Virtual Pilgrimages
Virtual pilgrimages are pilgrimages with no physical travel, using the Pilgrimage of the Word WhatsApp group. This page describes the current virtual pilgrimage.
Look at this page for more information about virtual pilgrimage, or send a WhatsApp message to Dave Smith or an email to davidborrowdale54@hotmail.com
Windows of the Soul pilgrimage
This quotation from the author CS Lewis shows how what we see in the physical world can help point us to God. The "Windows of the Soul" virtual pilgrimage is a way of exploring this more deeply on our own spiritual journey.
Participants are invited to meditate on the symbolism of the differing light coming through the windows of a church laid out in a traditional way, as shown in the diagram.
If you stand facing the altar, the East Window will be ahead of you.
On your left-hand side will be North Window.
On your right-hand side in the South Window.
Behind you will be the West Window.
This pilgrimage will be a virtual pilgrimage (more information on this page) where you travel in your imagination, with suitable pictures included with each meditation.
You may also imagine yourself standing in your own church, or a church or cathedral you have visited.
Alternatively, you may wish to visit a church or cathedral and use these meditations, making a domestic pilgrimage (more information on this page), moving around the building to aid your thoughts. You could also move around your home to experience the lighting in different rooms, or stay in one room and face different directions.
To be effective of course, we must make sure those windows are clean!
The actor Alan Alda wrote:
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”
Then, having cleaned the windows, your subsequent reflections may bring new insights and understanding. The meeting of these challenges is very much what pilgrimage can be about.
1. Holy Longing
“Examine yourselves”, 2 Corinthians 13.5
Your pilgrim journey begins with new thoughts or experiences that are in some way challenging, or a desire to examine a specific Scripture.
For this pilgrimage you will visit each window turn, allowing the light to shine on different aspects of your relationship with God.
Here are some Bible verses for meditation, but you may very well choose others that are more appropriate for you.
1. To the North, you are invited to reflect on the key values in your life:
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." John 6.68
2. To the West, what is dying off or should be let go:
”The old has gone...” 2 Corinthians 5.17
3. To the South, the things that give joy and sustain you:
”I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” Ephesians 3.16
4. To the East, the things that are new and developing:
”…the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5.17
2. Pilgrim Journey
“Set your heart on pilgrimage”, Psalm 84.5
During your journey, mediate on the Bible verses you are reading as you review and reflect on your thoughts and experiences.
Below is the first link, to the page for the North window. The page begins with a Bible verse and prayers that lead into the meditation; there are then some closing prayers.
How long you spend is entirely up to the individual, and of course the meditations don't need to be completed on the same day.
Click here for the North window meditation.
Click here for the West window meditation.
Click here for the South window meditation.
Click here for the East window meditation.
Click here for the concluding steps, Prayerful Arrival and Servant Response.
These meditations draw on material from “Spirituality Workbook” by David Runcorn, published in 2006 by SPCK, London.
Previous Virtual Pilgrimaages
Faithbook was a pilgrimage through a book, a form of virtual pilgrimage in which participants did not make a physical journey
It ran in June and July 2025 on the Pilgrimage of the Word WhatsApp group; click here to read about the pilgrimage.
Each Sunday in Advent 2024, a new Journey was published on the Pilgrimage of the Word WhatsApp group and here on the website. Visit this page for links to each of the four journeys.
A virtual pilgrimage along the Pilgrims Way took place on 7th and 8th September 2024. It’s described on this page.
A virtual pilgrimage to Bardsey Island in North Wales took place in May 2024. It can be found on this page.
If you would like more information about these journeys, or anything else, please email me at davidborrowdale54@hotmail.com
I look forward to hearing from you!
Dave