A Liturgy for when the bar is not open 

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The following was taken from the resource we have compiled for pilgrims on the Camino De Santiago. You can get a free digital copy here. Downloading and giving your feedback helps us to spread the word. 

My heart sinks, O God.
I am frustrated.
I am hungry. I am tired. I am in need of refreshment.

But the bar is closed.

I know that this is a simple thing.
I know that this is easily solved with more walking, another kilometer or two.
But I had hoped.
That hope was deferred.
Now my heart is sick.

I have not fasted for forty days.
I have not been floating adrift in the ocean.
I have not been lowered into a pit and left for dead.
This is small.
This is insignificant to mankind.
But it is still frustrating.

But while it is small, it also is revealing my heart.
Let me not be like Esau in his hunger and cast away what is irreplaceable.
Use this small moment to shift my heart.
May this minor correction lead me on a better path.

Please take my frustration and turn it to gratitude.
Please take my disappointment and turn it to peace.
Please take my annoyance and turn it to laughter.
Please take my longing and turn it to you.⁠
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Philippians 4:10-13

A Liturgy for an injured pilgrim

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The following was taken from the resource we have compiled for pilgrims on the Camino De Santiago. You can get a free digital copy here. Downloading and giving your feedback helps us to spread the word. 

Good Physician.
Gracious Savior.
Gentle Shepherd.
Care for this hurting soul.

Our hands are weak.
Our abilities are insufficient.
Our strength is small.
We turn to you.

You who calmed the sea,
Calm this heart.
You who cast out the demons,
Banish any evil here.
You who fed the crowd,
Feed this faith.
You who healed the sick,
Heal this friend.

Our ways are not your ways,
Our plans are not your plans,
Our will is not your will,
So make ours to align with yours.

And in so doing, 
Through a hurting body,
Bring the tender soul to your gracious presence.⁠
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Psalm 23

A Liturgy for walking in the cool of the morning 

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The following was taken from the resource we have compiled for pilgrims on the Camino De Santiago. You can get a free digital copy here. Downloading and giving your feedback helps us to spread the word. 

Jesus, thank you for this refreshing hour.

The coolness of this day is such a gracious reprieve.
The heat and dust,
The sweat and grime,
The shooting pain and nagging frustration,
They are absent.

Instead it seems as though you have given this special place to me for this hour.
The trees hushed above.
The dew on the grass.
The song of the birds.
The laugh of the stream. 
The steady movement toward my goal.

Even my own body seems to know this moment is different.
My aches of yesterday are quiet right now.
The weight of my pack is present, but not obtrusive.
My sore feet know that they are doing exactly what they were made to do.
I am tired, but content.

Thank you Jesus for this hour.

You have made it
As you have made all that I see and all that is beyond my sight. 
It is by your power that all things exist and hold together.
Even the heavens cannot hide their Creator behind their brilliance.
I am a mere babe.

Who am I to receive this hour?
Why would you give me this special moment?
You care for all creation, 
From the insects to the great beasts,
From the soaring eagles to the simple plankton,
From the depths to the heights,
From the east to the west,
But yet you have set your thoughts on me.

Oh Jesus, you are majestic over all.⁠
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Psalm 8

A Liturgy for leaving an inhospitable place of rest

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The following was taken from the resource we have compiled for pilgrims on the Camino De Santiago. You can get a free digital copy here. Downloading and giving your feedback helps us to spread the word. 

If I were James or John, I would call down fire on this place.
No one should be treated in this way.

I am angry.
I am confused.
I am discouraged.

Jesus, I don’t know what happened.
Was it me?
Was it some unknown argument moments before I arrived?
Was it a hurt or injury from years ago?
I am lost.

Oh Jesus, you know the sting of rejection.
You know the feeling of being pushed out into the night.
You know the sound of the slam of the door,
The click of the lock,
The fading footsteps,
Inhospitality.

Now I have felt it.
I was weary and hoped for rest,
But I found resistance.
I was hungry and hoped for nourishment,
But I found crumbs.
I was alone and hoped for friendship,
But I found I was only an inconvenience.

Jesus, you know.
You know whether this was for me to learn,
To see a fault and need within me that must be addressed.
If so, please reveal that deficiency within me.

Jesus, you know.
You know whether this was for me to yearn,
To increase my desire for the good country, my true home, your presence.
If so, please heighten that longing within me.

Jesus, you know.
You know whether this was to soften the ache of pain,
To use our interaction to ease a stabbing word or act of which I was no part.
If so, please reveal yourself and so soothe their pain.

Jesus you know.
You know whether this was in your redemptive plan
To use me as a mirror to a heart that you are seeking to mend.
If so, please do your tireless and perfect work in them.

Jesus you know.
You know whether this was another act to confirm a hardened heart
To use another pilgrim as proof of the depravity of a heart turned inward on itself.
If so, please break the heart of stone.

Jesus you know.

I cannot call down fire, for I too may be consumed.
Oh Jesus, have mercy.
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Luke 9:51-56

A Liturgy for leaving the gracious albergue

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The following was taken from the resource we have compiled for pilgrims on the Camino De Santiago. You can get a free digital copy here. Downloading and giving your feedback helps us to spread the word. 

O caring Father, giver of all good gifts,
Thank you for the night you gave me.
I laid down and slept.
I awoke again, because you sustained me.

I was fed.
I was sheltered.
I was cared for.
I was given a clean bed.
I was given a kind word.
I was treated as one fashioned in your image.

I know that I do not deserve it.
I know that I cannot expect it.
Even your Son, the heir of all things, through whom you created the world. 
The radiance of your glory. 
The exact imprint of your nature. 
The one who upholds the universe by the word of his power,
He was refused entrance.
He had no place to lay his head.

But yet you, in your overwhelming grace and goodness,
Provided for me a host who saw my needs,
A sink to wash my face,
A meal to fill my stomach,
A bed to rest my body,
A rest to refresh my spirit.

O good Father, bless this place.
Pour out on my hosts your grace in excess of what they showered on me.
Give them strength to treat the next pilgrim as they treated me.
Give them eyes to see the need of the heart for those who enter tonight.
Give them hope to keep going when they are met with rudeness or hostility.
Give them love for you and others.
Give them peace.
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Luke 2