Welcome to this journey!
Download the pilgrimage logo (png) for use in your congregation.
A guide with Lenten Pilgrimage Resources is now available, offering ready-to-use materials and ideas for leaders and pilgrims throughout the diocese. With these resources – designed especially for the season of Lent – we can travel on this spiritual journey together, while adapting to local context and needs. This guide is for leaders, shepherds, and all participants who want to know more about our shared travels.
Bishop Sean, in a video post released to the diocese on the Feast of the Epiphany, calls us to this journey. In the video, Bishop Sean responds to these questions:
- Why are we going on pilgrimage?
- Where are we going?
- How can we participate?
There are many ways to participate, and materials ready for parishes to download and use:
- Lenten Pilgrimage Resources – guide includes background and context for our diocesan pilgrimage , an overview of materials, suggestions for adapting to local use, and more. (7 pages)
- Participant Guides – handouts for five weekly sessions, designed for small groups and adaptable to forums and Sunday school, bible study groups, and more. Resources are intended to be flexible and adaptable. Each of the five “segments” or “movements” includes a pattern of prayer, scripture reading, and reflection on personal, parish, and diocesan levels. (2 pages each, to copy front-and-back, and fold in half)
- Resources for Children and Youth – ideas for adapting materials for children and youth, with suggestions for activities and conversation (5 pages)
- “Called To Be A Pilgrim” – a resource for prayer, worship, and commissioning (4 pages, including a guide for leaders)
- “I Am A Pilgrim” – prayer for pilgrimage (1 page) and the diocesan Collect of Pilgrimage
We can all participate in this journey – in our prayers, by following the Pilgrimage Blog (diobeth.org or on Facebook), and by sharing reflections on social media. As a Lenten practice, we can share the journey with one another through conversation, study, prayer and reflection.
This Lent, consider engaging in a three-fold, prayerful examination that asks,
- How is God stirring me?
- How is God stirring my congregation?
- How is God stirring us, as a diocese?
The hope for this journey is that we will, as a diocese, grow closer to God, closer to one another, and be open anew, as a diocese, to God’s call to us to pursue our mission.
If you have questions, please contact any of the design team members:
The Rev. T. Scott Allen, St. Andrew’s (Allentown) – convener
Heather Boggs, Christ Church (Reading)
The Rev. Canon Michael F. Piovane
The Very Rev. Tony Pompa, Cathedral Church of the Nativity (Bethlehem)
Dr. Linda K. Rogers, Epiphany (Clarks Summit)
The Rev. Twila Smith, Grace and Mediator (Allentown)