Reverendmother says at RGBP: Hello friends, I am just back from a lovely time of pilgrimage in the isle of Iona, "cradle of Scottish Christianity." It has provided much food for thought, to say the least, and so, to keep the pilgrim mojo going:
1. Have you ever been on a pilgrimage? (however you choose to define the term) Share a bit about it. If not, what's your reaction to the idea of pilgrimage? Not specifically a religious pilgrimage, but a cultural one, with religious as part of it...a study abroad program I took part in 20 years ago, all round England up to Scotland and a week in France, and another trip to Italy. Going to cathedrals. The completely different idea of the holy from what I was accustomed to in the U.S. Watching the other students experience this too.
I'll never forget watching a group of Texas Aggies, listening intently to their tour guide in Siena in front of a side altar to St. Catherine. She was talking about how St. Catherine died somewhere else and was buried (entombed?); but then later the folks from Siena went and cut the head off the body and brought it HERE. Just as she finished the sentence, the lire coin dropped into the box that turned on the lights on the altar, and there indeedy was the head of St. Catherine. I've never seen such a group of horrified Southern Baptist faces.
Did we have a cultural experience that day? You betcha.
2. Share a place you've always wanted to visit on pilgrimage.
Thanks for asking! I have this great idea, see what you think. I want to get in my RV and travel to all of your churches. I want to spend at least 2 weeks in each place, participating as fully as possible in the life of the congregation. I especially want to go to churches of denominations that I never heard of before joining RevGals, or denominations that I have had wrong ideas about...there are many!
I want to see what is central to your worship and your community. I want to go to other Episcopal churches, too. Old Henry James wrote about the Varieties of Religious Experience, but I have not had much variety in my religious life! Yes, I know Diana Butler Bass did this and wrote a book about it. Good book. I just want to do it myself.
3. What would you make sure to pack in your suitcase or backpack to make the pilgrimage more meaningful? Or does "stuff" just distract from the experience?
Laptop. Notebooks to write in. Camera to record. Texas gifties (I'll bring you something with a bluebonnet on it!) That's all.
4. If you could make a pilgrimage with someone (living, dead or fictional) as your guide, who would it be? (I'm about thisclose to saying "Besides Jesus." Yes, we all know he was indispensable to those chaps heading to Emmaus, but it's too easy an answer)
Hmm, I'd like to take my mom, or my favorite seminarian. Or someone else who could have the experience with me and process it afterward.
5. Eventually the pilgrim must return home, but can you suggest any strategies for keeping that deep "mountaintop" perspective in the midst of everyday life? (don't mind me, I'll be over here taking notes)
If I ever got to take the pilgrimage I describe, I would indeed want to share what I learned; at least with the blogosphere or my local congregation. I think doing so might keep it more alive.
