Since I
returned from my last trip on the Camino in September I have been musing about
it’s role and significance in my life. This has had an increased importance as
I prepare physically, psychologically and spiritually for the next section in
March. What am I walking the Camino for? What am I getting out of it? What
value does it have for me?
As a
committed Bible-believing Christian it is certainly not for the traditional
Catholic reasons; I know that I cannot earn points with God or have a portion
of my sins wiped out by going on pilgrimage. Jesus makes it abundantly clear in
the gospels that the “scandal” of the gospel is that all we have to do is
surrender our lives to him and believe in faith that through his death and
resurrection all the wrong things we have done in our life are forgiven and
they will be – I know that peace and assurance in my own life and I know
nothing I can do additional to what happened on the Cross will ever impress
God. No, I just have to accept Jesus’ death as being everything I need to have
right standing with God. So, given that, what value does walking the Camino
have?
I think I
got an answer recently as I watched a BBC TV programme called “Secrets of the
Castle”. Three archaeologists Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold spent
six months working at the largest archaeology experiment in the world; in the
forests of Burgundy in France, archaeologists are painstakingly building a
medieval castle, Chateau de Guedelon using 13th Century techniques.
The whole project will take about 25 years and the castle is half way through
it’s construction!
I am always
on the lookout for any references to the Camino on TV and in the final episode
Ruth Goodman visited the Benedictine Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vezelay in Northern Burgundy. The
Cathedral was the starting point of the Chemin
de Vezelay which ran 900km to join the Chemin
de Paris and the Chemin de Puy at
St Jean Pied De Port. Medieval pilgrims coming from Maastricht, Aachen, Namur
and Auxerre all passed through the city.
Ruth
Goodman examined the extraordinary Romanesque sculpture on the Tympanum and
lintel above the main portal of the church with another historian, who pointed
out the bizzarre figures in the far right corner of the lintel; they have enormous elephant – like ears! Although there is some debate concerning their
meaning it is generally thought that the large ears refer to the opening lines
of the 6th Century Rule of St Benedict of Nursia which says
“Listen,
my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your
heart”
The bible
also says the same thing – for example in Proverbs 23:12, where it says:
“Apply your heart to instruction and your
ears to words of knowledge”.
It is not enough to hear with our physical
ears, we also need to listen spiritually
to God with our hearts. For example, sometimes my wife says something to me while I am also watching TV or busy on the computer and I hear her, but I am not actually listening and couldn't tell you a word she said! So often in the busy-ness of our personal prayer times, where we bring our lists of things to God, or in the midst of our hectic busy church meetings, we claim to hear God speak, but aren't really listening.
In the New
Testament, the original Greek uses a word to express this idea – Hupakouo
which means to hyper-listen like
a porter at a door, but it also carries with it the meaning of not just hearing
a command but being responsive and being obedient to it. The porter had to not
just hear his master when he knocked at the door but also open it to let him
in. So, Jesus says in Revelation 3:20:
“I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I
will come in and eat with that person, and they with me”
The main
difference between Christian meditation and the Eastern forms so popular in
Western Society nowadays is that apart from the fact that Christians fill their
minds with God’s word, whereas in eastern mysticism the mind is emptied, the main aim of Christian Meditation is not for unity with an amoral cosmic
consciousness, but so that we can hear God, (who loves us and longs to have relationship and intimacy with us) more clearly and then respond and obey what he says to us.
That for me
personally, is the real purpose of the Camino; modern life is full of noise and
it can be hard not only to hear God but listen to what he says. Taking time out
of normal life to walk and experience solitude allows me to
hyper-listen and hopefully let Jesus deeper and deeper into my heart.
