19th June Why ?

 

Grado to Salas. 22km

Is is the single word question that can and does generate 1001 different answers. Why...why are you walking the Camino? For some it is their 1st Camino whilst others are veterans, having walking various caminos that I have never heard off or even knew existed. Something draws them here and/or draws them back time after time. But what?

Many talk about the ethos of the camino, it's spirit, the lessons it teaches, the temporary family that gather, walk together and then disperse, the j'e ne said quois' that can't be captured by words. Many are here to find space, to think or not to think, to engage with something other than their 9-5 life they appear to temporarily disengaging from. Some seem lost and in search of something even if they don't know what. For others it's simply something on their bucket list, a simple  holiday or just a nice long walk

For Ernesto and Stefano, who although living in the same country, albeit at different ends, do not see each other whilst home and so this is a chance to reconnect for a short time doing something they both love. For Rocco, who has done innumerable caminos, this one is particularly poignant because it is in part to process the loss of his partner, who died from cancer last year, and whom he met walking the Camino del Norte. 

For me, well the time and space offered by the Methodist Church via this sabbatical, offers both the opportunity to engage with such a long distance walk but also to discern what shape and where my future ministry might be.

What is interesting, is that given it is in origin a pilgrimage walk to the site of supposed 'holy relics, faith is something that doesn't really crop up a great deal. Or at least not innately. One French man was walking the del Norte carrying a wooden cross in an attempt to proclaim his faith but he has been a very visible exception. 

Some folks given the possibility with their itinerary, might aim to stay the night at a convent or monestary but I suspect that is for the novelty rather than the religious connection. As I walk, I share what it is that I do ( to Ernesto and Stefano I am 'Father John...lol) and also why I am walking this particular camino at this particular time, seven years after I did my 1st one.Some people  engage with that, some just nod politely and ask 'more tea vicar?'

And yet I suspect most, irrespective of their visible, vocal or vocational beliefs, or lack of them, will attend the Pilgrims mass in the cathedral in Santiago, when they complete their particular camino. For there is something  special about that occasion that moves the soul of believers, agnostics and atheists.

And perhaps it will be at that moment, as the Botafumerio filled with incence swings high into the vaulted space above the alter, that those gathered there will realise that they have walked in the footsteps of millions of pilgrims, beginning way back in the 9th century, for whom the walk, to Santiago (and then back home again let's  not forget) was a whole lot more than just a nice walk in Spain.