Book Review

THE SACRED JOURNEY

By Charles Foster

I must admit that when I first started reading The Sacred Journey, I nearly fell asleep. Mr. Foster began with a little bit of Bible, then a little bit of Islam and then a little bit of Buddha. Facts, theory and intangibles. But, I remembered how much I enjoyed his work, The Jesus Inquest, and I trudged on.

The more I read, the more things began to dawn on me. Islam had sacred pilgrimages as well as Buddhism. Since I am more familiar with the Bible, I began to pick up more readily the instructions of God. He told Abraham to come out from his people and go somewhere. He told Moses to come away from the backside of the desert, go to Egypt and then go somewhere else. Basically, God told Joshua to start conquering Canaan until He said to stop.

Then, there’s the New Testament. The wise men were told to journey to the west. Mary and Joseph were told to journey to Egypt and then told to journey back after a few years. Jesus told His disciples when He called them, simply, “Follow Me.” Oh, by the way, He didn’t say where either. After the resurrection, several of the Apostles went on journeys. Why did God want people to go on journeys?

Chapters five through fourteen only begin to explain the reasons for a Sacred Journey. Among the many reasons are, to get rid of junk, to thirst for an encounter and the fellowship of the road. You will find yourself in a couple of these chapters.

As I read the rest of the book, I realized that I had already been on a couple of Sacred Journeys but hadn’t been too far away from the house. And at the age of 63, I was anxiously preparing for a few more. However, I did not know that was what I was doing until I read the book. Thanks, Mr. Foster. You caused me to remember some very precious times I have had in the past. Best of all, you have helped me look forward to my next journey.

Booksneeze has supplied me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have not been instructed to give a good or a bad review.