Norfolk Pilgrim

To any passing walker I was a photographer lying on the ground trying to get a close-up of orchids. I did have my camera in my hands but the truth was,  my focus was elsewhere! I lay on the ground intoxicated!  There was no alcohol involved, as St. Peter had argued on that first  Pentecost, it was far too early in the day!  I was, I think, intoxicated by Spring! Ashwellthorpe Wood was like a great cathedral.  Overhead greening branches were Gothic arches,  the jubilant praise of birdsong filled the air, the floor was carpeted here with the bluebells, there with the white and green of wild garlic  and along the way primroses, wood anemones, lady’s smock, violets, forget-me-nots,   and early purple orchids. I had come to see how Ash Dieback Disease was effecting things and been ambushed by the glory of the wood. There is a brief window,  between the dark of winter and summer, when full leaved branches shade out the sun, in whi...

History does not record who founded the church. Perhaps it was some hermit seeking to find God in a green wilderness. A desert monk translated into Norfolk's green and pleasant land. But someone founded a church here - on the Isle (Eye) of Horses a long time ago. By my reading. parts of the flint built church are 11th century or older! Seventeen of us gathered to share the Lord's Supper there on Sunday. I noticed that as we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, the communion cup had the date 1666 written on it. Was that not the date of the Great Fire of London? A cleansing fire, it turned out to be after the contagion of the Plague. Hmnn......... Pentecost... tongues of flame! In the silence after the consecration I could hear the call of Common Cranes from Horsey Mere. When,  I wonder did last an English priest hear the call of a crane while stood at the altar? The newly fledged birds were beginning to feel the wind beneath their wings? Hmnnnnn .....

Holy Communion at Horsey today. What a privilege! In autumn and winter hundreds of seals haul out an pup on the beach. Today families will be populating the miles of sand. its summer. The feast of Pentecost. Newly fledged birds are feeling the wind beneath their wings. Among them cranes and marsh harriers. Wind generators, wind pumps and sails on the Broads are a gift to the preacher. Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your people  And kindle in us the fire of your love.

Once upon a Tudor time, the name of Shelton was well known. The family’s manor house, at Shelton, now a parish in the Hempnall Team Ministry, was  a great palace.  The Sheltons were kinsmen of the Boleyn’s.  Ann, Henry VIIIs queen and mother of the Princess Elizabeth, had been named after her Shelton aunt. At one stage Ann Shelton had charge over Elizabeth and her  half-sister the Princess, soon to be Queen, Mary. For a cracking read in which the Shelton’s play a supporting role try Hilary Mantel’s books on Henry’s VIII Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies ! As a fan of Hilary Mantel,  I was already romantically attached to the parish of Shelton even though the once lavish Tudor Palace is no more.  Inquisitively, I decided to follow a newly published circular route that began and ended at the parish church.  I hope to add links to the walk here as soon as possible. For the time being pick up leaflets of all the Hem...

Dear Hugh , David and Cast, WOW!  Yesterday's performance was ..... ? I can't find one word to describe it. Let me just use "BIG!" OK! Of course, I was going to like it with contributions from Julian of Norwich, William Blake and Sydney Carter. I knew the story, the legend and the songs and many of the ideas - Church as Ark; manna, water in the wilderness, feeding 5000, the last supper and Holy Communion woven and  intertwined with each other across time and culture . What you did was to earth it in the NOW that was yesterday in the midst of the People of Ton. Thank you! Holy Communion?! And thanks to to those who arranged the weather! As we sang " and did the countenance divine shine forth upon our clouded hills," the hills were clouded!  It turned dark and  rained at the crucifixion! I am pondering: At who's hand did I receive food and drink at the last supper? or was that the Feeding of the 5000? And Was that Holy Communion? I think ...

 Walked over the meadows to take the 11 a.m. at Belaugh yesterday. The first of the Lady's Mantle were out and marsh marigolds in the dyke. Wallflowers and Mexican fleablane were in flower in the churchyard wall and meadow saxifrage and bluebells were out around the graves. We were 6 for Holy Communion. Considerably outnumbered by the angels, archangels and all the company of heaven. We could usefully have a few more members to share the responsibility of keeping this holy place open, welcoming and prayed in.  Remembering  St. Peter at the close of the eucharistic prayer I also added SS John 23rd and John Paul. Is it the responsibility of all Anglican churches dedicated to St. Peter to pray for and remember all those who have worn the fisherman's ring?

I think that's what you said. You've missed the point Sunshine! The foot washing Carpenter/King can handle all the shitty stuff we wade through! From power obsessed leaders, set on world domination, not counting the cost to others or the environment; through to petty unkindness. He knows first hand the cost of nails. His crown was not won, nor is it worn, easily! I think what Origen said is true, "Christ is on his cross until the very last sinner is saved!" If we share in his death,  the hope is we will share in his resurrection Here's a testimony: Ok! The graphics are a bit naff ... but the words ......

Our happy band of pilgrims (the Churches Together on the Broads walking group)  walked from Walcott to Bromholm Priory. Thomas Cromwell's Commissioners  went off with the piece of the True Cross that was kept there! Who knows what happened to it? Was it burned? Does it still sit in a Civil Servant's in-tray? But my question is this: Question 1) If it is not there and once was, does it have a beneficial effect in the same way that Homeopathic medicine is meant to work? Question 2) Among the ruins of the Priory we ate cold crossed buns and drank red wine. No words were said but there was thanksgiving and remembrance. Was it, do you think, Holy Communion? Question 3 ) In Walcot Church I came upon a lovely momento mori. " Time flies!"  it seemed to say. Entirely suitable for the season!  But then, unknown to me, I got caught up in the great Norwich Diocese Easter Egg Hunt. Hidden on the back of the Rood Screen an egg. Should one be entertaining thought...

 Flowers lined the path that led to the deserted monastery high up in the Kyrenia range in North Cyprus. "Consider the flowers."  Hmnnnn........ It was nestled in a valley close by a spring and there was evidence of past cultivation on disused terraces and un-pruned olive trees. Its quiet in the mountains. Antiphonitis - Answered Prayer. The monks who lived out their lives here have left me a message. Pray - Speak - Listen I sung evensong verses and responses...... It seems to me there is a ministry of visitors topping  up  prayers  in places where prayer has been valid. I wonder if others would join in ? Let me know

 I'd come to what was the necropolis outside the ancient city of Sardis to pay my respects to the apostle Barnabas. Bar = Son of nabas = encouragement  The church has been turned into a low quality icon museum but you can see where St. Barnabas's body once lay. In nearby Famagusta the great Cathedral was turned into a mosque by the conquering Ottoman Turks but they protected the Greek Christians. In 1974 the Greeks Christians  fled  to south Cyprus.  Christian Greeks to the south - Muslim Turks to the north Ethnic cleansing ? So I wondered  what price encouragement today? 

 The walking was great! The wild flowers  - to die for! I was in North Cyprus last week. The bitterness comes through visiting the disused, deserted, and desecrated churches. When the Greek Christian community fled they took some the better icons with them. Others robbed the best that were left and the least worthy have found their ways into Icon Museums run by the Dept. of Antiquities. I don't know the history of Kozan Monastery but I entered to pray. It is a goat shed now! Standing in the apse I began to sing the Gloria - It's the TS Elliot thing "kneeling where prayer has been valid!  But choked somewhere in the middle -  I couldn't fight back the tears Could this be the future for our Norfolk rural churches?

 Managed to go out and get pics for a future article snowdrops and aconites at   Oxnead and Brampton. Sadly, Brampton church closed. The the proud Paston tomb in the sanctuary at Oxnead reveals Tudor confidence. The romanesque west arch sugggests an early (Saxon) build. Bricks from Roman to modern era including Tudor everywhere. There was a big Roman settlement on the other side of the river

On a Friday morning, in the dark of winter, I watched the sunrise on the most easterly point of the  British Isles.  I had come to Lowestoft Ness to trace the mirror image of a walk I’d taken in the autumn.  Then I had travelled south and east from Land’s End and finished at the church of St. Levan.  I had reversed the order of   east   and west ,  but  lines from the hymn kept popping into my head, “ From  utmost east for utmost west, where er man’s foot hath trod.....” And I thought of  St. Levan, who had evangelised that part of Cornwall and our early East Anglian missionary saints - Felix and Fursey, Botolf and Cedd. They all loved the sea and built their hermits’ cells and monasteries on the edge . All would have approved of the children’s chorus “Wide, wide as the ocean...” Night turned to day as I started out along Gas Works Road towards the semi-redundant fish docks.  It doesn’t sound promising, does it? Bu...