The Church of England nationally is encouraging Christians to take time to reflect around pilgrimage this summer.
Pilgrim Places, Holy Lives is a special campaign to help people consider their own stories of pilgrimage and see them as part of a bigger story that starts with God becoming human in Jesus and continues in our ongoing journey towards Him today.
A range of resources are available for churches and individuals to use this summer.
Pilgrim Places, Holy Lives: A Gospel Journey with the Early English Saints is a series of readings and reflections running from the day after Pentecost to Sunday, June 21.
The series explores eight places which were important in the spread of Christianity in England and the stories of the Saints who lived there, including the Venerable Bede, St Bertha of Kent and St Cedd of Lastingham, in our own Yorkshire.
There is a Bible reading, prayer, short reflection and a suggested action or question for each day.
The series is available free on the Church of England’s Everyday Faith app, or as booklets, priced £3.99 each, available from Church House Publishing here.
A pack of downloadable and customizable resources is also available for churches to help explore pilgrimage as part of their ongoing mission and ministry in the coming weeks.
You can find these on the Resource Hub on A Church near You here (requires a login).
The Diocese of York has also worked with the Faith in the North initiative to produce a toolkit and small group resource to help churches engage with pilgrimage and the opportunities for prayer and reflection that it offers.
This summer we would love to hear your stories of Pilgrimage in this diocese.
If you would like to share your stories and pictures of places or journeys in the diocese that are special in helping you to feel closer to God or played a part in your journey to Him, please get in touch with us at communications@leeds.anglican.org and we’ll share our pilgrim places this summer.