A Song for Sabbatical

St Ninian's Chapel, Isle of Whithorn

 

I have long loved this song by Van Morrison, and it's proved to be a remarkably appropriate backdrop to these days and weeks...
(you can listen to it here)

 - oh, and I have skipped the first few lines!

 

 

…. Standing on the beach at sunset
All the boats keep moving slow
In the glory of the flashing light in the evenings glow

When will I ever learn to live in God?
When will I ever learn?
He gives me everything I need and more
When will I ever learn?

You brought it to my attention  that everything was made in God
Down through centuries of great writings and paintings
Everything lives in God
Seen through architecture of great cathedrals
Down through the history of time
Is and was in the beginning and evermore shall be

When will I ever learn to live in God?
When will I ever learn?
He gives me everything I need and more
When will I ever learn?

Whatever it takes to fulfill his mission
That is the way we must go
But you’ve got to do it your own way
Tear down the old, bring up the new

And up on the hillside its quiet
Where the shepherd is tending his sheep
And over the mountains and the valleys
The countryside is so green
Standing on the highest hill with a sense of wonder
You can see everything is made in God
Head back down the roadside and give thanks for it all

 

 

(I do give thanks! And thanks to all of you who have travelled with me, taking time to read these reflections and, I hope, sharing my delight and wonder in discovering some new things along the way.
I really do appreciate it.
Go well, wherever your journey is taking you.)

Homecoming

The old Abbey in evening sunlight

St Mary's Abbey West Malling:
always a place with a sense of homecoming for me.
It's a wonderful blend of the old and new- little of the original building remains, but what does is spectacular; and the 1966 Abbey church where the community worships will not be to everyone's taste, but holds a simple beauty, clean lines, glowing tiles, warm wood.

I escaped for a day, and a night
and prayed the hours with the Benedictine community.








I wrote in my journal,
'I'm here to put down a marker.
To recognise all that the last 12 weeks has and hasn't been;
to give thanks,
an offering of praise perhaps;
to re-orientate myself towards routine;
to sit awhile in God's love (for there's no escaping the sense of it here)...
How appropriate that I should be doing this in a week when many will be attending their ordination retreats. I reflect on that time in my own life and think of those preparing for such a step...The air smells like incense, and the stream thunders.'

 

 

One task I set myself was to walk the labyrinth here, as I did at St Beuno's (with bare feet, as in Norwich - this warm June day a very different prospect to snowy Wales in April!). It seemed very complicated, and took a long time to get to the centre - in fact I had no idea how I was going to reach it! Perhaps a metaphor for the walk we take to the heart of God, and how that doesn't happen quickly, and sometimes seems so far off, but suddenly we are there. It's hard to leave that place, but we carry a sense of the Presence with us as we journey onward and homeward.

Thanks to the Very Revd Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral for these recent reflections on pilgrimage, 'In truth, one can never say about a pilgrimage that it is over, since every end becomes a new beginning. Every pilgrim coming to the quietness of a holy space only completes their pilgrimage when their footsteps lead them home again, carrying with them not only all the stories they have heard, but the experiences they have had, which have added to their own story.'

 

 

 

 

 

The Cathedral Tour: Winchester

                 The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, St Peter, St Paul and St Swithin.
                             (Well, this is a new Holy Trinity for me! Who knew?)




There was a £6.50 charge to enter this Cathedral, and I could see no way of avoiding it, as I was between service times. I could have asked to speak to a chaplain, or been escorted to pray in the Epiphany Chapel, but I wasn't really in the mood for that, and anyway, it wasn't why I'd come! So I paid up. My ticket is apparently valid for a year (the visitors in front of me joked, 'Hope you've got plenty of food and water inside!').

There are parts of Winchester Cathedral so old that it inspires quietness and awe...





The huge tiled area around and behind the high altar (laid 1260-80), full of tiles glowing with warmth and colour and worn with age (and where I was also pleased to pause at St Swithin's shrine), offered a rich contrast with Anthony Gormley's 20th century sculpture in the crypt, 'Sound II' - a still, prayerful man, sometimes thigh or waist deep in the water which rises into the crypt regularly.

 

 Prayers were led at 4pm, most people making a pause in their visit to stop and listen.

This is the beautifully peaceful chapel of St John the Evangelist and Fisherman-apostle, otherwise known as the Fishermen's Chapel. Apparently it's a place of pilgrimage for fishermen from all of the world. I didn't meet any during my visit. There's also a plaque and memorial window in the Cathedral to Jane Austin. So much to see and learn from!

It was hard to avoid the extensive renovation work being done, necessarily on such an old building, but maybe this somehow fed the prevailing 70s feel to the Cathedral Close (for me at least! - and I'm not saying that's a bad thing..)

I was sorry to have arrived too early to catch the flower festival held in the Cathedral from June 12th-16th. It looked truly amazing, with the whole nave completely transformed by a wildflower lawn - a great example of how such buildings can be creatively used in a contemporary context.

The Cathedral Tour: Wells

The Cathedral Church of St Andrew

My dad said, 'I really think you should consider going to Wells. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful of the English Cathedrals.' I didn't really consider it until I was in Salisbury, and then it occurred to me; 'When will be the next time I am this far west in England, with time to spare? Why not seize the moment?' I am so glad that I did!

I drove into Somerset, glimpsing Glastonbury's tor in the distance. Approaching the town from the east, the Cathedral has a similar impact on the landscape to Ely's Cathedral -it rises to greet you. I wandered through the tiny town to find it and discovered a pleasingly relaxed approach to donations (£6 was recommended), though a photo licence was required.                     




The West Front exterior is dramatic.

Inside is breath-taking.
The scissor arches in the nave are one thing (what a lovely solution to the pressing practical problem of insecure foundations!), but quite another thing was the amazing sense of beauty, joy and peace which this space seemed to convey.

The clock was a focal point on the hour, -it's such fun, with jousters and tunes, and it made sense that the duty chaplain led prayers from there after the chimes.













The chapter house was reached by age-worn stairs
and was hosting an exhibition of abstract paintings
by Alison Thistlethwaite and landscapes
by her husband David.


I was really impressed by the altar frontals of Jane Lemon and Maurice Strike on display around the building (see one example here).


The cloister was glassed in, and not as spectacular as the Cathedral, but the old garden, with the exposed foundations of the ancient Lady Chapel, and peep-hole through to the springs in the palace garden were new delights.

Altogether this was a really lovely experience.


(I did look very hard for the crozier of 13th century Bishop Jocelin,
but alas, did not manage to locate it!)

The Cathedral Tour: Salisbury

The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Continuing my tour along towards the south west, I found myself travelling alone. After a month away from home (walking in Cornwall ahead of our 'pilgrimage'), Jill was understandably longing for the familiar, and hopped on the plane back to Atlanta. Travelling (and visiting) alone would be a different kind of experience.

I arrived at Salisbury Cathedral just minutes before Evensong began, when one of the chapter clergy was welcoming people and mentioning people and issues for prayer. Wessex Cantorum led the singing to a full quire.

I returned the next morning to look at the cloister (stunning- though Salisbury, like so many  Cathedrals at this time, is undergoing major renovation work), get up close to the
prisoner of conscience windows and admire the beautiful modern font.


The Prisoner of Conscience Window,
inspired by a previous Dean, Sidney Hall Evans


There was also an exhibition of sculptures by Helene Blumenfeld entitled 'Messengers of the Spirit' which I found both fascinating and baffling. A small 'reflective guide' helped (a booklet, not a person!).

It was lovely to visit the location of Susan Howatch's 'Starbridge' series of novels which I have loved since I first read them in over a decade ago. Ghosts of the Dean and Venetia lingered, and I almost forgot this was where John was ordained deacon in 1986...

The Cathedral Tour: Norwich

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity
The third of four Cathedrals in England with this name!
A beautiful day for this visit and a warm welcome.



The labyrinth, laid down in 2002 for the Queen's Golden Jubilee
 

I was a little early for Evensong,
so first took off my shoes
and walked the labyrinth
in the cloister
while listening to the calls
of the peregrine falcons
nesting on the spire.

 

 

 Off to the refectory, which was excellent (and even served teapigs tea, which gives it several stars in my book!), and then time to wander in the Cathedral itself. I liked the welcome notice form the Benedictine rule, 'Let all guests be welcomed as if they were Christ.'

The font is really fascinating, originally a vessel used for making chocolate in a local factory and then finding a new purpose when the factory closed....


I paused at the memorial to Osberto Parsley, a 'singing man' of the Cathedral for fifty years, across four reigns (Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I) surviving the many religious and political changes of that time.

Evensong was well attended and well-sung. Parsley would have been pleased.

I completely missed two remarkable women, Julian of Norwich (who has a window and a statue here), and Edith Cavell (who was buried in the east end of the Cathedral). I need to open my eyes more!

The Cathedral Tour: Ely

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity

An awesome building. 'The ship of the Fens,' it rose out of the landscape to meet us.

We were waved through for the Eucharist (avoiding £7.50 entry fee) after greeting by a helpful welcoming team who were briskly efficient and needed to be with groups of school children and coachloads of visitors arriving all the time. There were about half a dozen of us at the service. The fill-in priest prayed for Cathedral issues and welcomed us warmly.

The octagon/lantern was exquisite, as were the other ceiling paintings...

David Wynne's 1967 sculpture of Mary and Jesus on resurrection morning communicated more to me than his 2000 'Mary' in the airy Lady Chapel (she seemed a bit high and dusty, somehow. Disappointing!). Does he have a bit of an arms theme going on?
.

Resurrection Morning

Mary

Jonathan Clarke's 'Way of Life' sculpture at the main door was huge and impressive, and a point for reflection, 'Along (life's) many twists and turns, Christ travels with us from darkness to the light of the cross.'

The Cathedral Tour: St Edmundsbury

The Cathedral Church of St James

The Cathedral from the Abbey Gardens

Why St James?
Why not St Edmund?
I do not always understand
these things!

But I discovered that the Cathedral also serves as the parish church of St James;
it wasn't consecrated as a Cathedral until 1914.





We arrived early (though not early enough for Morning Prayer) so everything was quiet and no-one was there to greet us. But we found a welcome leaflet and a lovely children's version too, in which much was made of the guarding of good (though unfortunately dead) King Edmund's head by 'a friendly wolf'! - until the appropriate people could come and claim it back again.

The Transfiguration Chapel

This felt like a Cathedral of two halves - light and airy in the altar and chancel, dark and Victorian in the nave. A lot of work was being done (repairs to the South Aisle roof) and it feels as if a lot of money has been spent here - especially in the completion of the lovely Millenium tower and Cathedral centre. The Transfiguration Chapel was simple and quiet.

The Angels exhibition - art work by young people from a local college and displayed in the Cloister - encouraged us to think again about our images of angels!





Another interesting recent development at the Cathedral is the Edmund Centre for Arts and Theology, which aims 'to provide for those who want to explore further, and deepen their understanding of art as a universal human impulse. Often such enquiry brings us to the threshold of theological questions, questions about God.'  

The Abbey gardens are beautiful,
and were already a hive of activity as we passed through on our pilgrim way.

Mosaic art in the Abbey gardens

 

The Cathedral Tour: Peterborough

The Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew

We drove from Coventry to Peterborough in time for Evensong. We found a great wodge of a Cathedral, situated on the River Nene. It was late and everything was very quiet.







A security guard and a chapel attender welcomed us. The girls' choir - whilst being something I entirely applaud - didn't seem to soar as some of the others we have heard this week. The Tallis settings were lovely though. The Canon Precentor led the service and six attended - this is in real contrast to Evensong at many other Cathedrals I have attended - it felt a bit like a forgotten service. There were no personal prayers for Cathedral visitors, although we had a warm chat afterwards. There was time for a quick peek at the two Anthony Gormley sculptures from the 'Place to be' exhibition (the third was so badly vandalised it has been removed for the time being); they are eternally about to meet each other in the crossing below the tower.

 

As we walked away down the main aisle, a verger began to put the Cathedral to bed.

The Cathedral Tour: Coventry

The Cathedral Church of St Michael





A powerful impact here, created by the proximity of old and new buildings. The reconciliation theme is strongly communicated, and the new building is visually striking. Sitting and gazing at Piper's awesome baptistery window, we were approached by a friendly lay chaplain who listened to our story and commented that lots of people approach her just to say how much the Cathedral visit has meant to them.







The website says,
'To walk from the ruins of the old Cathedral into the splendour of the new is to walk from Good Friday to Easter, from the ravages of human destruction to the glorious hope of resurrection. Your heart is lifted, your spirit is renewed and you feel that there is hope for the world.
Thanks to God's mercy, reconciliation is possible.'

Turning back from the altar to see all the colour in the windows must be a remarkable experience - not one we had, as we were corralled in the prayer area, having concluded that the entry fee was just too much (£8 - and no services were being held at the time we visited. So at the entry desk, we said we were pilgrims who had come to pray, and were told, 'You can sit in the prayer area. No walking around'!)

Andrew Jones talks about each pilgrimage as having 'a moment of grace.' I wondered if for me this was what I didn't see at Coventry, but later realised was there; the sense I have in all my life of God as being present even if unseen, his colours infusing the building that is my life, even if I don't always see those until I look back, even if I never see them, but suspect that they are there!

Coventry had some beautiful modern art (including Graham Sutherland's remarkable 'Christ in Glory' tapestry). But unlike other Cathedrals we visited, this was all set in a huge modern building. Some of the most significant impact of contemporary paintings and sculptures was simply because they stopped us in our tracks - 'what is that new thing doing in old here?' as if to remind us there could be other surprising new things to see if we only kept our eyes open...

We noticed this commemorative stone gifted by Lichfield - a nice touch.

The Cathedral Tour: Lichfield

                                  Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Chad

Lichfield is the only medieval Cathedral with three spires, representing the Trinity. We ran through hailstones to meet a hesitant welcomer who gave us a beautiful leaflet and didn't ask for a donation. We bought phone licences for £2.

The Cathedral has a major restoration project under way - to save the glass in the East End windows, the Herkenrode glass, which is 'among the finest remaining .. example of its kind in the world.' It will undoubtedly be spectacular on completion, but we had the opportunity to view the Cathedral with pure daylight streaming through its substitute windows - and this had its own magic.

 

This beautiful wrought ironwork can be seen all over the Cathedral.

 

 

The shrine of St Chad, 7th century Bishop of Lichfield, was peaceful. The welcome brochure (and tour guide) suggests reflections all around the Cathedral, and at the shrine, it simply invites, 'light a candle here and leave a prayer request. Offer to God any situations troubling you today.' There was also a separate upstairs chapel for private prayer and the reserved sacraments. This was called St Chad's Head Chapel as his bones were kept there as relics until the 1540s, and 'his skull was exhibited to pilgrims from the balcony'!

 

The displays of the Staffordshire Hoard and the Angel of Lichfield were a really interesting addition.

 

 

The Cathedral Tour: Worcester

Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary

Somehow we found our way in through the back door on Cathedral Close. At the front door was a friendly verger giving out booklets for Evensong (to include a re-dedication of the British Legion, hence the flags, berets and badges prominently on display). We were also given a weekly notice sheet, but no welcome leaflet (guides available in the shop). £4 photography licences were also available there.

We weren't able to access beyond the nave, but found a window dedicated to Elgar (a statue of him stands proudly on the Green looking across at the Cathedral - this is his terrain). The Cathedral itself seemed rather sepia, but the Millenium Window was worth seeing (the photograph below doesn't do it justice), as was the peaceful cloister garden. And the chapter house was stunning.

 

Once we had noticed the first one of these, they popped up everywhere!

                                Obviously the only way to heat your Cathedral in times gone by!

                                                            The Millenium Window

                                                               Patterns in sepia!

 

In the chapter house!

 

 

 

The Cathedral Tour: Hereford

                                   Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin and St Ethelbert

We moved up through the borders, very keen to explore Hereford and its surrounds as this is 'Merrily Watkins Country' - the area which provides the backdrop for the Phil Rickman novels about a woman priest who is also diocesan exorcist/detective; both Jill and I are keen readers!

We caught the end of the Sunday Eucharist, people welcoming and friendly despite our lateness. In terms of interior, the Cathedral has a large parish church type of feel. It was noticeably full for this service, but only six attended Mattins which followed almost immediately. It seemed something of an anti-climax.

 

The Thomas Traherne windows by Tom Denny in the Audley Chapel were profoundly beautiful - in contrast to the almost garish Corona above the altar. Traherne (c1637-1674) was a local priest and poet with something of the mystic about him.




These windows capture Traherne's delight in creation, his response to the love of God in Christ, his openness to God's revelation and his love for the 'city' - Heaven or Hereford?!

 Three John Piper tapestries were hung a little high for their full impact to be seen. I enjoyed the Craigie Aitchison 'Crucifixion' in the tower crossing - simple and moving as always. We missed the Mappa Mundi (as we were attending on Sunday!) but appreciated all the arts/pilgrimage trail leaflets that were available. The Orchard Art Project particularly added to the sense that the Cathedral is a community where those with special needs are welcomed and supported, and we met some of them at the end of the service.

(Part of the Orchard Art display in the Cathedral)

In his book, 'Britain's holiest places,' Nick Mayhew Smith gives Hereford Cathedral an 11 star rating, stating that it is 'as holy as any Cathedral can be'! Partly this is for the shrines of St Thomas Cantilupe and Ethelbert with an icon and paintings by Peter Murphy. Both he and the Cathedral agree that St Thomas Cantilupe's shrine is 'more than a historical recreation: it is in use again.' It will be interesting to see what long-term impact this has on the spiritual life of the Cathedral.


 

The Cathedral Tour: Gloucester

 The Cathedral Church
               of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity


This is a beautiful building, undergoing some significant renovation like many of the Cathedrals we saw.

The welcome leaflet describes it as
'roughly half as old as Christianity'
and emphasises its purpose as
'a sacred space,
a place of discovery and education,
a place of meeting and hospitality.'





The Cathedral was busy when we arrived, hosting a Marines Band/ Military Wives choir concert that evening. We were not greeted or asked for a £5 donation, but had come to attend Evensong, which was introduced beautifully and reflectively by the service booklet.

The acoustic was wonderful and the choir took advantage of it. We were really privileged to hear as the anthem Ivor Gurney's setting of Robert Bridge's poem 'Since I believe in God the Father' and this was introduced with a reflection on Gurney's troubled life yet tenacious faith.

Three clergy took part in this service which had a warm and friendly feel. Again, we were reminded of the Novena, and again visitors were prayed for.

There's a lot of special stained glass here and in fact Tom Denny has been commissioned to design a window to commemorate Ivor Gurney. We loved the Tom Denny windows already in the Cathedral; his complex and beautiful designs in the Chapel of St Thomas are twenty years old but seem fresh and innovative today...

 

The Cathedral Tour: Bristol

                             Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Bristol


'A reassuringly sturdy Cathedral'

We came racing in with a few minutes to spare before the midday Eucharist. This Cathedral has been developed and adapted for worship over eight centuries. The welcome leaflet describes it as 'a centre of Bristol's history, civic life and culture.' It goes on to state, 'Whatever the reason for your visit, and whatever your faith - especially if you have little or none - we welcome you.' No-one was at the door to greet us or request a donation, but we easily found our way to the Berkeley Chapel. We were joined by two other worshippers, and the Dean of Women's Ministry presided, mentioning the Novena and including prayer requests from visitors in the intercessions. Afterwards, she listened to our story and pointed us to the Saxon Stone (an extraordinarily old pictorial representation of the harrowing of hell), as well as to the Cathedral's new icons, St Augustine (a link with Canterbury) and St Jordan (?!). I was particularly struck by Keith New's South Choir Aisle Window (1962) - 'an abstract representing the Holy Spirit' and Jacqui Parkinson's colourful 'Servant King' banners. This set the scene for something we would discover in many Cathedrals - a feast of 20th and 21st century art which somehow seemed to be in just the right place against an old wall or in a suprising niche.

   

The restored Eastern Lady Chapel was quite breathtaking and a sharp contrast to the simplicity of the nave altar area. There was a small, well-cared for garden area.

 

(Not) blogging St Cuthbert

Part of my Sabbatical plan was to get in some exercise for the body as well as for the mind and spirit, and I was hoping to do this through walking a Pilgrim Way. Preparation for this was affected by such a long and muddy winter and then falling downstairs in early March with nothing broken but a lot of sore places. I was still confident that I could manage around six miles a day, and although I hadn't yet packed my rucksack, I knew what should be going into it.

Read on to find out what happened next!

After doing an hour or more walking each day at St Beuno's, one thing became clear... my feet were not up to the 100k walk I'd hoped to do from Melrose Abbey to Lindisfarne (St. Cuthbert's Way). After a longer walk, they felt as if someone had knocked bolts through the bottom of them. And my left knee wasn't coping with the stairs or hills particularly well, despite a bit of gentle acupuncture before I left Maidstone. Even sustaining shorter distances was going to be a struggle.


Having really set myself up for this,
it's been hard to deal with the disappointment and acknowledge my limitations.
My feet still carry me around most places I need to go, so I mustn't take it out on them!
But what do we put into a vacuum?
What else should I do with this gift of time?

Thankfully my imaginative partner had a suggestion - why not visit some other holy sites, or Cathedrals? 'Have a common thread running through the visits to hold it all together, and be clear what you are looking out for,' he said.

There are 42 Cathedrals in England, and I had already visited 12 of them. Some, like Manchester (where I was ordained deacon) and Canterbury (my diocesan Cathedral) are well-known and loved. But there were many more to see. Unlike Lawrence, I didn't lick any of them (no, really - see his blog about it here!), but was visiting them as a pilgrim, albeit one in a car. With 12 million other yearly visitors (many, many of them young people on school visits), I was taking the opportunity to recognise these amazing buildings - physical and spiritual landmarks, full of ancient memory and meaning, yet with a present-day purpose of ministry and mission in their local communities. Often they are involved not simply in teaching and worship, but in hospitality to many pilgrims and in celebrating the presence of God through liturgy, music and art. And since 2001, Cathedrals have become surprising centres for an increase in church attendance both midweek and on Sundays, offering opportunities for prayer and worship on a daily basis.

I contacted my pilgrim friend Jill, who after some intensive walking in Cornwall was more than ready to give her feet a rest too! We agreed that 'The Cathedral Tour' would replace St. Cuthbert's Way and I began to hatch a plan...

Most of the Cathedrals were visited in May during the Novena (nine days) between Ascension Day and Pentecost Sunday. The weather was changeable, with many heavy showers and lots of sunshine. A rainbow lay across the road all the way from Coventry to Peterborough...

(More to come...)

The crypt in Gloucester Cathedral,
one sunny Saturday afternoon.