Every five years, Emmanuel Episcopal of Grass Valley and Holy Trinity Episcopal of Nevada City have taken pilgrimages to the Holy Land for over 30 years.  

2025 required a change of venue, due to the ongoing unrest in Israel.  We were able to secure a tour with the same touring company that had hosted us previously, but, this time, our destination was to follow the footsteps of Apostle Paul in Greece and Turkey.  We partnered with two Evangelical Lutheran Churches from Southern California.  It was a whirlwind pilgrimage that took us to Corinth, Ephesus, Patmos, Crete, Meteora, Thessaloniki, Philippi and Kavala.  We spent four days on a cruise to Turkey and to the smaller islands of Greece.  

When you begin a pilgrimage, you always anticipate how the Holy Spirit will show up, how your faith will deepen, be challenged, be shared and what opportunities will arise to worship in a way that you have never experienced.  

Our first stop was in Corinth, a bustling city of trade and culture, notorious for its idolatry in ancient times. We pulled our bus over to a small beach, where Paul was to have arrived by boat. At the beach, we shared communion with our Lutheran brothers and sisters. It was the beginning of our bond as fellow Jesus followers in a foreign land.  

From there, we visited the prison in Patmos that held Paul. During his 35-year ministry, he spent at least 5-1/4 years in prisons. In each, he established a jail-based ministry. In Ephesus, as we walked, we felt part of an ancient world. We imagined the stories that we had read and studied about Paul's journeys, holding them close to our hearts.  Now our footsteps were walking in history.

In Philippi, as Episcopalians and Lutherans, we observed the beautiful and reverent Greek Orthodox tradition, witnessing a Greek service.  As a new deacon myself, I was taken by a deacon's beautiful chanting of the gospel. To hear the gospel in the original Greek language did not require understanding to receive the message.  

On trips like these, we are tourists much of the time . . . , and then there are those moments when we become the Church. We were blessed to have such a moment in Philippi. We renewed our baptismal vows and prayed. Afterwards, we walked uphill to a beautiful church. We were the only visitors.  We coaxed a gentleman from our group to sing. The entire chapel was filled with song and worship. The Holy Spirit showed up.  The pilgrimage was a gift to all of us.  A sacred gift.

By The Reverend Karen E. Hoida

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.  2 Corinthians 4:7-12
 
The end of the ski racing season is at hand.  Although it might not appear to be, it is a grind.  Getting up to the mountains three times a week, whether it is sunny and warm or freezing and windy.  Yet, there is so much fun.  Developing relationships with the kids and their parents.  Watching them grow as ski racers and humans.  Celebrating their successes and being with them in their struggles.  Then it is all over.  The final race of the regular season was on Monday and the state championships are next week.  Then we will have an awards night and that is it.  All that time and effort shared, and we all move on to different things.  The underclassmen, we will hopefully see them next year, and new skiers will hopefully join the team.  But the seniors are on to other things in the world.  The end of the season is both hopeful and sad.  In that way, it is a microcosm of life.  We are all passing through, and so the story of our faith is one of death and resurrection.
           
In Paul’s Second letter to the Corinthians, he tells them about the constant struggle that he was under as he endeavored to be faithful to Christ.  Paul faced many persecutions and hardships from a world that did not understand his faith and sought to force him to turn away from it.  In addition, Paul suffered the normal struggles of human life: the death of people he loved, broken relationships, aching joints, cold weather, and sleepless nights.  Life was hard for him and his friends.  Yet, he could say, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”  Death, and the resurrected life of Jesus, were there on display in his life. 
           
Paul’s story is our story as well.  Perhaps not as spectacularly, but when we hold close to Jesus we are always in the process of death and resurrection.  This ski season is over, and that is a death, but we always have hope in the resurrection.  The same is true in the church, in our relationships with people we love, in our life of faith, death and resurrection is our story for the life of Jesus is on us and in us.

In Christ,
​Seth