Conscious Pilgrimage
Conscious Pilgrimage with Martin Palmer
A report by the Watford Interfaith Association
The seminar took place on 21st June (2024) in Marlborough Road Methodist Church, St Albans, led by Martin Palmer, a theologian, Sinologist, author and international specialist on all major faiths and religious traditions and cultures.
Dr Palmer had been teaching religious studies in Manchester. He found there was no depth in what was being taught and learnt much from a visit to an Orthodox Christian Church where conversations led to the priest saying that where religion is concerned, what you believe shapes what you feel you can do in life.
Many Christians believe they have stewardship over society but the Orthodox believe they have a sacramental role with nature and they dismiss any negative thoughts with the idea, ‘In what way do you consider you are a blessing?’ He said if you can handle diversity you have immense richness, something which we in Watford very much appreciate with our very mixed population.
Martin Palmer pointed out that 15% of the planet is considered sacred. He disagreed with churches that tidied up their graveyards too much. Most churches encompass an area of consecrated land, which left in peace will harbour wildlife corridors and homes for many species.
He has for many years encouraged people of faith to be aware of the environment, which is something that happens in pilgrimages. People notice birdsong, or perfumes from flowers as they walk along.
Numbers of those going on pilgrimages are rising all the time. His wife walks the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage regularly and comments on the large numbers now walking.
In his work for the World Wildlife Fund, in Thailand pilgrims encountered tigers and other large beasts in the forests: temples were mainly built in dense forest, so now sacred sites are run as pilgrim centres and are better organised. He is also working on the opening up of holy wells which had become polluted and disrespected, as they are another way of awakening the sacred within us and also help nature.
On a pilgrimage in Leicester he noticed that there were unusual plants growing along the route, and worked out that pilgrims themselves pollute (or enrich) where they walk and the food that remains from what they bring with them give rise to different flora. These walks can give a depth of understanding to our lives.
He asked 'what is sacred?' Is it something that that strikes one with awe and wonder, or do people decide to make a place sacred because something special happened there, or was it somewhere where people decided it would be sacred and built a church or holy place there?
At this point the gathering broke into small groups to discuss any personal pilgrimages or special places where one could find peace.
After the break he spoke about an unaltered Saxon church in Bradford-on-Avon, in which the services took place below the floor, through a narrow door (not available to the public) which leads down stairs to the tomb, and where the eucharist was performed, by first reaching ‘death’ and then climbing up to the celebration, and the glorious stained glass windows. The church the seminar was held in had stairs going up to where the eucharist was held and this he questioned. We have to factorise our imagery. At the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, some stalls behind the Kaaba sell water in gourds rather than in plastic bottles as a way of caring for the environment.
He said that at some point we have to want to be a blessing, as the Orthodox priests said. We are called to be priests and channels of God’s blessings. He was a good friend of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, they worked together on several schemes, with the WWF, and interfaith and diversity, and with young people, as the Duke was keen to channel enthusiasm in people for important things like the environment, which he noticed needed attention back in the sixties. Prince Philip had a Greek Orthodox background which he adhered to all his life, and did feel that he was a blessing, as all are servants of creation.
The meeting again broke into small groups to discuss, how have we been a blessing in our lives? It is surprising how small things we all do can make a difference. He concluded by saying that all nations have a role in keeping the environment clean and healthy.
He was roundly thanked by Nigel Pate, leader of the St Albans philosophy school, who also thanked all those who had taken part in the five walks right from St Paul's Cathedral, through the London suburbs and into the Hertfordshire countryside, as well as all those who helped with preparation for the event and catering on the day.
Article reproduced with kind permission of Watford Interfaith Association
Photocredits: Paul Bruni
St Albans Times article, June 2024:
Martin Palmer
Martin Palmer is a brilliant thinker on the role of faith in human culture and a passionate environmentalist. He’s a major China scholar and author, a regular contributor to the BBC on religious and historical issues, and religious advisor to organisations such as the UN and the EAT Foundation. He helped set up an international Green Pilgrimage Network in 2011 and has written several books, including Sacred Land, published in 2012.
He co-founded, along with the late Prince Philip, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, a secular organisation that helps faiths worldwide develop environmental project investments.
Martin is president of FaithInvest, an organisation that helps the world’s religions move their investments into sustainable development.
