What Are Holy Hikes?
One important aspect of Jesus’ ministry with the disciples was their time spent traveling together, walking along, talking, stopping to pray, to eat, and to rest. We often remember Jesus’ teaching, but not the context. There was a good reason Jesus always seemed to be going away to a quiet place to pray. We can hear from God in quiet places as well as in church. Some of the more important events of Jesus’ ministry happened in remote locations while they were traveling with Jesus—The Sermon on the Mount, The Road to Emmaus, The Transfiguration, and the call of the first disciples on the beach.
This is an eco-ministry that began in the Diocese of Northern California a few years ago, before the pandemic.
We brought the Holy Hike ministry to my previous church. It was vital in keeping the children and youth connected during the pandemic. Though we couldn’t have church in-person, we took many Holy Hikes in the beauty of God’s Creation and this kept our young parishioners engaged. Some of my previous parishioners also had particular interests, for example, fishing, birds, history, or railroads, and we would often find a way to incorporate those elements into our hikes too.
I hope our children and youth, and young adults here at St. Michael’s will come out to give this ministry a try. We plan to co-host it with St. Francis-in-the-Fields in Somerset. We intend to form a chapter of Holy Hikes for the whole diocese. We will inform you of plans for each hike on a Holy Hikes Facebook page that is being set up for our chapter. We plan to host a hike once a month until the weather turns too cold.
Please join us.
MAY 2024 HOLY HIKE 1 at Laurel Summit State Park
