top of page

East Bound Pilgrim

Kingsley East Gibbs

Updated: Dec 15, 2022

"[God] drove out the man [and woman]; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life." -Genesis 3:24

Photo: Via Francigena, Italy; Summer 2019


We are bound to the East. Cut off from the Garden, we live our lives cut off from Paradise. John Milton and John Steinbeck are the classic story-tellers who transformed this Bible story for modern ears in the 1600's and then in the 1950's. For many, Paradise Lost mingles with the Bible in such a way that some characters and plot lines are inseparable now.


(No judgement- the lines between Bible, novel, and hymn are easily blurred.)


The phrase "East of Eden" drips with literary allusion, taking readers to Steinbeck's farmlands of California. For those of us who live by the Twainian understanding of a classic and have not read Steinbeck's magnum opus, the phrase still elicits the classic book cover that we never opened during our summer reading months, more so than it reminds us of the verse I quoted from Genesis chapter 3.

"A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." - Mark Twain

Around the same year East of Eden was published, in the 1950's, J.R.R. Tolkien published his seminal work The Lord of the Rings. Instead of focusing on the East, Tolkien points us to the West. The good inhabitants of Middle-earth long for the West like a lost home and a final resting place. To the West, the elves sail for home. To the West, we set our heroes Frodo and Bilbo free to rest in peace. For most of the story, though, our favorite characters are called to stay in the East.


As the new series The Rings of Power illustrates, Isildor of Numinor longs for the West, but he submits to his duty to sail East to Middle-earth. There, he will fight evil and participate in the restoration of light and life (before he too becomes corrupted by the ring... spoiler!). Through reading or watching The Lord of the Rings, the symbol of the West becomes a heaven across the sea. The western realm is a lost paradise, a garden beyond our reach.


Through this literary journey, we arrive at the beginning: Genesis. We may allude to one of the John's or Tolkien more regularly, but they are in fact alluding to Genesis. They are not alluding to a novel or a myth, but to our history, our reality. We are bound to the East.


When I came up with the name "East Bound Pilgrim," I had these stories (and my last, now middle, name) in mind. I write, work, and live in the East. I may literally live in the West and be shaped by western culture and education, but to be human is to live east of Eden. Just as the elves and hobbits long for the West, we too long for full reunion with God. We know that life in the East is not all that God intended for us.

"If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world." -C.S. Lewis

Though we were created for the West, we are given new life here and now in the East. Although the cherubim bar us from returning to the Garden, God does not stay in the West. The incarnate God-man Jesus Christ comes to the East. In his coming, living, and dying, all creation is made new. We are new creations now, but we are not yet complete. So, we live in the tension between the East and the West. Longing for home, but called to live here and to be part of God's work on earth.


Note: The idea of "already and not yet" is a theological concept that synthesizes much of the New Testament's teachings about our present state after Jesus' death and resurrection. We are saints and yet sinners. New creations but still groaning under sin. Raised with Christ but remaining on earth.


EBP exists for me to have a creative outlet and a space to return to again and again, in the pilgrim way, to writing. It's a place for me to reflect on my ministry and my favorite hobbies, while hopefully growing my freelance portfolio. I love writing. I love quotes. I love music, movies, and books. This is a place where my interests converge with theological reflections and the hope for human flourishing. I invite anyone reading to comment, contact me, and enter the conversation.


If you want to support EBP, share my work on social media (and tag me!), subscribe to my email list (below), and/or buy me a cup of coffee. I do almost all of my work with coffee in hand (remember, I'm a minister, not a Hemingway kind of writer). So, your donations literally fuel my work.


Thanks for reading and pilgriming with me.

-Kingsley


Song Recommendation: "Far Kingdom" by The Gray Havens


Reading Recommendation: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

You had to see this one coming! It's a classic I've actually read, and I loved it! I read it over Christmas break, accompanied with Christmas tree lighting and fuzzy socks. Even if you don't love it, you'll be proud of yourself for reading it.

158 views

Recent Posts

See All

3 Comments


cameron.burleson2014
cameron.burleson2014
Dec 10, 2022

What a great message! Can’t wait to read more!

Like
Kingsley East
Dec 10, 2022
Replying to

Thanks so much for reading, Cameron!

Like

ngibbs328
Dec 09, 2022

"Longing for home, but called to live here and to be part of God's work on earth." Love this!

Like
IMG_3889_edited_edited.jpg

About Me

I am a minister, writer, and freelance writer/ editor/ marketer out of Waco, Texas. I minister with youth and families at DaySpring Baptist Church and work for Baylor's Theology, Ecology, and Food Justice Program. I love outdoor adventures, coffee and concerts, and spending time with my family, friends, and pets.

​

Read More

 

Subscribe to EBP

© 2022 by Kingsley East Gibbs.

bottom of page