“With God in the Green”

An inspiring and enriching time out lies behind me. Ten days with a changing number of participants on the paths around the Jager chapel. This pilgrimage time out was designed as an introduction to the brochure “Mit Gott im Grünen” (With God in the Green). Ten full days of voluntary work was also intended as a gift to myself. And this plan really came true.

It was a gift for me to be able to walk the paths that I had walked with Sandra Pixberg over the past two years, with some corrections, one after the other as a complete walking experience.

A great GIFT for me were the many encounters with the companions. The concept that everyone could choose how many days he / she can participate, has worked. A special familiarity arose when people decided to stay several days in a row and stay overnight in the hostel “Alter Heuboden” with us in Jager. The tea party in the evening or the shared breakfast before setting off on the next tour reminded me of my own encounters with pilgrims on other pilgrimage routes. Among the day guests were people from the next village, who I got to know, and people from all over Western Pomerania and eastern Mecklenburg.

A GIFT for me was the physical experience of walking step by step without blisters and aching muscles. Wind and sun on my skin brought red cheeks and when breathing deeply on the way, it was a pleasure to feel the fresh air filling my lungs. Feeling nature with all my senses, then the exhaustion in the evening, the joy the next morning to take on the next few kilometers and finally, all thoughts were banished from my mind, a very refreshing experience of meditation.

It was also a gift to be able to see nature and my immediate surroundings with new eyes, 160 km of mostly unpaved field and forest paths with no oncoming traffic of any kind. The paths in front of my house appeared in a completely new light, the green woodpecker accompanied us for several days with its laughter, the abundance of water in our forests made me happy, over the course of ten days the first sloe bushes blossomed, the first wood anemones and daffodils opened their flowers.

Spontaneity was also a GIFT. Although there were planned tours for every day, we took the liberty of deviating from the route, exploring detours and even new paths.

Anyone who has been on a pilgrimage with luggage for a long time knows how much of a burden a backpack can be. Therefore, the ease of traveling with a small daypack was another GIFT. The devotion at the beginning of each day of pilgrimage also helped to lighten the mental baggage that some might have carried.

And last but not least, I experienced the great GIFT of having been on a spiritual journey. What would pilgrimage be without spirituality, as St. Birgitta of Sweden calls it? Each day of the pilgrimage began and ended with a prayer service in the Jager chapel. Pilgrimage is praying with your feet, or as Ellen Nemitz even calls it, worship with your feet. We took this literally on the classic church service day, on Sunday. And it was amazing to hear the moving stories that were experienced or shared that day.

Foresight was most evident at the top of the Gristow church tower. But I was also able to experience many far-sighted conversations and encounters. In a time when polarization is increasing, this is a very special GIFT.

The weather was also a GIFT, we only got really wet once. Otherwise, it's amazing how well we had it with the weather on most days. Often the morning fog lifted, the sun came through, the wind was mild and the temperatures were quite pilgrimage-friendly for outdoor exercise.

My dear husband Olaf, presented us with freshly baked cake and a laid coffee table on Saturday, Sunday and at the end, THANK YOU!

The gift of gratitude. I am grateful with every single cell of my body for every single gift. And the big realization for me is that making a pilgrimage on your own doorstep works surprisingly well. Even if you return to the starting point at the end of each day of pilgrimage, going on circular routes is not at all the same as treading water. The inner journey of moving God in your heart is not dependent on covering kilometer after kilometer. When developing the brochure, I initially wanted to avoid the word “pilgrimage”; I couldn't keep that in writing. In practice, it has been shown that the pilgrimage experience is certainly possible in the immediate vicinity.

Further information

The brochure “Mit Gott im Grünen” - Wege rund um die Kapelle Jager is available in the Jager Chapel for a donation of €5. Sabine Petters is a pilgrim companion and pilgrim coach. Since 2015, she has been organizing the “Open Chapel” in Jager during the period from Easter to Thanksgiving and regularly offers pilgrim days.

This article appears for the Ecumenical Pilgrim Initiative Vorpommern e.V. In it, various (legal) persons have joined together to strengthen the work of pilgrims in Vorpommern. Members include the Archdiocese of Berlin (Tourism Ministry, represented by GR Marion von Brechan) and the Parish of St. Bernhard Stralsund-Rügen-Demmin (represented by Rev. Johannes Schaan).

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