inward journey

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The Process of a Pilgrimage-an introduction

Posted by David Ward on 17/08/2010
Posted in: Personal thoughts, Pilgrimage, Theology. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Stations banner

In the next few posts I want to explore the actual process of pilgrimage, or, to put it another way, the activities or stages that go to make up the total experience of pilgrimage.

And because the underlying theme here is about life as pilgrimage, I intend to begin with the process of an actual, physical and geographical pilgrimage and then to move on to how we might interpret that process as experiences and activities in our 24/7/365 lives.

Most writers seem to suggest that there are 5 stages to the experience of pilgrimage, and I want to suggest a 6th stage that may be implicit in the normal 5 but is worth spelling out.

A physical pilgrimage is a circular activity: one begins at home and, unless death or an urge to settle somewhere along the route of the pilgrimage occurs, at the end of the pilgrimage one returns home, with:

Something to bring back to show you have been there:a lock of God’s hair, stolen from Him while He was alseep; a photograph of the garden of the spirit. As has been said, the point of travelling is not to arrive but to return home laden with pollen you shall work up into honey the mind feeds on.

‘Souvenirs’ by R S Thomas

This diagram shows the 6 stages that I will be working with:

6 stages

Lessons learned…

Posted by David Ward on 23/07/2010
Posted in: Books/Articles, Pilgrimage, Theology. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

j0313891 So, what lessons can we learn from the criticisms levelled at pilgrimage, and how might they effect our ‘theology of pilgrimage’?

Lesson 1 – Justification is by grace, through faith, not through works like pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage is not about earning God’s favour or forgiveness. But then neither are praying, going to church, reading the Bible and so on and no one would argue that those things are not necessary for growing in faith and relationship with God. Pilgrimage is also an activity which may help faith grow.

Lesson two – God is omnipresent

God is not present only in some places and not in others, but that does not mean that some places may not be more helpful than others. A journey of pilgrimage is no guarantee of a meeting with God, however open or needy the pilgrim is to such an encounter. But God may surprise us, we may meet God in others, the journey itself may change us as we learn and grow. Or we may end up being disappointed.

Lesson 3 – Pilgrimage is a sort of sacrament

That is to say that by participating in something ordinary and ritualistic we can be participating in something with a spiritual element as well. So just as sacraments like baptism or communion endue something ordinary with ‘spiritual’ significance, so in pilgrimage we may identify with Jesus, who was constantly moving around, open to the leading of his Father. The “Stations of the Cross” would be a graphic example of this: by moving from one station to another we may be participators in the death and resurrection of Jesus; in communion we pray with our bodies (as we receive the elements) as well as with our minds, and similarly our outward journey in pilgrimage may mirror an inward journey of prayer.

Lesson 4 – Signposts to God

There are people, living and dead, whose lives have been an example of life lived in relationship with God.There are certain places where people down through the ages have met with God in special ways.. In a way these people or places become signposts along the way to a relationship with God.

A pilgrimage to a place associate with Jesus, or to a place associated with one of the ‘saints’ becomes a signpost to God.

It could also be argued that the habit of going to large Christian conferences, Bible weeks or conventions fits into this desire to meet with God through the gathering of his people and the ministry of one who has also trodden the path of faith.

Lesson 5 – Danger and Discovery

There is much to be learned from the attitudes of the critics of pilgrimage about the dangers of pilgrimage. Clergy may neglect their pastoral duties to go on pilgrimages and conferences. People may believe that discipleship is simply a matter of going to church, attending conferences and going on pilgrimage rather than engaging in works of social justice. Being away from home, often at vulnerable times and with other vulnerable people may tempt us to follow courses of behaviour we would not contemplate at home.

On the other hand, someone who is self-aware may actually benefit fro being in a strange situation, away from what is normal and ‘everyday’. It may be a time of self-discovery, of the casting off of old baggage and learning new things to help with personal and spiritual growth.

Lesson 6 – Travelling in God’s creation

The whole metaphor of ‘Life as Journey/Pilgrimage’ is based on the idea that God is everywhere, not just at home, at the destination, in church or sacred space; God may be met at any stage of the journey by those whose spiritual senses are tuned in. The realities of joy and pain, suffering and success, tedium and satisfaction experienced on an actual pilgrimage act as a reminder that God is part of all of life, the good and the bad.

In another sense, as the Psalmist reminds us, creation itself is yet another signpost to the one who is behind it. The whole of creation is there to be enjoyed, a lavish gift from God, often best enjoyed by those who pass through on foot and have time to stop and stare.

With acknowledgement to David Osborne “Pilgrimage”, Grove Books, Cambridge, 1996 pages 15-19.

On the eve of the Reformation

Posted by David Ward on 18/07/2010
Posted in: Pilgrimage, Theology. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

lollards

John Wyclif (c1329-1415) and the Lollards

John Wyclif regarded pilgrimage as ‘blind’, as Christ is everywhere ready to tale away sin. He also considered that pilgrimage did little to help the poor, and condemned the lechery which often accompanied pilgrimage. This demonstrates the extent to which pilgrimage was considered a sin-forgiving good work, accompanied by the earning or purchase of ‘indulgences’. He also considered the idea that  a relic or image possessed some special virtue to be idolatrous:

“It is evident that images may be made both well and ill: well in order to rouse, assist and kindle the minds of the faithful to love God more devoutly; ill when by reason of images there is a deviation from the true faith, as when an image is worshipped”

Wyclif’s English followers, the Lollards, were very critical of pilgrimage, indulgences and all images and relics. They were part of a contemporary movement which interiorized religion, and as part of that considered only pilgrimage ‘of the heart’ rather that the need for a geographical journey. A Lollard Tract called The Lanterne of Light (1409/10) talks about how “true pilgrimage is done in six manners’:

  1. We are pilgrims from birth on our way to the heavenly city.
  2. We are pilgrims when we go to church.
  3. We are pilgrims when we visit the poor and distribute alms.
  4. We are pilgrims when we study holy writ and go to proclaim it.
  5. We are pilgrims when we go to a place where there is no priest, at the direction of God, as did Abram.
  6. We are pilgrims when we enter death, to ‘bliss or pain’.

erasmus Erasmus of Rotterdam (c1466-1536)

Erasmus was one of the first to clearly bring out the vital importance of the parallel between the outward physical activity of travelling to shrines and the internal spiritual cultivation of the Christian character…the outward journey acts to facilitate the inward journey, and the outward without the inward is pointless as a spiritual discipline (my italics).

“You venerate the saints; you are glad to touch their relics. But you condemn what goods they have left, namely the example of a pure life.No worship of Mary is more gracious than if you imitate Mary’s humility. No devotion to the saints is more acceptable and more proper than if you strive to express their virtue. You wish to deserve well of Peter and Paul? Imitate the faith of the one, the charity of the other – and you will thereby do more than if you were to dash back and forth to Rome ten times. “

From ‘Enchiridion’ (1503)

Although Erasmus did not join the Reformers, he was a moderate, anxious to condemn and reform abuses within the church, and his thinking helped to form many later Protestant attitudes.