Peter's Progress: Why I am walking
A personal view from the Rt Revd Peter B Price, Bishop of Bath & Wells
I like to think of Peter's Progress as a kind of pilgrimage - not to Jerusalem, Santiago do Compostella, or even to Anfield - but a pilgrimage to the people and places in my care as Bishop of Bath & Wells. This will be 300 miles of hard walking: I've been in training to get ready - and I've bought a complete set of waterproofs!
Head-teachers, factory managers and business executives all know the value of MBWA - Management by Walking About. So Peter's Progress is a kind of PBWA - Pilgrimage by Walking About People always think a pilgrimage is about the place you're heading for - the destination. But it seems to me that very often you learn as much about yourself as you do about the place you're going to. That great 5th century saint, Augustine - who would have walked practically everywhere - put it this way:
'People travel to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.'
On a pilgrimage, you also learn about your companions. Normally I am like everyone else: I rush about, often by car or train, and never get to see the places I pass, or meet the people who live there. This is going to be different.
There is a legend that the boy Jesus came to Somerset with Joseph of Arimathea. I'm not at all sure about its truth, so I don't claim I will be walking in the footsteps of Christ. But I do know I will be walking in the footsteps of thousands of faithful people - and questioners too - who, over the eleven hundred years since my first predecessor Athelm, have tried to follow Christ in their everyday lives.
The Children's Society is our official charity partner for this anniversary year, and I'll be doing what I can to raise awareness of the vital issues that concern our children and young people, so recently highlighted in the Society's Good Childhood Enquiry. We want, as the Society's slogan says, to ‘Make Childhood Better'.
So this is not an escape from reality. I'm looking forward to some first-hand encounters with the real issues of the diocese: rural housing, the ‘green' agenda - not least, nuclear power - urban growth and development, the effects of the credit crunch. All human life will be there. And so, I pray, will God.
It should be fun. I will make sure I pray for, and with, the people I meet. And if you want to come and join the Progress, then I'll be pleased to see you.
+Peter Bath and Wells
