This week on No Small Thing its a Macie takeover! Scott is out of town this week so it’s just Macie embarking on a curious conversation about the Holy Land. Macie sat down with her dear friends Adrienne and Kierstin who invite us into their pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Israel/Palestine).
Kierstin and Adrienne share what it was like landing and immediately visiting the place where the transfiguration happened! *gasp!* They invite us into imagining what it was like to be their in the stories of Jesus: walking, touching, feeling, hearing, smelling, seeing the same places and things!
They share a theme from the trip: Living stones and ancient stones. This phrase seems to evoke the remembrance of both the rich history and tradition in the ancient stones while also paying attention to and looking at the living stones: all the life happening today in the Holy Land.
They also spoke about what it was like visiting the wall between Israel/Palestine. They name the unjust reality of living on a border barrier, hoping their telling of their story would invite us all to be curious about others living along the wall.
The conversation weaves in and out from the delicious meals eaten on the path, to the importance of remembering Mary along the walk, to the realities of being on a pilgrimage with 30 other folk! Kierstin and Adrienne don’t just tell us about their physical walk but invite us into their embodied spiritual journey.
We close the night by pivoting the conversation to talk a little bit about the Enneagram. Kierstin is a 2, and Adri a 9. 2’s and 9’s are some of the most common mistypes so we explore a bit of what makes Kierstin and Adri similar as well as different! Its a fun conversation that seems to nail down the basic difference between 2’s and 9’s and gives a bit of insight into their perspectives 🙂
The night ends with a benediction reading from Jan Richardson:
If you could see
the journey whole
you might never
undertake it;
might never dare
the first step
that propels you
from the place
you have known
toward the place
you know not.
Call it
one of the mercies
of the road:
that we see it
only by stages
as it opens
before us,
as it comes into
our keeping
step by
single step.
There is nothing
for it
but to go
and by our going
take the vows
the pilgrim takes:
to be faithful to
the next step;
to rely on more
than the map;
to heed the signposts
of intuition and dream;
to follow the star
that only you
will recognize;
to keep an open eye
for the wonders that
attend the path;
to press on
beyond distractions
beyond fatigue
beyond what would
tempt you
from the way.
There are vows
that only you
will know;
the secret promises
for your particular path
and the new ones
you will need to make
when the road
is revealed
by turns
you could not
have foreseen.
Keep them, break them,
make them again:
each promise becomes
part of the path;
each choice creates
the road
that will take you
to the place
where at last
you will kneel
to offer the gift
most needed—
the gift that only you
can give—
before turning to go
home by
another way.
Next week the Enneagram conversation continues as we finish out the last of our Enneagram 1-9 Series, join us next week as we talk all out those peacemakers out there…Enneagram 9s!!
NO SMALL THING 