Is faith strengthened by trips with spiritual goals

There is growing interest in religious- or faith-based tourism, including ones that emphasize “themes” as much as “destinations.” They might act as mini-missions or focus on charitable work. Have you ever been on such a trip and would you encourage people to go on them? If so, what might you hope they would get out of it?

My parents loved to travel and our family saw most of the United States on summer camping trips. In my late teens I quit college and bicycled around in Europe for several months uncertain of my life’s purpose or direction. I guess I would consider this my first experience of faith-based tourism, though more in the style of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.”

I had always wanted to travel for an extended period of time, with no itinerary or end date. I did this in the 80s, traveling for almost a year in Africa by local transport, usually trucks or mini-buses. It took us six weeks to cross the Sahara from Liberia to Algiers by way of Timbuktu. Islam, the Catholic and Protestant missions and indigenous African religious traditions were all new to me. I also wanted to live in a country outside the United States, so I taught high school English in Liberia for a year while the country was under martial law during the Doe dictatorship.

Living, working and traveling in cultures so different from our own helped me to appreciate the amazing diversity of people, and it also sensitized me to the suffering of those living in extreme poverty in so many parts of the world. The importance of simplicity and service naturally arise, as well as an awareness of the immense global influence of the United States to help or harm.

I consider almost all travel to be a pilgrimage to the extent that it brings about growth: “Pilgrimage involves setting out from a status quo, undergoing sometimes stressful transition, and inviting an experience of a sacred reality and new community which often transcends the boundaries with which one started the pilgrimage.” (The Dictionary of World Religions).

In 2007 our Zen Center is sponsoring a trip to Kyoto to meditate at temples of historic significance to Zen practitioners, enjoy the vegetarian cuisine served in monasteries, visit the famous rock and moss gardens, and appreciate the cultural heritage of our Zen tradition.

The Newport-Mesa-Irvine Interfaith Council sponsors a trip to China each year. Though I have not yet gone with this group, it looks like an exceptional value and has an itinerary which includes a variety of religious sites. I visited China two years ago independently to visit temples, pagodas and monasteries that mark the historical development of Zen.

This fall I will travel to India to see the places where the historic Buddha lived. On these trips, I like to see how Zen is practiced in other countries as well as enjoy historic sites, religious art and architecture.

But the most important point is made by Achaan Chah, a forest monk of Thailand, “The Buddha is not out there ? the Buddha is in your own heart.”

Faith-based tourism may help people discover or reconnect with their spirituality. But it is not important how many places we have visited or things we have seen ? which can too easily become acquisitions, distractions and escapes. What matters is how we are steadily nourishing and expressing our spiritual values in our daily life, right here in Orange County.

As the great Zen teacher Dogen says, “The Way is perfect and all-pervading. It is never apart from one right where one is. What is the use of going off here and there?”

REV. DR. DEBORAH BARRETT

Zen Center of Orange County

Costa Mesa

My first pilgrimage took me to sites where our country was born. I will always remember walking the Freedom Trail in Boston and all around old Philadelphia, visiting St. Paul’s Chapel and Trinity Church in New York City and, of course, our nation’s capital. My second was a Eurail trip around Europe, sleeping on overnight trains and getting a sense of the heritage of our Western Civilization. My third was to the land Jesus walked, “the land once called ‘Holy,’ ” where I learned more about our biblical heritage in three months than I had in three years of seminary. My fourth was in EnglandScotlandWales, motherland of Anglicanism, focusing on what my wife called our “dead bones tour.” These travels and time way away from home have given me a profound appreciation of being an Episcopalian Christian in America.

Our parish church belongs to the Compass Rose Society, which supports the worldwide mission of our Anglican Communion. Parishioners have traveled with other Compass Rose members on faith-based mini-missions to Israel and Palestine, Spain, Portugal, Rome, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Cuba, Central America, Hong Kong, mainland China, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Because of their travels, our Christian community is involved with mutually beneficial Compass Rose ministries that we might not otherwise have known existed: a medical mission station in Nigeria, a hospital in Gaza, a new church building in Spain, housing projects in Cuba and El Salvador, a conference center for youth in Tanzania, and grief ministries for ourselves through which we raise money for South Africans to bury their beloveds who die of AIDS.

Our beloveds return home filled with the joy of God and stories of God’s children enduring unimaginable suffering and distress, in awe of how much people of faith accomplish with exceedingly limited resources, and with deep appreciation for our many blessings as Episcopalian Christians in our United States of America.

(THE VERY REV’D CANON)

PETER D. HAYNES

Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Parish Church

Corona del Mar

As Napoleon prepared for battle at Giza in 1798, he addressed his troops: “Soldiers, 40 centuries of history look down upon you from these Pyramids.” As I lead missions to Israel, either with a particular focus or a more generalized tour, I announce: “40 centuries of our history look down upon you.”

There is power in standing where one’s forebears trod, in hearing the frozen echoes of their voices. When I touch the Western Wall, I place my hand upon myriad other hands that reached out before me and add mine to those who will one day seek such contact. The spoken prayers of the past and the unspoken prayers of the future mingle with my supplication in the here and now.

I think, too, of those whose fondest desire was denied them, who were prevented from this experience. For the prisoners of Europe during the Holocaust, the Western Wall might as well have been on the moon for their being able to fulfill their yearning. When the Jordanians seized Jerusalem, Jews were forbidden to worship at the wall, forced to content themselves with a partial view from afar. I feel a great sense of loss and sadness for them and a great sense of privilege that, for some mysterious reason, I am blessed to stand where so many others could not.

Whether the pilgrim is Jewish, Christian or Buddhist, whether the destination is Israel or a different land and other shrines, going forth to a holy place is about more than geography and itinerary. It is about identification with a tradition, about linking ourselves to the eternal.

As the philosopher Martin Buber wrote: “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”

Traversing hallowed ground requires insight more than sight. We must spiritually divest ourselves of our shoes for we are at a sacred place.

In “The Innocents Abroad,” Mark Twain describes the American Pilgrims who traveled halfway round the world to be able to sail on the Sea of Galilee, and then missed their sole opportunity because they required the boatman to take them for one napoleon when he wanted two.

How often do we pervert our priorities as we madly dash from spot to spot, half listening to a hurried description, snapping a few photos, experiencing nothing. The trip often results in only physical exhaustion and mental overload. Rather, than enervation there ought to be elevation!

Israeli guides are loquacious by nature and schooling. On one tour, we were conducted by a guide who talked incessantly, lecturing on history, philosophy, geography, archeology, economics, war and peace.

When we arrived at the Western Wall, however, he remained behind, not uttering a word or escorting us. Later he explained: “At our training academy we are repeatedly warned to not say anything at the Western Wall.” With obvious emotion, he continued, “There, the tourist must listen not to the guide’s voice but to a higher voice, a greater voice, to the still, small voice of God.”

RABBI MARK S. MILLER

Temple Bat Yahm

Newport Beach

I just got back from one such trip to Israel and Egypt. We spent 14 days tracing Moses’ steps from Sinai to Jordan and then Jesus’ steps from Jerusalem to Galilee.

For thousands of years, this type of tour has been called a pilgrimage and I lead them every other year. It is important for people to see their Bible pages become three dimensional. To see the red poppies dot the Judean hills or to hike the valleys of the old city of Jerusalem gives you a new understanding of the events we hold so dear.

More than that, the archeology is amazing. Until recently, the pool of Siloam was viewed as myth, as was Pontius Pilate. Today, you can visit the newly excavated pool of Siloam and see a building dedication stone with Pilate’s name engraved on it. We saw 3,000 year old Israelite walls of the city of Dan which were fairly recently discovered. The altar that played such an important role in the city was found as well.

In an era when the historicity of the Bible and the ancient Jewish presence in the land are in question, even if you don’t believe the miracles of the Bible, you have to respect the accuracy of these historic details. These things are more easily grasped when you stand next to them and walk through them and see them for yourself.

A second kind of trip is a missionary trip. We lead several of these every year. I will take a group to Uganda in 6 weeks and we will also send another team to Romania. Both of which are long-term partnerships with the local congregations in those countries. In Uganda, we are expanding a medical facility into a hospital and expanding an agricultural enterprise for the Pygmy people, both of which are run by a mission we support in connection with African congregations. We will also visit some of the 150 kids who have received sponsorship through our involvement over the last few years. Many of them are AIDS orphans. My sponsored child lives with his uncle, who is a pastor. All five of the pastor’s siblings have died of AIDS, leaving him to care for their children. His congregation of over 200 people has only four people with jobs. We do our best to support the construction of their facilities and to give monthly support to pay the salaries of the teachers in their school. In their Muslim village, this is the only way the 75 children can get an education. We offer it to them freely and without strings attached.

The kinds of trips are very different. A pilgrimage is personal, and each person pays for his journey. A missions trip is an effort of our congregation, and we all chip in to help pay the way of the group.

Either way, the participant is changed forever.

There is no way you can see the work of God around the world and not be challenged by it. Pilgrimages aren’t new. Christ-followers, Jews, and Muslims have very specific pilgrimage histories.

What is new is the “cruise with a cause” missionary type trips. They seem to water down the intent and meaning of the trips. Being a missionary means to live the ministry of Jesus. As God, he laid aside all rights to the comforts of heaven to become one of us and draw us back to him. Missionaries are meant to give up all rights to a life of leisure and try to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a world in need, if only for a few weeks.

Jumping off a cruise ship for a couple of hours seems more like a hit-and-run than living like Jesus. Though I must say, some people need to take little steps into missionary work, and maybe these trips could get them interested in deeper ministries. Not everyone can sleep in a mosquito infested hut on their first trip out.

If you are interested in what these trips look like, try www.outreachafrica.org or www.invisiblechildren.org.

SENIOR ASSOCIATE PASTOR

RIC OLSEN

Harbor Trinity

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