Lessons of the Camino

I once walked 500 miles to attend a church service. Although I am by no means the kind of hardy person one might envision going on such a long, arduous journey, my physical achievement was not the most amazing aspect of this venture. Nor was it the fact that I, an ordained Mennonite minister, was on a pilgrimage, a practice normally associated with other parts of the church. Nor was it the fact that the route, Spain’s Camino de Santiago, is rapidly growing in popularity, with tens of thousands of sojourners undertaking it annually. Nor was it even that many, if not most, of those “pilgrims” profess no religious faith or affiliation. No; the most astonishing aspect of my journey was the way these secular seekers made me think about God.

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