Tag Archives: pilgrimage
Newer postsAll About Ulm
Ulm is an amazing city and made us feel once again some regret at the haste of our onward journey. A particularly nice detail about the place is that it was the home of Felix Fabri, a Dominican monk who … Continue reading
Walking and Sleeping through Church History
The one thing better than 8½ hours of sleep while hiking is 9 hours of sleep. I discovered this by awaking non-groggy, refreshed, and energetic for today’s walk. In fact it finally came home to me that I have exactly … Continue reading
Why Luther Went to Rome
Motivation is one of the most difficult things to determine, even for people who are alive, as any therapist will tell you. The shelves of Luther biographies have accumulated more than their fair share of psychoanalysts. And not without reason. … Continue reading
Here I Walk at the Wall Street Journal
Another article about our pilgrimage! Take a look at today’s “Houses of Worship” column in the Wall Street Journal to read “Walking 1,000 Miles in the Footsteps of Martin Luther.”
Here I Walk on First Things
Our sponsor First Things is featuring an article on our pilgrimage on the website today, “Here I Walk, I Cannot Do Otherwise.” Click over and take a look!
Scenic Trails and Pilgrims’ Routes
I grew up hiking in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Roads and buildings are relatively new in my home state of Washington. A few date back a hundred years. Most were constructed in the last fifty. And so when you go to the woods, you get away from civilization. There really isn’t much of a choice, and we generally don’t mind it that way. Continue reading
Where Does It All End?
A reader asked recently about our destination. Obviously it’s Rome, but earlier we emphasized that getting to the destination is not the principal goal of a pilgrimage—otherwise we, at least, could skip the 1000 mile slog on foot and take … Continue reading
Prayers for the Journey
Along with blisters, bug bites, and hard beds, there’s something else you’re sure to encounter in mass quantity on a pilgrimage: prayer. Along the way we’ll be praying a short matins and vespers daily, based on the classic Western orders … Continue reading
Preparing to Pilgrim
The countdown ticker over on the right is relentlessly marching forward. At the Institute we are gearing up for our annual Summer Seminar—this year is Seminar #44—on the very cool theme of “Mission and Ecumenism in the Global Village: One … Continue reading
Where Luther Slept
We can’t know with any great certainty where Luther stepped for each of the 1500 km he walked during the six weeks of his southward journey. And even if we did, the chances that we could still walk in his steps would be pretty slim. He would have kept to major roads—really only muddy cart paths at the time. The problem is that many of these have become today’s roads and highways: hardly routes conducive to a pleasant walk.
We can know with a bit more certainty, however, where he laid his head at night. Continue reading
Pilgrims’ Paths
It’s hard to imagine them beneath eight-lane autobahns, above 10 mile tunnels, plying their way through industrial and commercial centers. But there they are, the pilgrims’ paths of yore. So often they are buried by asphalt, obscured by housing developments, or even lost in plain sight amongst the sensory jungle that constantly assaults our eyes and ears and noses. Thousands, even millions, retrace their steps daily. They are going to work, to school, to a meeting, hauling merchandise and equipment. They go in cars and trucks and trains and busses. Some hearty few go on bicycles, under their own power. Some still go on foot. We consider it a privilege to be among their number. Continue reading
The Space In-Between
When we tell people about this pilgrimage, of necessity we have to say that we’re going from Erfurt to Rome. But that turns out to be a strangely misleading statement. The thing about a pilgrimage is that you spend the least amount of time at your beginning and ending points. The bulk of the trip, the substance of it, the trip part of the trip, is all the time you spend in-between. Continue reading
