This blog post is by Kathryn England, a good friend from Sheffield in the UK. She has some really poignant insights on Pilgrimage (the topic I’ve been writing about most recently) and the family. Hope you enjoy it!

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Interestingly, my thoughts on pilgrimage continue on from where Sally left us last month when she wrote about ‘home’.

I’ve never had a home; or rather, I’ve never had anywhere I could say I belong to or I’m from. My parents were church leaders in the Salvation Army which meant we moved house on average every 18 months through my childhood, with only 2 weeks’ notice each time. I was born in South London but I’m half South African and have family there, and also in the USA and Australia, who I barely know; I even have a brother and sister I’ve never met. Consequently, I’ve lived life feeling pretty rootless with a longing for home.

This brings me to my first great pilgrimage.

Family life felt empty growing up and when I was 12 or 13, I asked God to lead me to a church that would teach me about him and teach me about life, to lead me somewhere I could belong - going to university would be my cover story. So for about 6 years, I waited for God to put our plan into action, which he faithfully did, taking me to St Thomas’ in Sheffield where Mike and Sally Breen had moved a few months previously to lead that church. And here, God taught me to love his presence and I learnt almost everything I now know and teach others about life. My first pilgrimage.

You see, for me, pilgrimage is about seeking out that place where God dwells and meeting him in such a way that my encounter with him changes my life. It’s also about journeying with and being immersed in another family – God’s family in which he places the lonely (Psalm 68. 6). It’s a place where the joy of knowing God abounds and his restorative touch brings healing; it can be a place of discipline and pain as he remoulds me into his image; it’s also a place where the purposes of God for my life are driven deep into my soul and fresh vision comes as I wait on him.

I still long for a home but I’m discovering more and more that the home I’m longing for is wherever God is and, ultimately, heaven itself. So when I make a pilgrimage, it’s to a place where God dwells; a place where, whether I’m there for two days or two decades, I can be with God’s family and call it ‘home’. A place where my time in God’s presence brings the restoration, discipline and vision that I need so that when I’m sent from that place, I look more like a citizen of my heavenly home that of my earthly one.

One final thought: Since we lost my dad ten years ago, my mum, sister and I are much closer. My sister is following Jesus and has become a great blessing to me. Consequently, I’m discovering how I can make my visits to them more like a pilgrimage because my family is becoming a place where God dwells and where he can transform us before he takes us on that final pilgrimage home to be with him forever.