Spain Pilgrimage Photos

A J2A Holy Pilgrimage
The Camino de Santiago de Compostela
July 2 to July 12, 2006
The Rev. Ruth Lawson Kirk

Since 1998, every two years St. Peter’s Church has sent off a group of pilgrims to journey forth in faith, seeking God in a distant and foreign land. This is the keystone experience of our youth ministry curriculum. By this time, the youth have spent four years attending classes, working together to accomplish a common goal, discerning directions and making decisions as a group. They have been working with the Anglican balance of scripture, tradition and reason to explore the meaning in four areas of Christian life: Self, Society, Sexuality and Spirituality. They have played and prayed together, sharing personal stories, working through challenges.

At the service before they go, the youth and adults gather before me for the “blessing off.” I say, “Beloved in Christ, making a pilgrimage to holy places is an ancient discipline. Over the centuries, faithful people have journeyed forth, leaving the security of home and hearth, to seek God in these places. Finding God there, they have returned to their homes to find that God is there also. You have been called by the Holy Spirit to make a pilgrimage to Spain. Are you aware of the solemn nature of this undertaking?” They reply that they are.

After experiencing five different pilgrimages, I know that this is not yet real for them, not quite true. But it will become very real as we journey together. In some way, each one of us will be stretched by the experience, by some exchange with another pilgrim or some encounter, by a place or an event. In our daily prayers, in our silent hikes, in our trust that God will lead us to a place of lodging, a safe haven for the night, we all become aware of the solemn and holy nature that makes this journey different from any other they have made.

Many people find the concept of a church sending a bunch of teenagers to a foreign country as a privilege, even a boon. “Why are they not going on a mission trip to serve other people?” I’m occasionally asked. My reply is this. Schools, churches and community organizations all stress service to others, and one can certainly find God as you serve your neighbors. But there is not any other organization that wants to give you a spiritual experience, to deepen and stretch your faith in God, to help you grow up past a Sunday school image of God’s power. When we in the church baptize children, we witness the vows that promise to turn from death-dealing ways and turn toward a trusting life in the grace and love of Christ Jesus, Son of the living God. The congregation promises to do all in their power to support the candidates in their life in Christ. We do that as we provide programs that nurture and form Christian faith. We do that when we send youth on an experience they will never be offered in school or from the Boy and Girl Scouts. We encourage them to seek God, purely and simply. We help them raise the funds and send them forth to be with one another on this faith journey.

It is a solemn undertaking, one embraced by holy people centuries before our Christian era. In fact, ancient evidence along the Camino shows signs of pre-Christian religious devotion. Since the earliest centuries of our common era, Christians made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, especially for Holy Week. Rome became another center, and by the 10th century, Christians were traveling into Muslim Iberia, to honor Santiago, St. James, son of Zebedee. Legend says James traveled to Iberia and to Galicia to spread the gospel of Christ. Upon his return and his martyrdom in the Holy Land (Acts 12:2) his body was sent by sea across the Mediterranean and up the Iberian peninsula, to Finisterre, and then was laid to rest, inland. In about 813 a Christian hermit discovered James’ bones in a “field of stars” or Compostela, (also the name for the Milky Way). Pilgrims traveled one of several routes, the most popular being the French Route, which begins in Roncesvalles. Our J2A pilgrimage followed the last 75 miles of this route, starting at the Benedictine monastery in Samos.

Before the pilgrims set forth, I had made contact with the American Pilgrims on the Camino www.AmericanPilgrims.com and received our credentials. These are the passports for pilgrims traveling the Camino de Santiago. On the cover, over a shell shaped watermark, the text reads, “This pilgrim’s credential should be presented at the end of each day’s journey at the refugio, church or municipal shelter that offers you welcome. The stamps and dates will help mark your passage and upon arriving in Santiago validate your request for your certificate of completion, or Compostela. As a pilgrim, please show every respect to those who offer you hospitality or aid along the way.”

One guide book says, “You are part of a corpus of literally millions of pilgrims who have been drawn to this shrine. Some were moved by the Spirit, some by politics. Some came to enrich themselves on the pilgrim trade. Some came to be healed in the body. Some were sentenced to walk to Compostela in lieu of serving time in prison. Some had their expense underwritten by their villages to go to pray for rain or relief from the plague. Some came for the mere pleasure of travel, of adventure. Often pilgrims left home for one set of reasons and discovered quite another set along the Road (The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: Gitlitz, Davidson, p. XIV).” In the sending off, I charged us to use the pilgrimage as an opportunity to draw closer to God and to discern the presence of Christ in our lives. Each one of us does this in our own way, in our own time. As I walked, I considered why I was on that path. Not just because I was their priest was I there, there was also a reason God had for me to be there. While my reflection was rich as I walked the road and talked with my fellow travelers, discerning that wisdom will take more than a quick reflection. I have found, with each group’s journey, the wisdom of the experience unfolds in the years that follow. Many of our youth have written college admission essays describing the pilgrimage experience as the pinnacle of their years. This is a journey that lasts a lifetime.

I won’t describe the whole experience of our days. We want you to come for the presentation on October 8 when the youth lead our worship at the 10:00 a.m. service and the forum that follows. Enjoy some of these photos, and Buen Camino! A good Road!