In recent weeks I’ve been enjoying Martin’s letters from his journey along the Camino in the Pipeline. These have enabled me to catch a very small flavour of the challenges and joys of that long pilgrimage. I was struck by the positive experience Martin had in meeting up with a fellow pilgrim many days after thinking he had lost contact with the other’s journey.
The theme for our parish advent groups this year will be ‘Peace’ as we look forward to the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace. On Sunday December 15 instead of a discussion, the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation group will be offering a mini-pilgrimage on the theme of ‘Walking Together Builds Unity and Peace’.
Starting at the statue of Edith Cavell, who offered unconditional help to the wounded on both sides of the conflict in the First World War and was executed as a result, we will walk to Bloomsbury Baptist Church. Revd Dr Martin Luther King Jr spoke there in 1961 and earlier this year Revd Münther Isaac, the renowned pastor from Bethlehem, spoke of the apartheid nature of the current State of Israel and called for freedom for the people of Palestine and the upholding of international law. Our last stop will be the statue of Gandhi in Russell Square – a memorial to the man who sought freedom for the people of India in many ways but memorably through the non-violent Salt Marches.
At each of our stops we will pray for peace and for the courage to be peacemakers and will try, in the words of Pope Francis and in our own small way, to ‘Paint the streets of life with the Gospel’. Hopefully we can discover together, as happens on the Connection pilgrimage each year and as Martin found in remaking contact with his fellow pilgrim, that ‘Walking Together Builds Unity and Peace’. Put the date in your diary!
