Last month, 13 intrepid pilgrims, six from Guildford Diocese and seven from our partner Diocese in Viborg, Denmark, joined together on a three-day 36-mile pilgrimage walk through the Surrey countryside.
The link with Viborg Diocese in the Lutheran Church of Denmark has been growing for several years and continues to be a great source of friendly peer and prayer support as we share and learn together.
The group, led by Revd Jonathan Thomas, Vicar of St Peter’s Woking, were supported by Bilgrim (AKA car pilgrim) Fi Gwynn, who transported their luggage and provided the much-needed snacks en route.
Before starting the pilgrimage, the 13 gathered at St Columba’s Retreat House in Woking and travelled the short distance to the Shah Jahan Mosque (the first purpose-built mosque in Britain) for a tour from Imam Saeed Hashmi, celebrating the close inter-faith relationships held across the diocese.
Later that day, St Paul’s Dorking hosted the group for food, worship and accommodation and the pilgrimage started in earnest from atop Box Hill the next morning. The Bishop of Dorking, Bishop Paul Davies, blessed the 13 pilgrims and joined them in walking the first few miles to St Martin’s Ranmore for hot drinks and homemade cakes.
On the way to their final destination for the day in Cranleigh, the team took in the beautiful scenery from the North Downs and visited St Mark’s Peaslake. The day closed with a lovely pub dinner, a talk from Mat Ineson (the Diocese’s Mission Enabler Team Lead) on the Mission Enabler Team and the Parish Needs Process, and Compline at St Nicolas’ Cranleigh.
The next day, the group of pilgrims faced some rather wet weather and walked to Godalming, via the beautiful St Peter’s in Hascombe and Hydon’s Ball, arriving at St Peter and Paul’s in Godalming Minster rather sodden. Busbridge Church, another member of the Godalming Minster family of churches, served a wonderful meal where Rector Simon Taylor shared about the Minster Model, before attending an evening service and heading to bed.
On the third and final day, the group of 13 set their sights on Guildford Cathedral, visiting St Martha’s-on-the-Hill on the way and finishing the pilgrimage with communion in the Lady Chapel led by Duncan Myers, Priest Vicar and Anglican Chaplain at the University of Surrey.
During the pilgrimage, the pilgrims had nourishing spiritual input from Pilgrim Pastor Christian Bjerre and some great conversations learning from each other’s ministries. Most importantly, the pilgrimage strengthened the good links between the two dioceses.
The group were particularly grateful to the three churches that hosted them so well and to Bishop Andrew for sponsoring the pilgrimage, as they look forward to further links between the two dioceses in the future.
The Rt. Revd Andrew Watson, the Bishop of Guildford, also had the pleasure of hosting the Viborg Choir for lunch at Willow Grange this month. All thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and Bishop Andrew and his team particularly appreciated the lovely Danish lullaby the choir sang.
