Know Not Where

Religious history is filled with pilgrimages.  While there have always been shrines to which people have traveled, two popular choices have always been Jerusalem and Rome.  Most people today who join tour groups going to the Holy Land think of it more as a vacation destination, but it still fits inside the definition of a pilgrimage.  Today's travelers are more about seeing the sites than going for the fulfillment of some spiritual purpose.     

One of the spiritual groups which had a different view of pilgrimage was the ancient Celtic community.  Their pilgrimages were to "know not where."  Inspired by Abraham who left what was familiar to go to "the land that I will show you"  (Genesis 12:1), the Celtic monk would get into a round boat called a coracle which had no rudder or oars and go forth to wherever the wind and current would take him.  They went seeking not a shrine, but the place of their resurrection.   

In so many ways the pilgrimages of these ancient Celtic saints models what it means to live a life surrendered to God.  Our response to the call of God in our life is usually more measured, limited, and not quite so radical as the one they made.  But, of course, responding to the call of God is not an outward journey, but an inner journey.  It is a journey of the heart.  Who among is simply willing to go to the land that He will show us, or to a life defined by "know not where?"