We begin our reading of EugenePeterson’s book, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.”  As Christians, there are two Biblical designations for people of faith that are useful:  Disciple and Pilgrim.  As disciples we are a people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ.  We are in a learning-growing relationship.

Being a pilgrim tells us that we are people who spend our lives going someplace, going to God and whose path for getting there is Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, many of us, instead of  being pilgrims, are actually tourists.  As tourists we live and spend the vast majority of our time in one place and periodically leave that place and to visit another place.  We sight-see.  We meet and talk to the “locals.”  We may even buy a flowery shirt so that we look like the locals, because, after all, no one likes to be recognized as a tourist.

For many of us, our Christian experience is as a tourist.  We visit church periodically.  While there we interact with the people t. We sing the songs and even try to dress like everyone else so that no one will mistake us for a tourist.  However, we do not stay long and very soon we return to our home and the other world that we spend most of our time in, and, except for our memories, that is not much about our regular life that would let anyone know that we had “visited” the church.

Our pilgrimage as a Christian is a life-long journey.  It calls for us to be obedient to God for a long period of time and it requires that we be moving in God’s direction.  It is not an easy journey.  There are obstacles. There are diversions and distractions that tempt us off the path.

Our study is about this pilgrimage and the support and encouragement that is available to us to helps us keep our obedience and stay moving in the right direction.  The basis for support and encouragement is found in the Psalms.  Specifically, we will be reading Psalms 120 through 134.

Our first Psalm is 120.  I am not going to set that Psalm out here, but please stop and take the time to read that Psalm.  Eugene Peterson is the translator of “The Message” so the version of each Psalm in our study will be from “The Message”, but it does not really matter which translation you read.

The chapter on Psalm 120 is entitled “Repentance.”  It is not a very beautiful Psalm.  It certainly is not a happy Psalm.  It is the Psalm of someone who has become fed up and disgusted with the world that he lives in and he calls out to God for help.  Peterson puts forth the statement that a person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way.

The world will tell us what we need to be happy.  We need money, material possessions, prestige, power, recognition and beauty.  If we can acquire those things we will have it made and we will be happy.  The Psalmist has discovered that these promises are simply not true. The world has told him lies and he is doomed to live where he would rather not live.

The beginning of our pilgrimage starts with repentance.  I use to have a very simplistic understanding of repentance.  I thought it was nothing more than just saying I was sorry for my sins and asking God to forgive me.  True repentance is much more than that.  Peterson says that repentance is not an emotion.  It is not feeling sorry for your sins.  It is a decision.  It is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god.  It is accepting the fact that the world’s definition of success is a lie and that you want a better life than what the world offers.

We will never start our journey to God until we reject the ideas that the world would claim are paramount.  The first step toward God is a step away from the lies of the world.  It is a no that becomes a yes.  We say no to this world and yes to God.  Repentence is the first word in our Christian pilgrimage.  It is a rejection that is also an acceptance, a leaving that develops into an arriving.    We will not start our long obedience in the direction of God until we say the no to the world that is a yes to God.

I hope you are having and will continue to have a good week.  Cindy and I will be in Virginia this Sunday for the baptism of our granddaughter Hannah.  Scott will be leading the class.  If you are not currently in a Sunday School class, we invite you to join us.

Our journey has begun.  It will be a long journey and it will not be easy.  We will need help for this journey.  Where does that help come from?  The next Psalm that we will consider next Sunday is Psalm 121 which tells us of God’s providence.