“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose hearts are the highways to Zion.” (Psalm 84:5, ESV).
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” (Psalm 84:5, NIV).
Psalm 84 is all about the House of God – the place where God dwells, the place where Heaven and Earth meet, the place where all that is wrong with the world is made right. The psalmist speaks of the loveliness of God's dwelling place, how he yearns and faints for God's courts, how one day spent in God's presence is better than a thousand spent outside of it.
At one level, this place is identified as the Temple – a specific building on a specific mountain, set apart as holy. At another level, though, it isn’t about a place at all. It’s about a journey. The pilgrim’s heart is set on the highways to Zion as much as on Zion itself; and she is called blessed not only when she arrives, but also as she journeys. What is more, she blesses all the places through which she journeys – she makes the Valley of Baca a place of springs, as the Autumn rain covers it with blessings (v6).
This was always the Way. Abraham was on a journey when he was seeking God's House, though he never saw it; Jacob was on a journey when he saw God’s House, though he was not seeking it; and we, as exiles, sojourners, and strangers in a foreign land, are on a journey, seeking God’s House even though we have already seen it.
***
I have been captivated by the idea of pilgrimage for years – so much so that I wrote a novella with pilgrimage as its central theme. This Easter, I decided to walk the talk. I travelled to a remote corner of West Ireland to traverse the Tochar Phadraig (St. Patrick's Causeway), a twenty-mile route from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick (St. Patrick's Mountain, locally known as 'the Reek').
Why did I chose this route? To be honest, I’m not really sure. Admittedly, there were some practical reasons. For one, I've always wanted to go to Ireland, and thanks to a new scheme it is possible to combine an Irish pilgrimage with the Camino Ingles, one of the famous routes to Santiago De Compostela in northwest Spain, this one used by British and Irish sailors in centuries past. The Tochar in particular was an ideal length – achievable over the weekend but still long enough to count towards the Camino, should I ever wish to complete it.
But there were also more romantic reasons. Of all the saints after which the Irish routes are named, St. Patrick resonated with me most strongly. Patrick’s life is a beautiful story of good overcoming evil, of redemption in the most unlikely of circumstances. As a child, he was kidnapped from his home in Britain and held captive in Ireland. After escaping back to Britain, he later returned to bring the Gospel to the island which now cherishes him as a patron saint. I was also attracted by the layout of the route. Something about walking towards a Lonely Mountain and finishing on its summit seemed in keeping with the Biblical idea of pilgrimage, in which the pilgrim walks on the “highways to Zion”.
Actually, technically speaking, the route doesn’t finish on the mountain. After descending, the pilgrim makes her way to sea – something which was to prove equally significant.
Continue the journey to Part II
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” (Psalm 84:5, NIV).
Psalm 84 is all about the House of God – the place where God dwells, the place where Heaven and Earth meet, the place where all that is wrong with the world is made right. The psalmist speaks of the loveliness of God's dwelling place, how he yearns and faints for God's courts, how one day spent in God's presence is better than a thousand spent outside of it.
At one level, this place is identified as the Temple – a specific building on a specific mountain, set apart as holy. At another level, though, it isn’t about a place at all. It’s about a journey. The pilgrim’s heart is set on the highways to Zion as much as on Zion itself; and she is called blessed not only when she arrives, but also as she journeys. What is more, she blesses all the places through which she journeys – she makes the Valley of Baca a place of springs, as the Autumn rain covers it with blessings (v6).
This was always the Way. Abraham was on a journey when he was seeking God's House, though he never saw it; Jacob was on a journey when he saw God’s House, though he was not seeking it; and we, as exiles, sojourners, and strangers in a foreign land, are on a journey, seeking God’s House even though we have already seen it.
***
I have been captivated by the idea of pilgrimage for years – so much so that I wrote a novella with pilgrimage as its central theme. This Easter, I decided to walk the talk. I travelled to a remote corner of West Ireland to traverse the Tochar Phadraig (St. Patrick's Causeway), a twenty-mile route from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick (St. Patrick's Mountain, locally known as 'the Reek').
Why did I chose this route? To be honest, I’m not really sure. Admittedly, there were some practical reasons. For one, I've always wanted to go to Ireland, and thanks to a new scheme it is possible to combine an Irish pilgrimage with the Camino Ingles, one of the famous routes to Santiago De Compostela in northwest Spain, this one used by British and Irish sailors in centuries past. The Tochar in particular was an ideal length – achievable over the weekend but still long enough to count towards the Camino, should I ever wish to complete it.
But there were also more romantic reasons. Of all the saints after which the Irish routes are named, St. Patrick resonated with me most strongly. Patrick’s life is a beautiful story of good overcoming evil, of redemption in the most unlikely of circumstances. As a child, he was kidnapped from his home in Britain and held captive in Ireland. After escaping back to Britain, he later returned to bring the Gospel to the island which now cherishes him as a patron saint. I was also attracted by the layout of the route. Something about walking towards a Lonely Mountain and finishing on its summit seemed in keeping with the Biblical idea of pilgrimage, in which the pilgrim walks on the “highways to Zion”.
Actually, technically speaking, the route doesn’t finish on the mountain. After descending, the pilgrim makes her way to sea – something which was to prove equally significant.
Continue the journey to Part II
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