I’ve just returned from a month in the US, where one of my goals was to see what people are saying, writing, researching and doing in the area of youth & young adult spirituality. so there’ll be a few posts coming related to that.
Way of Pilgrimage DVD
The folks at The Upper Room have just released the “Way of Pilgrimage” DVD. This resource is designed both as an introduction to the “Way of Pilgrimage” series of books, a spiritual pilgrimage experience for young adults.
The DVD has sections introducing the notion of spiritual pilgrimage using the 5 themes from the books, plus an initial “What is this Pilgrimage thing, anyway?”. The production quality is excellent. Obviously the DVD segments could be used with a group to introduce each section of the series. However the printed insert aklso contains a brief outline for using the DVD as a stand-alone resource with a group. In otehr words, you can conduct 6 sessions on the nature of spiritual life as a journey without needing the books. The Upper Room folks expect to have more detailed stand-alone session outlines on their website before the end of January.
The second part of the DVD is a series of videos designed to assist leaders of groups who are undertaking the “Way of Pilgrimage” series. These clips have a particular focus on those aspects of leadership with which people are least likely to be familiar – namely setting up an leading a contemplative group experience. The content is good and well filmed, but these clips are pretty stark (white background) compared to the lush look of the previous clips.
(They don’t seem to have a sample of the videos online yet but I assume its coming soon…)
The bonus is a music clip by Tenth Avenue North whose music also features as backing on the DVD.
Its an excellent resource at a reasonable price (US$25.00). The disc is NTSC but region-free. I’m not sure about availability in Australia yet – contact MediaCom and ask them to get it in.
