Two speakers this year in Thursday's morning large session are Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice. I read their book Reconciling All Things last year, and it was probably my favorite book I read last year. Loved it. It was rich and soul-deep; kind of like a Henry Nouwen type of book. Felt grief and longing, peace and hope wash over me as I read it. Just a brief bit of it below...
"...pilgrims are slowly confronted by a different world that begins to interrupt their own. Pilgrimage is a posture very different from mission. The goal of a pilgrim is not to solve but to search, not so much to help as to be present. Pilgrims do not rush to a goal, but slow down to hear the crying. They are not as interested in making a difference as they are in making new friends. The pace is slower, more reflective.
Pilgrims set out not so much to assist strangers but to eat with them. They journey in the wisdom about transformation held in the Rwandan proverb, "If you cannot hear the mouth eating, you cannot hear the mouth crying." There are so many efforts to make a difference that do not make us different. It is not the people who paint a house in a strange place but rather the people who make friends and are transformed who make the deeper difference over the long haul. Pilgrims return home as new people. Changed by their journeys, they change the world where they live."
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