Bill's Holy Land Pilgrimage Kit
-walking Holy Land where Jesus walked-
Article
Preparing for a Pilgrimage
by Rev. Bill Keeney
A pilgrim, according to Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, is a “journeyer in a foreign land.” It is an individual or a group, who, with purpose and a goal in mind, sets out to see, discover, experience and/or participate in a venue. Through out the history of humankind hundreds of millions have set upon a pilgrimage. They are looking to understand something about themselves and the goal they have in mind.
Pilgrimage is my passion. In the past eighteen months I ventured on two pilgrimages, both had deep meaning and significant benefit for me. Both involved the principles, which make for a revealing, learning experience.
Let tell you about the first, a pilgrimage undertaken by my wife and me to Iona, Scotland. Iona is one of the small islands in the Outer Hebrides and the birthplace of Celtic Christianity. The stories in my family placed us as an Irish clan who immigrated to Scotland in about 1650 and to Baltimore in 1785. The family was deeply rooted in Scottish Celtic Christianity, having a history of many pastors throughout the generations.
We wanted to see and experience the place that began Celtic Christianity, which has so heavily influenced The Church of England (Episcopalian) and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. So we immersed ourselves in preparation and study. Who was the one who began the movement? Why? How? Those questions led to a journey plan identifying the sites that should be included.
As we made preparation, we realized we would be seeing the sites as they are today, not as they were when the historic events took place. It would require that we use our imagination to envision the message the modern day preservers of the site wanted to convey and the message of the historic event. The Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746 near Inverness is an excellent example. Preserved as a memorial site, the Culloden museum shows many relics and documents from the time as well as presenting information about the events that led to the battle. The field outside preserves the ground on which the battle took place. In the middle of the battlegrounds stands a memorial to the men who fell that day. The fallen were buried, by clan, in mass graves surrounding the memorial. Many a Scotsman has come to the memorial to honor the memory of their ancestors and what they stood for --- namely, freedom from foreign rule, national pride, love of their land and loyalty to their clan and religious traditions. They were willing to give their lives under the leadership of “Bonnie Prince Charles” to regain what the English had taken from them in 1688. Because of marching for months and an all night march immediately before the fight, the tired Scots were out flanked and virtually slaughtered. Between the grave mounds, I let my imagination take over envisioning the battle. The screaming, shouting Scots armed with swords, clubs and spears charging the straight rows of musket bearing English soldiers. From the south the sudden flak appearance of more English soldiers. The cries of the Scots to fight till the last man. I left understanding the passion of the Scots and why to this day they still seek freedom from England.
To get to Iona one must catch a car-ferry at Oban, a town just south of Loch Ness. After departing the ferry, one drives the 32-mile length of the Isle of Mull on a very narrow one-lane road to park and catch another ferry to Iona. Transversing the Isle of Mull’s one-lane road is a challenge. You wind, twist, climb, descend and back-up for on coming busses, trucks, cars at an average speed of 10 miles an hour. Those who have recorded their pilgrimage experiences frequently speak about the hardships and how they maintained discipline and determination to continue.
St. Columba, a monk, priest and scholar and the founder of an abbey on Iona, is reputed to have become involved in a quarrel with Saint Finnian over a Psalter in 560 AD. There was a fight and many men were killed. A synod of clerics threatened to excommunicate him for the deaths, but Saint Brendan persuaded the synod to allow him to go into exile. Columba suggested that he work with the Gaelic-speaking Druid worshiping Picts of Scotland.
On Iona Columba built a small chapel, no longer standing although some of the stone is preserved in the northwest transept of the present day chapel. It is said that the average number of scholars under instruction at the site at one time in its history was 3,000. Again imagination played a key role. Walking the courtyard, kneeling in the chapel and strolling the cemetery where 23 kings are buried, became alive as I visioned the thousands upon thousands of believers and scholars who preceded me and surrounded me in that spot. I was there and they were there.
Columba recognized that the Druids believed that God was in every living thing. It is represented in their art with the entwined branches. He showed them that Christians believed the same and that God visited his living creation as a man in the person of Jesus Christ. At his base in Inverness, Columba visited the pagan king Bridei, to whom he became a friend and eventually baptized as a convert. Back on Iona his work turned his monastery into a school for missionaries. Columba’s Celtic movement is credited with Christianizing Scotland, Ireland, Northern England, Northern Europe and North America.
Once back home I reflected on our journey and discovered I am changed and have grown in my appreciation of the many branches of the church. Each has a reason for being. Something I read in the bookstore on Iona stays with me: “We are a church of Jesus Christ; we are not interested in the politics of the various branches.”
As I plan new pilgrimages I remember the principles I’ve learned: why do I want go there; what is the historical background; what can I learn about the venue before I go; prepare my self mentally, physically and spiritually for the pilgrimage; when visiting the sites, let my imagination become involved; and once home explore what happened to me mentally and spiritually.
By Bill Keeney, a free-lance writer. Copyrighted. Dr. Keeney recommends you visit http://www.billsholylandpilgrimagekit.com for help in planning a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Dr. Keeney grants permission to reprint this article provided his name and the site: “http://billsholylandpilgrimagekit.com” are included as they are here.