Inspired by the Church of England’s “Pilgrim People, Holy lives” campaign, 22 children came to Bayton Church to learn about pilgrimage and enjoy a virtual pilgrimage activity, following in the footsteps of five Saints; St. Cedd, St. Frideswide, St Etheldreda, St Bertha and St Alcuin.
Associate Priest in Wyre Forest West, Julia Quinn writes:
Each child decorated a scallop shaped Pilgrim badge and was given a “Passport” to get stamped at the places we visited. Older children decorated bags, and created a Story Stick so they could add something at each place to remind them of the stories.
Then we set off! At each place we visited, we learned about a local Saint.
First, we visited Lastingham and imagined sailing around the country like St Cedd. A flotilla of boats was made, and tested for seaworthiness. After Passports were stamped and story sticks decorated (blue thread for water with a boat label, we moved on.
Oxford next, and none of us really liked the idea of hiding in a pigsty like St. Frideswide! Here we explored journeying with God; remembering God is always with us. We experienced a labyrinth with playdough spirals and had the chance to walk one!
When we got to the middle we pause for a while and had a hug with “Jesus”.
On to Ely, Where St Etheldreda’s life demonstrated the need for patience, as did the butter-making we tried! It also helped us to think about the simple food that pilgrims might travel with. Later we made scones, and ate them topped with the butter made earlier – a treat worth waiting for!
A trip to the well-known pilgrimage destination of Canterbury next. St Bertha inspired the children to rebuild churches and arches, and showed us we could follow our faith, even in difficult places. Some fantastic building work was done from our budding architects and engineers!
Our final journey took us all the way to York. St Alcuin journeyed much further than that, all the way to Germany. No matter where he was, he taught those around him all about God;
“Your word is like a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” Ps 119:105
Along the way we made a Pilgrim People banner – there’s a scallop shell for everyone who joined the journey. This now hangs in church with our Kingdom People banner, which we made last year.
Why Pilgrimage?
Five of our churches are open daily (Rock, Heightington, Mamble, Bayton and Far Forest). These are registered as Pilgrim Places and we are looking to develop this further. (https://faithinthenorth.org/pilgrim-places/). Given the Church of England’s summer’s focus on pilgrimage, it seemed the perfect opportunity to do so. (Past summer activity day themes have included “Kingdom builders”, based on the Roots resource, a science and nature based “God’s wonderful World”, and Saints.)
