By Denise Crane

At the Missional Wisdom Foundation we are committed to nurturing communities who promote spiritual growth and neighborly love. As a result of this commitment, and as part of our ongoing experimentation, we lead pilgrimages. In addition to exploring what pilgrimage is, pilgrimage is an opportunity to introduce people to a sample of what community can look like in a different location with a small group. For the regular readers of this newsletter or followers of our work, this is not news. Another aspect of our work/teaching at the MWF is that we adopt a contemplative stance in the world that we learned from one of our founders, Rev. Dr. Elaine Heath. It’s a simple 4 step process that is:

• Show Up

• Pay Attention

• Cooperate with God

• Release the Outcome

I struggle with various aspects of this stance in the world pretty consistently. I don’t think I’m alone in that. Welcome fellow humans! In this series of articles however, I’d like to explore a little bit of a thing I paid attention to on our last couple of trips to Iona. 

Signs.

Yep, plain ordinary signs at various places along our route to and from Iona. 

You see, for any of you that have traveled to somewhere outside the United States, you may have seen that signage, while relatively universal in its intent, can be conveyed in different ways, some quite striking. For instance, “Way In.” In my general walking-around-life, signs indicating the place you should enter into a space say, well, “Enter,” or, “Entrance,” or maybe just “In.” Very functional, informational, to the point. At a place trying to be a little more inviting, you might be greeted with a sign that says “Welcome.”

I was struck, however, by the invitation of “Way In.” As if, somehow, not only could I enter, but that I would be entering into Something. It strikes me that this invitation is something I would like to experience more fully. Richard Rohr says “The sustained practice of contemplation involves letting go of all the things that we use to define our so-called separate selves.” I think of it as an appropriate beginning to pilgrimage, and also an appropriate invitation to spiritual growth. What better way to enter into contemplation than to find the “Way In.” 

This finding a “Way In” could be a description of my own spiritual journey: hours sitting in silence, waiting, listening, wondering, questioning, arguing, telling God what path to follow, expressing gratitude, or, on a good day, just being. In my experience along the way, there are many mystics that speak of the interior journey. Teresa of Avila and her Interior Castle, John of the Cross with his Dark Night of the Soul, the anonymous author of the Cloud of Unknowing, John Wesley with his heart strangely warmed. All saying that there is a way in. And encouraging us to find our way there.

What is your “Way In?”