"I'm a bit stuck on a paper topic," I admitted to a co-worker when she asked me how my schoolwork was going. "What is the paper on?" she asked. I told her. "Pilgrimage? Isn't that like with poor people?" she asked innocently. I couldn't help but laugh. I went on trying to explain this mysterious concept to her, memories from my reading echoing in my mind.
Pilgrimage is a type of travel that has an inward meaning, Daniel Taylor calls it "physical travel with a spiritual destination" (Taylor, 16). The pilgrim may not know or even understand their goal; it may be shrouded in complete mystery. And yet, there is a sense of anticipation that fuels pilgrimage, a sense of inner expectation and hope. The pilgrimage, in truth, is not about the destination at all. It is about the journey. It is not about the how, the when or the where. It is about the why. Why are you on the journey that you are on? What are you hoping for? Every pilgrim is looking for some experience with the transcendent - with that which is greater than themselves. They know that there is something more to their lives than what they left behind, that is why they are on the journey. They want to experience that greater thing with hope that it will give insight, purpose and meaning to the life that they currently live.
Pilgrimage, then, involves a shedding of the world that we leave behind. It means stepping out of the comfortable box and role that we have been relegated to in daily life. It means giving up your bed and the comforts of home; it means leaving the family and friends that command your attention and provide that sense of belonging and stability; it means giving up your job for a time and abandoning the schedule that has so predominantly rhythmed your life. When all of this is taken away what is left? When all the trappings of our lives are shed for the journey where will we actually find ourselves? Will we be able to cling to the hope of the transcendent, or will we flee back to the comforts of daily life?
Some might regard this talk of sacrifice as being rather extreme for a description of pilgrimage, but the ultimate purpose of pilgrimage is extreme. As Taylor writes, "extremism is simply a method for searching for what is real" (Taylor, 32). The pilgrim isn't looking for some feel-good experience, something fluffy and fleeting; the pilgrim is looking for something tangible, something that gives their lives meaning and purpose and roots them to this place called Earth and to this life. They are looking for a meaningful and profound experience of realness that will change them.
With this in mind, Christian pilgrimage takes on an even deeper meaning. The search for the transcendent becomes a search for the God of Christian faith. Scott O'Brien calls it "the search for the Holy in the process of active remembrance" (O'Brien, 39). Christian George writes that "[pilgrimage] moves us from certainty to dependence, it helps us discover God's involvement in human history, it challenges and stimulates our faith, and it invigorates us to be like our Lord in thought, word, deed and devotion. Pilgrimage is an outward demonstration of an inward calling - to follow Christ, wherever the steps may lead" (George, 25). Christian pilgrimage, then, is not an isolated experience. It is an experience that is linked to tradition, to history, to community, to Christ, and to faith. Like others, the Christian journeys seeking the transcendent, but perhaps unlike others, the Christian knows the one whom they are seeking.
I finished wrapping up my explanation to my co-worker and she stood there thinking. "So then," she ventured, "your trip to this city, isn't that a pilgrimage? You said you came because of God." I sat there for a moment somewhat stunned. "I never thought about it that way before," I said, "but you're right." I had come to the city blindly searching for the direction that God had for my life, trusting that he would lead me to the destination I needed. And He did. Ever since I got here God has provided everything: first a church, then a job, then a place to live and then He led me to the school where I am studying now. He has provided for me time and time again, sometimes uprooting me from my stability to take a new risky venture - a new home, a new job, a new church. And yet, as I undertake this journey, I have experienced both Him and His faithfulness anew in so many ways. Yes, the physical journey I took to come here was a pilgrimage, but it is not a pilgrimage that is over yet. The journey I am on has a spiritual destination, only I have no idea about what that destination is. My only hope is that in the process of the journey I will somehow experience the transcendent and come to know that which is truly real.
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