Norfolk Pilgrim

I am intrigued by my reading of Blair The Church in Anglo Saxon Society , i)  re minster sites and the vallum or septum  monasterii and how lost features in the landscape might be reconstructed from the road system as at Bisley p197 ii) And on p 199  several churches in an enclosure and aligned churches Could it be that the Close Norwich (and Great Hospital) are the fossil of an earlier minster?   Occupying an area on as bend in the river? The original site of St.Helen's is in line with the Cathedral, but the churches within the imagined vale are widely dispersed. On the plus side - the site does seem to tick the boxes that Blair suggests for a minster site !

"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).

There were three children at Family Service at Coltishall today. We had a good time retelling the Easter story in a slick 45 minute all age worship format. I hope that it was simple and profound, something that everyone could engage with in their own way. Afterwards I found myself contrasting and comparing  how it is now and how it was back in the day, during the 1970s when I was a curate in a Surrey suburban parish.  I remember, we had over 120 at Sunday School and our own version of St. Matthew,  sitting at the seat of customs, marking their attendance on their record book. And, yes, once a year they got a prize -  but only if they had attended a minimum number of Sundays! Ahhh! Happy Days!?  Well, not really!  Attendance at Sunday School seemed to inoculate children against adult involvement. The passing out ceremony, before they went up to big school, was the great dismissal service. After which we never saw them again!