I tell groups that they will experience their participation in a study tour in at least three ways: as pilgrims, students, and tourists.
Tourists come to gather experiences, photos, and souvenirs. As tourists we are consumers. Of course there are now special ways of re-configuring tourism, like "eco-tourism" or "tourism with a purpose," by which is meant doing volunteer work for a time before savoring some beach time. Being a tourist is great fun. And it has its place. I love being a tourist. I have no responsibilities. And I escape the hectic life at home in exchange for a completely different kind of hectic. And that can be rejuvenating for a time.
On a study tour like this one, we find ourselves immersed in learning. We become students for a large part of every day. We visit ancient historical sites. We listen to our guide explain the historical context of the site. We hear the stories of local people, Jews, Christians, and Muslims. We ask questions and hope to learn from their experience of living in this troubled land.
And we are pilgrims who come prayerfully. We hope to enter the biblical story not only in our imaginations, but also with our feet firmly on the ground. I don't always understand the pilgrim ways of some of the people I see. I can't kiss the stones in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as some do. Yet I want to enter the story through the land and through its people today. The land, as Saint Jerome put it, can be a "fifth gospel." But it's not holy just because Jesus or Elijah walked here. What's holy is what happens, wherever we happen to find ourselves, as we are transformed to be agents of peace and reconciliation, in genuine community with others (even enemies).
Somewhere I received this quote about being a pilgrim: "There is a reason why the pilgrim’s journey involves going somewhere else. In order to experience transformation, the pilgrim must become vulnerable—he must expand his edges, crossing borders into new and unfamiliar territory. When the pilgrim journeys to a place beyond what he calls “home,” his senses are heightened, his vulnerabilities are brought to the surface and his perceptions are tested. In allowing these different parts of himself to come to the surface, he is able to be fully present in his journey amidst the discomfort and uncertainty, the mystery and the beauty." - From "Pilgrim Principles" by Lacy Clark Ellman, founder of A Sacred Journey Blog
One of the best resources on Christian pilgrimage to the land of the Bible is Tom Wright's book The Way of the Lord: Christian Pilgrimage Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999).
Here is the publisher's blurb for the book: "The Way of the Lord is a book to be read with Christian pilgrimage in mind, whether one is traveling to the Holy Land physically or merely in heart and mind. Tom Wright, a world-renowned expert on the New Testament and the life of Jesus, offers a guide to pilgrimage that also serves as an inspirational introduction to the Christian faith. / Wright explores all the sites that travelers usually visit on a tour of the Holy Land, explaining not only what is to be seen but also the context of faith that makes these sites, and the events associated with them, famous around the world. By weaving together Old and New Testament stories, poetry, and original insights, Wright helps readers enter imaginatively into each scene. He also sprinkles his narratives with reflections on the nature of pilgrimage generally and with discussion of vital contemporary issues related to the Holy Land. Vividly evoking the sights, sounds, and smells of the Holy Land, The Way of the Lord is ideal for both individual and small-group study, for anyone planning a pilgrimage or for those just setting out on the spiritual journey of the Christian life."
One reviewer on the amazon.com website offers a few perceptive comments on pilgrimage, and on the book: Gregory of Nyssa went out of his way to criticize the practice [of pilgrimage], arguing that it is important to be close to God and one's neighbors and that pilgrimage made no contribution to accomplishing either imperative. And in more recent times, C. S. Lewis asserted, "The significance of the incarnation is not that God is a god of one place to the exclusion of others; it is that he is a god of all places, active in his world . . . God is to be found especially in people; namely those in need and in the gathered community of the Church . . . It follows that to set off on a journey to grow nearer to Christ is at best a complex matter. It might be that the true search is among those in need . . ." For the ardent pilgrim, Lewis commends the words of Matthew 28.6: "He is not here; he is risen." There is a certain logic to Lewis's position, but at the same time, it misses an important point. Pilgrimage is not about going to a particular place to find God. It is about putting ourselves in a particular place so that God can find us. For people who struggle with the concept of pilgrimage and who are inclined to side with Gregory or Lewis, Tom Wright's brief, readable work on pilgrimage will be a welcome guide. Former Dean of Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire, England, and the new Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey, Wright grew up in the evangelical tradition. He heard little or nothing about pilgrimage early in his life and his first exposure to the practice left him with doubts not unlike those expressed by Lewis. But much to his surprise, he discovered that "one can learn to discover the presence of God not only in the world, but through the world." This growing realization prompted him to write this sage little work that not only serves as an introduction to the practice of pilgrimage but is also, by design, "a refresher course, from an unusual angle, on what might be called `Christian basics'." Using locations in the Holy Land where Jesus walked, talked, and healed, Wright takes the reader on a virtual pilgrimage, combining biblical scholarship with catechesis and inspirational challenge. But Wright is never facile or dogmatic. His closing paragraph provides a taste of the rest: "We do not go on pilgrimage, then, because we have the answers and want to impose them. That would make us crusaders, not pilgrims; the world has had enough of that, and I dare say God has had enough of that. We go on the pilgrim way, we follow the way of the Lord, because he himself is the way - and, as he said himself, the truth and the life as well. We go to meet him afresh, to share his agony, and to pray and work for the victory he won on the cross to be implemented, and for his way to be followed, in Israel and Palestine, in our own countries and in the whole world."
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