too often I’ve tried to tack Jesus onto my way of living instead of embracing his way and walking in his way of living. I have been guilty of trying to walk the Jesus way virtually, as if that was even possible. Are you virtually walking with Jesus, or are you actually walking the Jesus way?
This weekend we are starting a new series called “The Way”. Over the next 11 weeks we are going to explore the Jesus way of living. Jesus models a way of living that is different than what we see around us today. I hope you’ll join us in person this Sunday and over the coming weeks on this journey to discover how to live like Jesus did, and grow deeper in intimacy with God and each other as a result. This weekend, as we begin our journey, we will be looking at John 6:60-71 and the choices each one of us has to make if we are going to follow the way today.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Kirk
