Spiritual Pilgrimage: Recovering Heaven and Union with God

Blog by the Unhurried Living Team

A spiritual pilgrimage is a way of seeing the whole Christian life as a road home, with union with God as its true destination. Recovering heaven as a present, unseen reality (not only a place we go after death) gives that road both direction and hope. This is the heart of Alan Fadling's conversation with pastor and author Brian Zahnd on the Unhurried Living Podcast.

Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, and his new book is Unseen Existences: Of Heaven, Earth, and the Divine Mystery in All Things. Many leaders know the quiet ache of doing faithful work while sensing that something deeper is missing. Brian's book names that ache honestly and points toward a world larger than the one we can measure.

Faith is more than a program for self-improvement or social change. It is a spiritual pilgrimage toward union with God, walked in company with others and marked along the way by beauty, wonder, and a renewed vision of heaven.

Why Does a Christian View of Heaven Still Matter for Your Faith?

Brian Zahnd wrote Unseen Existences because he sensed that heaven had gone missing from serious theological conversation. The ways heaven is usually described have often felt thin, or even embarrassing. When the only pictures available are shallow ones, thoughtful believers tend to stop talking about heaven at all.

Brian names three distortions. The escapist heaven wants to fly away from this world, dismissing the good creation of God the Father; the sensationalist heaven fills bestseller lists with dramatic reports of brief visits to streets of gold. The sentimentalist heaven shows up in social media memes of departed rock stars jamming together on pillowy clouds.

None of these offers a Christian view of heaven sturdy enough to sustain a weary leader. Brian set out to describe heaven in a way that is scriptural, serious, engaging, and faithful to the long history of Christian theology.

The book carries a second theme as well; its original title, Paths of Unseen Existences, drew on a line from the American poet Walt Whitman. It holds together the unseen heavenly realm and the idea of life as a pilgrimage toward our true telos (our final purpose) of union with God. A Christian view of heaven shapes how we walk today, not only where we go when we die.

One small step today: notice what you picture when you hear the word heaven. Is it an escape, a spectacle, or a sentimental image? Ask God to give you a Christian view of heaven that is truer and more hopeful than the one you inherited.

If you want to keep listening to conversations like this one, the Unhurried Living blog and podcast library is a good place to linger, and you can explore it here.

How Transcendence in Christian Faith Restores What Ethics Alone Cannot

Alan Fadling highlighted two lines from the book: without metaphysics, Christianity is reduced to mere ethics, and without transcendence, it can deteriorate into politics. Brian Zahnd affirmed that faith should inform both our ethics and our politics. The danger comes when that is all faith becomes, and transcendence in Christian faith quietly disappears.

Transcendence in Christian faith means living in two worlds at once (the seen and the unseen, the earthly and the heavenly). Without that awareness, Brian explained, the faith itself becomes extraneous or simply a stamp of approval on positions we already hold. Many leaders feel this flattening in their own souls, even when their work looks fruitful from the outside.

Most people also carry a quiet sense of a world beyond the one we see. The musician Nick Cave, quoted at the opening of the book, suggests that rejecting the sacred lies at the root of our deep restlessness. Since the Enlightenment, Brian notes, we have learned to treat these subtle spiritual intuitions as embarrassing, merely emotional, or as useless as an appendix.

Alan shared that he grew up in churches that valued thinking about things more than attending to deeper impulses. The longer he lives, the more he finds wisdom rooted there, along with the voice of the Holy Spirit. Brian added a reminder from Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth-century French mathematician and philosopher:

"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing."

Transcendence in Christian faith does not ask us to abandon reason; it asks us to stop dismissing the heart. One small step today: write down one moment when you sensed God's nearness and quietly set it aside. Bring it back to God in prayer and ask what it might have been inviting.

You do not have to figure this out alone; a Soul Care Guide can help you listen for God in the unseen places of your life, and you can connect here.

What a Spiritual Pilgrimage of Faith Teaches Us About Walking Together

Brian Zahnd sees pilgrimage running through Scripture from Genesis onward. The writer of Hebrews says we have no enduring city here but seek the one to come (Hebrews 13:14), and the Apostle Paul urged the church in Corinth to look at what is unseen and eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). A spiritual pilgrimage of faith treats this life as a forming road toward an unseen home.

Ten years ago, Brian and his wife, Perry Zahnd, walked 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago, from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Brian says plainly that it changed their lives; things became simple, and the road became a living metaphor for faith. The first chapter of his book opens with a line that captures it:

"We're all born a long way from home."

Brian also cautions against an overly individualistic approach to formation. One dark morning on the Camino, he stepped into a pothole while looking at his phone and fell hard, twisting his ankle. Within five minutes, a fellow pilgrim from New Zealand whom he had never met pulled an ankle brace out of his pack.

Pilgrims on the Camino say the road will provide, and Brian has found that it nearly always provides through another pilgrim. A spiritual pilgrimage of faith is never meant to be walked alone. Passing Spanish election billboards, Brian cared for the common good without being consumed by it; he calls this a holy ambivalence that comes from being a pilgrim passing through.

Alan recalled Dallas Willard, the philosopher and author, saying that only God can love the whole world, but we can love our neighbor. Brian added that our real danger is not being too heavenly minded, but being so earthly minded that we lose sight of anything else. Our true telos, as 2 Peter 1:4 describes it, is to share in the divine nature; created in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27), we are being formed to become like Jesus, and conversion is only the first step toward union with God.

One small step today: name one person walking beside you in your spiritual pilgrimage of faith. Send them a short note of thanks, or ask how you might help carry something on their road.

Simple Practices for Life as a Pilgrim Journey Toward Union with God

Brian Zahnd shared simple practices that help him stay awake to heaven on the road toward union with God.

1. Look for One Sign of Beauty Each Day

Practice: For fifteen years, Brian has watched for at least one signal of beauty on his twelve-minute morning commute, and he never fails to find it.

Why It Matters: On the Camino, yellow arrows mark the path; wonder and awe serve as similar way markers for the soul.

2. Step Outside After Dark

Practice: Brian steps into his backyard at night to listen to the sounds and look at the stars.

Why It Matters: Moments of beauty remind us that an enduring, eternal world surrounds the ordinary one.

3. Pray St. Teresa's Bookmark

Practice: Brian prays a short prayer by St. Teresa of Ávila, the sixteenth-century Spanish Carmelite, every morning.

Why It Matters: It steadied Perry Zahnd during an all-day rain in 2023 when they could not find their lodging on the Camino.

None of these practices is complicated; each one simply keeps the eyes of the heart open along the way.

Finding Companions for the Road, Wherever You Are

Many leaders carry a quiet sense that they are still looking for something they have not yet found, even after years of faithful service. That longing is not a sign of failure; Brian Zahnd describes it as the soul sensing a home it has not yet reached. Whether you are listening from a small town or a busy city, on one side of the world or the other, Unhurried Living offers companionship for that road through a podcast heard in more than 145 nations and resources for leaders wherever they serve.

Let Nothing Disturb You on the Road Home

Heaven is not an escape from this world but the unseen reality that gives our lives direction, and union with God is the home our spiritual pilgrimage is moving toward. Brian Zahnd closed his conversation with Alan Fadling with the counsel he draws from St. Teresa's prayer, which he now prays every morning:

"Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; patience obtains all things."

Take one step toward a steadier rhythm with the Pause & Center weekly email, a short invitation to slow down with God each week; sign up here. When you are ready for a daily companion on the road, the 40-day Unhurried Daily Email offers gentle devotional reflections, and you can get started here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I understand life as a spiritual pilgrimage?
A: Scripture describes God's people as pilgrims with no enduring city here, moving toward a home that is still to come (Hebrews 13:14). Brian Zahnd suggests seeing each season of life as part of a forming road toward union with God, rather than a collection of ideas to master. We are all born a long way from home, and the pilgrimage is how we travel there together.

Q: What does the Bible say about heaven and eternity?
A: The Bible presents heaven as more than a destination after death; it is an unseen, eternal reality connected to the world we live in now. Paul writes that what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Jesus teaches us to pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10), which joins the two together.

Q: How do I take my spiritual intuitions seriously as a Christian?
A: Begin by noticing the moments when you sense God's nearness instead of dismissing them as merely emotional. Bring those moments to God in prayer, test them against Scripture, and talk them over with a trusted spiritual director or friend. As Blaise Pascal observed, the heart has its reasons that reason alone cannot explain.

Q: What does union with God actually mean for my daily life?
A: Union with God is the purpose for which human beings were created, sharing in the divine nature as 2 Peter 1:4 describes. In daily life, it looks like becoming more like Jesus over time, through prayer, community, and attentiveness to God's presence. Conversion is the first step, not the completion of that path.

Q: Can being heavenly minded make a Christian less useful on earth?
A: Brian Zahnd argues the opposite; our greater risk is being so earthly minded that we lose sight of anything else. A clear vision of heaven shows us what healing and restoration look like, so we can love the neighbor right in front of us. Heavenly mindedness, rightly understood, makes us more earthly good.