Tourists and Pilgrims

So, in the new world of ‘spiritual tourism’, the Emerging Church Movement is seeking to missionally assist people to shift from being spiritual tourists to Christian pilgrims (Wikipedia)

I like the metaphor contrast between “tourists” and “pilgrims” because it raises the issue of intent. Why are we inquiring into the nature of God–curiosity or mission? Or some point on a continuum between the two?

The traveling metaphor opens up the whole vista of retirement and how it gets defined. Is retirement an opportunity to explore everything: every book, every place, every food, every cultural event I have missed during my working years? Or is it a purposeful search for new definition or mission now possible through liberation from an imposed work schedule? Or am I on a journey that varies between tourism and pilgrimage from day to day?

The question first posed itself as I explored the wild world of single women on Match.com.  I went there rather purposefully to find a wife after eighteen months of widowhood. I was not fooling around, but then again I was not the kind of person who usually “fooled around.”

On Match I viewed a lot of women who wanted a traveling companion, not to see anything particular, but merely to travel. I found a number of women who had rich lives with children and grandchildren and seemed more inclined to travel short distances and/ or camp. There were quite a few who just liked local events, like concerts and plays and were looking for a regular date to attend them. I did not really fall into any of these categories, but I wasn’t sure if I was pilgrim or tourist.

I briefly dated one woman who explicitly stated she wanted her retirement to have a purpose. Even her Match profile said she had a vision for working for the elderly or some other social cause.  On a date she would say, “You don’t give up  your purpose, just by retiring.” She was the only one of five or six women I dated who would talk like that, but that resonated with me.

Later I started dating Victoria, because I had read on her Profile she wanted to meet someone who understood her idea of life as “a meandering journey bolstered by faith.”  This sounded like an intriguing compromise between the tourist and the pilgrim, and she was prepared to play both roles skillfully.

Whereas I was cautiously approaching retirement, Victoria had been retired for more than a few years and could see her life as an adventure with surprising twists and turns. But she also wanted to know God and whatever calling might come of that. She could talk of those two paths as if they were one,  or at least cris-crossing frequently. Tourists were pilgrims, and pilgrims were tourists.

It was strikingly liberating to think this way– that one role was not to the exclusion of the other. The “meandering journey” could take you on vacations that became pilgrimages or pilgrimages that could become vacations. And maybe the whole distinction amounted to nothing more than a perception, not a reality.

The only stumbling block would come when someone would inevitably ask, “So, Bill, what will you do in your retirement?” assuming that I had a well-considered plan. I wanted to sound like I was going to be either a beach bum or a social crusader, when, in fact, my future was scrambled possibilities of the two.  Who would I be, the tourist or the pilgrim?

When I think of my spiritual identity, I know I am a pilgrim, believing that God will make my retirement life just as meaningful as my professional life as a teacher educator, a very satisfying life. I believe there is a destination now as always, but there may be some meandering to get there. (Thanks, Victoria).  Pilgrims have a destination, but if they are led by the Spirit, they don’t map out every stop along the way. They appreciate the spontaneity of the journey as much as the destination.

So maybe we need a new metaphor for the spiritual journey, maybe a “voyage, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”  Maybe a “Choose your own adventure” game, where every choice precipitates new destinations.  Maybe like the peculiar game of “quidditch,” which appears to be about scoring goals, but suddenly transforms into a single event, capturing the “Golden Snitch.” “Catching the Snitch ends the game and scores the successful Seeker’s team 150 points. As the team with the most points wins, this often guarantees victory for the successful Seeker’s team.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quidditch

So I have stopped thinking of retirement as a binary choice and now deal in sanctified oxymorons: the wacky pilgrimage, the destination without itinerary, the unimagined voyage, the errand of a lifetime. If you ask where I will be going, and I say, “Gods-knows-where,” that is exactly what I mean.

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *