Beyond the Ninth Wave

Written November 8th
Back in the late 90’s when I was in Nepal, I pondered what to print on a calling card. While travelling, it seemed important to have my hotmail email address on a card that I could hand out along the way. Ummmmm, Lynda Leonard, Lynda Leonard what? Back then I wrote:

Lynda Leonard
Pilgrim
Lynda_Leonard@hotmail.com

When I started planning this journey the words pilgrim and pilgrimage came up again. What was this year anyway? This is certainly more than a grand escape. Clearly it is a time of separation and isolation from the known and predictable. It is a time of deep listening. It is a time of newness, renewal and courting the unknown.

Brad Berglund, guest facilitator for Christ Episcopal Church, sweetly wove a day of song, story and slides from his pilgrimages to sacred sites in Europe. He told the story of the ninth wave. Years ago in Ireland a monk was set out to sea in a small rudderless boat called a curragh. Once they made it beyond the ninth wave, they entered a current that would eventually lead them to a foreign shore. Wherever they landed they began their church and missionary work. Now that’s surrender and trust!!!!

The parallels are self-evident.