Walk in Love: Crossing Boundaries

What boundaries have you crossed on your walk of love? How have you discerned which direction to follow?

The Chosen is a show that depicts Jesus and the disciples during his ministry. It is a unique and intimate exploration of what it might have been like to be with Jesus during the tumultuous three years of his official ministry.

What struck me most while watching is how much time they spend walking. They are always going from one place to another, and always on foot. There is a liberating quality to the idea that Jesus did not lock himself up in a building, but rather freely spread himself out to the world, in the open air.

During COVID my sister told me her family took walks in the woods on Sunday mornings and got much more out of those walks in than she did sitting in a pew at church. Being on the move, exploring whatever mystery lay around the bend on the trail,made these walks special for them – made them holy, holier than traditional church.

This inspired me to form a wilderness church service, where we gather and walk together,stopping to pray, sing, share in a homily, and have communion. So much happens as we walk together, and each service becomes a small pilgrimage. Imagine if each church service were a pilgrimage!

Walking together ensures that each service is intensely relational; there is something that opens up between two people when they walk together. Boundaries fade and guards come down as we marvel over nature together, and in turn, encounter God and one another.

As we move into a new reality of church, part of the future must be to make space for services like this, where people reconnect to the Body of Christ made manifest in creation by walking in love together.Jesus was on the move. We can be too!

— The Rev. Pete Nunnally is interim rector at St. David’s, Wilmington, DE and his book on the spiritual wisdom of fishing is forthcoming next year.