Here at UCCEG, we are pilgrimaging through Advent in solidarity with one of 5 mission partners. Our pilgrimage is one of justice.
At the beginning of Advent, our members chose one of five mission partners to pilgrimage for:
Family Promise of Chester County - homelessness
Safe Harbor - homelessness
New Sanctuary Movement – immigration justice
Bethany Children’s Home – care for our hurting children
Greenmore Animal Rescue – care for hurting animals
Each of these mission partners connects into the Holy Family’s experience on their pilgrimage to Bethlehem during that first Advent/Christmas:
When they arrived in Bethlehem, they found themselves homeless. If not for the generosity of the innkeeper they would have had no place to stay.
After the Magi visited, the angel of the Lord warned them to flee for their lives to Egypt, to seek asylum until it was safe to return.
The Magi and others brought gifts to Mary and Joseph in the stable for the Christ child. We recognize that many children do not have positive family experiences and/or receive gifts.
So many four leggeds participated in the Nativity!
So, we here at UCCEG set out on a pilgrimage of Justice this Advent! We are walking with intention and prayer for the four themes of justice the Christmas story brings forth. We are walking for Jesus!
We invite you to join us.
A pilgrimage does not need to be focused only inwardly for our own transformation. Pilgrimages can be focused outwardly for Justice and the transformation of the world.
The World Council of Churches offers a Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace. They invite individuals and congregations to come together:
Christians and their communities around the world are aware today, as never before, that life itself is in peril. So many dangers — climate change, certainly: but also poverty and economic injustice, threats to health and well-being, violence and war — endanger humanity and can drain our hope. Yet precisely for that reason, the shared faith and commitment of Christians everywhere are necessary, affirming the God of life and the resilient hope offered to us in the life, the cross, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians are called to affirm, sustain, and protect life.
This is an ecumenical calling. One God of life, one creation, one humanity call the one church of Jesus Christ to commitment and engagement wherever peace and justice are threatened or destroyed.
As an expression of the worldwide Christian fellowship, the WCC calls on churches everywhere to walk together, viewing their common life, their journey of faith, as a part of a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. We invite you to join together with others in celebrating life and in taking concrete steps toward transforming injustices and violence.
The invitation to pilgrimage is therefore also a summons to a way of life and a transformative spirituality of justice and peace. To encounter the vulnerable, and to find oneself in a vulnerable place and becoming vulnerable to others, is to be purged of one’s own prejudices, preoccupations, and priorities — stripped down to face God and God’s own aim for the world. It is a transformative journey, a conversion to the needs of others and the vision of God.
They offer resources on their webpage: Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace | World Council of Churches (oikoumene.org).
Pilgrimaging for Justice, as the World Council of Churches suggests above, transforms our hearts, the hearts of our community and the hearts of the world. It is a way to take a Holy Pilgrimage and shift both our inner and outer worlds. We change the world by changing ourselves and those in our immediate communities.
Join us on a Pilgrimage for justice this Advent season.
Pick a mission partner to Pilgrimage for. Invite your friends and family to join you and sponsor you on this pilgrimage. Share your insights and reflections on social media and with your communities of faith.
Join the Holy Family as they walk in faith toward justice.
