The Diocese of Guildford loves walking alongside its global partners, something that was taken quite literally at the start of this month.
A team of eight clergy from the Diocese travelled across the North Sea to our partner Diocese in Denmark, Viborg, on a four-day pilgrimage.
Joining eight pastors from the Danish Lutheran Church, the team started on 11 September and completed the 60km pilgrimage route along the Hærvejen. The path ultimately joins with other pilgrimage routes through Europe which ends up at Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain, but the group thought that might be a bit too much this time around!
Travelling from south to north, the journey culminated with a communion in the crypt of Viborg Cathedral on 14 September.
The pilgrimage group was ably led by Christian Kjær Bjerre, a ‘Pilgrim Pastor’, whose job is to facilitate and run pilgrimages, keeping everyone safe and informed along the way at all times.
As they walked the group were able to connect with one another, as Revd Jonathan Thomas, Vicar of St Peter’s Old Woking, shares, “We sang hymns together – in both English and Danish – reflected together, prayed together, laughed together, ate Danish food together and learnt much about each other’s churches.”
The route included chances to take in Denmark’s beautiful countryside and lakes, as well as a visit to Jelling, which is considered the site of the birthplace of Christianity in Denmark.
The visit to the Diocese of Viborg also allowed for some other significant connections to be made with the first steps of a promising friendship between two schools in each of the Dioceses.
The partnership between the two Dioceses continues to be a valued relationship on both sides and the team is already beginning to explore the possibility of a return pilgrimage along the Pilgrim’s Way in the Guildford Diocese.
