Soul Pilgrimage

Knowing God in Everyday Life

James E. Taylor, Jennifer M. Taylor

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781725280847, 9781725280823
• eBook ISBN: 9781725280854
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

I invite you to go on a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is a journey with a sacred goal. The sacred goal I have in mind for you is knowing God. Perhaps you're already on that pilgrimage. Perhaps you already know God. If so, I invite you to know God better.A literal religious pilgrimage involves going to a place. In the Christian tradition, pilgrims have journeyed to such places as Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela. Going to these places requires moving your body to them.But the pilgrimage I'm inviting you to start--or continue--is a pilgrimage for your soul. Your purpose on this pilgrimage will be to get your soul closer to God.A pilgrimage is something you do. On a literal pilgrimage, you have to keep your body moving in the same direction for a long time. Doing so requires using and caring for your body.On a soul pilgrimage, you have to keep your soul directed toward God for a long time. Doing so requires the use and care of your soul by means of engaging in various spiritual practices. Will you accept my invitation? Will you join my wife Jennifer and me on this soul pilgrimage?

I

This Is Eternal Life

“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God,and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

—John 17:3

1

The Promise

Why Does Knowing God Matter?

March 5, 2018, Santa Barbara (from Jennifer’s journal)

When Jeanie agreed to meet with Jim and me to tell us about her Camino experience, we were eager to hear from a veteran pilgrim.

A septuagenarian and former missionary, Jeanie told us she had earned her Compostela a couple of years earlier on a solo walk along the Camino de Santiago.

“What’s a Compostela, Jeanie?” My question exposed my ignorance.

“A Compostela is a Camino certificate of completion. To earn it, I gathered at least two stamps each day in my pilgrim’s passport.” We looked at her stamped Credencial del Peregino with awe. The dog-eared booklet showed wear due to the many stamps Jeanie had collected from the churches, hotels, and restaurants she’d visited along the way.

Jeanie reflected, “Arriving at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral was the culmination of a dream. For years, my late husband and I had talked of walking the Camino together. When he died unexpectedly, I decided I could still realize our dream, but I would need to do it on my own.”

The lovely Compostela Jeanie held in her hand proved she had completed her walk. As we talked, Jim and I learned she could have earned it with far less effort.

“Pilgrims can earn the Compostela by walking only the last sixty-two miles,” she said. “But I’m so glad I chose to walk more.” I took in Jeanie’s petite size, delicate skin, and shy smile. I would not have picked her out of a crowd to take on such a challenge.

“You could have realized your dream with a lot less rigor,” I said. “Instead, you walked four times the number of required miles. Why did you put in the extra effort? Why did it matter?”

Jeanie’s response told me how much the process had meant in achieving her goal. “I had some grieving to do.” She paused before she continued. “I needed to figure out what might come next in my life. As I collected information about the Camino, I felt encouraged. I decided more time on the trail would allow me space for contemplation and prayer. I became convinced it would be worth it. In the end, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” she said quietly, “but really good for me.”

Our visit with Jeanie prompted Jim and me to have our own conversation about the Camino later. What would make the experience worth the considerable effort? We both want to get away from obligations and distractions.

But we’re seeking more. At my age, I know life can change quickly. A job can be terminated unexpectedly. A fire can burn up a house and all its contents within hours. A bad fall can take the life of a beloved family member without warning.

Now we have an opportunity that’s too good to pass up. Jim’s interest in the practice of pilgrimage propels him. I’m ready to partner with him in the adventure. Earning a Compostela is a wonderful goal, and like Jeanie, we want to have a meaningful journey too.

Our Camino Pilgrimage Story: The Value of Walking the Camino

As Jennifer and I were deliberating about whether to travel to northern Spain to walk the Camino Francés to Santiago de Compostela, we had to decide whether the trip would be worth it. Would the costs we would incur be outweighed by the benefits?

The costs were clear. We would be spending a fair amount of money, a month of my sabbatical, and time away from our family members and friends. We would need to purchase hiking equipment and arrange for accommodations and various means of travel (airplane, train, bus, and taxi). We would need to practice walking long distances in advance of our trip and then spend a lot of time walking during our trip. Jennifer wasn’t surprised that I took these costs seriously. She knows I don’t spend money easily and like my ordinary routines.

We were also aware of the risks in addition to the costs. What if we got injured or sick? What if we were delayed due to a cancellation? What if we didn’t have the energy or strength to walk as far each day as we needed to reach our reserved accommodations? Since I tend to be risk averse in addition to being frugal, dwelling on these risks made me anxious. And my anxiety made me wonder if we should take the trip after all.

In the end, we realized it would be worth incurring these costs and taking on these risks if the rewards of walking the Camino compensated for them. But what would those rewards be?

We came to see that the valuable outcomes of a Camino pilgrimage were of two general sorts: (1) completing the journey by arriving in Santiago de Compostela so as to be qualified to receive a Compostela and (2) experiencing the journey itself from start to finish. So, the benefits can be thought of in terms of the product or the process—or both.

Some pilgrims value completing the journey more than the journey itself. A long time ago, the Camino was so full of hardships and dangers that many pilgrims saw walking it as merely a necessary means to reach the cathedral in Santiago where they could venerate the remains of St. James and receive a pardon for their sins from the Church.

More recently, many pilgrims have seen the experience of walking the Camino itself as at least as worthwhile as—and in some cases more worthwhile than—arriving in Santiago and being awarded a Compostela. Contemporary pilgrims take up the trail for various reasons, in some cases more spiritual than religious and in others more recreational than spiritual.

On the basis of the testimonies of other Camino pilgrims we know, we found ourselves motivated to go—in spite of the costs and risks—primarily to experience the Camino itself (and only secondarily to receive our Compostela). In spite of my money worries and fear of potential catastrophes along the way, my growing excitement about the promise of a Camino pilgrimage made me anxious to start our adventure!

The Value of Knowing God

A soul pilgrimage toward deeper personal and relational knowledge of God also involves costs and at least apparent risks. Ultimately, it costs your life. And to those who value their lives, it can seem like a risk to give one’s life to God (what if surrendering my life to God doesn’t pay off for me—or even makes me worse off in some way?). Perhaps you experience the decision about whether to embark on a soul pilgrimage as a dilemma—a choice that seems to have only bad consequences: either I lose my life or I lose God.

That’s how I’ve sometimes experienced it—starting with my emotional reaction as a thirteen-year-old to the visiting evangelist I mentioned in the Introduction. You’ll recall he told us converts we needed to “give our lives” to Christ—our whole lives! That seemed a scary idea to my eighth-grade self. What would my friends think? Would I still be able to have fun? My fears were alleviated to some extent when I overheard an adult during fellowship hour tell a friend her total dedication to the Lord gave her great joy.

But I continued to struggle with the decision nonetheless. The way I thought about it at the time was that though Jesus had become my savior, I hadn’t yet decided to make him my lord. Little did I know then that I would continue to wrestle with the need to surrender myself to God. The problem persisted even though my specific attachments continued to change over time. And one of the reasons the dilemma dragged on is that I considered my sacrifices something I had to do to be a “committed Christian” rather than something I wanted to do to know God more deeply.

Is a soul pilgrimage involving knowing God worth the real costs and apparent risks that go along with it? Like pilgrims who have decided to walk the Camino because of the rewards one can hope to attain by doing so, many soul pilgrims—like me—have decided it would be worthwhile to cultivate personal knowledge of God. We’ve decided that knowing God personally matters.

Of course, many people have decided that knowing God personally wouldn’t be worthwhile. These people can be compared to those who choose not to walk the Camino. Or they are like a young couple Jennifer and I met who decided early on to stop walking it.

We met Beth and Travis on a bus from Logroño to Nájera when we took a day off from walking so I could nurse a sore tendon. They told us they had started the Camino Fra...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: This Is Eternal Life
• Part II: My Own Know Me
• Part III: Growing in Grace and Knowledge
• Conclusion
• Bibliography