Resource Type: Lesson plans

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001vvdl/pilgrimage-the-road-through-north-wales-episode-1?seriesId=b09w7lc0-structural-3-m001vvdk

Helen, Steph, Jay and Jeff have a brief chat about what they think the afterlife might be like and even consider what Coffee will be like in heaven!

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: What’s Coffee like in Heaven?

Steph: Helen is there an afterlife in the Jewish faith?

Helen: Do you know? I don't know about the afterlife. I don't think there's a heaven. I, I should know, shouldn't I?

Steph: No, no.

Helen: Do you think that there is a place called heaven?

Steph: I used to think about this a lot as a new Christian thinking. I don't really want to go to heaven if we're just gonna sit there and play harps like.

Jay: What do you think happens from a personal perspective when you die?

Steph: I don't think this is the end. When we die, I think there will be something else. I think I will still be me, but in a different form.

Helen: It's interesting how cautious I am in thinking I'm not going when I die. I'm not going to a building that's white or something. I'm not going to go up there and be me.

Steph: I think there will be a resurrection of such. I don't ever think I'm going to be an ethereal spirit floating like I'm not going to exist without a body. To the extent where sometimes I think about, I wonder what coffee would be like in heaven, because I think it's going to be great.

Helen: Did you just say you were wondering what coffee was like in heaven? I just thought I misheard that. But what a what a thought. Yes. Good coffee.

Steph: I can't say those are orthodox views, but that's what I think.

Jay: Would we have beer in heaven?

Steph: Oh, yeah.

Jay: Okay, great.

Steph: Jesus's first miracle was wine. I bet he makes awesome beer.

Helen: Yeah, we could maybe relate to that.

Jay: Yeah.

Pilgrimage Moments: What’s Coffee like in Heaven?

Video length - 01.47

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001vvdl/pilgrimage-the-road-through-north-wales-episode-1?seriesId=b09w7lc0-structural-3-m001vvdk

Eryl the Pioneer Priest talks about Celtic Spirituality to the Pilgrims. Tom, Christine and Eshaan respond especially well to being in a “thin place”.

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: A Thin Place

Narrator: The church belongs to the Anglican Church in Wales. It's run by Eryl Parry, who has an interest in Celtic Christianity, and she is what's known as a pioneer priest.

Eryl: So as a pioneer priest, what we do is we create worshiping communities, faith communities for people who wouldn't necessarily find themselves sitting on a pew that might be on a mountainside. For me, there's a deeply authentic expression here, which is Celtic spirituality, and there are so many people who seek to make some kind of sense of their lives out in landscape.

Eshaan: And what is Celtic spirituality? It's not something I've heard before.

Eryl: So it's the Christian faith dating right back to the Saints in the sixth century. So here, Saint Callanan. So if you're here at the top of the hill, the lens of Celtic spirituality would be saying God is in the landscape. We're not worshiping nature. We're worshiping the creator.

Tom: Yeah, we've seen a lot of that today. The sun coming through the clouds. God is speaking to us and God speaking to us through each other, I think. So, yeah.

Narrator: Eryl has her own way of leading community worship up here in the hills.

Eryl: So where are we going? Is just a lovely little viewing spot. What we call a ponder spot.

Amanda: Yeah. Let's ponder.

Eshaan: A nice bit of pondering.

Sonali: This is crazy.

Eshaan: Amazing.

Sonali: Absolutely stunning.

Eryl: So as we look across the mountains, I would ask you just to let your eyes settle on something that's speaking to you. It might be the meandering river. It might be the mountains. I'm just going to give you a little bit of time on your own to imagine what it is to be in a thin place. A thin place, we would say, is somewhere where you have a sense of the barrier between earth and heaven being thinner. You get a sense of the awesome nature of God or the awesome nature of the universe. So guys, just take a few minutes to ponder. Do you mind if I share your ponder spot?

Tom: Hi. I've been looking at the Mountains where it literally just disappears into nothingness. Yeah, and it struck me. That's the thin place. That's essentially as close as you get to heaven on earth. It made me have a feeling of prayer, that hoping when I actually see heaven after I die, I recognise it for what it is. And it seems like this is a glimpse of what it might be like. It's, uh. No. It's awesome.

Eryl: And that insight and this moment is a gift.

Tom: Mm. I do get pilgrimage now. There's not many places in the world where you're supposed to sort of stop and look and consider yourself. And the thin barrier between heaven and earth. Oh, thank you for taking us here. I appreciate it.

Eryl: Thank you.

Christine: I just wanted to come back and look at the church again and really appreciate it, because I don't enjoy the feeling of death. As a mum it absolutely petrifies me. It's my biggest fear is leaving my children one day. My children are considered different because they're all autistic and so am I. And I have often had comments like, I bet you wish there was a cure or something to fix your children. And and I really don't. I think every single child is a miracle. But it just makes me want to be around forever because they're so magical.

Eryl: I think we're called to people and place. And you've been called as a mum.

Christine: It is my purpose in life, and I know I wouldn't be here if I didn't have my children.

Eryl: It's a high calling.

Christine: I just don't know what I'd do without the kids. I don't know what I'd do without my babies. I also don't know what they'd do without me. It scares me. Really scares me.

Eryl: Would a hug help or hinder?

Christine: Yeah. Thank you.

Eshaan: Um, I could associate this breeze with praying at my mum's grave when I go there. And. The breeze has made me think of her really. And. I just kind of found myself saying some of the prayers I'd say when I go to her grave. I think the tears are just kind of the love that I wish, I wish I could still give her. I think that's part of the reason why I don't take time to ponder, because I don't want to go into what's in my heart, really. The moment I think I'm going close to that bit of me. I think I don't want to. So, uh, it's nice to be able to just to ponder. That's the whole point, right? I guess it works. I guess it works.

Pilgrimage Moments: A Thin Place

Video length - 06.42

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001vvdq/pilgrimage-the-road-through-north-wales-episode-3

The Pilgrims talk about the Buddhist view of life after death with Lama Shenpen at a Buddhist hermitage. Christine, Sonali and Eshaan reflect on her words.

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: Buddhist Teachings

Narrator: Once back at the Hermitage, the pilgrims meet Lama Shenpen, its founder and spiritual leader at the stupa.

Lama Shenpen: So you could say that the stupa represents the center of the universe and the center of the universe could be anywhere or everywhere. So this is, if you like, a representation of it that actually contains the essence of it. So when we walk towards the stupa, we're walking to the center of the universe, which lies beyond all our thinking and opinions. It's considered to be radiating love and compassion, so it's considered to be very powerful. And the center of it is called a tree of life. Because really, in a way, Buddhism is about finding, well, what is the significance? What is life? What is birth? What is death? You could say, well, our life is a pilgrimage. We start with birth. You have this vision of a journey and the significance of your life. And then life ends. Your body dies. Yeah?

Spencer: Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just have. I have a question. Yeah. I've always just felt that energy and people's energy. Because I believe you can feel the people's energy. Like it's a physical thing that you can feel. Why would the energy die with the body? So I've always assumed that, you know, when I take my last breath in this body that something will happen to my energy.

Lama Shenpen: Yeah. Other cultures would find it. Mad to think that actually, that's all that happened. It lasted one lifetime and then it disappeared. What are you talking about? You die, and then you just manifest again in another body, in another place, in another time.

Michaela Do you believe that you go from one body into another body, or is it just an energy that comes out and and circulates?

Lama Shenpen: I think one way you can think of it is it's more like the world we create collapses, and then we've got to start again with a another situation, which is our new life.

Eshaan: I sometimes feel like some of these ideas exist to give solace to the people that are left behind in a sense, like. But actually, we don't really know. Like, I don't know where my mum has gone. I have no idea. When I pray to her, I have no idea if she is in an afterlife. I'm just praying into the ether and hoping that she receives some of my energy or whatever it might be.

Lama Shenpen: It's beautiful, isn't it? There's an intuitive sense that there's a meaning to that. A lot of people do seem to find those ideas helpful.

Narrator: Lama Shenpen invites the pilgrims to take part in a ritual at the stupa.

Lama Shenpen: As we live our life, we actually are creating a story. That's our life. And then we're holding on to things that we think are us.

Narrator: The ritual helps nurture the path to spiritual awakening and enlightenment.

Lama Shenpen: In some ways. When we walk around the stupa, go on our pilgrimage around the stupa, we come back to where we started, but maybe with a different perspective.

Christine: As a mum. Of course. I don't ever want to leave this earth. I want to be around forever. To be with my children. Everything Lama explained made perfect sense. It was very much that. You know, your energy lives on. Okay your body might leave, but your soul and your energy is there. And that's amazing. That, for me is something that I want to believe in. That means we get to live on forever, doesn't it? I'm not scared of death anymore. I'm not scared of death.

Sonali: Lama Shenpen said that life is a pilgrimage and that no one has ever said to me. I've learnt that today and it's so right. I always say I'm of Jain origin. I'm not practicing. That term practicing kind of always, it's difficult for me because then I feel like I've got to prove I'm doing something concrete. And maybe today has just confirmed. Maybe I should just say I am Jain. And then whatever I do, my intention of living a good life with as much non-violence as possible is probably all right.

Eshaan: My mum felt like the centre of my universe, so I felt a real connection to this physical manifestation of centring of the universe. Every time I went round, I could feel my brain and my heart going. This is a new thing. So this was the first time where I got a sense that my stupa is missing, which is why I feel this way. I feel like I'm floating through the universe without anything to anchor me.

Lama Shenpen: Thank you.

All Pilgrims: Thank you so much.

Michaela: That was beautiful.

Pilgrimage Moments: Buddhist Teachings

Video length - 05.45

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029kxg/pilgrimage-the-road-through-the-alps-episode-2?seriesId=b09w7lc0-structural-4-m0029kxc

Nelufar and Steph chat with a refugee from Afghanistan, which has a special resonance for Nelufar because she was also a refugee from Afghanistan.

Transcript

Narrator: Nelufar and Stef have gone to the town of Bludesch. On the outskirts is a refugee centre run by Caritas, an international Catholic charity. Nelufar came into the UK as a refugee from Afghanistan at the age of seven.

Nelufar: It's one of the invisible things that make me who I am. But I am nervous.

Stef: I feel like this is quite a personal story for you.

Nelufar: Yeah.

Narrator: They're meeting Faisal Karim. He's lived at the centre for a year with other international refugees from a range of backgrounds and situations.

Faisal: Hey.

Nelufar: Hi. Good to meet you. I'm Nelufar. Salaam alaikum.

Stef: Stephanie.

Narrator: Faisal Kareem was brought from Afghanistan by people traffickers and spent a difficult year moving through various countries before finally arriving in Austria.

Nelufar: With his own eyes.

Nelufar: How important was your faith in your journey?

Nelufar: He says when you're a muslim, you're a muslim. His deen, his belief was always the same.

Nelufar: Wow. Here. He's free to pray or not pray. But in Afghanistan, he had to pray. So then. Which is faith, which is real? You know,

Stef: May I ask, what is your hope for the future? What is your dream now?

Nelufar: Just normal things really ordinary things that we all have.

Narrator: For now Faisal Karim has a job locally, studies German and spends time with the other refugees.

Stef: Thank you so, so much.

Nelufar: Bye!

Pilgrimage Moments: A Refugee Story

Video length - 04.18

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029kxd/pilgrimage-the-road-through-the-alps-episode-1?seriesId=b09w7lc0-structural-4-m0029kxc

Helen engages in a thoughtful and emotional conversation with Daliso, delving into her Jewish heritage and exploring the layered, often conflicting emotions she feels about the tragic fate of her father’s family, many of whom perished in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Theresienstadt. As she reflects on this painful history, she grapples with the question of whether she has the right or even the responsibility to claim and “own” that legacy as part of her personal and cultural identity, especially given the generational distance and the complexity of inherited trauma.

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: Jewish Roots

Daliso: On this pilgrimage. When we are going through these places, the memories like, how do you feel?

Helen: It's triggering so much of, you know, obviously my father loved Austria so much because as a boy he would come to Austria. But then the more you know about the actual role that the Austrians purportedly played in the war, the two things are in conflict because a lot of Austrians were part of the Final Solution. I mean, this is the thing about numbers. The thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people who died, including my father's family in Auschwitz. I mean, it's just beggars belief, doesn't it?

Daliso: Yes. So it was your father's family. How did your father get get away?

Helen: Well, I think what was usual in 39 is you had to have a sponsor in England. They sent my father to school in Margate early, and then his parents followed and his sister followed.

Daliso: And when you were growing up, was it spoken of or never spoken of.

Helen: It wasn't largely spoken of because of the need and the gratitude to be English and wanting to put. The past you know, behind you and celebrate like we are just celebrating now, but move forward.

Daliso: Yeah, do you feel your Jewishness plays a big part in your life?

Helen: The Jewishness is complicated because I wasn't brought up in a Jewish home. We didn't. My mother was English, not Jewish. But when I think about my grandmother and the way she spoke and her sadness because there was obviously sadness, um, it's a conflict because you you've inherited this, like, paranoia that there's something you can't talk about, you can't overclaim it, because that would be a disservice to those people who are central to it. But it's really coming. It's kind of I'm feeling it now.

Daliso: I'm feeling it here.

Helen: So pick up your sticks. Let's go and catch up with the others.

Daliso: I enjoyed a brief rest.

Helen: A little rest.

Daliso: Let's do it.

Helen: More pilgrimage now.

Pilgrimage Moments: Jewish Roots

Video length - 02.41

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029kxd/pilgrimage-the-road-through-the-alps-episode-1?seriesId=b09w7lc0-structural-4-m0029kxc

Daliso leads a discussion with all the Pilgrims about the Baháʼí faith and the belief that all religions are equal in their search for the truth.

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: The Bahá’í Faith Transcript

Daliso: When I was born, I was Christian and I was extremely Christian in that, like I talked to God, like not even praying. And then when I was 17, I was invited to a Baha'i deepening. Right. So by a very attractive girl. So I've got to say, the only reason I agreed was because she was hot. It wasn't actually a search for faith.

Stef: As a saying flirt to convert.

Harry: Stef. That seems like you've done it a few times.

Daliso: But what she invited to me was amazing, because Baha'i is believed that the greatest truth is the search for truth, the independent search for truth. They believe in all the prophets, the founders of the great religions, but they're equal. It's like if there's a mountain. Truth is at the top. There are many ways to get to the top, right? That's the Christian way. That's the Muslim way. That's the Baha'i way. But you're all trying to reach the truth. And prophets are almost just like guides, and it's kind of like breadcrumbs to lead you to the truth. And I'm like, I'm reading all the breadcrumbs and trying to figure it out, because right now, I wouldn't necessarily define myself as a Baha'i because I'm still looking. I'm still questioning, but I've not yet belonged.

Nelufar: Is it lonely?

Daliso: No, because I would almost say, like my faith is my solace. Right. So I still get fully fulfilled. Like I will read privately religious texts and think about it. I love faith where it feels like it's opening up bits of me and it's like, do you know what I mean?

Helen: It's welcoming you.

Daliso: It's welcoming me and it's embracing me.

Pilgrimage Moments: The Bahá’í Faith

Video length - 02.08

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029kxg/pilgrimage-the-road-through-the-alps-episode-2?seriesId=b09w7lc0-structural-4-m0029kxc

Steph tells the group about the boating accident that led to her having her right leg amputated below the knee at the age of 15. She describes how it was the beginning of her faith.

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: Journey of Faith Transcript

Narrator: Now the group know each other better. Stef decides to tell them about her accident.

Stef: I do appreciate that no one's kind of just asked. Just because it is a tough story to tell. When I was 15, we were doing this thing called tubing, which is when you attach a rubber inner tube to the back of a speedboat and you go flying across the water. I hit a wave and I flipped off, and the driver had no idea I was in the water, and I saw the boat coming, and I knew immediately something was wrong. He is just he's coming way too fast. And I just remember the last thing, just seeing that ridge of the boat as as it went on top. I just knew from my friends faces as they pulled me onto the boat that you know this. This is not good. Like there is too much blood. I remember being in the back of the ambulance and just desperate to survive. Suddenly that was it. In a split second, that was it. There was going to be no more time. And it was terrifying. And I prayed for the first time. Probably. Seriously? God, please, please save me. And I know that he answered that prayer. And I remember waking up from surgery and just feeling so grateful. And then my mum walked into the recovery room. And she was the one who had to tell me that my right foot had had to be amputated. And I was devastated. I was so thankful to still be alive. But I was so angry. I just thought, how can a God save you and yet leave you in such a cruel position. But I think back now, and I cannot deny that there was another. I think presence is the best word that I can say. It just felt like something was fighting for my life. Something that said, this sucks right now, but it will not be like this forever. A day will come when this is going to be okay and this level of hope. That was the start of of my faith, which sounds bizarre, but that was it. I will never forget. Seven days after the accident, a nurse walked into my room who absolutely changed my life. She said, Stephanie, it is time. It is time to move forward. Others have and you can too. Wow. Yes. I was shocked because she was the first person who had walked into that room and didn't feel sorry for me. I had absolutely zero pity. That was the first time that I actually felt like doing something or fighting that was enough to just release that competitive spark.

Nelufar: Is that hope? What has carried you through all of those Paralympics and the awards and the accolades? Is that the genesis of that hope?

Stef: Um, you've got me going there. Um, yes. Because I think like that to me is that if you don't have hope, I just think, what? What is the point? There's nothing else.

Daliso: I find you're someone who makes me believe more, um, when I talk to you. Because I had a certain amount of faith. And then it's not that I lost it. It just became a thing in the background. And then when I talk to you, I remember the fervour which I had, and I miss it. And so I just find you've been a catalyst for faith. Yeah.

Helen: Thank you for taking us through that and coming out the other side and showing us what faith is.

Stef: Thank you for listening. Thank you. I really appreciate that.

Narrator: Now the group know each other better. Stef decides to tell them about her accident.

Nelufar: Is that hope? What has carried you through all of those Paralympics and the awards and the accolades? Is that the genesis of that hope?

Stef: Um, you've got me going there. Um, yes. Because I think like that to me is that if you don't have hope, I just think, what? What is the point? There's nothing else.

Helen: Thank you for taking us through that and coming out the other side and showing us what faith is.

Stef: Thank you for listening. Thank you. I really appreciate that.

Pilgrimage Moments: Journey of Faith

Video length - 1.46

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029kxg/pilgrimage-the-road-through-the-alps-episode-2?seriesId=b09w7lc0-structural-4-m0029kxc

Harry calls Nelufar a “rule breaker” and asks her why she’s still a Muslim. Nelufar describes what it means – to her – to be a modern Muslim.

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: A Modern day Muslim

Harry: You seem a bit like a rule breaker. So how do you overcome that in your faith? And essentially, why do you still believe in your God and why are you still Muslim?

Nelufar: I've learned that the rules of my faith do not make a good Muslim because I'm rebellious, because I've chosen to modernise the faith. My faith lives on, and the only way that I can really do that is sometimes by bending, if not breaking the rules a little bit Harry so.

Harry: Well, I'm like you, just in a different faith, so that's why I asked. That's why I said.

Nelufar: The point is, Harry, that I make decisions for myself. You know, I've got a white atheist husband. You know, I'm a feminist. I'll go to the beach. I'll go for a swim. I don't wear the hijab, but no one can tell me I'm not a muslim because I tell me I'm a muslim.

Harry: So would you say you're damned by now? And how do you. How do you bear that?

Nelufar: Never shy away from asking the hardest questions on earth. Yeah, you keep cracking on. Am I damned? Yeah, I think so. But I don't know if I believe in the version of the God that would damn me for living the life that I pick.

Pilgrimage Moments: A Modern Day Muslim 

Video length - 01.39

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029kxd/pilgrimage-the-road-through-the-alps-episode-1

Nelufar talks with the Pilgrims about her discomfort that so many terrible things have been done in the name of religion.

Transcript

Pilgrimage Moments: In the Name of Faith

Nelufar: I often feel in conflict with my faith, so I. I don't know how to fit in and it kills me like it really bothers me inside. So I just, I think, I don't mean to be cynical and I am loving this dinner. I really, really am.

Helen: What's your thing? That's the thing.

Nelufar: On this table sits the Abrahamic faiths. Those of us who believe in them and those of us who don't. We have fought wars. We have killed. We have maimed. We have done terrible things to one another in the name of faith. And so I feel that I carry that for what's done in my name and in the the name of my faith. I feel like I carry that. I feel responsible for it.

Daliso: I have a question. Do you feel these terrible things done in the name of faith? Were the intention of the faith or perversion of the faith?

Nelufar: I don't think it matters.

Daliso: Do you think Christ is a fan of people killing in his name? Do you think Muhammad is a fan of people killing his name? My point is, I think it's humans get this beautiful thing, which is faith, which is messages of love. But we're still humans, and there's still politics, and they're still wanting to conquer each other.

Nelufar: Jeff has no faith. He has messages of tolerance. Faith doesn't determine that. Right? And sometimes.

Daliso: That's not what I said either.

Nelufar: I know but.

Daliso: I would say.

Nelufar: I'm getting really anxious now.

Daliso: Do you think? Which is fine. We go to all the emotions.

Jeff: We're all in this together. Don't worry.

Daliso: We can go to. We can go to Joy. We can go to discomfort.

Nelufar: My point is how can any of us not feel as though terrible things have been done in our name? Look that's the point is, it's not the vibe for dinner.

Stef: Actually, it does hurt when I hear you say, talk about Christian faith and the awful things that have been done because awful things have been done. But I don't think that that is because of Jesus. Because if you look at that message, his message was love. And we have perverted that. And part of the Christian faith is actually that people are broken. Every single one of us is broken. And I just think so many of these messages have been twisted by us. And actually, it's about getting back to what did these texts say?

Pilgrimage Moments: In the Name of Faith

Video length - 02.41