‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us along the road?’

It’s well recorded that walking and praying was common with Jesus. So, following in his way, you’re invited to join the Community Monastery in the simple, yet generative, practice of walking and praying together. 

The idea: As a community we may not be able to do a long pilgrimage like routes across the Holy Land but perhaps we can become pilgrims in and for the needs of our own town and place. In Genesis 3 it says Adam and Eve ‘…heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” Let’s walk with Him. Over several months we will walk on a few Saturdays as an act of reconsecration, covering ourselves, our neighborhoods and our people in peace and prayer. 

We will set out on Saturday mornings for 5-7 hours covering 8-12 miles at a leisurely and prayerful pace. We will pay attention to what’s around us as we walk and pray/talk, make stops to pray in specific places along the way, eat sack lunches together and generally make ourselves available to the Spirit, our city and one another. We would ask joiners to commit for the entire walk and be present in mind, body and spirit. 

The hoped for routes and dates will be: 

1. May 2: Deanwood/Kenilworth Park to the Basilica
2. July 25: Rock Creek Park to the White House via the National Cathedral 
3. October 24: Anacostia to the National Mall via SE & SW Waterfronts

As you consider joining these walks, look up Luke 24:13-35. Perhaps at the end of each day we will find ourselves marveling ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us along the road?’