Norfolk Pilgrim

Sometimes I'm so focused on the task in hand, I forget to sit up and take my bearings. For 7 years I've been pushing on, hoping that the Church would get serious about tourism and Tourism serious about the church. And, Yes! There has been some progress: I am chuffed to see the remit of, the soon to be appointed, Archdeacon of Norwich, will  include tourism.  I am delighted that the Diocese of Norwich will be launching an Open Churches map (free for third party users to re-frame and embed in their own web sites) in the summer, and that Premier Inns, King's Lynn recognise the warm welcome provided by St. Margaret's for hundreds of years. Lets hope that those who are responsible for our heritage churches, step up to the plate and find effective ways of communicating our ancient Faith to new visitors.

Thi outdoor spirituality thing I do, its gruelling! Left home in Coltishall at 9 for a 10 a.m. meeting in Burgh next Aylsham. Time for prayer time. for reflection. As I peddled my bike to the Bure Valley Railway path there was an opportunity to consider the flowers, on roadside verges and along the railway track. Each flower a bead on the rosary: campion, borrage, cumfrey, white nettle, forget-me-not, Queen Anne's lace, bluebells, herb Robert, and the last of the primroses. On the 400 th anniversary of Shakespear's death,    the primrose path that leads to the everlasting bonfire ? Each hamlet or village I pass are chapters of a rosary. Anchor Street, St. James's Coltishall Great and Little Hautbois, Buxton, Brampton Burgh. Each is prayed for, each is blessed, in the sense, that I give thanks for it! As I crossed the river  I was blessed by a barn owl hunting on hushed wings  This aft...

"If you meet George Herbert on the Road, kill him":    H ere follows a reaction to Justin Lewis-Anthony's excellent book.     No! Say, "I am going fishing!"                                                                           There's much to learn . Across the years, there’s you and I,  Simon, Andrew and the Sons of Thunder   With George comes John Donne, Izaak,   the Ferrar boy, young Thomas and his sister.*  This is, “The contemplative man’s recreation.” Well said Izaak! What do you think George?       "Me? A failed courtier? Failed academic?                                            ...

At a mid-point of a walk from St. Andrew, Wickhampton towards the Berney Arms and windmill, I stopped to take stock. It is amazing what a little perspective can do! I am so frustrated at the failure of people to see and celebrate the value of our Broads National Park heritage landscape, I could scream! But out here it would be lost on the wind and the limitless sky. Instead I turn my binoculars onto a group of curlew poking in the marshy earth with beautifully curved bills and wonder. "Consider the birds........ Across the marsh, beyond the station, was my terminus. The Berney Arms mill, sadly the pub remains closed. The lyrics of Slim Dusty Pub with no Beer come to mind - nothing so lonesome morbid or drear. More seriously, I wondered what I could possibly do to raise the profile of the church in the landscape with those who hold stewardship for the National Park. There maybe opportunities to celebrate the church in the landscape as part of the up-coming Water,...

I am just back from a winter holiday in the Canary Islands.  As I looked out from the balcony of my rented holiday flat I wondered what was the story behind the cross on the beach and the mural close by. It turns out we were staying at an important historical site. Back in the days before the Spanish conquest, two Guanche shepherds discovered a statue of Our Lady. Echoes here of the discovery of another Black Madonna,   Our Lady of Lluch . The statue was kept for a while in a nearby cave. To this day there are cave dwellings in El Socorro. Once again there are echoes. On one hand, the cave in Bethlehem is one and, on the other, the sheer ordinariness of the dwelling - he became flesh and dwelt among us. After a number of years the image was relocated to  another cave on the sea shore. A mile or so north around which has grown the Town of Cadelaria. The original image was was lost when a tsunami  swept into the cave and carried it out to s...

I had a bad night, not quite as bad as those the Psalmist used to endure. I wasn't watering my couch with tears but it was'nt getting better soon either! Joy did not come in the morning . None the less, something was dawning! Floods in Cumbria, war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, millions of refugees on the move, Church of England going through difficult changes etc.. Dark enough without adding the usual problems, difficulties and challenges that come one's way. Morning Prayer - " The night is past the day lies open before us ."  You must be joking! But no!  I was saying morning prayer, awaiting the sunrise and looking straight at Venus, The Morning Star,  low in the eastern sky. St Peter came to mind -  "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveye...

This morning's New Testament reading has Jesus withdrawing from the hustle  " in a boat to a deserted place by himself ." (Matthew 14.13)" a nd climbing a hill by himself to pray.  My prayers of thanks and  concern for today are for all those who enable today's busy people get away from it all and encounter the Creator in his/her Creation.

I really admire Archbishop Justine's PR machine and greatly value having a feed from his Facebook Page! So I was upset to hear criticism of him and other church leaders for not "speaking out"! In response, I mentioned Archbishop Justine's Facebook Page.  Bad move!! I had not been aware of of the degree of antipathy towards digital communications among churchgoers! I think it both sad and disappointing! I was at a benefice meeting of a rural group of parishes in Norwich Diocese where the diocese's digital communications are improving year by year. Google Graham James Bishop of Norwich and you get 355,000 links. Bishop Graham, like Archbishop Justine, has a strong communications team supporting him. The church in the countryside has been going through profound changes. No longer do people live, work, shop and take their recreation in the same community. No longer are communications limited to snail mail and newspapers and no longer does each v...

 Passing Death and Glory at Belaugh I fell to thinking about Arthur Ransom's  Coot Club . The Hulabaloos are still around on the Broads. Big cruisers power their way up the narrow River Ant, a bit late for their handover at Stalham. Other do not make it:  VIDEO: Cruiser gets stuck under bridge on Norfolk Broads - YBW . There is always a danger that tourism can destroy the ecosystem on which it  depends. Too many big high powered cruisers charging from pub to pub will degrade Britains Magical Waterland . Observe holiday makers on the Broads  - there are a lot who are identifying with our British seafaring heritage - OK maybe pirates do not quite fit the bill - but there are lots of them. How strange to find a Mississippi stern wheeler.. Steam boats, traditional sailing boats and the deep England churches and thatched cottages in the landscape don't seem to clash in the same way. What bells might they ring with the Black A...

When Ted (Ted Heasley RIP) and I visited the Isle of Whithorn back in 2000 AD the Cairn of Witness was new. We liked the idea but we hadn't known about it, otherwise we would have brought a piece of East Anglian flint to place on the pile! In 20015 it was still on my to do list. So last month when I returned, a piece of Norfolk flint was added and I had a minute or two remembering Ted. Back then we were on our way to Headford in County Galway  - a pilgrimage made in honour of St. Fursey - it all seemed cut and dried. But now scholars find it hard to agree on where St. Fursey had his monastic formation. It may have been just a short hop across the Irish Sea in Ulster. Ted and I had called in at Whithorn where we visited the site of St. Ninian's , Candida Casa (White Shining perhaps? House ) the pilgrimage chapel at the Isle of Whithorn and Ninian's Cave. In my mind it had been a detour but now I see differently. Most of what we know about Ninian is from...

I particularly like this photo taken in the Spring of 2008 in Cyprus. It illustrates the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mark 4.31) and the Allegory of the Vine (John 15). The brilliant yellow of the mustard flower is every where in the spring -  on field edges, in gardens, on little bits of waste land in Cyprus and Galilee. The mustard seed does not grow into a great tree where the birds of the tree make their nests. Everyone knows that!  It is a pernicious weed that spreads everywhere! Look in the photo at the yellow all around the edge of the vineyard where the vines are pruned and ready!  A different sort of power and a different sort of kingdom to those of Egypt or Assyria  (See Ezekiel 17.22 ff and 36.66ff)

It was too windy to go out to the Farne Islands on Wednesday last week, so I walked from Bamburgh around the coast to Budle Bay then back by way of the Spindle Stone. I could not help looking back at the castle and realising how close it was to the Inner Farnes . It was then I got cross with Cuthbert!  He had his hermitage on the Inner Farnes. The king lived at Bamburgh Castle.  It is one thing to  have a vocation to become a hermit. Its another to go grand standing about it. "Look at me I'm a holy hermit living on next to nothing in the middle of the sea!" Bythe time I'd walked the circuit I'd come to terms with what he had done. I realised I thought nothing in mounting the steps of a pulpit and preaching in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Cuthbert's enacted example was far more costly and communicated deep and uncomfortable truths that  still resonate. Life is precarious, it mattered little if you were a fighting king or a hermit.  ...