Pilgrimage Walk No 1

Well, yesterday we had our first pilgrimage walk. If you've no idea what I'm talking about you might like to read more about what we were up to.

In the end we left the starting point at around 11.30, and it took us about 2 hours to walk to the priory ruins at Much Wenlock. The children all did amazing walking (though some are way too big to be in back packs still!), and we had plenty of stops for prayers and snacks along the way. The journey was beautiful, through cider orchards and woods, over a stream, through several fields and finally through the village of Much Wenlock.

Wenlock Priory was dedicated to St Milburga, the first Abbess of the original Anglo Saxon monastery who was later canonised because she was said to be able to talk with birds. Consequently, the focus of our walk was our place in and as part of nature, divine creation, mother earth. And we used the famous prayer of St Francis of Assisi, the Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon, as the liturgical centre of our ceremony in the priory. I've uploaded our version of the Canticle to this page, which you can download at your whim.

This was our essential thought for the walk:

Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society
--Saint Francis

The intention behind the idea of a pilgrimage walk is to follow in the footsteps of the ancient Christian tradition of pilgrimage¹. In a pilgrimage, all parts of the journey are sacred. The journey there is time to prepare one's self for encountering God at the destination, the holy site at the end of the walk. Reaching the goal of the pilgrimage is time to 'celebrate' the experience through encountering God in spiritual rituals and simply being present on holy ground, and with fellow pilgrims, family and friends in food and time together. But the journey back is also highly significant as a time to reflect on our encounter with God and to ask how we are now different and examine how we can affect our world as a result of this experience of God.

Yesterday we weren't able to make the journey back, unfortunately - the rain started to come down soon after lunch, which made walking back with the children a bit much to take on. Nonetheless, we stood in the car park of the priory and completed our ritual.

So, for those who were there on the walk, I hope you enjoyed it and found it a stimulating time, and hopefully found it an experience in which you were able to encounter God.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and reflections on the spiritual pursuit of God in pilgrimage, as well as general practical thoughts and ideas of how we might be able to adapt and improve things for the future.

We currently thinking about doing another walk in about five or six weeks' time, so keep an eye out for the events diary and the mini calendary and list of upcoming events in the right hand column. If you're reading this, you're welcome to come.