As I get ready to start the pilgrimage -- tomorrow will be spent traveling to Saint Jean Pied-du-Port where I will start the pilgrimage on Tuesday morning -- I am circling around themes of trust and dedication.  While I will never be alone for long periods of time, I feel like this next phase of my trip is a more concrete way of stepping into the wide open space of vulnerability, where I give myself to God to be my company, my protector, and my guide. And, if Julian of Norwich is right, then God is all that is good for our comfort and, thus, everything which surrounds and enfolds me on the road ahead.

Tonight as I was thinking and praying over what lies ahead, I wanted a prayer and a psalm. So I thumbed through the beautiful Book of Common Prayer. Unfortunately, the BCP doesn´t have a prayer for pilgrims, so I picked this one that is a prayer for self-dedication --

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory, and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

And then this Psalm, which I have loved since I first learned it at Wylie United Methodist Church in Abilene, Texas. This Psalm is called a psalm of ascents, meaning we think these psalms were prayed, sung, or chanted as pilgrims were making their way up to Jerusalem --

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills;
from where is my help to come?

My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved
and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.

Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep;

The Lord himself watches over you;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand,

So that the sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
it is he who shall keep you safe.

The Lord shall watch over your going out and
your coming in,
from this time forth for evermore.