May the breath out God blow through your being.
May her Spirit breathe the promise of dawn.
May the breath of God stir a new story.
Hope in the Spirit, O breath of God.

-by Denise Pyles

We sang this blessing often during our pilgrimage. The words now accompany us as we cross another threshold, leaving the company of pilgrims we’ve journeyed with and returning home.

I took this picture of a tree in the centre of a labyrinth path I walked at Disibodinberg. I’m still ruminating on what the knotted burl evoked for me in the midst of the greening ruins.

I’ll carry it as an image of pilgrimage as I sense it with take a while to untwine the gifts of these last ten days.

For today, I offer gratitude as I say goodbye.

Gratitude for...

...the gift of spaciousness of time
...the amazing gifts of creativity and tending presence from our guides, Christine and Betsey
...the blessing of community with fellow pilgrims
...and of course the inspiration and wisdom of Hildegard!

Veriditas!

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

The present day community of sisters and the town of Eibingen and Rüdesheim celebrate the Feast of St Hildegard each September 17th. We joined in celebration with several hundred pilgrims in the courtyard of the Parish Church of Eibingen. This is the home of the Hildegardis Reliquary, usually displayed in the high altar, under a secure glass case. But today, the ornate gold-gilded reliquary is carried outside, placed on an altar, and adorned with flowers. (See photo).

The service of celebration includes a procession through the decorated streets of Eibingen. This ancient expression of devotion and reverence honours the faith and witness of Hildegard and reminds us we are walking in the footsteps of many pilgrims who traveled the path of faith before us.

Later we returned to the Abbey where the sisters led a special Vespers in honour of Hildegard.

We all make pilgrimages. Some are outward journeys to special places or new experiences. Some are into our interior landscape. May you pause to offer gratitude today for fellow pilgrims who have journeyed with you.

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

Bird song and ringing church bells fill my listening. It is Sunday morning. At least five different bells are calling we humans to pause and listen, to gather and sing praise, just as the birds gather and sing.

We are invited today into a time of sabbath, silence and solitude. Some will go to a church service. Others will make their own ritual. I find myself thinking of the many spiritual communities of which I am a part of at home: my congregation, Visions United; the Contemplative Pathways community and fellow pilgrims who have guided me on the spiritual path; the circle of Godly Play storytellers and children; dear friends who gather as a “book club” every several weeks - “kindred spirits” - whose trusting presence invites me into a communion of deep conversation, laughter and good food whenever we are together. For me, each of these is a Sabbath pause for my soul.

Our retreat director, Christine, spoke of Sabbath as an opening of time where we can enter into the Divine. We often find our ourselves enslaved in the culture of “Pharoah”, losing sight of the grace of sabbath culture offered by “Yahweh” (see Sabbath as Resistance by Walter Bruggemann).

The bird’s song - the church bell- each invites me to rest in a Sabbath moment and ponder the Divine in whose cosmic presence I breathe the breath of life. Claiming Sabbath is greening for my soul - Veriditas.

What does Sabbath rest look like, feel like, sound like, smell like, taste like for you? What brings greening - Veriditas - for your soul?

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

“The soul is like a wind

that waves over herbs,

Is like the dew that 

moistens the grass.

Is like the rain-soaked air

that lets things grow.

In the same way 

you should radiate kindness

to all who are filled with longing.

Be a wind, helping those in need.

Be a dew, consoling the abandoned.

Be the rain-soaked air,

giving heart to the weary,

Filling their hunger with instructions

By  giving them you soul.”

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

Today was a pilgrimage day. Consider for a moment your ancestors... the people who’ve walked before you and made all the difference to who you are today.... Call to mind the mentors and guides who have shaped and formed your spirit...
We traveled to Sponheim, the birthplace of Jutta, Hildegard’s spiritual mentor and walked a labyrinth. In the afternoon we made the pilgrimage to Disibodenberg, the Benedictine monastery where Hildegard first entered monastic life. As we hiked up the mountain we paused at seven stations with readings of the story of  Hildegard’s life, song and prayer. At the top we discovered the magnificent ruins of the Disibodenburg monastery - a sacred space - like an open cathedral amidst the trees. Betsy - one of our retreat leaders - offered a movement prayer of gratitude. It was breathtaking.

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

The sloping hillsides of the Rhine Valley are green with vineyards. Everywhere there are branches and vines laden with late summer’s fruits - apples, pears, plums and so many grapes! This abundance attests to Hildegard’s theology of Veriditas  - the greening power of God is alive in all things!

Hildegard wrote:

Therefore a person contains both the likeness of heaven and earth in himself or herself. . . A person also has the means to bring forth new life and the desire to do so–just as the earth has the means to bring forth greenness, fruitfulness, and animals.”  - Scivias II.1.2

In Hildegard’s view, the imagery of fruitfulness and barrenness in the natural world is a portal to our spiritual life.

Today’s invitation is to welcome all parts of our being into Veriditas .... Take a long, loving look at your being: Where does the greening power, Life force flow freely in your living? .... and where is that greening power being blocked in your living?

Together we sang, “Veriditas, Veriditas, the greening of my soul.”

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.

A river. An open door. A ripened chestnut ready to fall. Each holds an image of threshold: a place - space - moment of transition, and crossing that threshold holds both promise and strangeness. We joined in community with 14 other pilgrims and were invited to consider our intention for this time of pilgrimage with the wisdom of St. Hildegard of Bingen. We joined our voices in song In the spirit of Benedictine hospitality, "Welcome in the stranger, through the door of your heart.

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September 9-19 Rev. Shawn is on Pilgrimage in Germany: “Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God”.

St. Hildegard was a 12th century  German Benedictine abbess. She was a mystic, composer, artist, poet, healer, and preacher. These short blog posts share some highlights from Rev Shawn’s pilgrimage.