Hi there. Welcome. I’m glad you’re here. A quick word on who I am and why Unexpected Pilgrimages was created.
First some background: I gave some of the best energy I had in pastoring the dear community of folks at LaSalle Street Church, a non-denominational church in downtown Chicago with a long tradition of uniting individual faith in Christ with God’s call for justice and compassion lived out in the world. I served that church for 24 years and left with a heart full of affection and several tears of mourning. It was hard to leave a place I loved so much, but it was necessary.
I was ready to explore some broader interests and the weekly weight of writing a sermon that these folks deserved left me little bandwidth. I spent January 2022 on a month-long Ignation silent retreat where I celebrated what was and started the journey to what might be. I started and continue to nurture, an online mediation group housed under Meditation Chapel. (Group G1077, check us out!). I provided spiritual direction to a doctoral cohort at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and upped my engagement with the online church, Olive Tree Community. And I waited.
I’m still not sure what’s next – who actually knows these things? – but I do know that worship is just as likely to be found around the kitchen table as it is to be found in a church building. I know that sacredness is all around and that many of us, perhaps most of us, long to experience God in the ‘space between us’ as poet John O’Donoghue wrote.
“Surely the Lord was in this place and I knew it not!” said the patriarch Jacob after waking from a crazy dream while he was camping near Beersheba (Gen. 28:16). Unexpected Pilgrimages is about that awareness- maybe sudden, or maybe a slow burn – that a kind of holy wisdom; a particular comfort; God! is with us.
This is a place where stories are shared and resources offered. It’s a place where we can encourage one another to experience the wonder and mystery of God in our midst. Join me.
Unexpected Pilgrimages 
I came across your blog online and I was please your church was in the area! Keep up the good work.
-Tasha, The Bridge Chicago
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I am a friend of rashanda and she referred me to your church for help. Me, my fiance, and our 1 year old are currently homeless and in search of help. I am also 7 months pregnant. It’s hard going through these things when we have nothing but eachother. We pray everynight for a change to come and we know something will. I have talked to the homeless coalition and they have told me that i need some type of proof saying i have funds in order for me to move in to a stable home. We do not have any family, dhelters are being called everyday and i don’t want to be on the streets with my children. I would like to ask if you could donate to our gofundme account: gofundme.com/vbtb9qv3 and also share this to anyone whom you may know. Meand my family thought we were recieving help from people when really they were exploiting us and all because people think we are down right now that we have no knowledge. But we are intellegent people, we are just waiting for that blessing to come. Please be that blessing for my family. Thankyou and God Bless.