Pilgrimage: The Way of St. James
By Darrell Barrett
“Really? You two are
going to walk 500 miles
in a month, carrying
backpacks that contain all
your possessions, crossing
the Pyrenees full of steep
ups and downs, coping with
triple digit heat at times,
staying in crowded hostels
with dozens of snoring
people, and paying quite a
bit to do this. Are you
CRAZY?”
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
in Galicia in northwestern Spain
10
That and similar reactions are quite often what my wife and I hear when
we announce to our friends and family that we are going to do “The
Way.” Fortunately we also get enthusiasm and encouragement, especially from those who love unique travel experiences and from those who
know our hearts for missions. We have done mission work—sweaty,
uncomfortable, out of the comfort zone mission work—for many years
now, although perhaps with not so much trudging as will take place on
this trip. Little did we know the suggestion to watch a movie would lead
us to follow the same ancient path taken by so many others over so many
hundreds of years.
Known by its English name as the “Way of St. James” or in Spanish as
the “El Camino de Santiago de Compostela,” or “Camino” for short, it
is a 1000+ year old pilgrimage to the shrine of the apostle St. James the
Great found within the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in
Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition maintains the remains
of the saint are buried.
Documents reveal James spent approximately twelve years ministering
in Spain, returning to Jerusalem in the year 42 AD. Subsequently, he was
arrested by Herod Agrippa and [ [X][ H^X