The word Pilgrimage means "a pilgrim's journey, a religious journey, religious expedition, mission or an annual pilgrimage to the Holy City."  I have been blessed to travel quite a bit in my life, but I have never thought of any of those trips as a pilgrimage.  That is, until I went on a Holy Land trip. 

The Season is upon us!  No, I don't mean the Christmas Season, I mean the Advent season.  This Sunday we will start the season of Advent that includes four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day.  The word Advent means a coming into place, view, or being, an arrival. During Advent, we prepare for, and anticipate, the coming of Christ. We remember the longing of Jews for a Messiah and our own longing for, and need of, forgiveness, salvation, and a new beginning.

What is up with Christians and Halloween?  I used to love Halloween when I was a kid.  Dressing up, going trick or treating, eating all of that candy, carving pumpkins.  How can that not be fun?  And I'd like to think that my costume choices were always great.  I was the typical princess at one point, but I was also a can of Pop when I was really little (and yes, I just said Pop, I'm from the north).  One year I was Betsy Ross.

When I was in Seminary I was blessed with the wonderful opportunity to attend a Faith-sharing seminar with the World Methodist Evangelism Institute in Delhi India.  I was able to have a lot of really cool experiences while I was there: I saw the Taj Mahal, I visited several temples, ate a lot of good food, and I met a lot of really cool people who are striving to share the Gospel there.  But the one thing that I did while I was there that really stuck out to me was worshiping with a local congregation.