The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

 When you have slogged up the granite streets of the last hill into the historical centre of Santiago you are first astonished and thrilled by the extravagance of the cathedral façade and towers; they have tantalized you so long in the slowly diminishing distance and now rise from the huge, bare and austere Praza do Obradoiro Recovering,  you cross that vast square and take your credencial, your pilgrim passport, to the pilgrim office. There an efficient row of clerks, who deal with some 100,000 pilgrims a year congratulate you briefly and inspect your credencial- to check that the stamps in it show that you have walked at least the requisite 100kms. Then they ask you to complete a short form. It asks your name and nationality and where you started and the reason or motivation for your pilgrimage. Was it religious, or a holiday or a bit of both? We were honest and ticked the both box and were presented with our Compostella certifying that we had completed the walk. No mention of an indulgence, which in the middle ages was the primary purpose of the pilgrimage. Had we ticked the purely religious box, perhaps we would have been given a different document. As they are all in Latin, it’s unlikely most pilgrims know- or perhaps care- about the distinction. 
 Pilgrimage is far from being a new phenomenon, but the huge and growing popularity of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella- El Camino- especially the Camino Frances from the Pyrenees, does ask for some explanation, and I hope a short reflection on certain aspects of it may interest and even stimulate- but I’m not expecting you to leap up and start walking after this service.
For some the pilgrimage is an extended marathon- a test of endurance, to be completed as quickly as possible. This is understandable enough, if you have come from far off and time is limited.  But to treat it as race means you miss rather a lot; there can be little awareness of the history and tradition of the pilgrimage. We met one man who was surprised to be told that there was a cathedral in Burgos. But such pilgrims were exceptional; most are conscious that they are following a very old path and, indeed, it was difficult to ignore the physical remains; medieval bridges, hostels and many churches and chapels dedicated to St James, and, of course, the ubiquitous scallop shells. A sense of history, even a sense of historical continuity, may be a component and even a catalyst for religious experience but it is surely not the same thing. The spirituality, or at least the spiritual motivation of mediaeval pilgrims, whose traces endure so tellingly along the path, is I think very different from that of contemporary pilgrims, although I can, of course, only speak from my experience. On that basis, I think it very doubtful that many of those tramping along the road with us were seeking an indulgence, nor would they even have taken the idea of getting time off purgatory, nor even purgatory itself, very seriously. And modern pilgrims, like their medieval forebears are not averse some fun on the way. We even passed a forest which was alleged to have been a 12th century open air brothel. As we passed by it was raining and not yet the 1st of May (not to mention the small matter of my being in the company of my wife and sister) , so I can’t say whether it was still operational.
But this is not at all to say that many, even most, modern pilgrims lack any religious motive. They may not be seeking an indulgence but in some sense and to some extent, many were seeking God. Not necessarily the Christian God, nor perhaps anything but a vague sense of the divine which they sought to work out en route. And indeed the pilgrimage is for some- perhaps more than realize it- a way of working out, understanding and developing a spiritual sense. There is plenty of time to think, as you walk along, and the landscape and flora and fauna are not always a distraction. The walk itself is seldom arduous and a single limited practical purpose, shared with others allows the mind to wander. It is in this way a real holiday with room for personal spiritual reflection.
That reflection is naturally stimulated by the historical sense which I have mentioned, and also the availability of formal religious experience. Churches and monasteries on the way often have special pilgrim masses and Pilgrim blessings which were, I guess, comparatively well attended. Most telling is the 12 o’clock Pilgrim mass every day in the harmonious Romanesque and Baroque splendour of Santiago Cathedral. This is the culmination of the pilgrimage, and it is packed; standing room only unless you get there well in advance. I was struck by the hundreds who were moved to take communion, despite what, I hope, were only half hearted, they were certainly futile, attempts by the administering clergy to restrict communion to Catholics. I was not alone in thinking that here was a religious experience bigger than any denomination.
This mass was the ultimate expression of incorporation, of the solidarity and camaraderie of Camino. Throughout, and even though we only walked the Camino in stages, we sensed the strong feeling of common endeavour and mutual support (although I confess to a selfish acceleration when we perceived the risk of finding only the top bunks left free in the next hostel) Equally striking  is the friendliness and generosity of local people . One might think that local would resent the constant stream of scruffy and usually either sweaty or soaked pilgrims trooping through their town or village, but we were at least tolerated and mostly welcomed with kindness. This communal sense has its own spiritual element, but it exists alongside what is an essentially individual enterprise; no one else can get to the top of the hill for you; only you can carry you pack.
The idea of pilgrimage as a metaphor for spiritual life, as journey, a way of discovery leading to salvation, is ancient and deep set. Whether they realize it or not, pilgrims are following a path set by Abraham and Moses leading their people though a journey in which God gradually reveals himself and which ends in a physical promised land. The most common reading at Pilgrim Blessings was Luke’s account of the walk to Emmaus; pilgrimage shares, or can share, with that story, the gradual intellectual revelation God’s working in the world leading to a vivid sense of his physical presence. As the two disciples recognized the risen Jesus in the breaking of bread, so medieval pilgrims would have felt themselves close to God as the hugged the relics of his apostle James. I hugged him too, but my feeling of closeness to God was in the experience of the Pilgrim Mass rather than any sense of a holy place.
Experiencing a holy or numinous place is still a feature- the major feature, I think, of modern pilgrimage. The sense of place on the Camino is different, but Equally striking is the friendliness and generosity of local people . One might think that local would resent the constant stream of  scruffy and usually either sweaty or soaked pilgrims trooping through their town or village but we were at least tolerated and mostly welcomed with kindness it reveals a possibly more useful metaphor. At it simplest this is contained in the simple fact that people often do the Camino twice or more frequently and for many it becomes a way of life. At a banal level, it’s an institution like any other, a way of taking a holiday and something to belong to. But there is also a religious element in this devotion which, while usually non-Christian, indeed, not formally religious at all, is nevertheless spiritual.  The road itself is numinous, or at least the experience of walking it somehow brings one closer to one’s full or ideal being. I confess I had to bite back some scepticism when hearing about these feelings, but I can’t deny their strength and value for those that held them.
 From a Christian standpoint what interested me was how such ideas can amplify our idea of life as pilgrimage. Pilgrimage shares with life, as Christians see it, an ambivalence about time and state. We are constantly moving forward, growing developing and eventually reaching a destination in our deaths when we hope for  reconciliation with God similar, at least in some shadowy respects, to that we hope for at the end of a pilgrimage. But we also have a longer, perhaps just other, timescale as we wait for a second coming and the end of time and culmination of creation. The experience of pilgrimage as a way of life reflects this; we can continue to seek the destination even though we have already been there. So we can continue to seek God’s grace even though we know we already enjoy it. It makes some sense- or at least provides a meaningful metaphor, for our constant striving for something which we already have.
This sermon has rambled rather; one expects pilgrimage to have a strong focus on its destination. And so to some extent it has. It also provokes the imagination and the path is full or diversions and variants. I hope these reflections of my experience as a modern pilgrim may be an inspiration of some sort, albeit only a sedentary one, for you.
Amen.