The Camino Bakery

My brother and sister in law have decided to open a bakery in Winston-Salem.
It is amazing. The muffins are simply the best. Please go visit them at
Krankies Coffee in downtown Winston-Salem. 211 East 3rd street is the locale.
www.krankiescoffee.com

It reminds me of my pilgrimage across Spain. The Camino is the name of the 1000 year old pilgrimage across the land.

A friend, Michael Barham, says it better than I. He, like me, has travelled the road in Spain, and is just heading back from his latest gig over there.

Why "on pilgrimage"

Psalm 84 says "Blessed are those whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way," and I figure there are different ways to interpret that.

I felt a delicious blessing as I walked across Northern Spain on the medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela along the "camino frances."

However, I have come to see that there is a different kind of blessing for a different kind of "being" on the way. That is the way of the hospitalero.


The person who lives along the "way" and receives the person passing by and passing through. The little old lady who runs after me with a diet coke, the man who invites me into his home and pulls a slab of meat out of his smoke house, and picks fresh vegetables from his garden... the priests who pray the mass at the churches along the camino, and the volunteers who run the refugios. Even those who wave at you as you pass by.


The ministry of hospitality. This is the school I need, I want to learn from. I was given a wonderful suggestion by a mentor: go stay in a Benedictine retreat house, and follow the guest master for a few days. I'll check back in when I've done that, and let you know how it goes.


What are your thoughts on hospitality? What are your thoughts about being on pilgrimage? I want to be on pilgrimage in a way that helps people in their journey.