Pilgrimage: The spiritual journey to find God all around us
Tracy Balzer – author, campus pastor, Christos Spiritual Direction alum and passionate leader of pilgrimages – talks about her journey through spiritual direction and the sacred places of pilgrimage, especially in the cradles of Celtic and contemplative spirituality in Scotland and Ireland. Tracy is the author of Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey Into Celtic Christianity (Leafwood); A Listening Life (Pinyon); and Permission to Ponder: Contemplative Wisdom for the Spiritually Distracted (Leafwood); and A Journey of Sea and Stone: How Holy Places Guide and Renew Us (Broadleaf). tracybalzer.com
Question: What drew you to the whole idea of Celtic spirituality?
Tracy Balzer: Years ago, I walked into a bookstore and found a book called The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Transformation by Esther De Waal. Back then, I didn’t fully know what “Celtic” meant – although I was working at John Brown University, which had a connection to Ireland, specifically Northern Ireland. So I started connecting the dots. The book not only brought me an accurate, historical definition of “Celtic,” but it presented a doorway to a new (for me) yet ancient way of enjoying God. It showed a faith that is all-inclusive – a way of praying that made Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing” seem possible. Christian Celts had an experiential, holistic expression of faith – seeing God in every place and in every moment. The book revealed a part of my Christian history, this legacy that was left behind by Christian monastics who were trying to emulate the life of the desert mothers and fathers, in places like what is now Ireland and Scotland.
Q: In your book Thin Places, you talk about the concept of places where the physical and spiritual worlds come to touch each other – an idea that the Celts call “thin places.” What happens to us in those places?
TB: Celtic thin places are not merely historical sites where something significant happened to someone else once, long ago. A truly thin place is any environment that invites transformation in us, that creates a space and an atmosphere that inspires us to be honest before God and to listen to the deep murmurs of His spirit. Thin places are all around us, not just at dramatic pilgrimage sites far away. The Celts taught us the spiritual discipline of being alert and being attentive to God’s presence in all places.
Q: Your thoughts on pilgrimage have their roots in St. Patrick and his ministry. How has that played out for you in your own work and ministry?
TB: I was intrigued by Celtic traditions because of their location but also St. Patrick’s ministry to the pagans who had lived there, and the way he was able to connect with them so effectively. I was also struck by the way the Celts embodied their own faith, which is very much like a Benedictine principle of praying at all times, and in all situations, as ordinary as they might be. Many Christians feel that prayer can be a burden because we might not know how to do it right, or we feel self-conscious about it. I love the Celtic pattern of prayer, praying for ordinary things like washing your face in the morning and being aware of God at that moment, or putting on clothes in the morning and be asking to be clothed with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. That kind of very ordinary praying can be very life-giving to modern Christians.
Q: How did the island of Iona (off the northwest corner of Scotland) become a destination in your own journey, and in the pilgrimage trips that you lead?
TB: The Isle of Iona is known as one of the thinnest of places, where the dividing line between heaven and earth is tissue-paper thin. Many call it the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland more than 1500 years ago, and the monastery was a holy and important place. The island itself has become a spiritual director to me. Its attraction is that combination of beauty, nature and history, and the thousands and thousands of prayers that have been prayed there before. It’s a sacred place not because God is more present there, but that it helps us be more present to Him. It’s remote and doesn’t have much in the way of services. And yet every time every time I take a group of people on a pilgrimage, the group comes away full. We go to a place that doesn’t have much, yet I find out that it has everything and more than I need. The key is to recognize that Iona and other sacred places have the power to break into our daily lives here and now – to teach us to find God, and shalom. The gift of a place like Iona is that it helps us pay closer attention to what God is doing and how the Spirit may be calling us.
Q: You mention in your writings that a pilgrimage doesn’t have to be a far-away place. It can be five minutes away, it can be in your own home, somewhere that you already “know.” How can busy people make that happen?
TB: A pilgrimage may not be a spectacular trip or be part of a grand plan. It’s about awareness, separation, taking time and space away and paying attention to God in the world. We hosted an artist on our campus last weekend from New York City. He lived in the city and had never been on a campus like ours for a long period. He kept saying, “this is so different from the life that I live, that is fast and demanding, and I feel like being here even affects the way I do my art.” Sometimes you need to get away from whatever your current rhythm is, and do something different, where you are less likely to get distracted. Find a trail to walk or someone's cabin to borrow or even go into a city and go into a hotel for a night. Set out to do something that awakens the senses to the truth that God is present all around us.
Q: How has your Christos experience shaped your ministry?
TB: I graduated in 2007, just as my book Thin Places was coming out. It was a remote program, with few of the online tools we use today. I think I used floppy disks to listen to classes! Many years before, when my husband was in seminary, I met a woman who was this wonderful, amazing person filled with the Holy Spirit, but also sensitive to the health and well-being of the soul. She called herself a spiritual director, and I asked her if I could start meeting with her. We met for a few years and the value of that experience was planted in me. When it came time for me to train to be a spiritual director, I must have found Christos online, in those early Googling days. I loved what I read about Christos. It was a good fit, and I was so grateful that it worked out, was financially feasible and doable with my job and my kids. As a campus pastor for many years, spiritual direction was absolutely a gift. If a student came to me and asked something like, “Could you be my mentor” or “Could I meet with you regularly,” I’d I say, well yes, but let me tell you a little bit about how I feel myself being in that role. What I think I can help you do is help you listen for the voice of God in your life. We would not have what I would call a formal spiritual direction relationship, but I always listened to them and asked them questions with that framework in my mind and heart.
READ MORE ABOUT PILGRIMAGE
Genesee Diary by Henry Nouwen – A chronicle of his experience uprooting and spending a season at the Benedictine Abbey of the Genesee in New York
The Way is Made by Walking by Arthur Paul Boers – His experience on the famous pilgrimage route Camino de Santiago in Spain, France and Portugal
Pilgrimage: Center for Action and Contemplation Weekly Meditation, March 2023 by Fr. Richard Rohr - https://cac.org/daily-meditations/pilgrimage-2023-03-11/