Pilgrimage 2011 to Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

17 youth and 4 adult leaders arrived safely home at two in the morning on June 20 after a week on Pilgrimage at Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian Church (USA) Conference Center in north central New Mexico. The pilgrims were a bit weary and dusty after their grand adventure, but enjoyed the trip thoroughly.

We visited Christ in the Desert, a Benedictine Monastery completely isolated in a canyon area thirteen miles from any paved road. We worked on service projects at the Boys and Girls Club of the Okay Owinga Pueblo and “Adobe in Action,” cleaning up a playground and making adobe bricks for houses. We spend one entire day experiencing the low and high ropes courses at Ghost Ranch, attempting feats usually found only in circus highwire acts. At Bandelier National Monument, we climbed three 30-foot ladders to reach an old cliff dwelling once inhabited by the ancestors of today’s Pueblo Indians, 140 feet above the ground. After encountering these remnants of an ancient way of living, we jumped quickly forward into the 20th/21st centuries with a visit to the Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos, where we learned about the invention of the first atomic bomb and the subsequent work that continues at the National Laboratory in Los Alamos. This particular visit engendered a lively, heated discussion that evening during our nightly reflection time, as we talked about war and peace, and how our Christian faith connects to these topics. We visited Sanctuario de Chemayo, where we attended Mass and watched Native American Azteca dancers drum, process, and blow conch shells. Our last afternoon in New Mexico was spent in historic downtown Santa Fe.

We survived two flat tires, the heat of the high desert, windy days and constant blowing dirt that found its way into our shoes, our socks, and our suitcases. We enjoyed moonlight hikes to the top of mesas, and sack lunches eaten by the Chama River, where we experienced true silence, a first time phenomenon for many in our group. We got to know one another better and worked together as a community to meet the challenges that always seem to come along when on pilgrimage. The final evening of our Pilgrimage, we held a service of Word and Sacrament in an outdoor worship space with a view of the valleys and mesas surrounding our living quarters. We shared prayers of intercession for each other and for the world, gave thanks to God for the blessings of this trip, spoke of the “holy ground” we had tread during this journey, and celebrated the Lord’s Supper together.

Thank you to the congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church for supporting our youth and making this Pilgrimage possible!

-- by Vicky Bethel