The Spiritual Discipline of Pilgrimage

I tend to not like the word "discipline".  It is a harsh word that often conjures flashbacks of the days when I had to face the big wooden spanking spoon in the bathroom, or of being grounded in my room, forbidden to watch my favourite television program.  "Discipline", for me, is a word that is associated with punishment. There are other meanings for the word, of course. Looking it up in the dictionary, one definition that jumps out is "an activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training" (dictionary.com).  This kind of discipline is self-inflicted, although it still retains strict adherence to the rules.

A spiritual discipline, however, has an added dimension to the definition of training; it is activity that we purposely direct our focus towards in order to "align our disoriented and dissatisfied lives with God's purposes" (Rumford, 98).  These disciplines are practices that we undertake that help to cultivate the soul so that we may grow inwardly.  Yes, they involve a bit of work - they not always easily achieved. Rumford writes that "often we see spiritual development as an obligation...we fear that it will add one more burden to our already overextended lives" (55).  If we stick with them, however, spiritual disciplines offer the reward of a step towards union with God - a step towards ultimate fulfillment.

Why are spiritual disciplines important to the Christian life?  Can we not as Christians experience fulfillment and sanctification without doing anything at all?  After all, Ephesians 2:8-9 says "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."  If we can be saved without engaging in spiritual disciplines, why would we bother to do them?

St. Irenaeus once wrote that "the glory of God is man fully alive."  Likewise, Jesus says in John 10:10 that He came so that we might have life, and have it to the full.  The Christian life doesn't stop at the moment of salvation.  It is a process of transformation, a process whereby we discover how to become truly alive.  Spiritual disciplines help us in this quest because they function as guideposts that point the way to God.  They lead us down the path of spiritual formation.   They are "steps we can take to develop spiritual sensitivity - a sense of God's presence and a deepening awareness of the spiritual reality that exists in all of life and experience" (Rumford, 98).

Even Jesus engaged in spiritual disciplines.  He would frequently withdraw from the crowds that followed him to engage in the disciplines of silence, solitude and prayer.  He was also a pilgrim.  If Jesus engaged in practices like these, and we as Christians say that we want to be like Christ, then shouldn't we also seek to implement these practices in our lives? 

If some have an inclination to completely ignore the role of spiritual disciplines in the Christian life, still others may suffer the the temptation to turn these into a formula.  This formula should be familiar to many of us: read your Bible, pray to God, and go to church - if you do these things you will lead a spiritually fulfilling life.  But this assumption is wrong; God cannot be found by formula.  Spiritual growth is not something that we can control.  There is something unpredictable and organic about the growth that happens in the Christian life; it is something that cannot be limited to a formula.  M. Robert Mulholland Jr. writes,

"Often our spiritual quest becomes a search for the right technique, the proper method, the perfect program that can immediately deliver the desired results of spiritual maturity and wholeness...If only we can find the right trick, the right book or the right guru, go to the right retreat, hear the right sermon, instantly we will be transformed into a new person at a new level of spirituality and wholeness....but there is something about the nature of spiritual wholeness and the growth toward that wholeness that is very much a process" (20). 

Spiritual disciplines are tools.  They are ways which help us approach God and foster our relationship with Him.  They are not what provides fulfillment to the Christian life, however.

Pilgrimage is a spiritual discipline. It is "a conscious act of seeking a more vital awareness of God's living presence " (Forest, 13).  Like many spiritual disciplines, some are tempted to formulize pilgrimage: if you hit shrines A, B, and C and read this book and say that prayer on the road, then you will be changed.  People who do this miss out on what the point of pilgrimage is all about.  Pilgrimage is not a formula; it is an attitude.  The pilgrim goes hopeful that they will meet God, but that moment of union is not something that can be manufactured.  In fact, one could say that out of all of the spiritual disciplines, pilgrimage is the most anti-formulaic because it separates us from our traditional formulas and throws us into an unpredictable, spontaneous journey where God can be met at any bend in the road.  Without limiting the spiritual journey to a formula, pilgrimage is a discipline that organically draws us into other spiritual disciplines such as prayer, solitude, silence, retreat, community, hospitality and worship.  It provides the stage where our souls can be free to simply commune with God and grow.  Too much of Christian faith is planned.  Pilgrimage is a discipline that embraces spontaneity, because we let go of control and let God guide us along the journey.