El Camino: A Pilgrimage of Renewal in Body, Mind, and Spirit

Team Members/Contributors

Jan Ruud Saint Mark's Lutheran Church By the Narrows Contact Me

About this sabbatical grant for pastoral leaders discontinued

Throughout my years of pastoral ministry, the spirituality of pilgrimage has steadily emerged as my primary way of understanding who God is and who we are as God's people. It is reflected in my preaching, my teaching, and in my style of leadership. Most of all, it informs the way I use the adult catechumenate to nurture the spiritual pilgrimage of those who come seeking faith and renewal. Now, I want to go deeper into this gift for myself, exploring both the inner and the outer landscape of pilgrimage at an important time in my life and in my ministry. The main event of my sabbatical will be a journey on foot over one of the oldest pilgrimage routes in Christendom, going from the Pyrenees Mountains in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Along the way, I will find time for rest and prayer in many of the refugios that have welcomed pilgrims for centuries. This experience will be balanced by a time of reading and preparation ahead of time and family vacation with my wife and two daughters afterwards. In the last weeks of my sabbatical I will take ample time to process the experience and reflect on how it deepens me both personally and professionally.