Prevenient Love

By Andrea Lingle

Pilgrimage begins with preparation.

Obviously, there’s the decision to register. The packing list combing. The acquisition of hiking boots. The reading of applicable books. This is all part of the preparation.

But there is a portion of the preparation that has nothing to do with passports or train tickets. Pilgrimage is a study in grace.

Grace is defined in the Orthodox tradition as the “self-communication” of God. John Wesley taught that grace was a many-faceted jewel. One aspect of grace in Wesley’s terminology is prevenient grace. Prevenient comes from two Latin words: prae and venire. Before and come. Coming before.

Prevenient grace comes before.

Prevenient grace is offered. Not offered because or in exchange for. Just offered. It is aftermath of God loving. It is the Divine whisper in the tremble of the quaking aspen. It is the one who sets the table before you arrive for the banquet. It is the love of the One who is Love.

Pilgrimage begins with grace.

Grace that comes before the beginning of journeys, before the referencing of maps, before the packing of bags. Grace is love-communicated, and pilgrimage is learning to see and hear the self-communication of God.

And it can be refused. Because God cannot be love if God cannot be refused.

The pilgrim must begin with preparation, and the first step—the only step—is to consent. To dare to believe that there is something ineffable left in this world of timetables and ten-day forecasts.

To put one’s foot on the path of pilgrimage is to listen for the song of grace.

It is not to believe. For this way is paved with doubt.

It is not to understand. For this way is deeply uncertain.

It is not guaranteed. For love is wild.

The way of pilgrimage is just this: it is a way that is a little quieter, a little less busy, a little bit more spacious. On this pathway, one can perk up the ear so as to catch the rustle of the voice of the Love which has been calling all along.