Rev Hilary Howarth

One of my favourite television watches, “Pilgrimage”, has just finished on BBC 1. It’s a programme I always look forward to each year and this year was no exception as the pilgrims travelled across North Wales to Aberdaron and onto Bardsey Island. Aberdaron is one of my favourite places in the world – the beautiful church of St Hywyn’s, very near to the beach and a wonderful hotel with excellent food. It’s one of my “places” for strolling and praying but we have never made it across to Bardsey Island, which lies around 3 km off the Llyn peninsula as the sea has always been too rough. The island known as the “Island of 20,000 saints” is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go so I was really looking forward to seeing it through the eyes of these celebrities.
Therein lies my first problem. I didn’t know who the celebrities were! I knew Michaela Strachan from when the children were young and I sort of knew who Christine McGuinness was. Wasn’t she married to Paddy McGuinness? Apparently so, but I didn’t know anything about her and sort of wrote her off as a “bimbo who’d married for fame and fortune”. One of the other people was an actor I had to look up on Wikipedia but he almost instantly got on my nerves. Among the others was a journalist who came from a Jain background, and comedian who was from a Muslim family but struggled with faith when his mum died and Spencer Matthews, who I only knew from “Made in Chelsea”. Not one of my favourite programmes.
I didn’t know how I was going to “get on” with these celebrities and almost wrote off the programme before it started, but it has been one of the best series for me. The pilgrims quickly grew on me and each one brought something special to the programme. Christine McGuinness was delightful and talked about her diagnosis for autism, raising her children and coming to terms with the end of her marriage; the actor who annoyed me brought humour to the programme and talked about becoming a monk; Spencer Matthews was great fun and appeared to be up for any adventure; the lady from the Jain background learnt to embrace her heritage and encouraged the others to join in with the fast from her faith and the actor from the Muslim family found a sense of peace to come to terms with his Mums’ death. I think this may have been the best series for me – so much so I emailed the BBC to thank them for it, which is something I have never done in my life before. It was profoundly moving, especially when they each put stones on the cairn at Aberdaron to remember loved ones and found support in the shared experience. Something I have done myself so it brought back so many memories.
It made me realise how quick I sometimes am to judge people. Why should I decide that Christine McGuiness is a blonde bimbo because of who she was married to, when instead she was beautiful, kind and trying to be the best Mum she can be. Or I made assumptions about someone who’d been on a television programme I didn’t like, which made me think he was a bit of a jerk. When in fact, he genuinely was searching for answers to the big questions in life – aren’t we all? How often do we make up our minds about someone in the first few moments of meeting them that later prove incorrect and how much do we miss out on learning something new because we make assumptions? I’m not sure what Jesus would say, but I had to say sorry.
Just last week another pilgrimage programme was on television, which I highly recommend “Big Zuu goes to Mecca”. It was the most heart-warming programme I have seen for a while – Big Zuu is a rapper and chef and as a Muslim wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The programme saw him towards the end of a day during Ramadan, when he was about to break his fast, falling out with his best friend because he hadn’t chopped onions for their meal properly, but once having eaten being so apologetic and upset that he’d lost his temper with him. The programme especially showed Big Zuu on a spiritual journey as a Muslim to Mecca on a umrah Pilgrimage. I learnt a lot about his faith and what the pilgrimage meant to him but at one point he talked about “sin and God” and he could almost have been talking about any faith. It was fascinating stuff and well worth a watch – even if you don’t know who Big Zuu is!
As life is so hectic and busy for so many people, taking part in a pilgrimage has become something very important for many people. At a time when our minds are constantly moving and thinking and struggling to switch off, a pilgrimage is a wonderful way to slow down, come “home” to yourself and feel re-connected to God. In June I’ll be making a final pilgrimage in active ministry to the beautiful island of Iona. I’m looking forward to wandering the island and listening to God. Yet, we don’t have to go away, find a “thin place” or walk a pilgrim path to reconnect with God, we can do it from the comfort of our own home and even from our own armchair. A journey with God doesn’t have to involve a long walk. There are plenty of “finger labyrinths” on the internet that encourage us to slow down and feel centred with God. Buen Camino!

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for judging others by appearances or what I think I know about them. Help me to be open to others and other faiths for in doing so I learn so much – but most of all help me to be open to you and put down the phone for even five minutes to come into your presence. Amen.