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St George’s College, in the Diocese of Jerusalem is delighted to be able to offer a new three-part video series, The Pilgrim Journey - Arrival, Sojourn, and Return. Each film has two parts, a thirty minute presentation by our course director, Rodney Aist, followed by a short, onsite reflection by the Dean, Richard Sewell. The lectures are full of interesting content which will help people to understand the spiritual and psychological dimensions of pilgrimage and how to be well prepared for a Holy Land Pilgrimage. Dean Richard's reflections root these three elements of pilgrimage in a specific holy site. We hope the films will whet your appetite to return to Israel/Palestine on pilgrimage when the time is right. We pray that the ceasefire will hold and that pilgrim groups will be able to return soon.

Pilgrim Journey: Arrival (View Here)

From home to the Holy Land, arriving in Jerusalem involves a series of passageways, doorways, and thresholds. In the first of the three-part series, The Pilgrim Journey, Course Director Rodney Aist discusses two theories incorporating the language of thresholds that chart the transformative nature of the pilgrim journey--the theory of liminality and the hero's journey. In the second part of the video, Dean Richard Sewell reflects upon the importance of Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims outside Damascus Gate, which, like St George's College, serves as a Gateway for arriving pilgrims. 

Pilgrim Journey: Sojourn (View Here)

Upon arrival in Jerusalem, pilgrims set about learning the 'rules of the special world' -- to use the language of the hero's journey -- as they begin their sojourn in the Land of the Holy One. In the second of the three-part series, The Pilgrim Journey, Course Director Rodney Aist discusses some tools for engaging the Living Stones of the Holy Land, including the theory of cultural humility, how to listen to the stories of others (avoiding narrative takeover and narrative tapout), and recognizing the nature of the narrative fallacy. Focusing on moments of sojourn in our lives, Dean Richard Sewell reflects upon Luke's account of Mary's sojourn at the house of Elizabeth outside the Church of the Visitation in Ein Kerem. 

Pilgrim Journey: Return (View Here)

The ultimate purpose of Holy Land pilgrimage is to return home -- challenged, transformed and renewed -- where the Christian journey continues. The process of returning home to the ordinary world (reaggregation) involves closure and departure from the people and places of the Holy Land as well as intentional reflection on the experience. In the third of the three-part series, The Pilgrim Journey, Course Director Rodney Aist discusses debriefing Holy Land travel, the importance of language, common emotions, and the tensional, unfinished nature of Christian pilgrimage. Dean Richard Sewell concludes the series with a reflection on the Emmaus story, the resurrection encounter with Jesus that culminates a study pilgrimage at St George's College.