This month we are starting to look at the spiritual practice of going on pilgrimage to sacred places. The readings for this sermon were Genesis 29.15-28 (Jacob marries Leah and Rachel) and Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 (various parables, including the Mustard Seed and the Yeast). The full readings for Ordinary 12A are available here.

In this sermon we considered the place of pilgrimage and sacred places, and the temptation to linger in those moments. The Iona Community in Scotland, however, encourages people to return to their lives and work for Justice and God’s Kingdom. Indeed, in today’s readings God appears in the small, everyday and mundane aspects of our life. As such, Daniel suggests that the real purpose of Pilgrimage is to remind us of what we already knew: that God is in the everyday of our life, and we are encouraged to encounter God there.

The prayer at the end of the sermon comes from John van de Laar’s Sacredise website. 

This sermon was delivered at Crookwell (Wesley) Uniting Church on 30 July 2017.