What Is a Pilgrimage?

I consider my journey this year a pilgrimage, but when I thought about defining such a thing, I realized I didn’t really know what a pilgrimage was!  My favorite definition from the internet was a circular one–pilgrimage: a pilgrim’s journey.  So then I was stuck looking up “pilgrim,” which means “a person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons.”  For me, the final destination (Key West, FL) is not the important piece.  If there are sacred relics in Key West, I am not aware of them.

I am more mindful of Jacob’s journey, running away from his brother Esau, whom their mother, Rebekah, had heard threatening to kill him.  (There’s more to the story, which you can read in Genesis 27)  The cover story was that Jacob was on his way to their ancestral home to find a wife suitable to his parents.  Jacob stopped to rest for the night.  While there, he had a dream in which he saw a ladder or stairway resting on the ground, with its top reaching to heaven.  The angels of God were going up and down the stairway, and the Lord stood above it.  He bless Jacob and said, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”

6 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17)

Jacob set up a memorial stone there and gave the place a name, Bethel.  I believe that he discovered not the gate of heaven, itself, but that he discovered that every place is truly awesome, and each place is filled with God.  He did, after all hear the Lord say, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”

Adventure Cyclist, in their most recent issue, actually had an article about bicycling as pilgrimage.  They spoke with several people who had either begun a journey searching for a new direction in life, or who had found a new direction as a result of their journey.  Sometimes they found that new direction unexpectedly.  It was not something for which they were searching.

As I researched what various people meant by the idea of pilgrimage, one of the most interesting stories I encountered was about Mildred Lisette Norman Ryder, the Peace Pilgrim.  She walked across the US several times, eating when someone offered food, and then fasting until the next time she was offered food, and spreading the message of peace.  “This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.”  “When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others. ” (From Brainy Quote)  Or, in the words of Paul,  “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”  (Romans 12:17-18, 21)

This is my calling, to be an instrument of God’s peace.  I have been greatly disturbed by the divisions in our country.  As a person who knows and loves many people on “both sides” of the political divide, I am called to do my part to repair the bridges that have broken down amongst the American people.  I can’t do everything, and perhaps not even very much, but I am called to do my part.