Rome to Rumi: An Invitation
I recently joined a weekly “Centering Prayer” group in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Being new to the area I am looking for that group or groups of people who might feel like “home” spiritually and emotionally. During the second meeting I shared a bit about the various pilgrimages I have embarked on over the last fifteen years, the most recent being the Camino de Santiago in Spain. That was the source of my recent blog series, “Whispers from the Camino.”
A totally normal question came up, “What did you learn on this pilgrimage?” I was surprised at my answer. I quickly realized that in writing the blog series I had finally discovered what the Camino was about. I answered, “Well actually, the pilgrimages themselves have been part of a longer pilgrimage about discovering my most authentic voice” I then added, “Each of the pilgrimages inched me just a little closer to what my voice in the world needs to be. I could not see that until I had completed and wrote about this particular pilgrimage, the Camino.”
Sunset in Sioux Falls!
I am so thrilled to be able to write this blog today. I completed the Camino in October, 2023, but it took two years plus to write the 44 posts capturing the experience. During those two years I served as a consulting minister in Eastern Oregon for a church navigating the end of one life and the beginning of another while housesitting for one of the members. I then packed up my life (virtually no belongings except a couple of bicycles, guitars and some clothing) to take on a head of staff transitional minister role in Sioux Falls, SD. During that time I met “the woman I had been waiting for,” retired and moved to the Twin Cities area. The point being—writing a blog in the midst of so much transition was a monumental task!
I could not have seen it at the time, but the Camino in 2023 was really preparing me to finally honor my most authentic voice. It was only in reflecting back on that experience from the privileged perspective of retirement that I could see that. I will not bore you with the whole history, but so much of my story over the last three decades has been one of knowing my voice, but compromising on it for the sake of a livelihood. If you have read any of my blogs or my book over the last few years you will know that I have experienced a frustrating wrestling match between what I feel called to do and what I can actually do and maintain a livelihood.
I no longer need to do that. I am retired and I now have the freedom to say and do what has been on my heart over the last three decades. It has come out in fits and starts over the years. My experience has been one of having episodes where I spoke with confidence and clarity only to discover the need to pull back either for the stability of a congregation or to limit the risk to my financial well-being.
This blog represents the crossing of a threshold from wrestling with my vocation (voice) to actually living into my most authentic vocation and voice. I finally feel the freedom to say what I need to say without the worry of negatively impacting those around me.
In 2014 I traveled 3,000 kilometers by bicycle over seven weeks starting at the Vatican in Rome and ending at the tomb of Sufi poet, Rumi, in Konya, Turkey. I titled that pilgrimage across Italy, Greece and Turkey, “From Rome to Rumi.” (The original blog posts from that trip are my “Past Journeys” section on my website). I knew after I published my book Alone: A 4,000 Mile Search for Belonging that the next book would have to be one that chronicled what I learned and discovered during this Rome to Rumi pilgrimage. It is now time!
I don’t know exactly what the writing process will look like, but I do know that this next stage will be to finally carve out the time and develop the discipline to write this book. It has been ten years in coming.
I let you know this because one of the ways I imagine diving into the writing is to continue to the use blog as a way to craft individual sections of the book. I am quite sure this is a two to four-year writing project. I know that I am not wired to simply hide away and write for that long. I need connection, feedback, and energy from my people and community—that is you!
Today, I am announcing that a book under a working title, “Rome to Rumi: Recovering the Mystical Tradition from Christendom” is in the works. I will be blogging under a Rome to Rumi title and hoping that you all will feel free to join me with your comments and feedback. While this is my writing project, I believe it has to be a communal affair. If I have discovered one thing about my place in the world over the years it is to give voice to that which people are thinking and feeling, but haven’t quite yet articulated.
Thank you for taking this journey with me.
Brian Heron
The Pedal Pilgrim