“…it remains the case that Christianity is not,
at its heart, a territorial religion.”
-N.T. Wright

You are a pilgrim. Whether or not you hold a passport, whether or not you’ve ever left your hometown, you are.  Since people began to write things down, they have been writing about journeys.  From the Epic of Gilgamesh dating back to around 2100 BC, to Kerouac or McCarthy, it is one of literature’s most reliably present themes. The journey is a part of everyone’s story.

This is no surprise to anyone who has lived even a small amount of life.  Even early on, we start questioning where we are going.  From a Christian perspective, these questions are shaped a different way, and asked together with the author of our story in which we are co-writers: God, how do I get to you? Where should I look for You while I’m here? Which way should I go to find You?  There is a sense of direction, and a set of general guidelines, but an endless variety of ways that could look.

Coracle offers Pilgrimages and missions because an actual, physical journey as a part of the larger journey of living can often be a way to change perspective, bring about new things, renew old things, or find something. In his book The Way of the Lord, N.T. Wright reflects on a physical journey to the Holy Land as a metaphor for our walk with Christ.  “Each of us is bidden and beckoned to come on pilgrimage to find the living God”, he says.  Beckoned. I can choose to go or not, but He has invited me, He desires to be with me.  He beckons me.

One way God has beckoned to Coracle is to create a space for pilgrims to go into the world on mission together in different places to seek him intentionally. Check out our video about why we do this. We’ve been to Nepal, and we’ve been to Israel and Palestine. This fall, a group of us will be walking the Camino Inglés, one path that makes up the system forming the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Personally, one of my favorite ways to be with God and people is to take long walks. To go on a five-day walk (through the Galician countryside, no less!) with God and friends new and old is a little slice of heaven for me. I hope you will think about joining.

Coming up, we will offer pilgrimages to…

• The island of Iona in Scotland
• Rome
• Nepal to Kathmandu and trekking with ARDF (October 11-21, 2018)
• Israel and Palestine with The Telos Group
• Celtic Christian Pilgrimage and Reconciliation in Ireland
• Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in Bethlehem (May 28 – June 1, 2018)
• The Dominican Republic family mission trip in late June 2018
• Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India
• Southern U.S. exploring the legacy of slavery and racial reconciliation
• South Sudan mission pilgrimage for peace

Please think and pray about going on one or more of these voyages with us.  And then e-mail us with the specific trips you might be interested in so we can know to be in touch with you about them.
The traditional symbol for pilgrims along the Camino is the scallop shell. Why? At one edge of the shell the grooves on the surface start far apart from different places, but they are all being drawn together to the same point.  How is God beckoning to you? Is he calling you to come encounter him in a different part of the world? Come, be with me, He says.  What does that look like for you?