Pilgrimage…a special encounter?

Posted by David Ward on 23/05/2010
Posted in: Books/Articles, Pilgrimage. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

When I was younger I lived in Kent, close to Canterbury, and often walked on stretches of the Pilgrims’ Way which leads from Winchester to Canterbury.

I’m planning to walk part of the route as a continuous pilgrimage this year (finances allowing), and as part of my preparation for this I’m reading some of the accounts of other pilgrims on this route. Shirley De Boulay’s book was in the bibliography of another book on pilgrimage I read recently, so I decided to start with this book. It is an interesting account of the pilgrimage undertaken by a small group of friends in the early 1990s, with some thoughtful bits among the general travelogue.

This particular thoughtful bit caught my attention.

” One of the thoughts which I still could not let go – in fact which was to pursue me to Canterbury and beyond – was the question of whether the divine is more present, more accessible, on pilgrimage than at home. If God was not to be found in some special way on pilgrimage, why do we do it? Yet if he exists at all, he is everywhere and in everyone; there is no need to go on pilgrimage. The evidence in favour of pilgrimage being a way to experiencing God is quite simply us, the pilgrims. But many contrary voices are raised, for instance an unknown Irish author, writing of ‘vain pilgrimage’, said, ‘Coming to Rome, much labour and little profit! The King whom you seek here, unless you bring him with you, you will not find him.’ In like vein an American pilgrim said, ‘I’ve discovered I can meet the risen Lord just as well in Kansas City as I can in Jerusalem.’ Thomas a Kempis was scathing about the pilgrims of his time, observing that ‘Few are made better by sickness, and those who make frequent pilgrimages seldom acquire holiness by so doing.’
But walk we do. Pilgrimage persists. I was beginning to accept that giving outer form to the inner journey is an instinctive response to a deep human need; It is a sort of incarnation.”



Many questions:

  • Does God like pilgrims?
  • Are moving people more likely to meet God than static ones?
  • Could the same things be achieved by contemplation as by pilgrimage…can you do the interior journey without the exterior or are they linked?
  • Pilgrimage as a kind of incarnation…acknowledging we are whole people not just disembodied spiritual ones…
  • Is it worth the physical effort?

Metaphorical Coracle…

Posted by David Ward on 18/05/2010
Posted in: Personal thoughts, Pilgrimage. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

When Wendy (my wife) and I were beginning to plan our move to the Borders of Scotland and England, she came up with the expression “metaphorical coracle” to describe the ‘journey’ we were about to make.

Although we were setting out in the spirit of the Celtic travelling monks, who sailed away in their coracles in search of a ‘desert in the ocean’, our mode of transport was altogether more modern and less prosaic, hence the ‘metaphorical’ bit.

Northumbria Community uses two metaphors to describe elements of Celtic Christian spirituality – ‘cell’ and ‘coracle’. The cell speaks of the inner journey, of monastic life and contemplation, whilst the coracle speaks of geographical and physical travel, of mission and journey “for the love of Christ”.

I must confess that I have always had a bias towards the ‘coracle’ bit rather than the more static cell. Being a contemplative on the move, enjoying community ‘on the road’ has always appealed to my more pioneering and adventurous side. Pilgrimage has been an exciting discovery for me…I believe that every place was sacred, that God’s presence is everywhere in God’s world, but I have learned that it is more possible to be aware of that presence in some places than others.

I’ve just got back from leading the annual pilgrimage along St Cuthbert’s Way for Northumbria Community. Once again I have enjoyed the company of another varied bunch of pilgrims, deep conversation, aches and pains, silence and solitude, side-splitting laughter and happy ‘chance-encounters’.

It comes as the culmination of lots of thinking about a new context (a replacement for ‘Community’) to work out my relationship with God through Jesus; I finally believe that my new metaphor for this journey is, appropriately “Pilgrimage”. In one sense there’s nothing new…the road goes on, the journey continues. But in another sense it feels like a more dynamic and mobile metaphor than the settled and static metaphore that community had become.

I have been and am doing a lot of reading, thinking and meditating, the fruits of which will, no doubt, spill over slowly onto this blog. I am also planning more walking pilgrimages to special places with associations to my relationship and history with God, but along with these literal ‘walks’ I am also beginning to find new motivation in the whole idea of “Life as Pilgrimage”. Perhaps it has to do with the approach of my 60th year (yet another mid-life crisis!), but I find it a stimulating and energising metaphor.

“Life as Pilgrimage”…watch this space!

A crisis of identity, or what to put in my Facebook Profile

Posted by David Ward on 20/04/2010
Posted in: Community, In the Media, Personal thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

One of the things that challenges me is just how do I fill in certain bits of my Facebook Profile page…in particular the bits on the Info tab called “Political Views” and “Religious Views”. I used to define myself as politically ‘moderate’ and religiously as an ‘unconventional Christian’; somehow I can’t own those any more, and it’s caused me a lot of mental aggro.

Let’s start with the political stuff. Moderate is probably just an excuse for “I’m really not that involved or interested in politics so I’m not going to commit myself.” It probably reflects my age, and to some extent how self-centred and politically lazy I’ve become too.

I’m following the debates and promises of the various parties as we approach another general election, but find it difficult to disentangle the way through the web of past failures and future promises, coupled with our adoption of the cult of personality even among our politicians. I can see it will be a tough call for whoever forms the next Government.

So do I choose the competent Chancellor who made the mistake of following possible the most charismatic and latterly hated Prime Ministers of the recent past, the slimy Eton/Oxford Grad who preys on our fears of the state we’re in (neither of whom seem to inhabit the same world as me), the nice, boy-next-door who did soooo well on the telly, the Scottish Nationalists (I live in Scotland remember) who impress me with what actually appears to be a people-before-policies way of running this country but who “don’t have a chance of influencing Westminster politics” (so the Lib Dem and Conservative leaflets tell me – I’ve met the local SNP candidate and like him a lot!). This begins to sound more like a series of X-Factor or Britain’s Got Talent than an election.

So after much thought, I’ve changed my political views to: DISAPPOINTED BUT HOPEFUL. I hope to goodness the next Government prove me right!

Religious views?

I think I’ve been a bit wary of the label “Christian” for a while, which is probably why I tried to soften it a bit with the word “unconventional”. Before the doctrine police come to get me, let me emphasise I am not ashamed of Christ, I’m proud to be known as one of his followers. It occurs to me, that the early followers of Jesus didn’t use it either, preferring the much more dynamic “Followers of the Way” until the term “Christian” was coined in Antioch. Even then, the New Testament doesn’t seem to use the name much (3 times, I think, twice in Acts and once in 1 Peter)…

I’m reading a superbly disturbing new book on Pilgrimage, by Charles Foster (*1), and something he wrote clarified things a bit and inspired this ramble (a well chosen word).

Foster writes:
“Phyllis Tickle has noted that every few centuries the church needs to hold a rummage sale to clear out the accumulated rubbish; the non-essentials; the clothes that seemed to be a good idea at the time but turned out to be ridiculous; the gadgets bought because of a salesman’s silver tongue but which, far from being impossible to live without, proved pointless or dangerous.(*2)

It’s high time for another clear-out. Let’s build the pile high. There are two obvious things to chuck out. The first is the ugly, alien, proto-Germanic name “God”…And fast behind “God” should come our name, “Christian”. The Bible’s not particularly keen on it, and the brand is fatally, irredeemably stained and compromised. A recent survey in the United States asked respondents what they associated with the word ‘Christian’. “Anti-gay” was the most popular response, followed ignobly by “judgemental” and “hypocritical”. “Christian” has to go. We’ve wrecked the word.”

While I’m not sure how far I go with him, there is no doubt that to many people “Christian” is not a nice word, not because people reject Jesus but because they’re less than keen about the way some of us Christians behave.

So, I’ve changed my “Religious Views” entry to “WALKING WITH JESUS”. This seems better to me, partly because it leaves people with no doubt about who I’m following and partly because of the challenge that it presents me with. It means that if I’m walking with Jesus I need to keep my eye on Him, to make certain I don’t miss a turn He takes, or wander off on a path of my own.

I hope I can keep up with Jesus as he walks…although I have a sneaking suspicion he might just be prepared to walk at my pace when I need Him to.

*1 Charles Foster, The Sacred Journey, 2010, Thomas Nelson, Nashville

*2 Phyllis Tickle, The Great Emergence, 2008, Baker Books, Grand Rapids,
Michigan