Brett Webb-Mitchell: Practicing Pilgrimage

Practicing Pilgrimage: On Being and Becoming God's Pilgrim People is both an exploration of the theological, cultural and spiritual roots of Christian pilgrimage, and is a "how to" book on doing pilgrimage in our suburban backyards, city streets, rural roads, churches, retreat enters, and our everyday life.

The need for such a book came from being on many actual pilgrimages over the years. There were some pilgrimages, like to Chimayo, NM, in which the Catholic Diocese of Santa Fe provided instructional material for doing a pilgrimage with their group of pilgrims, but the Camino de Santiago de Compostela has no actual guide for how to make the walk to the Cathedral an actual pilgrimage per se, save for the holy place people are walking toward, day after day. This book provides such religious practices, so that any hike, walk, or journey, by foot, bike, horse, kayak, or wheel chair, can become a pilgrimage!

The other aspect of this book that makes it novel is the realization that an actual, intentional pilgrimage actually opens a person up to the possibility of seeing one's daily, Christian life as an ongoing pilgrimage.  Over 27 times in the four Gospels, Jesus calls his followers to "follow me", yet we have a hard time figuring out how to do exactly that. We stumble, our attention is diverted, we easily get weary.  This book provides practices in which daily life can be shaped around not only the metaphor but the practices of a daily pilgrimage.

This book is my tenth book published. As a pilgrim, speaker, writer, ordained Presbyterian pastor parent, partner, and pet lover, in writing this book I am reminded of how much I am called to be a teacher, a change agent, in the life of the Church, the body of Christ.  This book is my third book on pilgrimage, and is a real practical, how-to, teaching book.  You can purchase this book on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Powell's, or local bookstore.