Tourists, students and pilgrims

MAY 18—Casual readers of this blog can easily get the idea that we are a group of tourists. This is partly true. The sheer number of sites we’re visiting is overwhelming. Each day brings a new agenda of places to go and things to see. We meet a few people too, but this itinerary is not oriented toward relationship. Nor is it vacation. It is primarily educational, and partly pilgrimage.

What do I mean by that? The educational component is straightforward. We listen to lectures from resident experts and visit many historic sites. We did a lot of background reading before we came. Many on the trip are students who will receive university course credit (once they satisfactorily complete their papers, of course). There is much to learn. We are being exposed to a considerable amount of information and we trust that our brains are absorbing important facts and ideas.

But this Journey to Two Holy Lands is much more than a study trip. For many of us it’s a journey of the heart as well. It is a religious venture. It is an expedition of personal discovery. It’s an opportunity to be in places where pilgrims go, to worship in various locations in ways that are new to us. We seek greater context for familiar texts. Many of us also aspire to fresh encounters with the living God.

Can we properly embrace this pilgrim spirit in the brief minutes between bus rides and information dumps? Can a few precious moments in the nave of a church or the quiet of a garden satisfy the searching soul? Can the rich resonance of pilgrim prayers pierce beneath the tourist’s veneer and touch the heart with the things of God? Will sacred texts come startlingly alive in the very places they describe?

The answer is “sometimes.” Sometimes in the midst of a busy day in a noisy place the calming Spirit of God touches deep within. Sometimes the words of the Bible explode with new meaning. Sometimes the beauty of the art and the devotion of the caretakers of holy sites impress a sense of deep significance for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Tourists, it’s often said, pass quickly through places. But places and peoples pass slowly through pilgrims.

For me this venture is billed a pilgrimage to understanding. I want to learn as much as I reasonably can about the geography, history, politics and culture of these places. But that’s not enough. I also want a greater appreciation of the places and the people, and I nurture an ardent desire to experience more fully the glory and the power of the living God.