Today it would have started

Right now, I would have been settling myself into a seat on the Pennsylvanian train in Lewistown, PA, on my trip to New York.  Tomorrow I'd have an early flight to London, then an overnight to Tel Aviv.
Starting 15 weeks of exploring the history of Christianity from Jesus to the Evangelical/Lutheran, Reformed and Congregational Churches which emigrated to America was going to start.
Instead, I am at home, watching my granddaughter while my daughter works, watching the Festival of Homiletics when the internet has enough bandwidth to support it.
I was sad about this for a long time, but I think I knew I was over it when I started thinking about how to take sabbath this year (since I have not been on vacation since last August, figuring I would have a very nice rest starting now.)
I'm still canceling reservations, but I'm beginning to think about rescheduling for next year, and re-planning with some new insights.    I will be taking this sabbatical, eventually.    But now, it seems, I need to take care of right now for a little bit.

So, what is the next step on the journey? Please help me and respond!

I was listening to Rick Steves this weekend (yeah, I know) and he did an episode, for the 15th anniversary of the show, on pilgrimage and spiritual pilgrimage.   You can find his May 2, 2020 show here.

Listening to his show yesterday morning and afternoon made me think a lot about where I am and what I am doing with the time.

I'm still going on my Sabbatical.   It will be a 2021 sabbatical, most likely, not a 2020 one (though I am still waiting to see what happens with my Iona Retreat).   I'll write the Lilly Endowment as soon as the Iona Community determines what they are doing.   But it will be different.  Travel, when I leave next April, May, June, July or August (time still TBD) will be different and probably more expensive than it is now.   The opportunity to interact with locals will likely be something I need to be more intentional about.   I have eight or nine countries to be concerned about the travel policies of, and my own country's advice to think about.    It will be after the presidential election, which could very much change the whole situation in the US, and the conception of the US outside our country.   Israeli politics could impact the Israeli-Palestinian situation for good or ill (right now it looks like for ill, but that can

But many things will not change.  The Holy Land will still be where Jesus walked and was born and lived and died.  Macedonia will still be one of the places Paul traveled and founded churches, the Sistine Chapel will still be in the Vatican, and the Catacombs will still have the art and graves of some of the earliest Christians.  Assisi will still honor Francis.  Wittenberg will still be where Luther taught, Geneva and Zurich where Calvin and Zwingli took the reformation further, and Scrooby Hall where the Puritans gathered.   Iona will still be a holy island even if I am not attending a retreat on it.  Refugees will still need someone to support them all over the world (maybe even more so!)

But Rick's show reminded me that pilgrimage is not about the location, but about the heart.   You can take a pilgrimage and not leave your yard, this weekend's show identified.   The journey is spiritual, not physical.    I will still take the physical journey, but the journey my soul is on, is as important as the journey my feet will take.

So my challenge, for the next 11-15 months, is to find not the destination, but the journey to my sabbatical.   Find the next challenge and the next steps to deepen the interaction with and planning for, this journey and this sabbatical.    Some of the things that I have thought of include:

• Learning more about the early Catholic notaries I am going to travel to.   For example, rereading a biography of Francis of Assisi and some of his writings, and reading more about St. Benedict, as I'd identified Subiaco as a location to visit. 
• Spending time backpacking, and maybe switch my Jesus Trail experience to a camping experience.  Or not, but spending more time with my pack on my back. 
• Continuing the contemplative spiritual practice I started in Lent to help find quiet for God to speak to me in. 
• Reworking my itinerary to use the recommendations that Rick Steves' made to me, in the 2021 version of my sabbatical.  
• Getting serious about brushing up on my German. 

What else?  What am I not even thinking about?   What are spiritual paths that might deepen my journey?   What can you, my readers suggest to make the 2021 sabbatical a better pilgrimage, a better walk with God, than the 2020 pilgrimage would have been?   Please comment, here and/or on Facebook.