Every Scene By Heart: A Camino de Santiago Memoir

by Peri Zahnd, Brian Zahnd

Peri Zahnd walked the Camino de Santiago, an ancient Christian pilgrim route that stretches five hundred miles across Spain, in the fall of 2016 with her husband, Brian. They did this on a Sabbatical taken after thirty-five years pastoring Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. Every Scene By Heart is an honest and heartfelt spiritual memoir recounting the beauty and difficulties of the trek, the insights and personal transformations experienced, and the surprising gifts of the Camino de Santiago.

Genres: Memoir

206 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 6, 2017

Reviews

[Glen Grunau · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the conclusion of every Sunday morning service, we watch Brian and Peri walk to the front of the church, Peri to offer a few words of encouragement and Brian to offer a blessing. What a delight to now accompany Peri and Brian for 40 days on their Camino walk.

For the past couple of years, most Sundays we have joined Brian and Peri at Word of Life Church in St. Joseph Missouri for their online service. First, it was just for Brian’s sermons. Soon we decided to join them for the entire service, which is how we met Peri and have come to appreciate her brief appearance each week. It is not a perfect church, but the worship is inviting and Brian’s teaching is inspired.

Karen and I have experienced our own longing to walk the Camino. I do not think we ever will; I am not confident that my body with its various limitations is suited for such an ordeal.

And yet reading this book and experiencing the Camino vicariously through the eyes and mind and heart and body of Peri, has reawakened something in me.

A mantra that Peri keeps repeating throughout the book is that “Everyone has their own Camino”. What is my Camino? I do not think it will be a 40 day hike through Spain. But I still feel called to pilgrimage. Walking, biking, retreating . . . . ???

It will be a pilgrimage that requires me to step away from my life as usual, for days or even weeks at a time, to a geographical location that will serve for me as a thin place. Perhaps it will be a moving pilgrimage . . . or maybe a pilgrimage staying in one place. Maybe something as brief as a week . . . or as lengthy as 30 or 40 days.

At the dawning of another year, I want to pay attention to this desire within me, to watch where it will lead me . . . trusting that it is the Spirit calling out to me to listen to the call of pilgrimage.

[Sally Melcher mckeagney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how many stars to give this book. Throughout my reading, I wanted the author to expand her thoughts--to do more than say she liked furniture in a certain church--to say more about it, to say why she liked it. But the end of the book did deliver that. I loved the ending, actually. It was good. In the end, I felt it is a worthwhile book. It must be so different for those who have walked the Camino--to be able to picture the churches and the hostels.

[Kim Koi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one about to embark on the Camino, I loved this book! For me it felt like how she described it - a journal of her experience on the Camino. I enjoyed the recordings of the various “mundane” aspects of the Camino - housing, meals, the walk from the day. But I also delighted in Peri’s musings along the Way. Many of the quotes she included, I copied into my journal to take with me in just a couple of weeks, perhaps to enrich my own musings.

[C.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better accounts of being a pilgrim in the Camino de Santiago. No I thought it was funny how many times the author mentioned her Enneagram status - as though everyone would automatically know what she was talking about. However, aside from that, it was well written and realistic account of the Camino. I enjoyed it very much.

[Alastair Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good account of the author and her husband's Camino experience. As I walked the same route in 2015 it was great to read this book as it transported me back to a very magical experience in my own life walking the Camino

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this before my first Camino and didn't finish it. Since my return, the book came much more alive. I return in a few weeks and enjoyed the sharing of what the Camino meant to Peri. My life too has changed. It is truly a sacred mystery of God's wonder and grace.

[Shawn Small · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read for one who ponders joining the Camino.

[Denise Laurene Nickel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tears flowed as I read this book

for such a time as this. I needed this book. Thank you Peri for your honesty and your journey. I am changed.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir by the wife of a pastor who together walked the Camino de Santiago over 7 weeks. Lots of detail about the walk, and the spiritual, physical and emotional lessons she learned about herself.