From the Archbishop
A Wonderful Time
of Year for Walking
The Most Revd Kay Goldsworthy AO DD Archbishop
Easter can be one of the best times of the year for walking – literally or metaphorically.
The summer heat has eased, and the extended break affords more time for all kinds of walking. The health bonuses of stepping out are well documented. Walking is a relatively low-impact cardio exercise with significant benefits for body and mind, and I’m sure they are amplified if the walking is along a beach or a river, or through bush or forest.
As we are careful to conserve fuel right now, walking may also be a way of turning a necessity into a virtue, bringing deeper appreciation of the beauty of this part of the world and fresh spiritual grace.
Walking can also be a pilgrimage, a time to think, discern, consider and be open to new insights and perspectives; a time to reconnect with yourself and God.
Late last month, I was excited and privileged to be invited to attend the Installation of The Most Reverend Dame Sarah Mullally as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury. It was an inspiring occasion filled with great joy and hope. Her 140-kilometre walking pilgrimage, undertaken in preparation for the historic event, was also incredibly inspiring. The six-day pilgrimage took Archbishop Sarah, her husband Eamonn and others along the Becket Camino starting at St Paul’s Cathedral and finishing at Canterbury Cathedral. On the way, she met with other pilgrims, school communities, church groups and others, sharing her journey online for everyone around the world.
Her pilgrimage is not only a reminder of her own journey from Bishop of London to Archbishop of Canterbury but follows in the footsteps of countless pilgrims across centuries who have walked that path, seeking a deeper connection with God.
She told a fellow walker from the British Pilgrimage Trust that her pilgrimage was “for prayerful reflection, to walk in the footsteps of my predecessors Becket and Geoffrey Fisher, and to encounter people along the way on their own journeys with faith”.
Some of the most challenging ‘walks’ we take, are those which place us in someone else’s shoes. Putting aside our own agenda or perspective to imagine or think through what might be the experience for someone else can be a very difficult thing to do. It is generally only achieved with a strong foundation of love, compassion, and generosity. It often takes a great deal of courage.
At Easter, we are challenged to join Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem, the journey from Palm Sunday to Good Friday during his final week on Earth. The Gospel accounts of his betrayal, arrest and trial (such as it was) and his long and painful way of the cross to Calvary, ‘walking’ in the shoes not just of Jesus, but of others in those harrowing accounts – those walking in with him, his dearest disciples and friends, including his disciple John and his mother, Mary; and then his adversaries too who mocked and abused him, and even the few whose witness to the events radically changed them. ‘Truly, this was the Son of God’, they said finally. (Matthew 27:54).
Some of the greatest messages and gifts of Easter are around hope and transformation.
It takes just three days for the painful journey to Calvary to turn to running, as very early on Easter morning the bible tells of the women and some disciples running, to the tomb and towards each other, first in confusion and fear, but then in joy. Mary Magdelene runs from the tomb after she and a group of other courageous women find the stone rolled away and the body of Jesus missing (John 20:2).
The disciples, Peter and John run to the tomb to see for themselves, but are gone by the time Jesus’ appears to Mary and tells her to head off again to share the news with the disciples.
Later, Jesus appears again, this time on the road to Emmaus. Two disciples, overwhelmed with grief and confusion walked together, unaware that the risen Jesus was beside them. It was only when they sat down and broke bread together that they recognised him, and their hearts burned with a deep and abiding joy (Luke 24:13-35).
Walking with others – whether on a pilgrimage or as we ‘walk with God and into God’ – was one of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s reflections on her preparatory pilgrimage.
This Holy Week and Easter, we are all invited to shed any fear and despair and be transformed by God’s mercy and love. God is indeed walking beside us in every season of life – in times of sorrow and uncertainty, as well as in moments of joy and celebration – whether we recognise him at the time or not. In easter we remember, we walk into the truth of God’s loving knowing that in Christ, love has gone to the very heart of human darkness and has not been overcome.
This Easter, let’s also be very alert to his presence in the people on the road with us, and take time to consider how we might be a
Christ-like companion for others.
As Archbishop Sarah prayed just a few weeks ago, “Our world today needs the love, healing and hope that we find in Jesus Christ. I continue to pray that we renew our confidence in this good news and recommit ourselves to sharing the joy of the Gospel”.
May this Easter a time to walk if you can and run (metaphorically at least) towards the great joy we can all share in the risen Lord – and the hope and grace of the Easter season.