Pilgrim’s Progress: Chapter 5
I had never really been on a pilgrimage. I recall reading about the first planned pilgrimage to Montgomery and whispering to Elizabeth Hays in the front pew that January that I really wanted to go but suspected there wouldn't be space for a former intern. By all accounts, I missed out on a trip that had a deep and wide impact. I did the Pauli Murray Pilgrimage in the spring/summer of 2023, walking around where Pauli went to school, where they went to the library. That was a hot trek but gave me a whole new perspective on Durham and a deep appreciation for the groundbreaking, pioneering space Pauli held their entire life.
When I got to St. Matthew's in August 2024 and Lisa asked if I could write a curriculum for the February pilgrimage, I wholeheartedly said yes, with no idea of what I was doing or creating. Mercifully, Lisa and Elizabeth gave some guideposts and I pulled on conversations I had with Betty Wolfe after she returned from the first Montgomery pilgrimage. With these points of reference, I dove in and went deep, pulling from sources I had encountered in various studies and other programs. With the International African American Museum as one of the anchors of our trip, I went back to Nikole Hannah-Jones' 1619 Project and learned how it had grown out of the podcast into so many more rich resources. I recalled the captivating and compelling Samuel L. Jackson documentary, Enslaved, in which he takes a journey with Black Rescue Divers looking for sunken ships that did not complete the Middle Passage. In his research Jackson finds and is welcomed as a member into the West African tribe of his ancestors.
Knowing that not all descendants have the resources Samuel L. Jackson has, I followed the thread of how do descendants find their ancestors. This led me to the Gullah Geechee tradition of talking to the dead. Naturally there is a book, an ethnographic study of eight women who are continuing the Gullah Geechee traditions in their own Christian faith communities, Talking to the Dead, Religion, Music, and Lived Memory Among Gullah/Geechee Women.
Elaine Druesdow helped me find direct connections between St. Matthew's and Charleston. Those touch points changed Charleston from the marathon destination location it had been for me to a place grappling with its own history of being deeply intertwined with the slave industry.
As I worked on the curriculum, everywhere I went I saw connections with studying Charleston and opening myself to the traditions and meanings of this place. Visiting one of my children, a painting in a museum called out to me. It was by a Gullah artist! And so the curriculum grew and was formed.
Steeped in these swirling ideas and thoughts, I got on the van. No preparation or study, or step made prior to that one could have given me any idea of what the next four days would be like. The fellowship amongst the pilgrims, the joy in each over-the-top with goodness meal, the hilarity of traveling as a group. All of this was lagniappe to the discovery of Charleston through John, Lee, Frank, and Father Bailey's eyes. These members of the Communion of Saints who shared their lives, their stories, their time, their knowledge, and their deep welcome into the narrative of stories that must, must, must be lifted up, were the crux of this pilgrimage for me. Worshiping at Calvary Episcopal was transformative, as I relayed in a recent sermon. Each step I take, each new friend in this journey, brings me closer to seeing and witnessing God's kingdom on Earth.
Rev. Deacon Kate Wisz
