What is Pilgrimage Essay Example

topics.

Some people who go to Taize choose to spend their week in silence, only talking to the brothers and sisters. This is so they can reflect on themselves and become closer to God.Taize plays a special role in the ecumenical community in trying to unite the different branches and denominations of the church. The worship at Taize has become famous for its simple songs in Latin, French, German and English, written by a famous French composer, with which everyone joins in with. Every Sunday an 'Easter vigil' is held.

During the service everyone holds burning a candle lit by Brother Roger.Today there are many communities of people who live together and share their possessions without having taken monastic vows. The early church was the first of these Christian communities. There are many Christians today who are trying to recapture the kind of life that those early Christians lived.

Several families may pool all their possessions and may buy a large house where they can live together. They try to live a communal life.Taize is in between the life of traditional religious orders and the life of the majority of Christians today. It is place where Christians can go for a time and olive a monastic life. Many of them receive spiritual strength while they are there to go back to their normal life and be effective witnesses to the power of God in their lives.BethlehemAt Bethlehem is the church of the Nativity - built on the traditional site of the birth of Jesus.

Most of the Christian pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land are shared by different branches of the church and the church

of the nativity is no exception - it has altars which are looked after by the Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Catholics, Egyptians and the Syrians.This is how a visitor to the Holy Land describes it:"It really is a cave - except that the walls have been covered in some very dirty, gloomy old tapestries heavy with the smell of centuries of incense. There's enough incense down there to turn you into a secondary smoker. At the foot of the steps, there's a small area on the left called the Chapel of the Manger. Here Mary is said to have placed Jesus after he was born. And then to your right is the place of his birth, where there is a big indentation in the rock.

If it doesn't sound too irreverent this actually looks like a very large fireplace.You have to get down on your hands and knees to look inside. What you see there is an old, cracked marble slab with two candles burning on it. A whole collection of tinselly oil lamps hangs over the top like a cluster of bats. In front of the candles, set into the marble, there is a large Silver Star. Written around the star in Latin are the words, "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary".

All this isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea - and the place can be disappointing. It is supposed to be one of the holiest places of ground in the world, and yet at the busiest times of the year you can be herded in as if you're entering Santa's Grotto. The cave itself felt as packed (and about as

holy) as a tube train.What makes it worse is that various branches of the Christian church jealously guard their rights here. The Armenians, the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics all have their own zones within the church.

They have been known to hold long and bitter disputes over who should mop step number six, who should stand where in processions, and where the no-go areas are. On the plus side, it seems that the cave really could be where it all happened. Many Bethlehem houses had caves in the time of Jesus. Houses were built on top of them, and the cave was used as sort of downstairs, where the animals slept at night.

From the very early days of the Christian faith, this particular cave was identified as the place where Jesus took his first lungful. If you can forget the religious squabbles and see through all the marble, incense and silver trinkets, then it's amazing to think that Jesus might have been born here."Both of these places are important to Christians because of the numerous things they may develop whilst there (explained in the next section). Perhaps the most important aspect of pilgrimage is that the places themselves practise ecumenical worship. This means that all the Christian denominations worship as one. This induces a very good community spirit and makes Christians feel closer to each other.

Take Taize for example, it tries to break down the barriers that exist between Christians through prayer, worship, music and bible studies. Some say that ecumenism is a dream - that it works in theory but not in real life. This is because there are too many Christians

who like their own style of worship and could not compromise on their beliefs. Yet here we have evidence that ecumenism does work and one can clearly see the advantages in it. However, whether it would work over a long period of time is another matter but nonetheless, places of pilgrimage are the first step towards ecumenism.

Why Do Christians Go On Pilgrimage?There are many reasons why Christians go on pilgrimages, all of which are valid. However, they may vary in importance due to personal conditions. Christians may go on a pilgrimage just to be in a place where God is especially close. Others may go as an act of thanksgiving or to fulfil a vow or promise made to God. Another reason may be to enjoy a holiday in spiritual surroundings.

Other reasons may include to visit places connected with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Although all of the reasons so far are valid they are perhaps not the most important reasons why Christians go on pilgrimage. Two more far fetched reasons for pilgrimage are for spiritual and physical healing.Some believe that going to places like Lords can cure illnesses. I believe that if a person went to a place such as Taize, it would be quite possible to be spiritual healed so to say because of the relaxing atmosphere.

The most important reasons for visiting a place of pilgrimage are to strengthen personal faith and to strengthen relationships with a group of friends. The ecumenical sense at a place such as Taize joins people together and so strengthens relationships between friends. It also unites Christians and so by not feeling alone in

your faith would help to strengthen it. The option to spend a week in total silence would also give you time to think upon your relationship with God and others and so would ultimately strengthen relationships.

Because each person goes on a pilgrimage for a slightly different reason it is impossible to know why every person goes but, it is easy to say that by visiting a place such as Taize, they will most likely be able to satisfy the reason that they made the pilgrimage for.