A few days ago, I began the process of helping a Capitol Hill staffer plan and organize a spiritual pilgrimage. He came to me with a burning desire to escape for a while and experience a new way of life and living for the purpose of personal growth. As I listened, it seemed clear he was needing an opportunity to reconnect with himself, but even more with His Savior. I began to share my recent readings in the area of spiritual pilgrimages, and what I said seemed to resonate with him. I also got a real sense in my spirit that God was drawing him into this, that God was leading him into a short-term (4 week) experience of intense spiritual growth, so I recommended he take this short break from the status quo and engage God on an experiential journey.
Likewise, on Friday I blogged about my personal desire to take a mini-pilgrimage and intention to organize a weekend experience for a handful of guy Capitol Hill staffers. So with all this talk about pilgrimages, I thought I would write a little about my findings and what exactly I mean by this term. The idea of an intense, short-term spiritual journey is pretty foreign to most evangelicals, and could potentially be misunderstood, so I hope my words will bring clarity and inspiration.
The word Pilgrim comes from the Latin word “resident aliens,” and can also mean “to wander over a great distance.” In the New Testament, it is repeatedly stated that followers of Christ are “strangers and pilgrims on earth.” Thus, the idea of a pilgrimage reflects both of these senses: wandering and distance. Though the wandering is not aimless (it is pointed toward a goal), the wanderer spends the majority of the journey in a foreign land. And the greater the distance the more admirable the journey.
For much of Church history the concept of spiritual pilgrimages centered on a theology of relics. Whether it was for healing, revelation, forgiveness, or prosperity, hundreds and thousands of Christians travelled for centuries to reach certain destinations and objects. Jerusalem was, and still remains, the primary pilgrimage site for Christians. Gethsemane, Golgotha, and the Tomb all remain popular points of spiritual impact. Next in the hierarchy of pilgrimage sites was Rome, being the burial spots of the preeminent apostles, Peter and Paul. Finally, in the Middle Ages, Santiago de Compostela in Spain began to rise in prominence, for it was believed to be the missionary journey spot and burial grounds of James, Son of Thunder.
Biblically, examples abound of people embarking on a physical spiritual journey: Abram and Sarai left their homeland at God’s command; Moses and the Israelites wandered 40 years, following God toward their promised land; Jesus was, in many ways, a pilgrim during his entire three-year ministry; Paul undertook three missionary journeys to far-off lands. Abram, Moses, Jesus, and Paul all traveled as a response to God’s leading, which is a foundation for present-day excursions.
While I would shy away from a theology of relic-based spiritual pilgrimages (those journeys embarked for the purpose of reaching certain physical objects or places for healing and revelation), I sense a profound spiritual benefit, and biblical case, for a modern-day equivalent. Consider my thoughts on purpose, execution, and compilation in another post tomorrow or Monday…
be His,
jeremy
