Camino Portugese in 2011?

All through Lent, the Camino continued to live in my heart. I carried a small stone with me and each time I felt it in my pocket or glanced at it sitting on my desk, I was transported back to the Iron Cross and the reluctance I felt at letting it go. Lent is all about finally acknowledging what we need to have pried from our fingers and then letting go and letting God. Easier said than done. I invited members of my congregation to join me in this lenten discipline--to carry their stone, to pour out their fears and anxieties and sins into it until it became ugly with the burdens carried, and then to leave it before the cross on Good Friday. There are a number of the little stones sitting there and the number continues to slowly increase--even in these days after Easter.

I find myself thinking about the Camino a lot. I remember days and places and people. I remember sensations and smells and the food. Though I did not take Holy Communion in Spanish churches along the way. I realize that I experienced Communion daily in the sacredness of meals shared with pilgrims and in hearing their stories--after all, I cannot think of a dinner meal when bread and wine were not shared in abundance!

I see pictures on the Camino forums and know exactly the place where the picture was taken. In retrospect, losing my camera was not the worst thing because it caused me to focus more on looking around and taking it in. The most vivid memories I have are the days after the camera went missing. Another hard learning! The Camino changed my preaching and informed my consciousness. So many of the gospels reach into my Camino and teach me something new. And if you think about it, that is the way it should be. The disciples took their experiences and let God and life work on them until they discovered the meaning beyond the journey. Spending time walking with God and in the company of others we have not chosen, has a way of transforming your life and your view of the world. And it didn't happen all at once either. It took years. But the journey also creates a hunger.......

And so I have made the decision to walk again. This time from O'Porto, Portugal, to Santiago, Spain, in the fall of 2011. This time it looks like I will not be traveling alone. It will be fascinating to see the difference between going by myself and going with others whom I know. I have set out the qualification that the day is individual. The only obligation is to show up at the agreed upon meeting place that night so we know everyone is OK and then to enjoy the companionship of the table. Otherwise, the Camino is our own to experience. May God continue to open our eyes to see God's hand at work in the world, at work in us and through us, and may God bring us to awareness that we are each intended to be God's gift to the world.