It's these annual ritual celebrations like Commencement that make me so proud of our students and reassure me that campus ministry is my passion and calling. What a gift to work with such amazing young adults who really are going to change the world! Here are a couple of pics from graduation:
One thing I'll never do again is plan to leave town for a 6 week trip immediately after Commencement! But, that is what I did this year.
Saturday afternoon I hit the road for the Border. Just outside Cookeville, TN I took notice of the car that had been traveling in front of me for many miles. Ohio plates. Radical bumper stickers. Hmmm . . . I bet they're Wilson students heading home for the summer. I passed them and waved. They immediately passed back. Cody Goss was in the back passenger seat grinning from ear to ear and waving wildly. (Cody was one of the students I supervised on the Peace and Justice Crew this year. She and two fellow Wilson-ites are heading to CO for a summer of raft guiding on the Arkansas River.) I followed them for hours to Nashville where they headed north up 24 and I followed the setting sun west to Memphis.
For the next 2 days I journeyed west, watching the landscape change from the rolling, tree covered hills of TN (yes, Carlos, there are 20,000 shades of green); to the flooding waters of the many rivers; to the flat, open ranch lands of OK and TX where the earth is dotted with grain silos, windmill wells, and oil rigs; to the red and white mesas of NM. I saw herons, antelope, and a hawk swoop down, pick up and fly off with a snake in its talons - all while cruising 75 miles an hour down the interstate.
I arrived in Albuquerque yesterday at the Center for Action and Contemplation. I stayed overnight in the Julian of Norwich hermitage which is located in the backyard of the Stillpoint Guesthouse. I could live in this hermitage forever. (Perhaps I really was a monastic in a former life. Bud would probably disagree.) :o) I've been able to sit for Centering Prayer twice with the CAC community. Ahhhhhhh! Already I feel more grounded.
Stillpoint. Yes, the name of the CAC Guesthouse. And, yes, I stole it for my blog title. A still point - a quiet, slowed down place within and without is what I am seeking. Driving across the country my primary focus was getting to the CAC so I could sit at 4:40 p.m. and 7:40 a.m. in silence - in community. I'm starved for contemplation. I need it. I know it. I have not lived this last year at a healthy and sustainable pace. I need to make changes. I hope that will begin in an intentional way with this journey.
This is the beginning of my Border exploration journey. Over the next month I will connect with people and travel to places along the Border of the US and Mexico. My itinerary includes stops in Albuquerque, Abiquiu, El Paso, Juarez, Tucson, and Nogales. I'm here to further my own education about the political, social, economic, and theological issues on the Border and to make preparations for future trips (and potential internships) with my students.
This blog will document this journey, particularly my musings along the way. I will do my best to write as often as I am able. But, if it becomes a burden, forget it. This is my journey - I need it to be at a pace that is sustainable, meaningful and life-giving. Along the way I need to find the time for reflection and contemplation, to let myself experience the emotions -- I need to pace myself, to rest, to be. I need to be open to all I will see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. I need to slow down - I need to find my still point.
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