Pilgrimage: A Kinetic Ritual

by Paul Harrow, director of pilgrimage ministries

“What most distinguishes the sacred art of pilgrimage from a tourist trip or hiking expedition… is the characteristic inward journey, a turning of one’s heart to the Divine, with the expectation of transformation...” – Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook 1 

The ancient, spiritual discipline of pilgrimage has been practiced by people from diverse religious backgrounds for centuries. It has within it a rich and epic history of devotion, daring, and myth. Out of this fascinating history, a modern adaptation of the ancient discipline has emerged. It’s based on the incredibly popular, and very old, Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in northern Spain. Analyzing the Camino de Santiago, as practiced today, we can discern 7 attributes that define this and other modern spiritual pilgrimages:

1. Walking a long distance (usually on an historical route)

2. In response to a calling

3. Over a number of days

4. To a destination of some spiritual significance

5. Usually a far distance from your home

6. Embracing some levels of simplicity, difficulty, discomfort and growth

7. With the intent to encounter God in everything that happens along the way

These attributes all work together to distinguish pilgrimages from vacations or tourist trips or hiking expeditions. Yet even still, we could distill it down further to the 2 attributes which hold the keys to unlocking the power of this discipline: 

1. Walking a long distance 

2. With the intent to encounter God in everything that happens along the way

A Walking God

Jesus walked a lot. His public ministry lasted about 3 years, during which it is estimated that he walked over 3,000 miles. Over the course of Jesus life, he walked nearly 25,000 miles!3  Walking was a HUGE part of Jesus’s and his disciples lives. Our God, on Earth, was a walking God. In understanding this, walking becomes a fascinating discipline in helping us more closely identify with Jesus’s life on Earth. In walking, we participate in living like he lived. It is Christlike to walk. It grounds us to the earth. It immerses us in the weather. It pushes and strengthens our bodies. It enlivens our senses and produces encounters with people & wildlife. 

The simplicity of walking also frees our minds to wander along with us as we slowly traverse the land. It disconnects us from our comfortable, modern, day to day lives. We often go from temperature-controlled houses, in temperature-controlled cars, to temperature-controlled buildings, seeking “rock-star” parking spots to AVOID walking. We stare at screens all day long while in a state of near constant communication. On pilgrimage, we are embracing a slower, less controlled, less comfortable, simpler lifestyle. Life on pilgrimage is basic. We navigate, endure the weather, find something to eat, find a place to sleep, and then do it all again day after day until we reach our destination. Jesus’s entire life was pilgrimage, in the spiritual sense, but also in the walking sense. 

In our culture, we have lost the walking ethos under which Jesus lived and that is a loss because it has meaning and importance for us beyond it's practicality. Richard Rohr puts it simply: “On pilgrimage, people are changed through the simple act of walking.”2  Walking long distances, with the intent to encounter God, changes us. 

Victor and Edith Turner, in their book "Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture"  explain it like this, "pilgrimage as a religious act is a kinetic ritual". 4

For the pilgrim, walking becomes a "kinetic ritual", a physical prayer, where our mind, body and spirit can be involved together in devotion to God engaging in an activity that He designed us for. God built us to walk. It is fundamental to our humanity and our life with God. In the classical discipline of pilgrimage we are using walking to be with Him.

The Intent to Encounter God

For followers of Jesus, “the intent to encounter God” 1 is certainly where we find the deeper value of the discipline. It is our intent that transforms any action into a spiritual discipline. Fasting, with intent to focus on God. Silence, solitude, or simplicity with intent to focus on God. Walking, with intent to focus on God. Most acts of discipline can be done with no sense of devotion to God and no intention of relationship with Jesus. You can fast, be silent, be alone, be simple, and walk long distances without any thought of God at all. What makes these activities come alive as spiritual disciplines is our intent. 

“A pilgrim is on a physical journey, with a simultaneous inward journey of turning their heart to the divine.” - Kujawa-Holbrook. 1  

Some would call this “turning the heart to the divine”, repentance. Walking, with a repentant heart, turned towards God, open to hearing his voice, watching for his presence, and expecting inner transformation on our journey is the heart of what makes pilgrimages, pilgrimages. It’s an amazing process that unfolds where “The pilgrim’s walking body holds incarnate this inner journey of the soul.” 2  

So again we understand that pilgrimage truly is both an outward journey and an inward journey where walking, with intent to encounter God, creates a uniquely physical type of prayer.

1 Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, Pilgrimage—the Sacred Art: Journey to the Center of the Heart (Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths, 2013)

2 Richard Rohr, On Pilgrimage: Lourdes, Holy Land, Assisi, Rome (Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media: 2014), CD.

3 Miles Jesus and Mary Walked. blessitt.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://blessitt.com/miles-jesus-and-mary-walked/ 

4 Turner, V. W., & B., T. E. L. (1978). Image and pilgrimage in christian culture: Anthropological perspectives. Columbia University Press.