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Iona Abbey

I cannot say I’ve ever really gone on a serious pilgrimage. A tourist goes to see and collect while the pilgrim goes to encounter and be changed. I can’t say I’ve ever gone to some place in the spirit of a pilgrim though I’ve had pilgrim-like encounters. I’ve done lots of tourism and found myself a pilgrim all at once, as when Kris and I scaled Skellig Michael (to the left) this summer off the west coast of Ireland.

But some do go on pilgrimages. Tracy Balzer, for instance, is one of many professors who take students to classic pilgrimage sites. In her book, Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey into Celtic Christianity ,  she discusses her encounters with Celtic Christianity.

Recently I began reading Daniel Taylor’s exquisitely written book, In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands , and I’m finding so much that makes sense to me. Here one will not find one of those “go here and you will become transformed” or “go there and God will meet you,” but a gnarly realistic encounter with sacred places where he finds common experiences but overall experiencing a freshness to life.

Read on...

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UPDATE

HERE is the second article in this series on pilgrimage.

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