I was flipping through some old post last evening and came across this near-and-dear-to -my-heart post. It is a reflection on a mini-spiritual pilgrimage I took two years ago to a cabin 3000 feet up in the mountains, miles and miles away from any civilization. I hope you all have similar memories of intimacy with God; I hope you get away with your Abba for days with no contact with the outside world. Those memories are truly sweet…

So long status quo,
I think I just let go,
you make me want to be brave.

The way it always was
is no longer good enough
you make me want to be brave.

These words are from the song “Brave” off of Nichole Nordeman’s new CD Brave. I bought the CD the night before I left for my mini-pilgrimage off the iTunes Music Store because I had heard of the song a few times on the radio and think Nichole rocks. Little did I know how thematic this one song would be for my entire trip into the Shenandoah Mountains.

The entire mini-pilgrimage into the Shenandoah was about leaving behind the status quo in life. I wanted to share with you my experience in novus lumen in the mountains and shift away from the status quo. Here are my notes from the experience put in a blog post:

Friday
HIKE- “So long status quo”; The chorus to Brave was ringing in my head and heart the entire 4 mile trip up the mountain and to the cabin. It set the theme for my entire weekend. EVENING- I spent time praying and asking God to strike my heart with a single word of instruction. BRAVE was the response. I was called to share in Christ’s bravery in suffering (God spoke Phil. 3:10 to me): brave in leaving sinful habits; brave in living radically; brave in rejecting the status quo in life, in sin, in theology; brave in novus lumen.

Saturday
MORNING-God directed me to spend the entire morning in all of Psalm 119. Through the reading, He reiterated my need to spend far more time with Him in His Words, a shift from a status quo of sporadic personal reading. I realized several things: I need to find relief to my panting and thirst in the Word of God; I need to find my hope in the Word of God; I need to rejoice in the Word of God; I need to meditate day and night on the Word of God; I need to view the Word of God as being more precious than gold or silver; I need to love God’s Words, instructions, and precepts. AFTERNOON-I hiked to a vista at the top of the Jones Mountain called Bear Church Rock, a collection of large boulders overlooking the valley and ranges. I spend time praying using the Centering Prayer. Through this prayer the word REST surfaced as instruction, while bringing me to Luke 10:38-42. Next I used 1 John in Lectio Divina (sacred reading). In this spiritual exercise several themes of feeling and instruction surfaced: warning against loving the world; love defined: Jesus Christ laid down his life for me; we love God by laying down our life and way, and following the Way of Jesus; The Way of Jesus is not a burden, rather through Jesus and His Way we overcome the world and find freedom; I need to show my love for God by leaving a sin behind this weekend; if I say it is tough to show my live by leaving sin, look at the cross and what Jesus endured to show His love for me!

LATE AFTERNOON: I returned to meditate on Luke 10:38-42, a passage defining the distinction between Martha’s doing and Mary’s being for Jesus. I immersed myself in the narrative through my senses and discovered which character I was and wanted to be. I wrote: I am Martha, I need to be Mary. I immersed myself in the story to hear what Jesus was saying to me. “Only one thing is needed: simply BE with Me. In work, in ministry, in life…I do not desire sacrifice, and offering, and activity, and discipleship, and reading, and investing, and studying, and writing, and blogging…I desire you to be at My feet and listen to me, to simply exist with Me Mary chose what is better and the only thing needed; she chose to sit, to be with Me, to stop and be quiet, to listen, to hear and learn from Me as Teacher.”

EARLY EVENING: By far the most dramatic moment of the mini-pilgrimage was Saturday evening. This trip was about saying “so long status quo.” Part status quo was a decade old sin. So to symbolically say “so long” and be rid of this status quo sin, Jesus called me to take a return trip to Bear Church Rock to leave my sin behind. There was a decrepit candle on it’s last leg, a melted lump with a quarter-inch wick. I returned to the Rock with lighted candle in hand.

The lighted candle represented the flame of this burning sin. I wanted to bring it to the mountainside, and ask the Lord to extinguish it once and for all, while leaving it at the mountain. I hoped to carry the candle fully lit the whole way and let the Lord extinguish it literally and figuratively in a climactic show of transformation, but it didn’t quite happen that way.

As I ascended the trail, I was praying the Jesus Prayer. On inhale of breath I said, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,” and on exhale “have mercy on me, a sinner.” This ancient prayer was utilized to help me focus on Jesus and His divinity, while recognizing and acknowledging my humanity and sin. Half-way up my ascent, in one anticlimactic whoosh, the flame blew out. In fact, the candle didn’t just blow out, the wick fell out, too! I was thoroughly disappointed and actually tried to put it back in, but realized it happened. I saw it in the flame burning out and felt it in my heart: the extinguishing occurred, forgiveness felt, and grace experienced. I was no longer approaching the mountain as a sinner with sin, but as a son covered in grace!

But even as I continued my climb, my muscles began to burn, my lungs panted for air, and I doubted for several moments that it was really over, that I would still struggle as I was up the trail. Then my mind went to Jesus and His Way: Jesus’ Way and commands are not burdening, but overcoming (1 John 5), I am not burdened by His Way but overcome this world and the way of sin and death through Jesus. Even more importantly, Jesus came and overcame sin and death so I could overcome the same.

Thank you Abba for the cross of Christ, a cross that still extinguishes flames.

As you can see, much occurred at the Jones Mountain. I still thank my Abba for carving out that time for me and Him, and for giving me the bravery to say “so long status quo.”

be His,
jeremy