From - Through - To : Liminality in the Christian Cultus



"Pilgrims On The Way"  are in a state of Liminality, 


                        The time and miles of a pilgrimage, however long or short, are a threshold.
The pilgrim travels  
                        From     A  
                       
                       Through     a landscape and a time apart from the work-s-day world  - 
                        
                       To             B.  

 The time and the miles of a pilgrimage provide an opportunity to reflect and reach a new understanding. This is why pilgrimages are often given as a penance.  They allow for amendment of life!

All Christian Life is Pilgrimage

                                 From         in  the waters of baptism we embark on a new life.
                         
                      Through    the path of life, following Jesus who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life.  "Here we have no abiding city, but we look for one that is to come. ( Hebrews 13.14).

                                 To              the life of the world to come

 It follows that the pilgrimages we undertake during the course of our  lives are sacramental. They are outward and visible signs of the inner and spiritual truth that Christians are a pilgrim people.

From birth  - Though life - To death 
and the promise is to something more besides.

We live in a time of change

 The traditional Church of England, in its chocolate box setting, with a vicar on a bike, in the midst of a village complete with thatched cottages and a pub, seems to have been there forever. 

This is the A             From which we are moving 

                                 Through   a time of rapid change, in the course of which the Church has been pushed to the margins of society, still wheeled in for church weddings and funerals or state occasions, with falling membership and short of human resources (lay and ordained);  spread thin and thinner as time progresses.  

Multiple disrupters   - education, ease of travel, new developments in work patterns, the digital word etc -  disrupt! 
The tectonic plates are moving and in the earthquakes that follows are bound to bring some structures down.

                               To?     What exactly?  The question remains to be answered, 

 Might we imagine a smaller, and, perhaps ,more dynamic Church that has developed an on-line presence and maintains a smaller number of buildings?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

North Elmham

Image
I’d come to North Elmham pursuing a mystery. Did the Bishops of Elmham from Bedwinus in the 7th century to Herfast in the 11th have their cathedral in Norfolk or  Suffolk?  North or South Elmham? I’d followed a circular walk I’d found in the  Norfolk Health Heritage and Conservations Walks  leaflet (You can get hold of one from Norfolk County Council or on-line at www.countrysideaccess.norfolk.gov.uk .)  It took me through parkland,  along quiet lanes and ended up at the parish church  (Well worth a visit in its own right!) My final destination was indicated by a brown tourist sign. Uncompromisingly it asserts “Saxon Cathedral”! But when you get to the ruins and read English Heritage’s helpful interpretation boards there’s no certainty at all.  What you see are earthworks and  ruins of a castle built by Henry Despencer,  the fighting Bishop of Norwich. He was famous for putting down the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. A man not without enemies, Henry had obviously felt the need of
Read more

First Day of the Rest of My Life

Image
 I have not posted much of late. I have been struggling. Between completing the pioneering work on a possible Withburga Way between Holkham and Dereham in the summer of 2022 and today my health has gone downhill in alarming way. I'll never walk the route in a couple of days, nor yet in 3 days.  I'll never walk it.  The rapid onset Pulmonary Fibrosis has left me struggling for breath putting my boots on let alone walking.  Yesterday, I went to St. Benet's Abbey , ate my picnic lunch in the car park and set myself the challenge of walking from the car park to the Abbey ruins. It is 0.35 miles and uphill all the way from from the Gate House to the old rugged cross that marks the site of the high altar at the summit. The hill looked quite daunting -  "Who can ascend the hill of the Lord?" I sang under by breath. Stopping often to catch my breath, slowly one foot in front of the other, I got closer to the summit. There before the cross, wind in my hair, it felt as if
Read more

A Candlemas Pilgrimage

Image
 Turning left off the Hautbois Road  A path leads past Golden Gates Pond.  Ahead, the tower of  Great Hautbois Church is a silhouette glimpsed through winter trees. Beneath the tower  - Snowdrops,  Candlemas Bells.  We've come to St. Mary's Church to ponder  the Feast of the Presentation.  Did Mary travel to Jerusalem's temple to offer her own her flesh and blood, her baby Jesus to  his Heavenly Father?  Or was it to bring God to his Temple? Whatever was going on she is at the heart of the mystery. Simeon had it right.  The boy child is the light that enlightens the Gentiles but the 2 turtle doves were just a down-payment. More would be given.   Candlemas - one last look back to Christmas before turning our faces towards Passiontide and Good Friday.  And a sword certainly pieced Mary's soul when she stood by the cross.  In real time, fast military jets manoeuvre overhead and a war torn world comes into sharp focus.   "Where is God!"  We cry!   On his cross! A
Read more