pilgrimage

Pilgrimages, Mountaintop Moments, and the Feast of the Transfiguration

This past week I returned from England where I was helping lead our youth pilgrimage. We had a wonderful time. We visited London and Canterbury and York and other small towns nearby. It was a wonderful pilgrimage.

 

What is a pilgrimage? Scholars who study pilgrimages say the word is hard to define. There are definitions that cover different aspects, but every definition leaves something out. The scholars say pilgrimage is a rather slippery term. But for today’s purposes, let’s define pilgrimage as a physical journey one takes to a place with the goal, the intention of some sort of spiritual deepening, growth in faith, encounter with the divine, seeking God.

 

Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “read more.”

Lent as a Pilgrimage

Today is the first Sunday in Lent, a season in the church calendar where we are bidden to engage in self-denial, fasting, prayer, repentance, and reading of Scripture — to prepare our minds and hearts to receive the gifts of Holy Week and Easter. One thing we don’t emphasize as much any more, but which historically has been an important part of Lenten piety, is pilgrimage, and especially pilgrimage to the Holy Land where the events of the Gospel took
place.