Tourist or Pilgrim

Are you more of a tourist or a pilgrim when it comes to your spiritual life? It is something worth considering. But before we dig a little deeper to understand the differences, let look at something that I hadn't noticed before.

Have you ever notices that Psalms 120-134 have titles "A song of degree" or maybe your Bible says "Songs of Ascent"? I had never noticed this until my Sabbath school class started reading the book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene H. Peterson. This is the translator of The Message. 

"These fifteen psalms were likely sung, possible in sequence, by Hebrew pilgrims as they went up to Jerusalem to great worship festivals. Topographically Jerusalem was the highest city in Palestine, and so all who traveled here spent much of their time ascending. But the ascent was not only literal, it was also a metaphor; the trip to Jerusalem acted out a life lived upward toward God, an existence that advanced from one level to another in developing maturity- what Paul describes as 'the goal, where God is beckoning up onward - to Jesus.' Philippians 3:14."pg.18

I appreciated how the author explained that there are two types of Christians: tourist and pilgrim. He states that as Christians we are impatient for results. "They have adopted the lifestyle of a tourist and only want the high points."

"Pilgrims... tells us we are people who spend our lives going some place, going to God, and whose path for getting there is the Way, Jesus Christ."pg. 17

"Friedrich Nietzsche, who saw this area of spiritual truth at least with great clarity, wrote, 'The essential thing "in heaven and earth" is...that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." It is this 'long obedience in the same direction' which the mood of the world does so much to discourage." pg.17

For those who choose to live no longer as tourist but as pilgrims, the songs of ascent combine all the cheerfulness of a travel song with the practicality of a guidebook and map. Their unpretentious brevity is excellently described by William Faulkner. "They are not monuments, but footprints. A monument only says, 'at least I got this far," while a footprint says, 'this is where I was when I moved again.' "pg.22

It might be a good idea to spend some time thinking about your own experience. Are you more like a tourist or a pilgrim? I think it is something worth thinking about.

Thomas said to Him,

 "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way? 

6. Jesus said to him, 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

John 14:5-6   

I will probably be sharing a few things that I learn from each of the songs of ascent throughout this study. So be watching for them. 

My Sabbath school teacher found a recording of the Songs of Ascent so come back tomorrow to check it out. :O)