​The Holy Spirit Showed Up

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