Our Eternal Pilgrimage

The Reverend Canon Zoe King, Barry Ministry Area Leader

Pilgrimages are not always beautiful and spiritually uplifting. An unintentional pilgrimage I made was to the Killing fields in Cambodia in 2018.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; Psalm 51:1

One in four Cambodians died during the reign of the Khmer Rouge and very few were killed with a bullet as they were considered too expensive. As we walked round the prison all I kept hearing in my head was Psalm 51 and Disturbed’s cover version of ‘Sound of Silence’.

In the prison there are some paintings by a survivor that echo parts of the stations of the cross and they were barbaric, challenging to see. The killing field is a land scarred, there is very little to see there but the dip and troughs where the mass graves were. The audio commentary as you walk around is unsettling, blunt and spoken by a survivor. One of the stops on the audio tour was a tree called a magic tree. Babies were held by their ankles and their heads dashed against it. The temptation to turn off the audio was overwhelming but that would have made me a bystander not a witness.

Silence, like a cancer, grows… …But my words, like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells, of silence The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel

Pilgrimage is being open to change and engaging with God and not being a bystander but a witness. The depth of pain and suffering we had the opportunity to witness was a raw reminder of the events of Good Friday some members of our group chose to sit on the bus because they didn’t want to be upset. It was hard not to say you must get off the bus. In the echoes you could hear Jesus speaking to the women of Jerusalem.

The Via Crucis is not taken by Christ alone, we see it so many times not just on the news but in our streets, schools and communities and we must witness to it and do what we can to change it.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart Psalm 51:17

Jesus said on the cross ‘father forgive them for they know not what they do’ we must always witness and not idly be bystanders. This is our eternal pilgrimage.