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“Solvitur ambulando,” it is solved by walking. This phrase is often attributed to Saint Augustine, but it is much older. The idea is that walking, especially mindful and intentional walking, strengthens the connections between one’s mind, body, and spirit and can lead to new ways of seeing ourself and our world.
The Columbia Preachers Studio for Renewal’s program for clergy wellness and resilience just returned from their inaugural event in June 2024. Holy Encounters: Preachers on Pilgrimage was a 2-week spiritual pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. Led by Dr. Abby Myers, psychologist, and Dr. Jake Myers, Columbia’s Wade P. Huie, Jr. Associate Professor of Homiletics, 15 preachers from all over the United States hiked over 150 miles along the northern coast of Spain.
Their journey began with a service of blessing and communion on the beach and ended with a pilgrims’ mass in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Preachers began each morning listening to a recorded meditation and devotion as they walked and ended each day with yoga, practices to care for their spirit and body. The preachers shared stories, stressors, and celebrations in their families and ministries as they walked with each other. Other days they walked in silence, providing opportunities of quiet to sit with their own thoughts and ideas, to pray, and to meditate on the beauty of God’s creation. Each night at dinner, the group participated in a time of processing their experiences and what they learned about themselves, each other, and God.
Through shared meals, muddy paths, aching feet, and mountain top vistas of the turquoise ocean, the preachers journeyed towards more than a physical destination. This group of preachers on pilgrimage journeyed towards greater self-awareness, stronger social connections, and more meaningful spiritual practices of yoga, meditation, mindful walking, prayer, journaling to build their resilience and care for their entire being-mind, body, and spirt.
“The Camino provides,” is a refrain heard over and over along the ancient route. While each preacher needed something unique from this experience, several shared the desire to engage their daily life at a pace of 3 miles per hour (the average walking pace). The rhythms of waking up, packing your bag, and setting out on the path for the day’s journey provided a clear purpose. The drive and determination of people called to serve God and love their neighbors was no less here than in day-to-day life. However, the practice of walking with presence-the presence of self, presence in community, presence with nature, and presence of God-was a contrast with the often hectic and stressful days of a preacher. Several participants vowed to engage their vocation with the same drive and determination to serve as they always have, but the Camino provided an embodied experience of how to do so at a slower, more intentional pace that enhances resilience.
The Columbia Preachers Studio for Renewal (PSR) was created in 2023 under the co-direction of Drs. Anna Carter Florence and Jake Myers. The Columbia Preachers Studio for Renewal received a 5-year, $1.25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.’s Compelling Preaching initiative. The mission of the PSR is to cultivate practices, provide resources, and facilitate holy encounters to help preachers proclaim the gospel in postmodern contexts in more compelling, effective, and faithful ways. The PSR program is designed to encourage holy encounters with scripture, society, and self, including:
Applications are now open for the 2025 pilgrimage on the PSR website: https://www.ctsnet.edu/academics/preachers-studio-for-renewal/programs/pilgrimages/
