News and Thoughts from Ray Simpson

Topic: ATHEIST NOW FOLLOWS ME ON TWITTER

Submitted: 16:46:07 on 2nd February 2012

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Topic: AGAPE CAFES

Submitted: 15:04:30 on 30th January 2012

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Topic: MARRIAGE TALKS

A German student named Daniel Hug spent a year in a Newcastle Buddhist monastery and a year as a volunteer at our Lindisfarne Retreat House. Now he is married to Jessica and they belong to the Bruderhof Community.

He writes: 'I would like to make you aware of an event we are involved with. Marriage has been under pressure for decades with divorce becoming more and more common. A while ago people (mainly in media and politics) started to attempt to redefine marriage to include all kinds of constellations. We feel that the time has come to give those courage and support who believe that marriage is what God wants it to be: one man and one woman who are committed to each other for life....'

Daniel and the the Bruderhof are teaming up with Street Pastors, the Evangelical Alliance and the Catholic Diocese of Westminster for the following event: 

TALK MARRIAGE:  A PANEL DISCUSSION TO PROMOTE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

EMMANUEL CENTRE, WESTMINTER 7 FEBRUARY 2012 6.00-8.3OPM

'BRITAIN NEEDS TO RE-DISCOVER THE FOUNDATION ON WHICH FAMILIES AND SOCIETIES ARE BUILT - A MAN AND WOMAN MARRIED FOR LIFE...

RSVP AT WWW.TALKMARRIAGE.CO.UK OR PHONE 0845 600 912

Submitted: 13:37:10 on 25th January 2012

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Topic: WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY TWEETS

Submitted: 10:16:54 on 20th January 2012

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Topic: BLEST ARE THE POLITICIANS

From 'The Cowshed Revolution'  just published by Kevin Mayhew Ltd. 

Submitted: 20:02:47 on 18th January 2012

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Topic: 24/7 HITS NEW HOT SPOT

The 24/7 prayer movement and our community share some common aspirations and sources of inspiration. Those who have made vows as Voyagers made a 24 hour prayer vigil during their annual retreat, held this year at Shallowford House, near Stoke-on-Trent. Personal prayer requests were posted on one wall, prophetic words and pictures on another. At the back we wrote personal reflections in a book. Before the altar one could lie prostrate, pray with an icon or light candles. In a side chapel we could gaze at a portrayal of Christ's face imprinted on Saint Veronica's cloth. Near to it Christ's eyes are closed in trustful abandon to the Father's will. Stand back and his open eyes pierce one's being. I lay down to sleep after my 1.00 am watch with his eyes still before me.

One striking prophetic picture was about digging wells, as Genesis 26 records Isaac did. For years those in the Celtic tradition have 'restored the ancient wells' of holy prayer and spirituality. Isaac also dug one new well. He named this Rehoboth. This Hebrew word can mean Broad Space, and much fruit was promised.  So I guess we all need to get out of the way, make more space for God, and see what God does and where - and one day savour the fruit.

Submitted: 10:08:39 on 13rd January 2012

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Topic: WHY I LIKE BRIGHTON

Epiphany moments graced a full house at St. Cuthman's Retreat Centre, Sussex, UK. Afterwards I chilled out at Brighton before driving to our annual Voyagers Retreat near Stoke-on-Trent. 'Brighton?' sniffed a retired barrister. I'll tell you why I like it.  First, because I can get a bed by the sea for £25 without pre-booking. Second, because all races and ages walk, run, skate, play, swim  sit or eat along its miles of spacious promenade. Third, because Rip-tide, one of three waterfront gyms, offered me a free guest pass, and, discovering from my email that I was a rev., they extended it - so I could visit it at 8.0 am next day before departing (they knew the ordained can't afford their usual prices). Fourth, because my car had a fault, a Polish garage manager walked with me to my car, explained what I needed to do in order to avoid a repetition, and charged me nothing.  (Admittedly the place where I bedded which described itself as a hotel did not provide breakfast, nor internet as I had been told, nor water for shower or kettle or toilet after 8.00 am - but we are taught to forgive... )

Readers responses to my new book 'The Cowshed Revolution' concentrate  one's thinking. All our political leaders have to address the crisis of capitalism. If the goal of our societies should be 'Best Community', as I believe, one starts to test every place, product and policy by the 'Best Community' test. The gym and the garage and the Brighton Council who sustain the promenade do well by this test. Their profit was not the be-all and end-all - though it was necessary. Here is another example: today's newspaper tells me that a state school is being forcd by the Government to go independent. If too many schools are forced to do this, the Local Education Authority will not be financially viable. Yet the LEA is a vital sustainer of community in the world of education.

Bloggers, why not apply ''The Best Community Test' to lots of things this year?

Submitted: 13:43:50 on 9th January 2012

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Topic: FAIR TRADE - FAIR DO

A good new year resolution is to buy more local food and more fair trade products in 2012. Yesterday a visitor told me that London would not survive more than one day if the food supply chain collapsed and supermarkets had no stocks.  No wonder he is thinking of setting up a food-growing Christian community that could eventually service a quite wide area.

Today I  received a letter from Traidcraft. This charity fights world poverty through trade, and sells products in rich countries that are purchased at a fair price from producers in poor countries. A group in the church I served as minister purchased shares in this,  and I am named as a (small) shareholder.Traidcraft warns that although the same number of people send orders, they order less than previously because of the recession, and it is heading to make a loss. So it urges me to encourage my friends in UK to buy Traidcraft groceries over the coming months. www.traidcraft.co.ukroceries  Whatever country you live in - why not track down a fair trade supplier and make an order?

Submitted: 10:12:01 on 4th January 2012

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Topic: NEW YEAR MESSAGE

Capitalism is in crisis. The international 'Occupy' movement wants the 1 per cent who hold the levers of money and power to relate to the 99 per cent as one community. Time Magazine states that the world’s protesters pine for some third way, a new social order. UK Prime Minister David Cameron calls for a revolution in social responsibility and for the church to take a lead.

My new book 'The Cowshed Revolution: a new society created by downwardly mobile Christians' gives examples of Christians in different lands who pioneer social enterprises and who make a difference.

The world that hangs in the balance hangs also in God's hand. 'God of the years, at the start of a new year we put our hand in yours.  May we travel with less baggage and more wisdom, and learn from you how our journey should be'.

Submitted: 09:52:48 on 31st December 2011

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Topic: I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS: FROM WHITEHOUSE TO WHITEHOUSE.

Day 1: Black-out, starlight and a meal with Carol.

Day 2: Sister Sally cooks Boxing Day meal and an unwell neighbour joins us.

Day 3: The President of the British-Pakistani Christian Association and relatives visit this Christian island, find everything  closed, and I give them a pilgrim tour.

Day 4: Sally and I see 'The King and I' at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre. She loses her glove.

Day five: I send President Obama a copy of my new book 'The Cowshed Revolution' which explores The Tea Party and the President's ego-transcending approaches.

Day six: I prepare my New Message. Wait for it.

Submitted: 13:16:38 on 30th December 2011

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Topic: DAVID CAMERON'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT - 'THE COWSHED REVOLUTION'

Wait for a New Year Message and launch of 'The Cowshed Revolution: a new society created by downwardly mobile Christians'.

Meanwhile I sent Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron an advance copy for Christmas. In two recent speeches he called for a social reformation and for the church to help with an agenda that speaks to 'the whole nation'. The book explores The Big Society, Obama and The USA Tea Party movement, the Nordic and Bhutan models. It also tells the inspiring story of Christians who love Christ and the poor, and initiate social enterprises in many lands.

The Occupy movement wants the 1% who hold the levers of power and money to relate to the 99% as one human community. People in these pages are committed to make this a reality.

http://www.kevinmayhew.com/info/contributors/ray-simpson/the-cowshed-revolution.html

Have a good Christmas.

Ray

Submitted: 10:47:14 on 23rd December 2011

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Topic: THE OLDIE

The woman who writes the ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ feature for Oldie Magazine clutched a book she had bought in the Post Office when in walked 81 year old Kate Tristram. ‘That’s the author’ said the Postmaster. ‘Can I interview you?’ she asked Kate.

She seemed shocked by what Kate told her. Here was a woman who not only believed, she actually maintained Christian practices – like 21 services a week in a mostly unheated church. ‘Don’t you have doubts?’ she asked. ‘Of course I have doubts’, Kate replied, ‘they are essential to faith. The more doubts I have the more I re-think things as I grow older.’ Our innocent interviewer was in for another surprise. She asked about death, thinking perhaps that she’d get the PC reply ‘heaven will be lovely’. ‘I take death very seriously’, Kate told her. 'We have a judgment to face’.

You will have to wait for the April edition of the Oldie to see what’s been made of the interview. I hope it hasn’t been made too PC.

Submitted: 09:54:50 on 18th December 2011

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Topic: DANISH ANAMCARA

Danish pastry is delicious. Danish anamcara is better. It has more substance. Anamcara is the name of The Community of Aidan in Denmark. It has a new web site. Visit www.anamcara.dk

Katrina rang me from Denmark. She is a member of Anamcara. She and her husband Henry have some beautiful land. She has built a chapel on it and has prayers three times a day. They now make it public and welcome visitors. A Danish daily newspaper published an article ‘Katrina Rudolph realises her dream of a sanctuary inspired by Celtic Christianity’  See http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/433919:Liv---Sjael--Katrines-keltiske-kald. The address? Englemarle, Guldagweg 4, 4160 Denmark.

www.englemark.reugium.dk

Submitted: 09:18:32 on 10th December 2011

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Topic: SANTA CLAUS

December 6: I put Santa Claus - Saint Niklaus actually - on my window sill, with snow, crib and flashing winter lights. When this kind parish priest heard a man who'd lost his fortune was to sell his daughters into prostitution, he secretly dropped gold down the chimney. This fell into a sock put there for overnight airing.The man got a dowry and his daughters could be married!  That's the origin of Santa Claus and on this day people in the Netherlands remember Claus and give their Christmas gifts.

Maryka and Jelle arrived from the Netherlands to study with Peter. Maryka joined us for our morning St Nicklaus celebration of Holy Communion. We prayed 'Thank you for Nicklaus's love of people, generosity, and concern for each person's dignity of calling.'

May I remember to give my chocolate Christmas truffles to our Netherland guests today. And may all the santas in the world soak up these three gifts and inspire us to take them into the hard times ahead.

Submitted: 11:51:29 on 6th December 2011

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Topic: THE LADY IN THE EYE CLINIC

Queues. Very British. I was in the eye clinic. The lady who documented people in the queues - before, during and after - never sat down, she just stood in the corridor. 'You deserve a break' I said. 'I love Christmas' she replied (perhaps she saw my cross?). 'Good gracious, you're the first person I've met for yonks who actually likes the modern Christmas' I responded. 'Oh, I'm not politically correct, I like nativities - I like them in shops ... they should be everywhere. And I like giving. Giving is fun', she said. I learned she would bake ten cakes and give them all away at Christmas.

By the time I got to see my consultant, even though I'd missed the tide, I decided I wouldn't complain. I, too, would be a giving person.

Submitted: 10:47:29 on 30th November 2011

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Topic: JUST A LUMP OF ROCK IN THE OCEAN

I have known four Holy Island vicars. They get involved in the hassles of local institutions. We humans get possessive and resist change the world over - we think we own things.This dynamic is magnified on islands. People who want to do something get screwed up by it. So the words of one vicar who came from an intense meeting were like a fresh wind: 'This is just a lump of rock in the ocean'. No pretensions. Nothing to fight over. Isness. It reminds me of the words of someone else: 'Happy are the meek: they shall inherit the earth'.

This week I got brain and eye ache developing e-study courses. Yesterday I met James and Rebekah in York. I last met James (then known as Jimbo) with his heavy metal band in Adelaide. I last met Rebekah, whose family left Zimbabwe, when Andreas from Norway spoke prophecies over her family on that lump of rock in the ocean.

Submitted: 07:10:54 on 27th November 2011

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Topic: SHINE LIKE A JEWEL

November 17. Saint Hilda's Day. Some gather near the site of Hilda's Whitby Abbey to renew their vows. I join others at Edinburgh, and Aidan and Hilda Voyagers throughout the world will renew their vows wherever they are

Each will place their Personal Application of the Way of Life before a Cross and say: 'I give myself again without reservation to God, the Three of Limitless Love. I seek to know Christ better and make him better known, to live simply that others may simply live, to fight the spiritual war and to follow the example of Aidan, Hilda and kindred saints. I commit myself again to simplicity, faithfulness and the honouring of those I am responsible to. I undertake again, as God permits, to follow a daily rhythm of prayer, work and re-creation, to meet with my Soul Friend and to make an annual retreat ...'

Penny Warren, our Members Guardian emails: 'Renewal of vows asks us to look back over our Way of Life, to give thanks for the way God has been leading us and to commit ourselves to continue in this way for the coming year. We can use this time to pray about things ... how to put things right... to ask God to search us ... it is about surrender to Him completely - here is the obedience we have vowed to live by ... also a prayer that finds us in the presence of God for the sake of being in the presence of God... As we find ourselves growing deeper in love of God we will see the changes that happen as we give ourselves ...to the place where we live - our place of resurrection.'

At 6.0 am I sent this tweet to the world: As St Hilda shines like a jewel across time and place, give us, too wisdom, whole-life learning and skill to unlock music in the shyest heart.

Happy St. Hilda's Day.

Submitted: 05:50:20 on 17th November 2011

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Topic: SHED, SHACK, STUDIO, POUSTINIA, CAVE OR ….?

My first garden shed has been insulated and painted. It is now an office. And Brenda, who uses it, likes it. If I was Mrs. Bucket (Bouquet, please) of TV's 'Keeping Up Appearances' I would call my second, larger shed a chalet. This, too has been refurbished. But I am not Mrs. Bucket. So should I call it a studio? The previous owner used it as an art studio. Somehow I feel there is something more. The term 'The Shack' has been made famous by the novel of that name. God changed someone's life in that shack, yes she did. But that shack was not in the man's own garden. Some people would call it a poustinia, a place reserved for prayer, but I keep my family photos and writing materials there - and poustinias are meant to be stripped of such things. So I still look for a clue as to what to call it.

November 11 is Saint Martin's Day.Sulpicius Severus tells us that when Martin became Bishop of Tours he at first lived in a cell connected to the Tours church. This became impracticable because so many visitors came. So he created a hermitage two miles away. On one side was a precipitous rock face dotted with caves and on the other side was the river Loire, so his hermitage could only be approached by one person at a time. Eighty others became hermits in the hollowed out caves or in huts below.

Should I call my place a cave? This term is increasingly used as a symbol of a place of solitude where persons can be truly themselves and truly with God. But mine is not carved out of a rock face. Before Martin went to Tours he was a hermit in a white house. I live in a white house. Why don't we call this gift of a place at the end of a white house garden simply 'The Hermitage'?

Submitted: 10:07:41 on 10th November 2011

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Topic: SPIRITUAL PEOPLE NEED TO GET SMART

The homily at the 8.0 am Eucharist on the Holy Island Island of Lindisfarne was given by eighty-one year old Kate Tristram, still recovering from a replacement knee operation. It was about that untypical parable of Jesus recorded in Luke's Gospel, chapter 16. This tells of a dishonest manager fired by his wealthy boss. Before he departs the manager reduces the bills various people have to pay, so that they will be good to him after he has left. This is the homily:

I feel this parable was told with more than a touch of humour. I like the way Dorothy Sayers put it in her radio play THE MAN BORN TO BE KING. She has the defrauded owner say to the fraudulent steward, when he discovered his little plan 'You are a thorough scoundrel ... but I do admire your thoroughness.' Since Jesus can't be recommending dishonesty, what is he recommending here?

I think the answer is a sort of realism, which he wants his followers to have. The manager saw his opportunity to safeguard his future, and he seized it without delay. But God puts before all of us constant opportunities to do various kinds of good. If we could be as quick to grasp them as the steward was to grasp his, and to turn them to best use for ourselves and others. There is a kind of dreaminess or doziness, a kind of incompetence in everyday life, which in cartoons has been used to characterise Christians. But real life has to be seized and used.

Go for it.

Submitted: 08:29:11 on 4th November 2011

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Topic: THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT AND JESUS

The Occupy movement spreads. There are over 900 occupations from New York's Wall Street to Chile, from the City of London's St. Paul's cathedral precints to Madrid. I joined Occupy Edinburgh on Saturday at St. Andrew's Square. Environmental, marxist, spiritual and questioning people dialogued in mutual respect.

The strap-line is that 1% of the world control the levers that shape the lives of the 99%.These levers - the IMF, WTO, global markets, multinational banks, the G8/20, the European Central Bank and most of the UN Security council are unelected.'Our environment is being destroyed by the same corporations that push the internatiional trade in arms, drugs and natural resources that destroy communities. We are losing control of our lives, we are losing the health of our planet.. The citizens of the world must regain control' says one leaflet.

The moral driver of this 1% has recently been shown to be power and money say some. Others argue that right and wrong jostle for dominance in both the 1% and in the 99% and that none of us can evade this challenge. I dialogued with a willing-to-learn anarchist. 'These streets are clean, if you are ill you can go to a hospital, if you are robbed you can go to the police: these blessings require ordered planning' I suggested. 'Oh, yes', he agreed, 'but anarchism can just mean thinking outside the box'.

As I left my friends I had a thought. If Jesus was starting his campaign in these parts, he would recruit his twelve disciples from these men and women.He might call them to something like our Community's Way of Life: Live simply that others may simply live; cherish creation, live in solidarity with all, stand with the poor, live life to the full.

Those who have not yet resigned down at St. Paul's Cathedral, are you listening?

Submitted: 07:40:51 on 30th October 2011

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Topic: FROM EURO CRISIS TO AN ECONOMY OF COMMUNION

The euro-zone financial crisis scares other economies too. That's why China and the USA have things to say.The three-pronged bail-out basically props up 'buy now pay later' economies for a further period. So that the old ways that got us into this mess can revive. TV adverts still promote 'buy now, pay later'. Top executives' pay in UK increased 50% over the last year.

It would indeed be a disaster for millions if everything suddenly crashed. And some anti-capitalist protesters fail to create an answer. The confusion is highlighted by Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron's annual party conference speech. In his first draft he urged individuals not to spend on credit and so emulate the government's attempt to reduce the nation's debt. But the top financiers objected that they wanted people to spend more in order to increase retail sales. So the PM removed that from his speech.

What we need is gradual evolution towards responsible budgeting by individuals and corporations and nations. Even in high streets with closed down shops, many of those that remain sell things we don't need. Live simply. Let protesters create community vegetable gardens on derelict sites, and knit while they sit. Reduce mere fashion clothes purchases. Reduce heat usage. Wear wool.

There is another route for top executives' excessive pay. Transparency. Let's get a voluntary movement of charity grants for social enterprises that they give all or part of their increased income to. This approach has been called the economy of communion. It is not imposed by force, it is inspired by big vision, human compassion, and challenged conscience. And the internet.

Submitted: 19:03:17 on 28th October 2011

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Topic: TRY PRAYING

You learn something every time you sit next to a guest retreatant at supper. 'Have you heard of Try Praying?' he asked. Well, I had heard of praying and I had heard of trying - but what is Try Praying? 'It is a movement that interests non-religious people in making prayer an experiment. Churches in Hull offered the Try Praying booklet door to door to anyone who said they would like it. The majority asked for it. You can download it on line. Email: booklets@trypraying.co.uk Phone: 0131 202 6449 Web: www.trypraying.co.uk

It pushes a theology of Jesus as the debt-payer (useful in a recession but not quite a whole message about Jesus), and it does not tell you how to pray when your request for healing shows no obvious results. Nor did it help me to stop being sefl-centred in my praying. But there is lots of good stuff. Don't try it if you are a believer. But if you don't believe, why not make the experiment?

Submitted: 10:34:26 on 21st October 2011

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Topic: WITH IRISH BELIEVERS IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH

I flew to Shannon and ate goat cheese tartlet at Skellig Dingle Hotel. I became ill. A pity, since I had four sessions to lead with the clergy of the Church of Ireland Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert. followed by meetings at the Catholic Diocese of Clare youth centre and Kilkee Methodist Church and with individual friends. Bishop Trevor finished the first and led the second session. In between bed and basin I completed all other engagements. As Providence would have it, our themes included shared vulnerabilities and pilgrimage.

At Dingle we explored how, even when our calling is uphill and people dislike our agenda, we can bloom where we are planted, love people, work at a life-sustaining rhythm, assist a re-flowering of Ireland's wisdom tradition through pilgrimage and poetry, soul friends and summer schools, reflective habits and new monastic insights.

But I never got to swim with Fungie the dolphin.

An inspired group of pioneers are re-claiming the wells and creating pilgrim routes in four stages in County Clare. We discussed the recovery of the local Christian memory, what people do on pilgrimages to make them spiritually vibrant, the growing literature on the subject, and their inclusive nature.

Kilkee solicitor Michael Nolan told our evening meeting how he had helped to form a Trust to turn Scattery Island into a public pilgrimage centre with links to Iona and Lindisfarne. Due to lack of funds they handed it over to the Office of Public Works who maintain it. With good will this makes it possible to pursue the original vision. The pilgrim pioneers may see Scattery as the culmination of the longest route (c.f. Santiago). I will now seek further advice to see if folk from varied backgrounds might become 'not strangers, but pilgrims together' for whom Scattery is 'an Island of Promise' or a 'Place of Resurrection'. It was lovely, earlier in the day, to sit with a friend overlooking Senan's Isle from the mainland, and to meditate and pray over it. We focussed on Angels Hill. Iona has an Angels Hill, and I once again look out from Lindisfarne to the place where angels escorted Aidan to heaven.

Submitted: 09:00:16 on 16th October 2011

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Topic: EIGHT DUTCH FRIENDS

They were all members of a singing group. They all got married and pursued separate careers - social workers, teachers, film-maker. Their views as Christians range from what we might call leftwing to rightwing. Yet for twenty years they have remained friends, and each year they visit some place together.

This year they chose Lindisfarne. All rooms on the island were booked, so they slept in Berwick. I agreed to receive them at my house at 10.30 am on Friday. Eight very real men, oozing energy, walked in. 'We have hundreds of questions' said Jelle, and they fired off. 'Why did you come here?' 'Can you convert a nation as well as a person?''Will you bless us?' were starters.

Seventy minutes passed in a flash. I told them we had Midday Prayer. They came. Our Retreat House manager, Naomi, will marry Dutchman Peter Zwaal this coming Saturday. Peter conversed with them in Dutch, and discovered that one was a lecturer at his university. They departed, happy. Now it's all hands on deck for the wedding.

But I fly off the following day to Ireland: A Church of Ireland clergy conference at Dingle; a meeting with Catholic pilgrim developers at Kilrush, a public meeting at Ennis. Whatever next?.

Submitted: 11:01:27 on 6th October 2011

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Topic: GREENING CANADA

Randal Goodfellow led Ottawa pilgrims across Cuthbert’s Way to Holy Island. He helps to spearhead Anglican initiatives to green sacred spaces throughout Canada. So far, he says, Anglicans have concentrated on physical eco-audits of their buildings and grounds. He wants to broaden this out, network with green-minded people across the faiths, link this with Mission-Shaped Cathedral developments, change mind-sets, and weave Celtic resource materials into the church’s worship, prayer and training practices. Ottawa Cathedral is to embark on a major re-development project that will include housing an Earth Embassy on its grounds. Discussions about increasing Community of Aidan and Hilda links are beginning.

A new attitude towards the earth is needed. Locally Randal will be part of a Lent Course on Creation that comes from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office. The fifth mark of mission as promoted by the Anglican Communion is to sustain the integrity of creation. Fellow pilgrim and Catholic Deacon Fred Jardine works with First Nation peoples. He told me of inspiring ways they relate their prayer to the precious earth. This can contribute to Canada’s multi-faith Green Sacred Spaces initiative. I hope to include some of these prayers in a forthcoming book for North America entitled Celtic Prayer Services.

(Face east) Welcome the rising sun and the Creator’s smilefuls of blessings

(Face south) Welcome summer – the warmth, healing and growth that comes from the Saviour’s heart.

(Face west) Embrace the black times, when humans fall and pray for the people who face decline.

(Face north) Pray for those in the snow and those whose hair is white with age. Give thanks for the wisdom of the elders.

(Turn inwards and look to the earth) Bless Mother Earth upon which we make our home, and ask the Creator for strength to endure and renew as does the earth.

(Look up) Thank God for the sky. Invite the Father/Mother, the Saviour/Brother and the Great Spirit to come upon us with beautiful graces

Submitted: 08:56:41 on 30th September 2011

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Topic: CALDEY ISLAND'S LIVING SAINTS

Five hundred years after Christ Christian monks settled on Caldey Island, off Wales' Pembrokeshire coast. The first abbot got drunk and fell fatally down a well. Bishop Dubricius, who spent each Lent there, appointed Samson as the second abbot. He established transforming disciplines of prayer, scripture, service and healing. Saints Illtyd, Gildas, Paul of Leon and perhaps Malo and David spent time there. These facts alone were enough to lure our 2011 Aidan and Hilda pilgrimage, brilliantly led by Martin Warren, there. We touched the Caldey Ogham Stone,which may date from the 6th. century, whose inscription Sir Johyn Rhys deciphered as 'the tonsured servant of Dubricius.' We prayed in St. David's Churh, the site of which may also date back to the 6th. century.

There was a second reason for risking the uncertain daily boat crossing to Caldey. The entire island is owned by Cistercian monks. Except for the high enclosed monastery we had free access to the churches, shops,beaches and nature trails. And to Brother Gildas, the rotund and long-bearded brother who revels in the Celtic hermit tradition. And to guestmaster Brother Titus, a former racing driver who daily swims and lifts weights in the sea. And to another brother who trips round the island in shorts with a skipping rope or a mountain bike. A few of us (but not me) joined them for their 3.30 am prayer; most joined thm at other times. But we had our own prayers and talks, including the topics of the Welsh dragon and fighting with dragons. Up on the Calvary that overlooks Wales we prayed for each part of that land - and for a new uprising of its saints.

Submitted: 18:37:41 on 24th September 2011

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Topic: MY LONDON CLUB

Lords, ladies and executives of News International have a London club. The Athenaeum comes to mind. Lads, lasses and others in London with no salary also have a club – their gang’s local bus shelter. I, too, have a London club. Its name is The British Library. Four hundred miles south of my Lindisfarne home I walk a short distance from King’s Cross station (whence Harry Potter whisked to Hogworts from platform 9.3/4) along Euston Road to the library. Prince Charles, whom I rarely criticise, does not like this library, but it is just my cup of tea. It has several outdoor spaces with seats, outdoor and indoor cafes where I can converse as a soul friend, free wi fi where I can Twitter. If I am truly virtuous I can read, or even study. Sleep is more difficult. For that I slip away to Friends House down the road. Quakers don’t mind a few dozers – they may be entering the inner silence.

Why do I choose this club? Not, you must understand, because it is free. I choose it because it houses The Lindisfarne Gospels which rightfully belong to us who live on Lindisfarne. Really, the British Library should pay us for the privilege of housing them. I admit that I personally could not afford the yearly sum of several million pounds it would cost to keep them secure on their rightful site. That is why I acquiesce in this artful compromise: I make myself at home in the surrogate home of my Gospels.

Submitted: 07:08:09 on 17th September 2011

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Topic: LONDON’S HEALING

London is healing, as I experienced during a long week-end in the UK capital. At Balham Community Church’s fiftieth birthday celebration for Des Figueiredo I sat next to Bernadette O’Farrell, the Chair of Citizens UK . This alliance of schools and universities, churches, mosques and synagogues has been out in the streets listening to those who were caught up in the recent mass looting. Large numbers of people have taken little actions to support victims and build local community. London Citizens now has 200 Safe Places where young people who are in fear of gang leaders, parents or drug pushers may go. Des, who is Vice Chair of Citizens Balham, was presented with a large mounted photo of the time when he helped lead local people in singing carols in Tate Modern until they agreed to pay a living wage to their cleaning staff. Trained teams in each member community carry out a Listening Campaign. Through thousands of conversations they uncover common concerns, hopes and fears. They find powerful storie and discover new talent and leadership in their communities.

On my return to my university accommodation I walked among crowds that thronged the south bank for The Thames Carnival. Costumed energizers from every imaginable ethnic background pranced and paraded over Blackfriars Bridge and towards Westminster and every face was smiling.

This visit was part of my annual stimulus in the big city, when I combine spiritual direction or attendance at an invited event with a day or two to let my hair down. I was spellbound by Trevor Nunn’s production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and by We Will Rock You (don’t tell anyone), not to mention the British Museum’s fantastic exhibition Treasures of Heaven. There were seven sections. It was nice for a Lindisfarne guy that Saint Cuthbert and Thomas a Becket filled one whole section.

London can be a place for pilgrims. As I stepped off the bus at Moorgate I decided I would attend any church whose bell summoned me. The church was that of St. Magnus the Martyr, with a sung high mass in Latin and English led by Monsignor the Rector. And it was Church of England. Pilgrims can walk beside the Thames and visit a network of city churches that stay open each day. At St. Pancras, don’t miss the Friends House. The Quakers provide excellent earth-friendly food, reading and quiet places. Cycleways in London are brilliant.

It’s such a pity the trains don’t work – 90 minutes delay because of a tree on the line; transfer to an already crowded train; that train delayed 90 minutes because of a kite in the power lines. Why not replace trees with bushes beside rail tracks? Perhaps, living on a tidal island, I can claim compensation for lost nights? Roll on holistic planning and praise God anyway.

Submitted: 08:15:11 on 13rd September 2011

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Topic: A VILLAGE OF GOD ON A HOUSING ESTATE?

Had two days with a great bunch in Salford, near Manchester. Chris Lane pastors Langworthy Community Church which began with an Eden (Christian Social Enterprise)Project and a group who had a heart for this neighbourhood that 10 years ago was unsafe at night and which has been transformed through Housing Regeneration, personalised policing, and the work of Eden volunteers. I prayer walked the area before meeting with the church to inter-act with their work. Chris had been gripped by the Village of God model I explored in 'High Street Monasteries' and wanted to explore if the Christ-like projects and partnerships the church sustains could become more complete or holistic when measured against the Village of God vision. We passed the Oasis Academy established by Steve Chalke's Oasis Trust. The Academy is about to move site and maybe a sustainable church may grow alongside it.

I stayed with Paul and Nikki. Paul overseas all the Eden Projects in greater Manchester. Andrew Belfield, entrepreneur and social enterprise fund-raiser extra-ordinaire, joined us for tapas

I returned to a crashed computer and twenty Norwegian friends who had walked St. Cuthbert's Way and then engaged in five days of study in Celtic spirituality - Roots, Rhythms and Relationships. Jahn took his First Voyage Vows on a Cuthbert's Isle swept by wind and rain. They sang Lindisfarne songs in Norsk. What next?

Submitted: 09:21:10 on 9th September 2011

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Topic: AIDAN a.s.a.p

A is for Aidan's Day, 31 August. Also for Action for Justice. Aidan and Hilda members take some action on this day to mark Aidan's works of justice for slaves and the poor.

S is for Saint Aidan. Also for Sacred Space. I conversed with Richard Binns about the monastic garden and surrounding area. He reminded me that the historican Bede says that Bishops Aidan, Cuthbert and Eadfrith each went to a place of solitude. Richard thinks that even amid tourist places we must create spiritual landscapes that 'invite' people to silent reflection.

P stands for a pilgrim. Aidan was versed in the idea of Christians who renounced everything, even their homeland, for a life-long pilgrimage, letting God lead them and bringing Christ to people different from themselves. Did Aidan at times look back wistfully? Was he tempted to give up? If he was, he resisted the tempation, continued to the end, and exited this day in a trail of heavenly glory. Tonight our new vicar Paul Collins celebrates the liturgy of the transitus at St. Aidan's Church, Bamburgh, where our pilgrim saint died on this day in 651, while I lead our service here on the island.This morning Fr Tony of St Aidan's RC Church celebrated mass and young and old from St Aidan's Schools came. This was folllowed by a BBQ at The Open Gate. Aidan lives on in the A.S.A.P'S of today. Be one a.s.a.p..

Submitted: 15:53:36 on 31st August 2011

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Topic: LINDISFARNE'S ST. AIDAN WEEK

Aidan and Hilda Week runs from August 25-31. On 25th in the Open Gate chapel we celebrated the enshrining of Hild's remains. On Saint Aidan's Sunday Newcastle's Bishop Frank White led our St. Aidan service, followed by a procession along the bounds of the original Celtic monastery, led by Alice, a Northumbrian piper. In his sermon Bishop Frank observed (from the Gospel reading of the fisherman Simon Peter telling Jesus he was a sinful man after Jesus, who was not a fisherman, enabled them to make a big catch) 'Simon Peter saw that his small-mindedness was exposed. Aidan did not put limits on what God could do for the English. Let us cast off our small-mindedness'. He said Aidan opened up women's work and gave his best for the English and he asked 'What is God's best for us?' Send your replies direct to God please.

Submitted: 16:28:15 on 28th August 2011

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Topic: ETHICS AND FINANCE FREE

The Aidan and Hilda Edinburgh group always meet at and after an Edinburgh Festival Event. There are more than 2,500 colourful events to choose from. So which event did they choose? 'A Conversation: Ethics and Finance' at St. Cuthbert's Church, sponsored by the Festival of Spirituality and Peace.

Susan Rice, mamaging Director of Lloyds Banking Group, Scotland said (acording to my notes) 'I care about the health of society, for which banks are necessary. Banks can only give real value by adhering to a set of values. We are working with Chartered Bankers to agree a set of professional standards in UK.' Omar Shaikh from the Islamic Finance Council informed us that in Islam Finance is ethical finance, each person and bank is accountable (to God) for their use of money and for being happy with what they have. Islamic banks do not charge interest. Equity- not debt-based infrastructures enures that there is not too big a gap between rich and poor. The Chair of the Church of Scotland's Special Commission on the Purposes of Economic Activity (formerly Chief Executive of Scotland's Chartered Institute of Bankers) pointed out that for fifty years politicians and media had pressed banks to be more competitive. They got it and now blame them. He felt he had tried and failed to instil Christ's values in the banking industry.

In our group sharing afterwards Mark challenged The Community of Aidan and Hilda to spell out more clearly the implications of our Way of Life for our personal financial practices. 'I never use a credit card, just a debit card' said one person. 'I bank with the co-op' said another.

As I wended my way back through the crowds and interntainers who thronged the Royal Mile I popped into The People's Bible show and made my mark on history. Yes, they wanted many people (150,000?) to each hand-write two verses of the King James Bible on a computer. This new Peoples Hand-written Bible will then be published. To leave your mark on history visit www.thepeoplesbible.org

Submitted: 15:03:14 on 24th August 2011

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Topic: THOSE VIKINGS AGAIN

No, I do not refer to Tom Martin Berntsen and Helge Spilling from Norway who came to lunch, journeyed to Whitby with Graham to meet the sisters there, and explored the Christian Way with us. I refer to two hundred members of the Historical Re-Enactment Society whom English Heritage employ to stage a tourist attraction in the priory ruins. As I entered the churchyard at 07.10 am I encountered a Viking boat and boatman wielding two large oars. 'Don't kill me with those' I said. 'Oh, we don't always kill, some of us have become Christians' he said.

His viking lady companion told me how they are invited to many schools, because what they re-enact comes into the core curriculum. 'Why don't you re-enact the creation of civilisation through the Celtic monks and not just its destruction through Viking raiders?' I asked. The answer was that the core curriculum dodes not include the prior events. 'Why don't people make a connection between the recent riots and the twisted history teaching that glorifies looters but omits the people of faith who spread values of service?' I asked. 'I was in a school where they forbade someone from wearing the Christian Cross' she said, as if in reply,'because that would upset Muslims and remind them of the Crusades'. 'Why don't we have schools where people of all beliefs are required to understand both sides of an issue?' I responded. This is surely a task for us all - to campaign and prepare materials that can deliver this.

On my return from Andrew Lobb's BBQ to celebrate his move from teaching to professional heritage music-making I passed two Vikings who needed a lift. One had speared his eye during rehearsals. The taxi that returned them from the hospital dumped them on the causeway to wait for the tide to turn. 'If you come among us to do good and not harm I will give you a lift to your tent in the priory' I said. I put them down at the priory. 'Now I have to find a place to park' I told them, 'I only live here.'

Submitted: 21:33:12 on 20th August 2011

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Topic: FESTIVAL, FALL AND FINDS

Four days hol. Fantastic Edinburgh Festival time. 370 Fringe venues alone! My favourites? Checkov and Baba Yaga (The Girl with the Kind Heart) in Dr. Neil's Duddingstone Garden and the Shaolin warrior monks in the circus on The Meadows.

Alas, I fell while descending rain-soaked Arthur's Seat and sprained my wrist. No more driving to busy Edinburgh. Go north, my son. Book a student room at Stirling uni. Climb the Wallace Monument. Visit Fortingall where, from 17-31 August an archeological dig examines the ancient Celtic monastery (for more info phone Dr. O'Grady +0782 1155677). Walk by River Tay. Opposite Tay Castle on the bend of the river is Inchadney. This was Church of Scotland glebe where a little to the east were the church and churchyard of the parish of Saint Aidan. The derivation of the word Inchadney is Aidan, the titular saint of Kenmore. which was sometimes spelt Inchaidin. A previous minister believed Aidan himself gathered people while on a missionary journey - perhaps even en route to Lindisfarne - who knows? It is certain that this was a route later taken by missionary monks from Iona and Lindisfarne.

Back to the island of healing, to meals and sessions with Tom Martin and Helge from Norway, Jim and Judith from the Institute of Healing in Pennsylvania, Roger of Fresh Expressions ... and now Richard arrives to type up stuff about the Monastic Garden. Arios.

Submitted: 10:05:42 on 18th August 2011

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Topic: RIOTS

As looters rampage English cities church leaders ask by twitter and email 'What can we do?'. Carol co-ordinates prayer targets through followers of our Way of Life in affected areas. I tweeted a clergy support person in south London to urge clergy to be shepherds of the streets who listen to the pain and who mobilise seventy (c.f. Jesus) to visit the looted and those in prison and encourage the police in their duties.

The message of politicians and police is that criminals will be punished. That is vital. We must also press for the miscreants to make reparation in some way - so that they face up to the physical and emotional cost of their actions. Our longer term aim must be to build a responsible society. The day before the riots I tweeted 'Forgive our nations for bingeing on loans our children must repay. Cure our addiction to debt. Grant us mercy as we reap what we have sown.' We now begin to reap what we have sown. When there are financial cuts in a consumer society those with least feel cut out, so some without higher values consume (i.e. loot) from the rich (i.e.shops). Our message to the shapers as well as the losers of a consumer society is 'Consuming is not what makes a worthwhile life. Let's turn our consumer society into a community. Here's how we can start...'

A Catholic deacon who studies Celtic Christianity at the evangelical Cliff College has asked me to be his mentor as he researches how his town could become a 'village of God'. 'Broken but Blessed' is its title. We identify a range of resources and practices that can create social and spiritual capital and make for the well-being of a town. That town has already made significant progress. It has suffered no riots. Let us learn ways forward together.

As a start, churches can

In November my book 'The Cowshed Movement: Downwardly Mobile Chrisstians for a New Society' will be published. It gives examples of social eneterprises in which rich bankers meet with the street addicts who frequent a charity tbey donate to. They don't just throw money, they play sport with them. They become part of one community.

Submitted: 06:19:32 on 11st August 2011

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Topic: ISLAND VISITORS, WEDDINGS AND DRAINS

'What is the Community of Aidan and Hilda?' asked a visitor. 'It's a bunch of crooks who've recognised the truth about themselves and ask God to sort things out' I said. Not to be repeated.

'What makes an island wedding?' asked someone else during last Saturday's celebration. 'The Guard of Honour of males who shoot bullets into the air' I said. 'Do you want a shot?' one of the Guard asked me. 'I might hit a person instead of a hat' I replied.

My drains revealed the worst blockage that two drain-repair companies had ever experienced. They took twenty eight hours to dig out a manhole un-used for maybe forty years, a broken pipe, and to ruin my veg patch and pocket. I rang the environmental health people: 'I might have to bill you for this - its a public health hazard' I said. She said 'Then we might have to bill you, Sir'. Thank God for civilisation.

Sister Sally holidayed here for a week. She kindly treated me to a meal at the beautifully renovated Manor House Hotel. There Bishop Michael Marshall and a friend introduced themselves. 'Michael Green and I headed up the Decade of Evangelism' he told us, 'and fewer people went to church at the end of the decade than at the beginning. There must be a better way.' They are now developing contemplation.

Submitted: 19:32:14 on 4th August 2011

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Topic: UNPLUGGED.COM

My sister Sally is here for a holiday. Pilgrims from St. Joe's Episcopal Church, Florida, invited us to a five star meal cooked by their Rector, Father Marty, who is an ex Vatican chef. They told us about the interesting things they do at St. Joe's. I told them I thought pilgrims to Holy Island should discard i-phones and IT. Since they had just returned from a boat trip to Farne Isle they heartily agreed. They told us about their service known as Unplugged.com. At other services people text Father Marty's words throughout his sermons. At Unplugged.com they divest themselves of all such distractions. .

They say 'This is our down-to-earth, Episcopal-twist on “Rock Church”. Reflective, Celtic-toned prayers are wrapped in beautiful, thematic imagery. Our worship band leads soul-inspiring songs from a worldwide scope of traditions. Sometimes soft and meditative; sometimes loud and proud. Jeans, flip-flops, open-hearts and questioning minds are encouraged here. This is our most informal (aka “unplugged”) service. Childcare continues to be available for St Joe’s Unplugged Service. Visit www.stjoesweb.org

Submitted: 09:47:06 on 26th July 2011

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Topic: ANDERS BREIVIK AND JAMES THE APOSTLE

Today, Anders Breivik, killer of those on an island whose views he despised, wants to promote his views in court. Today, churches throughout the world commemmorate James, an apostle of Christ who wanted to kill everyone in a Samaritan town whose views he despised. He got the idea - to call down fire on those who opposed God - from his religion. But Jesus told him not to do this - there was a better way. Jesus was not a softee, a renegade to the cause of God. He showed total commitment and passion to the end. James somehow got Jesus' idea. He became one of Jesus most intimate friends. He became the first of the twelve apostles to die a martyr's death. Today, millions walk the long pilgrim route to James' burial place, Santiago De Compostella.

Perhaps some in Norway who grieve the loss of their loved one in this senseless killing will walk out their grief and find a healing process and a new purpose by walking the way of the Apostle James. May every person who died be replaced by someone who makes a new way of life.

Submitted: 08:32:03 on 25th July 2011

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Topic: NORWAY'S TRAGEDY

More than eighty future leaders shot dead on an island. It seems only yesterday that I was on an island where Norway's young socialists were gathered for their summer school. Our group had an open air service and band, and some of the young politicians joined us for this. What makes a young man hate and kill? In my experience, the root cause is often linked to repression. Such persons may project their hate on to particular groups, but this may hide a jealousy that their own potential is not recognised.

Brad, one of our Community members in Adelaide, has a heavy metal band named after a Norwegian saint, Synnove (Sunniva) Brad says that heavy metal started in Norway with young people who hated God and burned down churches. So Brad's band is angry, not at God, but at godlessness.

Is this tragedy a call for moderate Christians and democrats to become passionate - passionate in loving people and buiding a world that reflects God's love? From the suffering and the rubble may the noble values of Norwegians be deepened and may a Way of Life grow strong and spread far.

Submitted: 12:58:00 on 23rd July 2011

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Topic: BLANKERS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Rejoice! Rejoice! At 11.26 and 13 seconds on Friday July 22 in the Year of Our Lord 2011 I, Ray Simpson, cleared every email from my screen. TO BE BLANK IS TO BE BLESSED..

Attention! Attention! This minute. You, everyone who is under twenty six years of age and 13 seconds – try a fantastical experiment. Fast. Turn off all mobile phones, i-pads, recording, sending and listening devices and like me, BECOME BLANK.

The blank becomes a space that can be divinely filled. Become a divinely filled person. Blanks of the world, UNITE. Let us save civilisation.

Submitted: 10:51:43 on 22nd July 2011

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Topic: DIVINE CONVERSATIONS

Lunch with Stuart and Paul who are leaders of a community church that meets in a cinema. Questions to discuss: How do leaders of large set-ups create enough time to work on their inner life? If they don’t, observe how the institution becomes dysfunctional.

Paul and Sally round for tea. Grants have funded books and DVD’s to help parents of many faiths accompany their dying children. Beautiful stories. What would a Celtic-shaped hospital look like?

Graham, Ruth and Carol are in London for an indaba on how to foster the arts of soul friendship. I give lunch to two sterling volunteers. Geoff H comes from Birmingham to sort our book keeping and oversee a creative transition of bank accounts. Geoff S comes from Norfolk to assist Naomi and Peter at an Open Gate packed with guests.

Pete and Andrea bring nice biscuits for our afternoon tea. Pete brings me up-to-date on developments with 24/7 prayer, and Andrea with the parish of which she is vicar and the delights of its first Alpha course. And of the poustinia they are to build in their garden. What are some of the ingredients in listening to God? Dissatisfaction and dreams, passions and peace ….

Skype with Brent and Belinda in Melbourne. He has gained a scholarship to study Christian social enterprises in UK for a year. We talk of places to visit, social enterprises to study, people who might host them. An hour on the phone to Mark. We discuss the Christian Leadership Institute and its papers on how getting to know yourself enables leaders to build on rock. I am beginning to analyse and address criticisms levelled at Celtic Christianity in recent years, to sift the wheat from the weeds, and to think through bases for long-term outcomes.

Submitted: 19:23:39 on 20th July 2011

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Topic: THE WELL AND THE WWOOFERS

The Well is an example of how a declining religious community may morph into something vibrant. The brothers of the Anglican Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM)were aging but owned attractive land. This was situated in the idyllic village of Willen, which has a lake, an ancient church and modern peace pagoda, yet lies within the boundaries of Milton Keynes, one of Britain's largest New Towns. So the brothers withdrew to one section of their land (Willen Priory) and welcomed a young, inter-faith group of families and singles to make the rest of the land their base (The Well). This community commits to values such as service, transparency and wholeness, and starts the day with communal prayer. It provides a library, retreats, guest accommodation - and organic gardens.

The Wwoofers are members of the world-wide network of Willing Workers On Organic Farms. Any one who wants free board and lodging in return for volunteer work can apply to one of the many hosts who are listed on the web site www.wwoof.org/wwind/. The Well is a host. The Wwoofeers I met were young, big and male - and they sometimes conversed in German.

The Well also hosts Book Events. Which is why I was there. Its director, Liz Baker, interviewed me about my book 'Waymarks for the Journey': I had to tell the story of my call, of The Community of Aidan and Hilda, to explain the ten Waymarks in our Way of Life, to unpack the sentence on the first page that 'a good book is a person's precious life-blood outpoured', and to introduce a spiritual breathing exercise with which each day's entry concludes. The audience was a fascinating, creative and dedicated cross-section of human beings. Up the Well!

Submitted: 09:29:23 on 15th July 2011

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Topic: DID THE IRISH SAVE CIVILISATION AND CAN WE?

Irish delight arrived in the person of Paul Wright, who is recording a six part radio series on 'Back From The Brink- The Heroic Contribution of The Irish in Helping To Save Western Civilization!' Paul cycled here from Berwick rail station and swam twice in one day in the north sea. 'I like those early saints, they were tough and earthy' he told us. He spent hours interviewing Kate and Andy, Mary Fleason, Open Gate people and myself on Aidan, whose life and mission will complete the series. He wanted to know about the spirit which infused Aidan's mission, his ability to talk with ordinary people at their own level, his love of the poor, folk stories surrounding him, how profound was his impact, his ultimate legacy and how he’s remembered nowadays... Etc.! Watch this space.

Twitter power and people power more generally is an opportunity for good as well as for ill. My daily prayer tweet on Saturday was 'Please God may the Murdoch media empire step out of a culture of contempt and walk paths of honour - or may the people walk away from them'. Mark Berry re-tweeted this to over 800 followers. What's next?

What about 'The Cowshed Revolution'?' I sent my final manuscript to the publisher for this book on how Downwardly Mobile people can create peoples uprisings and build a new society.

Submitted: 14:47:44 on 10th July 2011

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Topic: DREAMS, TWEETS, VIKING VOYAGERS & ROYALS.

Scribbled down lots of dreams about monks. Discussed them with Abbot Stuart, a soul friend. This links with my Twitter profile 'Celtic New Monastic for Tomorrow's World'. I never miss my daily prayer tweet.

Had a stream of delightful visitors who ask for an interview, a talk or a visit to my garden. Danish and Dutch theological students; three Norwegian walkers groups. Haken on Tuesday and Glenn on Thursday took their First Voyage vows on Cuthbert's Isle - with music. 'There's a Viking come-back' said Kate. But what a marvellous come-back!

What with others who come for spiritual direction and five church services daily and my 'vintag ing process' - I have to limply chill out on my Saturday off in Edinburgh. Last Saturday and this I by chance bumped into royals at sun-lit Holyrood Park. Charles and Camilla visited for UK Armed Services Day. After the main ceremony I sat at a table in the park by tented stalls. 'Charles and Camilla are coming' said a voice. I planned what to say should they stop by. 'My grandfather was a bastard son of your great grandfather' I thought I might say. No, I'll replace that with 'I reviewed your excellent book

Submitted: 09:47:40 on 3rd July 2011

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Topic: THE COWSHED REVOLUTION

Riveted to my car radio, I stayed in the car park until Aung San Suu Kyi's first BBC Reith Lecture finished. The leader of Burma's main opposition party, after years under house arrest,secretly recorded two lectures which were smuggled out of Burma. She spoke of the Peoples' Uprisings in Arab countries and of her own movement's attempts to organise an uprising from an office in a cow shed. 'This would not be the first time a world movement has started in a cow shed', she said, referring to Jesus' birth at Bethlehem.

A thousand bells rang in my head. Are we not calling Christians world-wide to start 'little Bethlehems' rather than top-down church set-ups? Am I not writing a book about Downwardly Mobile People so that millions of ordinary people will follow in the steps of the Man from Bethlehem and commit to justice, social enterprises, community-building and people-centred societies? I can't wait for the second Reith Lecture.

Submitted: 10:47:17 on 28th June 2011

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Topic: FRESH EXPRESSIONS DVD

1.authentic(?), Glasgow (Starting from scratch) 2.Boring Wells, Belfast (Becoming mission-shaped people) 3.CCM Gorton, Manchester (Serving people from around the world) 4.Church for the Night, Bournemouth (Being church in clubland) 5.CoffeeCraft, Clee Hill (Creating mission in the countryside) 6.Colin Brown, Falmouth (Establishing a fresh expression for artists) 7.Divine Divas, Tadcaster (Building church around relationships) 8.Exeter Network Church, Exeter (Discovering natural networks) 9.Grafted, Newcastleton (Making disciples and creating leaders) 10.Harvest New Anglican Church, Thanet (Reaching diverse networks of people) 11.King's Cross Church, London (Planting church in a developing area) 12.Monks Road Threshold, Lincoln (Creating church in an area of deprivation) 13.re:generation, Romford (Growing a new generation of leaders) 14.Reconnect, Poole (Building community and recreating church) 15.safespace, Telford (Drawing on the wisdom of monastics) 16.St George's, Deal (Growing church but staying fluid) 17.Sanctus1 and Nexus, Manchester (Taking the next step) 18.StreetSpace, Chard (Taking youth culture seriously) 19.Streetwise, Sheffield (Helping the marginalised) 20.The Beacon, Dartford (Forming church in a new housing area) 21.The Lounge at Costa, Woodbridge (Engaging seekers in a market town) 22.The Ruth Project, Stanley (Working where conventional church struggles) 23.The Sunday Sanctuary, Portsmouth (Growing community through hospitality) 24.The Wesley Playhouse, Howden Clough (Using buildings and exercising faith) 25.3.08@Kingshill, Nailsea (Learning from mistakes) 26.Tubestation, Polzeath (Moving from community to discipleship) 27.Wolverhampton Pioneer Ministries, Wolverhampton (Growing church with young adults) 28.Zac's Place, Swansea (Establishing church on the edge)

This DVD can be ordered on-line.

Peter and Cath Atkins are here. They seek more than a Fresh Expression of existing church. They discuss whether a people's monastery or a village of God might emerge where they are. Today our new vicar, Paul Collins, said 'Many people in the church under-estimate the degree to which the old order is dying. New patterns are replacing the old. Pilgrim places such as Lindisfarne make it clear that spirituality is not dying.' Fresh expressions of church in the form of small groups subsidised by the old parent body are not enough, though they are welcome. Nothing less than villages of God will be an adequate response to the changing patterns.

Submitted: 05:50:57 on 23rd June 2011

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Topic: BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

This world-changing possibility that we can bloom where we are planted riveted people who gathered for our Annual Week-end at Red Hill Centre, near Stratford, UK, which has converted a barn into a conference centre, outbuildings into guest rooms, and land into woods with footpaths, lake and praying place.

God is Hospitality; God makes room for creation and for us - that is why we can bloom even in a concrete corner, Graham reminded us. Anne from Edinburgh explained in her liturgy workshop how we can bloom in our homes. For example, we might invite friends and furnish a bare table together. Each could bring a coaster which means something to them, and tell their story. The band from The Ascension Church, London, entertained us. The Birmingham team did a B.B.Q. Linda gave everyone a plant for their garden. Christopher, Coventry's bishop, told us about fresh expressions of church, the Goths, and how new communities can nominate members to be ordained. As we gathered round the lake and its Canada geese for our Sunday morning worship Randal, from Ottawa, told us about the greening of the churches in Canada, of his Creation Matters project and his monthly meetings with his bishop, how Ottawa Cathedral is joining with the Earth Embassy, and of his vision for a wave of worship and teaching materials, political and business actions and networking that can bring a sea change.

'Can we convey our message in 30 seconds in the elevator?' he challenged us. 'How would you put it?' we asked. 'To re-connect the western world with God' he replied.

Submitted: 08:40:42 on 20th June 2011

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Topic: WHAT'S GOOD IN WOKING?

What's good in Woking? I must admit its town planners need to study the principles of a Village of God and put soul into its centre, but I'll tell you four good things.

1) David Lloyd Leisure Club gave me an all day gym, swim and sauna for free and now ask me to tell you how wonderful it is. It is!

2) Christ Church has a cafe and street pastors; and the imam of Woking's mosque - the first in England to be built I think - joins them.

3) As I lingered by two homes and two schools of my childhood I invited Jesus to breath into my negative memories and give me snapshots of good things God was doing in my life. Transformation took place on the streets!

4) There's more. The new Saint Columba Centre celebrates Christian transformation that came to the ancient Celtic tribe in the area and that comes to haggard local tribes today.

Submitted: 04:37:09 on 16th June 2011

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Topic: LET'S DEVELOP WISDOM STATIONS

I have just read The Daily Mail in a Woking gym cafe. I don't take a daily British paper. This morning's read leaves me depressed at the shallow, stupid, self-centred, short-sighted escapism that fills its pages.

I have just finished a week's retreat at the new Saint Columba's Centre nearby. No newspapers, no talk. The themes have included the Wisdom tradition and the development of villages of God at a time when the outward structures of Christendom decline and global networking increases.

One third of the Jewish written tradition is wisdom literature. Sages and seers had an honoured place in many ancient societies. In Celtic lands Druids took up to twenty years to learn and store their peoples' wisdom, bards had an honoured role and were well used. Today new Orders of Bards rise up. A Christian priest, Mark Townsend, felt he had to leave the church and become a Druid if he was not to lose the bardic tradition. He describes in his book The Path of the Blue Raven: From Religion to Re-Enchantment (O Books 2009) how after a sexual lapse which meant he was asked to leave the parish ministry, he discovered that the incarnation was not just about Jesus coming into the world, but also about a hidden divinity in all of creation, which it is the church’s role to awaken people to.

There can be Christ-centred bards. The Bard in us gathers the memory – the stories, the values, the meaning - of a people that otherwise would be lost, lets these gestate, makes them her own, expresses them in pictures and words that linger long in the hearers. The Bard in us follows a river to its source, a tree to its roots, a people to its soul, and the planet to its heart. The Bard in us needs to ask: What sources and values do I need to connect with? What do I need to reveal to the world of what I am discovering? How may I best do this?

I long for every Diocese and denomination to have spiritual resource centres - spirituality programmes, study places, retreat houses, summer schools - where wisdom, learning and bardic arts are fostered. These wider networks can invite poets, artists, teachers and meditators in residence.

An email that asked if I would consider being in residence for a Diocese in another land has prompted further thought on this. Bishops and Dioceses might find it fruitful to explore how they may develop the wisdom tradition within programmes, centres, and places where there can be 'bards' in residence. Such places, if they grow sufficiently, will ensure that the next generation has something better to read than today's Daily Mail.

Submitted: 12:13:44 on 11st June 2011

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Topic: CELTIC MASS

We celebrated Celtic mass as part of the Saint Columba Festival here at Saint Columba's Centre, Woking, UK. This put up a marker. Iona Community Communion services have a Presbyerian link; those of The Community of Aidan and Hilda draw from contemporary Celtic worship material: Fr. Owen Murphy, Director of Saint Columba's, and the remaining sisters here, have linked their Celtic Mass to ancient texts. Most surviving eucharistic texts are Romanised, from the eight century reform movement Celi Dei, but they do retain an Irish dimension. Canon Brendan O'Malley has identified and catalogued these in his 'A Celtic Worship Primer' (Canterbury/Moorhouse) which contains a CD rom. Father Owen has combined these with other sources and published a splendid booklet. For those with more traditionalist catholic backgrounds this may fill a useful gap.

However,these words, to be said when bread is broken, are utterly contemporary and beautiful. Owen adapted them from Donald Reeves:

We break this bread for those who hunger for God For those who follow the path of Buddha and worship the God of Hindus For our sisters and brothers in Islam And or the Jewish people from whom we come. We pray that as grain scattered in many fields has become one in this bread, so one day we may be as one.

We break this bread for the great green earth We call to mind the forests, wildlife, fields and flowers which we are destroying, That one day, with the original blessing, God’s creation will be restored.

We break this bread for those who have no bread, The starving, the homeless and refugees, that one day this planet may be a home for everyone.

We break this bread for the broken parts of ourselves, The wounded child in all of us, for our broken relationships, that one day we may glimpse the wholeness that is of Christ. Donald Reeves, adapted by Owen Murphy.

Submitted: 16:55:44 on 5th June 2011

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Topic: METHODISTS AND MYSTICS

A formidable force of Methodist women from the five districts that make up northern Britain gathered at Minsteracres Retreat Centre, near Newcastle. I led two sessions on Celtic spirituality, followed by a sun-drenched prayer walk in their peace garden and grounds, ending with an Ascension Day ascent up the steps. I spoke of hospitality as a key to the early evangelism of Ireland. 'That's what Salvation Army founder William Booth believed', someone said, 'soup, soap and salvation were his three priorities.' Another participant told me of a Sikh who became a Christian minister, and continued the Sikh custom of families banding together to provide free meals. He wrote a book with the word 'table' in the title. Can anyone point me to the full title?

Today pilgrims from Tyndale Seminary, Toronto came to The Open Gate to explore Celtic insights i nto evangelism. Someone came to tea who belongs to a 5,000 member church led by plan-driven pastors with Ph.D's. They spend three hours on plans and five minutes on prayer. She does the opposite, for she is a mystic. Young church members come to her with intuitons, dreams and experiences which the pastors dismiss. What should she do? I encouraged her to reflect on Samuel who was both a seer and a judge. Seek to transform the soul of her country, and each individual encounter will fit into that wider purpose and make sense. Jesus did not choose people with Ph.D's as his apostles. She has her own Ph.D - Prayer, harmony, Discernment!

Now I am off to Saint Columba's Retreat Centre, Woking, for a week long Saint Columba Festival along with harpists and musicians. May you feel loved this Ascension-tide as we recall how Jesus took our humanity into the heart of God.

Submitted: 19:58:06 on 3rd June 2011

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Topic: STEP CHILDRENS' WEDDINGS

A long drive to Goodworth Clatford, near Andover, where widowed cousin Jane married widowed Peter. Peter came from Swindon. They will live in Goodworth Clatford. Peter said this was like Midsomer, of Midsomer Murders fame. Thatched cottages, river and bridleways. Any way, my sister Sally and I got to know an entire new gang of Peter and Wendy's children etc etc. along with Jane's etc etc. After the church service the Misomers type gracious village hall was filled for a reception. Niece Sarah was the band's lead singer. Next day all relatives ate in the Royal Oak pub, then Sally and I took a B&B in the New Forest where ponies roam free. On my way back I kept stopping and went to sleep...

How two couples and their children make sense of a new marriage? Here is Jane's daughter Jude's poem which says a lot about Wendy (deceased) and Tony(deceased) and their former spouses, and all:

We have been here before, you and I,

with partners, much loved now gone

we spent our springs, our summers with others

and with their passing feared to end our time

facing a cold lonely winter.

What a wonderful surprise then, what a delight to find

another love, another person to walk through life with.

Now we look forward to a warm autumn together,

and a cosy, loving winter.

We will never forget Wendy and Tony,

we stand here, two people but four souls.

We will carry our past loves on

as we build our wonderful new life together.

Submitted: 10:55:34 on 31st May 2011

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Topic: AIDAN AND HILDA IN SEATTLE

Tom Cashman, our Pacific NW Regional Guardian in the USA, drove me from Vancouver, where he gives spiritual direction every few weeks, across the border into his home town of Seattle. This green and spacious city is named after the Indian Chief Seattle, whose famous declaration 'We did not weave the web of life ... we are sons and daughters of the earth' has influenced world thinking and resonates deeply with Celtic spirituality. My host, Carol Everson, helps head up the finance department for Seattle's more than four hundred parks. I enjoyed the multi-cultural festivity of the Seattle Center and its Olympic Sculptor Park that overlooks the waters of The Sound. Bill and Melinda Gates have their Charity Foundation's headquarters here. The Seattle Times features New World Habits Disposable Cup campaign (www.newworldhabits.org).

On Friday Tom and I visited Christine and Tom Sine's community house. We learned of their extraordinary range of thinking and knowlegde of eco-housing, new monastic, evangelical justice and Celtic movements, and of their land at Camano Island. There they invite students to camp, re-imagine the future, experience holistic Celtic worship and give them tools to work with.

On Saturday members and friends of the Community gathered for a day together for sharing of journeys, and I gave news of life-giving Aidan and Hilda developments around the world. Shannon and Pat Loughery told us about their faith home community. Pat manages the USA CA&H web site. He hopes his friend will compete in the 2012 Olympics in London, in which case he will support him and we can hope to see the whole family come north to Holy Island for a few days.We talked about pilgrim places in USA. I would like the Gates Foundation to help this city honour the Indian places and people whom the European incomers displaced.

On Sunday I attended Carol's local Saint Columba's Church, preceded by an adult Sunday School on Baruch and Wisdom in the Apocrypha. This was followed by a 5.0 pm visit to Church of the Apostles (COTA), also known as Fremont Abbey. It began in a cafe, in the bohemian, arty suburb of Fremont, which styles itself 'the Arts Centre of the Universe'! It transferred to a dis-used Lutheran-Episcopal church building opposite. Downstrairs has become an arts centre and music auditorium with cafe. Upstairs is the worship area. Each Sunday service includes liturgy with beautiful power point art, an interview or chat, a period of Open Space during which people wander to a chapel, icon, drink facility etc, and informal Communion. I had listened to a Greenbelt UK talk by the previous pastor, Karen Ward, which cited it as an example of a church that has monastic features. The day ended with sung compline at the cathedral. Despite a plain building, archaic language, and hard pews that did not face the choir, it was packed and some brought cushions and reclined around the altar. Surely this says something - like the Copenhagen night services that students love? I am now ready to return.

Submitted: 22:11:36 on 22nd May 2011

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Topic: CANADA'S CIVILISED CITIES

A farm was given to Sorrento Centre. During my week faciliating Associates in Celtic spirituality farmer Dave, a Jew, asked if we would hold a rogation season blessing of the seeds, because 'that would make the plants 'grow well'. We all gathered there, had an earth blessing, circled the ground, listened to bird songs, quoted Scripture and sang. Our little ceremony begans with these words: 'Great Spirit, out of your love the universe was born. You have put in place all that is needed for growth and have trusted us to tend it.' It closed with these words: 'Generous be our hearts, open be our hands. Justice be our goal, thanksgiving be our call.

After a flight and a ferrry to Victoria, capital city of British Columbia, I was whisked off to begin an intensive week-end: three two hour workshops, two sermons to crowded congregations, and an impromptu children's talk hosted by First Metro United Church. This church has glorious creation songs and exquisite pictures projected on to six screens that illustrate prayers and readings. You can see some of these on its web site. A church member generously offered the church the guest room at the condominium where she rents a room. Here I could relax, explore the wonderful Gardens, Museums and waterfront for two days, escorted by various church members. On Monday I ferried back to Vancouver for a lunch and afternoon with twenty members of Grand View Calvary Baptst Church, pastored by Tim Dickau, whose book about this experiment is in the New Monastic Library series. An aging, gathered congregation twenty years ago, , the church has now embraced its downtown neighbourhood, has household collectives, community gardens, ministries to the homeless, refugees, children etc. We explored the pros and cons of adopting a Rule of Life.

Submitted: 04:03:28 on 19th May 2011

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Topic: CELTIC SAP RISES IN SORRENTO AND VANCOUVER ISLAND

This is one big family at Sorrento Centre. The week began with us paying $15 for a meal whose proceeds went to a local person who was turned out of their house. Volunteers paint, sew, clean, garden, cook, catalogue, display and make ready the cabins for the coming season. They work between 10.0 am and 5. 0 pm. Before and after that I lead them in teaching and worship on Celtic spirituality, new monasticism and emerging villages of God. This centre already has accommodation, cabins and camp site, a farm and a beach, a shop and a refectory, a garden of remembrance and sabbatical study facilities - plus a year round programme for all ages. One Associate suggested they might introduce commitment to a daily pattern of prayer.

On Saturday and Sunday May 14 and 15 First Metropolitan United Church, Victoria, Vancouver Island hosts a week-end on sustainable churches and Celtic spirituality for the 21st. century. To find out more and register online visit www.firstmetvictoria.com

Submitted: 00:30:38 on 12nd May 2011

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Topic: CHOPPY DEPARTURE FOR VANCOUVER

I am in Vancouver. Things happened before I left Holy Island. Paul, our vicar-designate, arrived. People like him. Probably that's because he is genuine. My computer crashed, with all my Canada stuff on it plus six one minute talks I had to record at Melrose for Borders Radio. 'Calm me, Lord', we pray .... Brenda and our computer guru Brian helped. So did a new battery.

During the long hours at London Heathrow and on the flight to Vancouver I read Simon Young's 'The Celtic Revolution: in search of 2000 Forgotten Years that Changed the World.' Simon is recognised as an outstanding scholar. He clears up the disputes about the use of the term 'Celtic' in the light of new, recent findings. he describes how the ferocious Celts won battles against Rome and Greece that indirectly helped to shape Europe. He then describes how Christianity re-channelled the passions of these people who refused to be standardised - and gives a chapter to Aidan of Lindisfarne. The last third of the book is about Authurian mythology in the second millennium - which to my mind slightly devalues the earlier parts. Someone needs to write a visionary section on the next five hundred years.

I awoke at 5.0 am in Sylvia Hotel, that overlooks English Bay, Vancouver, meditated on Places of Resurrection and emailed the revised text of a talk about this to the Sorrento Centre, BC where I shall be on Saturday. I'll let you know when this becomes a download. Now I am to meet Merry and Gerry, who were pilgrims at The Open Gate last year, and who will show me some sights.

Submitted: 17:11:17 on 5th May 2011

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Topic: ROYAL WEDDING - BE WHO YOU ARE

Pilgrims watched the wedding on my TV. Our Retreat House invited guests to join Holy Island's street party (actually, it was Oasis Cafe's garden) instead of their usual evening meal with us, and we gave the cost of their meals to our local charity - the fund to rebuild our village hall.

If you wondered what the Westminster Abbey canon meant (as reported in the last blog) when he said the world needs both Westminster Abbey and Lindisfarne models, Richard Chartres sermon to William and Catherine may point us to the answer.:'“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves...In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future...'

The Celtic dimension of Christianity is to be who you are, not to play to the gallery: to be of the earth and yet to discover the true nobility of being down to earth. It is about God in the ordinary things of life. If Kate and William can, more often than not, live that way - we will all be enriched.

We delayed our Midday Prayer until after the royal balcony kiss. Then we prayed this blessing on the couple from 'Liturgies from Lindisfarne':

'May the Father take you in his fragrant clasp of love, in every up and every down of your life. The love and affection of God be with you. The love and affection of the saints in heaven be with you. The love and affection of your friends on earth be with you, to guard you, to cherish you, to bring you to eternal fulfilment.'

'

Submitted: 14:12:49 on 29th April 2011

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Topic: EGGSHELL, HOSPICE AND LIVING STONES

Pilgrims thronged to Holy Island's Easter service. This year certain Northern Cross pilgrims walked from further afield than ever before: one started from Iona and another from Lanark. Next year some will start from Saint Ninian's Cave at Whithorn

The Sunday preacher, Colin Gough, told how Archbishop Robert Runcie visited a dying sculptor in a hospice. They established a rapport. 'I will send you a little gift' said Robert. The gift duly arrived, carefully wrapped up. It was a beautifully sculpted eggshell. The glorious Easter message wrapped in this story needs no further explanation.

Colin spoke of the sacred stones of this Holy Island. To those of us who live on the island he said: 'Pilgrims need to meet not only sacred stones from the past, but sacred stones now. You can be those living stones.' A recent canon from Westminster Abbey , where Prince William and Kate will marrry, was present. 'The worship offered at the Abbey and that offered here are both needed', he said. 'We don't clap at the Abbey'.

After the clapping Northern Cross pilgrims sang and prayed around the village with their flower-bedecked crosses. I joined members of the Northumbria Community as they renewed their vows and circle danced around the sculpure of Saint Aidan in the churchyard. God is not dead.

Submitted: 12:08:32 on 24th April 2011

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Topic: EASTER MEDITATIONS

Throughout a Forty Day Lent Journey I have tweeted a daily prayer (Twitter@whitehouseviews.com). They included this for Palm Sunday when Jesus wept over the city: 'We weep with You for the blindness of pride, the mad rush to consume, the lust to control that drives you from among us'. And these for following days: 'May we not become tortured souls like those who tried to remove you from their puny empires in your last days on earth'. 'Christ, you upturned the tables of the temple crooks, and turned the world round. Do it again through us'. 'Bread of Life, on your last fateful Thursday you made bread and wine immemorial: may we never forget you'.

On Thursday we stripped the altars in the church on Holy Island. A silent prayer vigil followed in the Fishermen's Chapel until midnight. On Good Friday we greeted Northern Cross Pilgrims as they arrived across the sands in six groups from starting points as far as Iona. Their feet were washed. Saturday includes the ecumenical Fire on the Beach and renewal of baptism vows. On Easter Day the pilgrims leave St. Mary's to witness around the island with crosses now flower-bedecked, singing joyfully.

As I reflect on Jesus's last week these are my thoughts: Jesus had to lay down everything - his career and reputation, the things behind which we usually hide our insecurity. In order to do this he found his true self. He found a deep relationship with his Father. We can't lay everything down unless we at the same time move from our egos towards our true selves. Laying things down did not mean that Jesus stopped being involved. He carefully prepared sharing times with those friends who most closely travelled with him in spirit. When did he lay such detailed plans for the the last Passover Supper? On a previous visit? In his final agonies he made provision for his mother, and John took her into his home. Let us prize and work at the gift of friendship.

I am becoming more of a contemplative. Too many words and doings leave me cold. That applies to church life also. I am tired of second hand standardised religion. I come into my garden. There, too, I repeat actions that are hallowed (weeding, planting) but something is different. There is fresh life in the garden. Even seeds are organic and have the promise of future life. All is living, fresh. So it was with the first friends of Jesus. So let it be with us.

A HAPPY EASTER!

Submitted: 11:46:24 on 24th April 2011

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Topic: ALL FLESH SHALL SEE IT: holy saturday is for ever

Today a grave holds him who holds creation in his hand. A gravestone covers him who covers the heavens with glory. Life sleeps. Hell trembles. The human race waits with bated breath....

'We have been buried with Christ through baptism. In faith we will journey with him into dark and unknown places.'

He who holds all things together was lifted up on the cross and all creation lamented. The sun hid its rays. The stars withheld their light. The earth shook in fear. The seas fled and the rocks were split. Tombs were opened. The bodies of holy people were raised. The nether world groaned. The authorities spread a false report about Christ’s resurrection. All creation waits with bated breath.

We bless Joseph who came to the Governor by night and asked for the Life of all to be laid in his garden of graves. We bless Mary who with sorrow wept as she saw her son hanging on the tree. Her heart was pierced with a sword, as the prophet Simeon had foretold.

We bless you for the women, who went to the grave to watch, to weep and offer fragrant spices of devotion. We too, will watch and weep and offer our devotion.

Let us recall what was said about the One whom we mourn: 'No one ever loved as he loved. Someone might lay down their life for a person who did them good: but he laid down his life for those who did him only harm. No one spoke as he spoke. He spoke with authority. He knew what was within people. We observed him, he was full of grace and truth. We were drawn to him because he alone had the words of eternal life. He was the voice of the poor, of the dispossessed, who cried, ‘Come to me, all you who are loaded with heavy burdens.’ He cried over our city, ‘How often I would have gathered you to me as a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not heed me. Now it is too late.’

We mourn a life of such goodness, cut down in its flower. We mourn for a people who forfeited the flowering of their destiny. We mourn for a planet which rejected its Maker. We mourn for ourselves who languish alone. Christ, you go forth on your journey. The mortal shall be clothed with the immortal. The perishable shall be clothed with the imperishable. All flesh shall see it. The spirits of the dead shall be raised. We shall all be changed. Christ, go forth on your journey. .. And we shall go forth on ours.

From 'Liturgies from Lindisfarne' published by Kevin Mayhew.

Submitted: 06:45:59 on 23rd April 2011

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Topic: CELTIC SPRINGS AND THE END OF EMPIRE

A speaker on forms of church at a USA Willow Creek conference speaks of six waves of church over two thousand years. Now we are on the cusp of the seventh wave, and this will be Celtic - or so my informant thought the speaker said. Chris Lind, Director of the large Anglican Centre at Sorrento, BC Canada, skypes me at 5.15 am to talk about a conference I will lead there in May. 'We need to prepare our people for the end of the Christendom model', he says, 'and for a future without empire and privilege.Sorrento can be one of the places that survive and sow the seeds of the future'. Chris reminds me that dispersed Jews two centuries before Christ developed 'Wisdom Schools' as an alternative to the Temple Schools. They gathered around sages and learned holy wisdom. This we, too, even in places where 'the temple' (our Christendom style churches) are passing away, can develop.

Richard and Maggie Deimel are doing just this. They are basing 'Celtic Springs' at their ancient Saxon parish church of Escombe, Co. Durham, UK. Celtic Springs seeks to re-discover the Celtic springs of the North of Britain: Cuthbert, Aidan, Hilda, Colman and others. Celtic Springs has the spirit of Jesus as a guide and is open to all who come in love and bring their vision and their ways. It recognises that an institution linked with the power of this world cannot be spiritual - that each person's journey belongs to them, not to an institution. It has no power structure. Richard (who is the vicar of Escombe) and Maggie see themselves only as the gatekeepers, who ensure that power games do not spoil the meetings. They acknowledge that many spiritual people regard religious groups who own property as negative and see small sacred spaces as positive. That they find hierarchy negative - but spiritual companions as positive. That they find churches that are not committed to the earth an outrage. That women find churches which women are not allowed to shape destructive, and therefore seek movements where they can feel at home. That men can be attracted to 'the wild Jesus' but not to men who are either out of control or caged.

Submitted: 08:34:19 on 17th April 2011

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Topic: THE DANES ARE COMING

Two chaplains and ten theology students from Aarhus University, Juttland, Denmark are here for a Study Week, with two others. I had programmed academic lectures I prepared for the University College of Tyndale in Toronto last year. However, on arrival the students informed me that this Week is not part of their official studies, their interest is in discovering popular Celtic spirituality for use in church services and with groups, and that they have to depart early. I am a J personality type - I like to stick to ordered plans. But adapability is called for. So as a last resort (it should, of course, have been the first resort) I recall those rubber band bracelets with WWJD? marked on them. I ask 'What would Jesus do in this situation?' I have 30 minutes to close down this blog, meditate, and come up with the answer before our session begins at 10.0 am. Sorry for the short blog!

Submitted: 08:22:48 on 12nd April 2011

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Topic: ANGLO-IRISH RECONCILIATION AND CELTIC SPIRITUALITY

Wednesday April 1: I leave Lindisfarne at 7.45 am and arrive, via the Stanraer Belfast ferry, at Ballinasloe at 10.0 pm where Trevor offers me hospitality. Thursday: We pick up the Rector of Clonfert, Alan Nevin, and drive to a hotel at Roscrea to meet the Church of Ireland Bishop, Trevor Williams, who is en route between engagements in his vast Diocese. We talk about how to break free from group conditioned reflexes, fresh expressions of church, leadership training, the transforming church course, new monasticism and The Community of Aidan and Hilda, clergy with an interest in Celtic spirituality, healing wounded history, the emerging structures and possibilities of ‘The Isles’ (the UK’s four lands, Ireland, the Channel Isles and Man) and future plans. We chance to meet Dr. Christie Cunnicliffe who has completed a PhD on Clonfert. He told me that whereas Anglo Saxon sites have an urban basis (an ordered master plan), the Gaelic church sites grew organically around the central place of prayer. The Catholic Bishop oif Clonfert talked with Trevor anfd I for nearly three hours before our evening meeting on Celtic spirituality. He and Trevor are long-time trusted friends.

On Friday I drove to the ancient cathedral of Kilfenora. Brian, a local Catholic who is steeped in the history of The Burren, took us to ancient sites and Columcille's well. Here Colum stayed while on his way to study under Enda on Aran Isle. Brian and co. plan to restore the ancient wells and launch a pilgrim trail. A crowded meeting at Kilrush ended at 11.30 pm! I am learning to be culture friendly! Everyone was so positive. They say thay will organise a c ycle pilgrimage from nearby Senan's Isle to Lindisfarne, via Armagh and Iona. I said I'd join them if they provide me with a helicopter. They said 'After what you've said about Celtic hospitality we expect it when we come to your island.'!

Saturday: Nephew Peter Simpson, wife Fiona and infant Fiachre arrive. They join us on a herritage boat trip up the Shannon to Clonmacnoise where I lead devotions and Fiona sings in Gaelic. We spend the evening together. They join the worshippers at Clonfert Cathedral on Sunday. The Rector asks me to both preside and preach. IIt's ad hoc but a great privilege to be in this historic cathedral on the site of Saint Brendan's community.

Personal discussions about future networking, thinking and leadership both spiritual and political have begun. The Anglo Irish Reconciliation Process is developing. It has international implications. As part of this the Reformed traditions begin to listen deeply to the Celtic Christian British roots. Healing and fresh direction are ahead of us.

Submitted: 16:05:37 on 4th April 2011

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Topic: MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS

‘My heart’s in the Highlands …the birthplace of valour, the country of worth’ Rabbie Burns.

Five of us have just begun some ‘spiritual mapping’ of the central Highlands of Scotland. We have tried to become prayerfully aware of routes trodden by past saints, centres of revival, places where God beckons through creation, and of contemporary signs of spiritual hunger, opportunity or enterprise. The first night we were guests of Doctors Isobel and John Gibson of Callender, which is the crossing place between the low and the high lands, and has been the rallying centre of clans. This was evangelised by Saint Kessog, son of Cashel’s King, whose mound by the river we prayed upon. At the house we prayed late into the night, that they might be God’s gatekeepers, that Callender might be a place of the Cross, where people cross from darkness to light, from falsehood to truth.

Then we travelled north to the House of Cantle for (www.cantle.net), beside the Lough of Tay. This centre, founded by Jim McLeish, offers training to to senior staff of leading companies. Jim is also a coach to Christian leaders and churches.

From that base we went to routes along the river Tay and Glen Lyon which were once followed by brothers from Iona on their mission journeys and pilgrimages. We noted a monastery at Dull which became a seat of learning, and at other such places. We purchased books at Aberfeldy, whose name is said to refer to the confluence of the Tay with the burn where Feldy (Palladius) had a cell. Other places in this area are associated with Christians who came in the opposite direction north from Northumbria: St. Cedd at Fortingall, St. Chad at Logiarat, and St. Cuthbert at Weem. I reflected again whether Aidan chose that route when he brought his mission team from Iona to Northumbria. It is even possible that he stayed en route at Inchadney (Kenmore) and preached and discipled there. The Glen of Lyon is described as Scotland's 'longest, loneliest and loveliest glen' and we prayed that sheep of many human varieties might safely graze there under shepherds after God's heart. We prayed where Adomnan (commemorated locally as Eonan) set up a mill and cell, and were given warm hospitality in a home there.

Certain people have a dawning vision of some future 'Highland Cathedral' or Village of God: it would combine a Christian community with a rhythm of daily prayer and a rule of life. It would provide holistic healing and rehabilitation, and pe rhaps a centre for asylum seekers. Its people would be schooled in farmwork and permaculture and be humbled to learn from the earth and from the people around. It would spawn creative arts and train Christians to plant churches throughout the glens. It would be ecumenical and work with existing churches. Such a vision needs preparation.

To see a photo click http://www.facebook.com/n/?photo.php&fbid=10150132742942271&set=a.10150132741277271.282391.631452270&mid=3fe8de8G5af3590b92d6G53f602G5&bcode=IX8sAUgA&n_m=revd.ray.simpson%40btinternet.com

Submitted: 07:49:48 on 26th March 2011

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Topic: EQUINOX

Three days before the Spring Equinox Mearns sent me his little book of poems dedicated to Brother Caedmon. The last poem ends: 'The root produces the shrub/The spring, the stream/the sun, the ray... They are two things, but inseparably connected. The being of both are one and the same.' Does that tell us something about God? Blessed Trinity.

Two days before the equinox our web manager, Paul, made his vows as a Voyager and one of our new Guardians said to him: 'God is calling you to leave behind everything that stops you setting sail in the ocean of God’s love. You have heard the call of the Wild Goose, the untamable Spirit of God: be ready for the Spirit to lead you into wild, windy or well-worn places in the knowledge that God will make them places of wonder and welcome. God is giving you the vision of a spoiled creation being restored to harmony with its Creator, of a fragmented world becoming whole, of a weakened church being restored to its mission, of lands being healed and lit up by the glorious Trinity. '

One day before the equinox I watched a film about military discipline. Challenged, I cleaned my shoes before going to church, cleared a pile of things on the kitchen table and put away files and papers that were strewn across the office floor. .

On equinox day, March 21, I flung off the black clerical cloak which has cocooned me from winter's biting cold and rejoiced that sun shone, birds sang, bulbs burst into colour, and that from now on light lasts longer than darkness.

Submitted: 09:56:41 on 21st March 2011

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Topic: SH! - IT'S LENT

In Lent I abstain from addictive practices. However, after prolonged and intense mental work I reckon the best way to wind down my brain is to transfer it into some entertaining circuit on TV, not into a blank space. So I asked my soul friend 'Am I addicted to TV?' He said 'Try stillness'. I knew this is not the same as a blank space, but I thought about what it is.

I read in the Bible that ‘Jesus would often go to some place where he could be alone and pray’ (Luke 5:16 CEV). I thought of Meister Eckhart's saying ‘Nothing in all creation is so close to God as stillness’. Stillness is not even the same as silence. Stillness is a way of being, a putting away of frenzied and fearful circuits of the mind, a receptivity to what is, a nestling in the heart of God.

So I eschewed TV and the normal things I do on my day off in favour of this new recipe of stillness. It did not last long. A rush of clarity and energy enabled me to complete the long delayed manuscript on Downwardly Mobile Christians and the Big Society which my publisher is chasing, and even to get two chapters of my long-time novel on Aidan into best shape. I saluted the sun with attentiveness. Eventually I had a light Sunday supper. And I watched Agatha Christie's Marple on telly.

I need not worry. I am fairly sure my soul friend does not read things like this blog!

Submitted: 08:36:25 on 14th March 2011

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Topic: ANAMCARA - GOD MOVES IN COPENHAGEN

AnamCara.no (CA&H in Norway) has spread to Denmark. A strong group meets in Juttland, and a few meet in Copenhagen who have yet to find a soul friend or draw up a Personal Way of Life. The contact persons for AnamCara.dk are Lars Neve and Mogens Maagaard mogens.maagaard@gmail.com.

They are part of a wave of Danish Christians who believe that their faith must mean more than mere weekly attendance at a church service. Last year a network of such Christians were invited to Copenhagen to hear Shane Claiborne, the USA ‘new friar of The Simple Way’ who wrote ‘The Irresistible Revolution’, and last week I was invited to lead a week-end. The joint hosts of these events are Areopagus and Holy Spirit Church – a stunning, historic student church in the city centre.

Areopagus began in Norway in order to dialogue with and evangelise people in China. Recently, in Norway and now Denmark, it also engages with Chinese and other ethnic groups who have settled in Scandinavia. It is inspired by the apostle Paul’s engagement with people of other religions in the marketplace (areopagus), and therefore also seeks to inform and inspire Christians to engage in the marketplace. Holy Spirit Church is right in the marketplace. It is one of several Copenhagen churches who have Night Services. These are typically candlelit, guitarists lead chants and songs, and they include Taize and Celtic style prayers.

On Friday evening I spoke at a public meeting on ‘What is Celtic Christianity and how is it Relevant to Everyday Life?’ This was followed by the 10.0 pm Night Service in the church below. Members of about six networks spent Saturday exploring ‘Formation of Christian Communities – types, bases, pitfalls, blessings and next steps.’ A three hours inter-active session was followed by lunch. In the afternoon four groups met, and re-gathered to report and consider my reflections. Anamcara was the largest group. There were also people from a Retreat Centre, a Korsvei household community, Peter Haldorf’s Swedish Community which has dispersed associates who follow a Rule, and a prison chaplain who is exploring with the state church ways in which redundant rural vicarages can be lived in by a small community who offer social and spiritual resources to the area. About sixteen people stayed on to consider next steps. It was discerned that each group should direct its energy towards its own forward journey. One person offered to email news to the whole network. Some Anamcara members hoped they might arrange training in soulfriendship. Leif, of Denmark’s Boedal publishers, who translated Everyday Prayer Rhythms and Exploring Celtic Spirituality, staffed a bookstall. During the week-end Denmark’s daily Christian newspaper, Kristeligt Dagblad, interviewed me on Celtic Christianity, and a brilliant photographer took pictures the like of which you may not before have seen. The interview and some photos remain on its web site www.kristendom_dk .

My host on Sunday, Elisabeth, took me to the International Christian Community, a church with fifty nationalities. For forty minutes we enjoyed their annual costume competition. Their senior pastor, Ravi Chandran, explained that ‘we can have fun in church’. Without warning I was asked to say something about Celtic Christianity. I heard myself saying ‘Celtic Christianity is the opposite of miserable Christianity’ Ravi told us that he aims to be 'naturally spiritual and spiritually natural'. After lunch Elisabeth took me to Europe’s largest commune, at Kristiania. It started with hippies taking over a dis-used military barracks at the time of Woodstock. It has survived forty years, although it is now under threat. A group of Christians there has a pow wow on Sundays and I shared about Aidan and Voyagers today. ‘So Aidan didn’t f… everything up like the other Christians? said one, ‘are you in a line from him – celibate monks - or is this something new?’ ‘It’s something new that anyone can live, we just got inspired by Aidan and his monks' I explained. 'Most of us do use electricity but we live simply and last week I planted a plum tree and a blueberry bush’.. They gave us porridge, glasses of water and friendship.

Submitted: 10:53:27 on 7th March 2011

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Topic: LOIN CLOTHS AND PRAYING SCOTS M.P'S

If you google ‘How to make a loin cloth’ you will see pictures of various styles, from Tarzan to people who adopt a simple life-style out of love for the poor. The prophet Jeremiah wore a loin cloth in order to give a visual message (Jeremiah 13:1-11). A friend recently urged me to read this passage, because he felt God is saying something to us now through this passage.

God told Jeremiah to wear the loin cloth for a period, and then take it off and leave it in a cave. When he returned to the cave the elements had ruined it. It was useless. What is the message? God wanted a people who cling closely to him, as a loin cloth clings to a person’s skin. He intends us to have a relationship of intimate communion with HIm. The people, however, wandered after false substitutes for God. This inevitably led to disaster: they were deported or killed by a superpower. Is not that a parable of what is happening to our society? We can learn from Jeremiah to return to a close, sustaining relationship with our God.

I attended last Saturday's 'Engaging Faith and Politics' conference at the Scottish Parliament. It was hosted by M.S.P's from the three largest parties and organised by a Protestant/Catholic alliance called 'Parliamentary Prayer Scotland.' An early speaker, referring to my town of Berwick, said 'They stole it from us and we want it back'. 'They' were the English', 'we' are the Scots. I justified my presence on the basis that I was a delegate from the stolen town. That was half a joke. The real reason is that I work for a faith community that is active in Scotland.

Karen Gillon, a mother of four and a Labour MSP from Glasgow, said MSP's need to have time to reflect and think about what lies ahead. David Robertson, pastor of St. Peter's Free Church, Dundee, gave the brilliant keynote address. He said Gordon Brown, in a recent Lambeth lecture, said that liberal secularism, like theocracy, requires people to leave conscience at the door. A charity named SOLAS has been set up to prevent Christianity becoming a private knitting club. Christians who are salt and light engage at every level. A minister once told the Sots King James:'There are two kingdoms. In one, you are a king; in the other you are a silly vassal.'

There are four theories as to how church and state should relate: 1) The state rules the church 2) Theocracy (church) rules 3) The two are completely separate 4) They are good neighbours, engaging and advising and challenging but not controlling. The fourth nis surely the way forward now.

After a jog in Holyrood Park Howard and Charlotte Espie had myself and David and Jane Denniston, ministers of Edinburgh's St Cuthbert's Church - founded by our Lindidsfarne saint - for an evening meal. What a nourishing day off!

What has all this to do with loin cloths? Both church people and our society need to be re-joined to God... Now I am off to Copenhagen. to introduce would-be new monastic groups to our own and other Celtic spiritualities. Pray for me, I'll report next week.

Submitted: 13:10:50 on 3rd March 2011

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Topic: A TIDE TURNS IN IRELAND?

A TIDE TURNS IN IRELAND?

I have just returned from an angry Ireland which today votes in a new government. It has little confidence that any political party can cure the root of its malaise. It is even more disillusioned with its Church. The wide abuse, systemic lack of transparency, and failure to trust and consult with its members, its allies, and in particular with women has led to a steep decline in regular church-going. Some people have become anti-God and others explore non-Christian spiritualities. But there is good news. Growing numbers of committed Christians are moving beyond the ‘boxes’ manufactured by the top-down elements of the church, and are following the hunches of the Spirit. They meet in educational institutions not owned by the hierarchy. They restore joyful habits of praise, free-spirited pilgrim ways, intuitive wisdoms, and reconnect with Ireland’s spiritual DNA which once made it ‘a land of saints and scholars.’ This new stirring is being called ‘a new monasticism’. It is led by women, and some men who have left traditional orders or who are new recruits. They give news of courses, gatherings and groups on www.newmonasticismsireland.ie

On Saturday a hundred keenly interested people gathered at Dublin’s Milltown Institute for a day I led on ‘New Celtic Monasticism for Everyday People’. Veteran Presentation Sister Maire B de Paor, author of books on Saints Patrick, Moling, and the Gaelic Church published by the Columba Press said: ‘Everything I have heard fills me with joy’. Bernadette Flanagan of All Hallows College, City of Dublin University, facilitates these and other events. A professional CD rom of the entire day may be ordered from Eist Audio Productions An order form may be downloaded from www.eist.ie.. On Sunday some forty people came to the new Drogheder centre of An Croi, a group which trains about fourteen people in soul friendship each year, and which sustains this network with meditational meetings and Carmel Boyle’s beautiful Celtic chants (www.ancroi.ie). On Monday I spoke at Ennis Cathedral, near the Shannon, at a meeting called by Rosemary Power, of Pioneer Methodist Ministries. People wanted to know about Aidan, the Community and their Irish roots, and how they could take practical steps to follow the Way of Life. I hope we can translate a special Irish introductory leaflet into Gaelic.

When water is blocked, it builds up until it finds a way around the blockage. It is like that in Ireland now. Centuries ago Patrick listened to ‘the voice of the Irish’. We must listen attentively now, too. For a tide is on the turn, and praying, sensitive people need to go with this tide.

Submitted: 10:37:38 on 25th February 2011

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Topic: EMERGING SHEPHERDS RESPOND

Here is one response to the last blog: 'Oh how I long to be a shepherd. As Starbucks and enneagram 2 and a Myers Briggs F I just do it. But my faith community has false shepherds. Dominant rams. Egos who scheme and bully and disallow. So I have a flock in care homes and the school and Starbucks.

But most of all I am a lamb in the flock called Community of Aidan and Hilda.'

And another: 'the creation of a network for the support of true shepherding is inspired and has struck an immediate chord.'

Submitted: 09:21:19 on 17th February 2011

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Topic: TRUE SHEPHERDS CAN EMERGE FROM IRELAND TO THE MIDDLE EAST

The Bible encourages the role of true shepherds of the people and warns against false shepherds. We learn from Ezekiel chapter 34 that true shepherds unite the people in care for the needy and in repair of what is broken in society, whereas false shepherds only look after themselves, abuse the people, and do not tell the truth.

Thirty years ago I was given a large shepherd's crook. You can see me with it in a picture on the home page. Yesterday I bequeathed it to James. It has become clear, to those with eyes to see, that God has called James to a new region to be a shepherd to its people. This may not be in old forms. He can be a shepherd by building up God's kingdom through a network of friendship, places of prayer, hospitality, arts and learning. Tomorrow I go to Ireland to lead a day for New Monasticism Ireland@Milltown, Dublin on the theme 'New Celtic Monasticism for Everyday People' followed by two further meetings. Millions of Irish church people are disillusioned . Could the new monasticism be God's way of restoring trust and dedication so that this precious isle again becomes a land of saints and scholars?

Millions more disillusioned people are rising up against false shepherds in the Middle East. Will these be replaced by leaders who are modern but still self-serving and factional, or by true shepherds who love justice, people and God? There are both true and false shepherds among Muslims, Christians and Jews. The ultimate example of a good shepherd is someone who lays down their life for the people in defenceless love. Do we need a web site that equips a new generation of true shepherds? Contact me on twitter or facebook if you feel inspired to respond.

Submitted: 09:32:59 on 16th February 2011

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Topic: IGNITING THE FLAME - THE COURSE

A year's pilot course finished today with a big thumb's up. It is called 'Igniting the Flame'. It's an introduction to our Way of Life, with it's three Life-giving Principles and Ten Waymarks. Judith Line has shaped it, using her experience of Open University methods. Those who've begun to or might follow the Way of Life, sign up to study this by email. They have a tutor who responds to their assigments, and a soul friend with whom they talk through how they might approach these assigments. Then students and tutors physically gather to share what they have learned, ask questions and chrystallise their next steps. This gathering, at The Open Gate, Lindisfarne, ends today. Everyone feels that the course is 'a runner' and should be offered each year. If you are interested to enrol, email Judith Line

Work is progressing on other e-studies courses. We are short of tutors. If you know of someone who has taught in a college or school and who understands holistic learning, rules of life, and Celtic Christian spirituality who might be willing to be interviewed, please let me know. You can contact either Judith or myself c/o the Community office

Submitted: 10:17:35 on 11st February 2011

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Topic: NEW MONASTIC BOOK LAUNCH

Five contributors to 'Ancient Faith, Future Mission: New Monasticism as Fresh Expressions of Church' formed a panel for a book launch meeting in Manchcester. There are to be four more book launches in Australia. A Conservative Evangelical Anglican clergyman told me ‘It’s hard to introduce my church members to this sort of thing, because they dismiss it as not in the Bible’. ‘Help them to become more, not less biblical’ I suggested – ‘seventeenth century Rationalism, which separates the mind from the rest of life, led to the twin idols of Individualism and Biblicism, they may be making an idol of doctrinal formulations which prevents them from connecting with the heart and with people and therefore with Jesus.’

On the train home I read a book by a USA Anglican (Episcopal) clergyman who is a Facebook Friend, Ken Howard. Despite its title, 'Paradoxy: Creating Christian Community Beyond Them and Us' (you’re right, no one but a cleric would read a book with a title like that) he has a good story to tell. He tries to make his church both ‘a place to belong and a place to become’. Everyone is accepted and befriended and may join in things. But there is an ongoing spiritual process that encourages everyone to become better acquainted with God and with their brothers and sisters in Christ. They come to understand that each is an organic part of the Body of Christ and their DNA is deeply connected, even with the parts of the Body they don’t like or agree with. They engage in a ‘midwife’ educational process: they read a Scripture story, put away their Bibles, re-tell it in their own words, and let Jesus continue the story among them in the present moment.

Ken helps his members understand that three types of people make up a fellowship: head people for whom right doctrine is all important; heart people for whom right relationship with God is all important; and hands-on people for whom justice and other actions that Jesus commanded are all important. The book provides a paradigm shift inventory which helps these three groups move from conflict to communication.

The collapse of centuries old Christian paradigms is tearing apart Christian churches. It can lead to chaos and even violence, but it need not. The author points out the difference in the human body between mitosis, the division of cells which creates cancer, and meiosis, which is healthy and necessary to reproduction; a cell divides and gives half of itself to one new cell and half to the other. This is what we mean by weaving together the God-given strands that have been separated – and it is interesting that the author refers to Michael Mitton’s book which explores this theme, and includes a chapter on ‘paradigms that might have been’ from the desert and Celtic eras. He leaves us with a question: could the Holy Spirit be preparing to birth something new, one that welcomes differentiation as a way of becoming a more whole Body of Christ? Sorry for this ghastly jargon - it is one of the off-putting features of some new monastic writers.

Submitted: 18:45:17 on 4th February 2011

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Topic: KIDS - TWITTER - ABC

I wish to sleep for a thousand years. I have ordered another supply of Young Again Nutrients. I pine for Australian Children's TV. I can't get it on UK digital TV. I need not worry. Brent has emailed 'Don't fret, you can go to ABC online and head to iview and get ABC for kids programs streamed live. Perhaps you can start an ABC for kids twitter review for Tom and others like him.' Is this to be my place of resurrection? Or is it simply second childhood? I could not possibly comment.

Submitted: 14:21:46 on 1st February 2011

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Topic: THREE NEW GUARDIANS

We commissioned three Community of Aidan Guardians to replace me at our annual Houseparty for those in vows. They are Graham (Lindisfarne), Simon (London) and Penny (Devon). The new USA Guardian, Paul Martin, was present. I am to be kinown as the 'Founding Guardian'. The commissioning took place at Buckfast Abbey and our Community Soul Friend, Godfrey Butland, presided.

My Emirates plane landed at Newcastle airport, and I took a six hour train journey to Totnes, in order to be present for the Quiet Day that preceded the commissioning. I have just been to the excellent book shop at the Abbey. Staff collected books I have written from various sections of the shop, and invited me to sign them. The shop had just one copy of the latest title, 'Ancient Faith:Future Mission', to which I contribute a chapter, but our new Young Adults development officer, David Cole, had just purchased it!

We try to keep a rhythm. The lovely half day on the beach at Dubai, looking back on the attractive skyscraper designs, helped to prevent undue jet-lag. But I am ready for rest. So tomorrow I cut short the last Caim Council I shall attend to catch a Flybe flight from Exeter back to Newcastle, there to drive hom to Lindisfarne. You may ask whether this is ecologically responsible. The trip to Australia and Devon was in obedience to a powerful dream, it was not recreational travel. So let's be at peace. 'Oh sabbath rest ....'.

Submitted: 14:41:07 on 27th January 2011

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Topic: FOOTSCRAY

My final days in Australia were based in the down-town Melbourne surburb of Footscray. This was an industrial area. Immigrants from many lands settled here because it was cheap. So, too, did an extra-ordinary network of downwardly mobile, high-octane Christians. Most of these have chosen part-time employment in order to devote quality time to voluntary causes. They share cars and have developed a variety of social, spiritual and green enterprises. Darren and Sally began Green Collective. They employ those without jobs to collect bottle corks from restaurants, unwanted goods, including mobile phones, from homes.They have established several Charity Shops and transformed them into Opportunity Shops. They not only sell re-cycled goods, but also fair trade items and artefacts made by local asylum seekers. They invest their profits in employing more needy people.

Some twenty five families have formed an organic food co-operative. Each is part of a rota of people who collect bulk food from a warehouse, receive orders, sort, pack and deliver it. This creates community. They join together for a monthly seasonal celebration. Now there are five other co-operatives in the area,

My hosts were Dave and Cathy Cook , who once gave valued time to our Lindisfarne Open Gate Retreat House as volunteers. He is media officer for the NGO development organisation Plan International. Cathy has just convened a meeting for Australian churches and NGO’s to explore how they can make climate change a major prayer focus. .

Jonathan Cornford completed a Ph.D in Political Economy/International Development and Oxfam have employed him to undertake research and advocacy on development struggles in the Mekong. In his unpaid time he and his wife Kim have founded an NGO named Manna Gum . The aim of this non-profit organisation is to help church people who have been conditioned to disconnect personal faith from business and green ethics, to understand and practise the social and economic implications of Christ’s Gospel. They do this through networking, a magazine and a web site (www.mannagum.org.au)

Nick Ray has founded Ethical Supermarket Shopping. They do workshops in schools and even in supermarkets, and publish an Ethical Supermarket Guide. See www.ethical.org.au . Ten people who have associations with Melbourne’s Urban Seed social enterprise have formed a Footscray Seeds group that meets at the Baptist church. Marcus Kernow leads this and they meet twice a week. On Sunday I attended the local Church of Christ. This provides mentors who befriend prisoners during their last weeks in prison, and support them when they come out. This is an orphaned generation. Oh that every prison had such a partnership with a church.

Now Footscray is becoming gentrified, in part because of these downwardly mobile Christians. They ask themselves whether they stay with with the social enterprises that thrive here, or whether some should move once again to live among the most needy in new locations.

Submitted: 03:13:21 on 24th January 2011

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Topic: AN AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY COMES TO BIRTH

Ten kids and twelve adults who follow the Aidan and Hilda Way of Life gathered for four days in a church complex at Norlane, Geelong. They differed in background, theology and temperament. Their common ground was the Way of Life, mutual respect and a central silent space.They listened to God well, prepared well, organised well, and played well - through ups and downs. Some came only because of miracle provision, others despite floods in their region, and others despite painful circumstances. They are the salt of the earth. It could not have happened without Brent's enormous energy, organising skill and faithfulness.

Belinda invited ten adults to each reflect on one of the ten elements of the Way of Life and share how they apply it. Matt invited everyone to embrace the silence of this vast land, to let it reveal its secrets, and to send out healing messages. In his Eucharistic homily Fr. Brad urged us to learn from the children to play, and to learn from the divine dance in the heart of the Triune God to dance - each remaining distinct and yet one in the dance. We danced. We modelled unity in diversity. Another speaker envisaged the youth having spiritual directors and living the Way of Life in a fresh way. Locals joined us for Sunday lunch and a public meeting followed.

On Monday morning next steps were discussed such as ways of networking with individuals and the Green House in Queensland, writing and web developments. An Australian Caim Council was formed. Wendy will accompany the Community as its communal Soul Friend -she will be available to pray for and reflect with the Council, the Green House, and newcomers who cannot find the right soul friend. Matt will facilitate meetings and li-aise with the international Caim Council based in UK.

We truly sensed that something new and of God had been birthed in the soul and soil of Australia. The final blessing contained these words: 'May you , like the Australian desert oaks, put down roots deep enough to reach the divine water supplies, reach as high as heaven, and spread your acorns across the land, there to seed and grow beyond our knowing.'

Submitted: 22:05:52 on 17th January 2011

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Topic: ANOUSKA AND AUSTRALIA FAIR

We dressed smartly and arrived at 9.0 am to witness Anouska and many-skinned others become Australian citiziens. They made declarations. We all stood to sing the National Anthem. These lines stand out:

Australians all let us rejoice

For we are young and free...

Our land abounds in Nature's gifts

In beauty rich and fair...

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross

We'll toil with hearts and hands...

With courage let us all combine To make Australia Fair.

We celebrated with wild fruits and joghurt at a hotel. Belinda, with her mum Wendy and baby Tom drove me to a rain-soaked budget Holiday Village where I spent six hours with the seven members of the Bessell family. I even squeezed in a heart to heart talk with Brad between other things. On returning from Melbourne we heard that Rod and Judy Kennedy were sandbagging their property in Carboolture, Queensland. Floods aborted our visit to Transfiguration Monastery two days previously, but not their resolve to seek beauty and speak truth to power without love,

I slept with the fan on. Cool.

Submitted: 20:48:46 on 13rd January 2011

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Topic: 'THE KING'S SPEECH' AND SOUL-FRIENDSHIP

In Melbourne I saw streets lined with elm trees that have long-since died of disease in Europe. In Geelong I saw ‘The King’s Speech’, at which I cried and the audience clapped. It reveals the life-changing potential of a kind of soul-friendship. The Duke of York, who wrote himself off as a hopeless stammerer, who unexpectedly became king when his selfish but glamourous brother renounced the throne, when that ego-maniac Hitler’s eloquence swept all before it, and when Britain’s ill-prepared Prime Minister resigned, who was required to be the voice of a vast, tyranny-resisting empire in a radio broadcast that had to be live, could not speak for fear. Formally qualified doctors proved powerless to cure him. So his wife Elizabeth sought out an unlikely person, the Australian Lional Logue. He had no doctors’ degrees. He did, however, know a great deal about anatomy and muscle therapy, and the power of friendship to enable trust to replace the roots of fear. His unorthodox methods had been honed while treating 'verbally locked’ and shell-shocked soldiers returning home to Australia from the First World War. He suspected the problem for stammerers was not simply physical, that there was something, usually a trauma, around the age of four or five, that created the condition. Logue suspected that the Duke’s speech impediment might be connected to his domineering father, George V, who had, among other things, forced the left-handed prince to use his right hand. So Lional insisted that they meet as equals, as friends, using first names, meeting at his place, not the palace. In his presence the prince became free to swear, to sing, to develop self-awareness, to find in Lionel a friend whose warmth and understanding in the end melted a man frozen by fear of his peers from an early age. One could say that soul-friendship unlocked his real greatness. His heroic struggle against his problems enabled him to connect with the millions and give voice to their struggle to overcome tyranny.

This theme of unlocking another's greatness through soul friendship is part of the Aidan and Hilda DNA. As Saint Hilda unlocked the song locked up in the shy cowherd's heart; as Lional unlocked the greatness locked up in repressed Bertie's soul, so we always look for the key that may unlock another tied-up person. That, above all else, is the role of the anamchara, the friend of the soul.

Submitted: 21:02:36 on 11st January 2011

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Topic: ASHES TO ASHES: A SIMPSON TO THE RESCUE?

What misfortune! To be In Australia when it suffers it's worst Ashes defeat in history. (You Americans - we're talking cricket!). .The media even quote Michael Vaughan's Tweets: 'What do you call an Australian with 100 runs to their name? A bowler'. It seems as if a National Disaster has been declared. I hardly dare talk to anyone. Is this to be a wasted visit?

What good luck! I need not fear. They are calling for someone like Simpson to restore their fortunes. In the mid 1980's Australia was also in desperate trouble. It called upon one of the toughest coaches of all time, Bob Simpson. He took complete control over every player. He wanted to know what made wives and families tick, too. He trained them 24/7. He had scouts to check out that all prepared properly. He changed player culture throughout the land. He wanted coaches he could trust and who understood his policies, so that players and team did not go off in all directions. He motivated a generation and made it fit for purpose. They regained the Ashes.

On Brent's day off I dared to talk about these important matters in the privacy of a beach tent in 35 degrees celsius. Brent, like me, is concerned for the future of church, as well as of cricket. We need motivators and trainers who recognise the importance of everyone giving their best in our short life journey from ashes to ashes.

Abbot Jean Baptiste Chautard tells in his book 'The Soul of the Apostolate' how in an orphanage the entire spirit changed within six months of the appointment of a new superior. The reason? She cultivated the interior life of prayer as assiduously as she led the active life of the house. As a result not one child who left ceased to live out an active faith.

Submitted: 01:12:41 on 8th January 2011

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Topic: AUSTRALIAN BUSH: HEALING THE LAND

Dan has just cut down a banana tree. A possum had eaten three of the bananas; about ninety were left. All other bananas I have eaten seem tasteless compared to these.

Heather and her family own bush land where it meets houses at Buderim. They believe that before Australia can move forward according to God's plan it must repent for the settlers 'stealing' the land of the indigenous peoples and killing them. They have researched their ancestors history, and held a Sorry Service in the local church. They expect that the next Australia Day celebration in Buderim will include more than a hundred aboriginal people for the first time, because at last they feel they are welcomed back and acknowledged.

Family and friends circulate between four houses. People with learning difficulties come to Green House, which may become a resource centre for the area. Soon much of the unoccupied land will legally become a Nature Reserve. Heather llives simply, buys only second hand clothes, walks barefeet, and in the spirit of an Old Testament prophet, has shaved off her hair as a sign of penance. She mostly eats fruits, vegetables and eggs from this land. She works hard to make this a hospitable place to a network of friends who come and go, but she is at heart a recluse who meditates at dawn for two hours and goes to her cave once a week.

Tomorrow she will make her commitments to the Way of Life. CA&H Explorers Judy and Rod Kennedy, and four CA&H Friends, along with many others, will attend. I will tell them about the Community, and suggest ways they can take part in this movement of God across the world. Heather will receive her Community Cross and a pilgrim staff. I will receive a waymark carved with the words 'Ray of Lindisfarne'. This will be the first to mark out a Pilgrim's Way that will go from the Green House through the bush to Heather's house.

Submitted: 23:10:20 on 3rd January 2011

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Topic: EARTHING & FLAMING - NEW YEAR MESSAGE

Words from our USA Guardian Paul Martin (in the Lammas edition of USA Wild Goose magazine) spoke to me: ‘I resonate with the Celtic Way at a deep level. It leads me into a much more holistic faith than I have known before. But I stumble to put it into words for American Christians.’

Why don’t we all try to put our Way of Life into words for the people of our own culture? One way to go about this is to look for connecting points. For example, let us make common cause with people who seek:

Holistic Christianity

Ancient-Future Faith

Roots, Rhythm and Relationships

New monasticism

Indigenous styles of faith community

To make and live life as pilgrimage

To value spiritual companionship

Or ….

What would you add?

Let’s face it, however, we may also have to be counter- cultural. As part of an ascetic and prophetic tradition, do we also have to ‘kill’ the twin idols of selfish individualism and consumerism?

FLAMES

Holy Island was isolated by snow. No one else came for Night Prayer. I stayed outside. Into my mind came what seemed a divine picture of low but widespread, grass-root fires, steadily spreading outwards. This is a message to all the children of Aidan and Hilda and to our children’s children. It is about a revolution of ordinary people. Each of you has a flame in your heart. Let the flame grow brighter. Kindle other flames. Do not expect some important person to do this work. It is your work. That is our calling: ‘Aidan’ means ‘Little Flame’.

As I journey away from the world of busyness further into the world of the spirit, I do not journey away from the flame. God has appointed seraphim to blaze continually before His face. God has appointed guardian angels to protect and kindle the divine flame in each of our hearts. Heaven will never let us down. Pass on the flame. Let a hundred thousand fires encircle this cold earth.

I arrive in Brisbane as the New Year dawns. Wherever you are, may Christ, the one who baptises with fire, be with you.

God Bless.

Ray Founding Guardian CA&H.

Submitted: 08:40:52 on 28th December 2010

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Topic: A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: ‘ALL GIFT, AND NO THREAT’

A radio broadcast described someone’s life as ‘all gift, no threat’. Could we want anything better said of us? The person in human history who most deserves that epitaph is, surely, Jesus. All kinds of people – not just Christians - celebrate his birthday because he had the quality of Defenceless but Lion-hearted Love. He was defenceless, not because he was a wimp, but because his love was lion-hearted and included everyone. He was the biggest person he could be. He wasted not one breath, not one second, on defensiveness, prevarication or self-calculation. He gave everything he had to give, yet he was never a pushover. He stood up to people, not out of fear or malice, but out of integrity and compassion.

‘Yes, but he had a divine advantage over us, nobody else could be like that’ I hear someone say. Aidan of Lindisfarne (a Cradle of Christianity) deserves this epitaph, too. Although the pagan English and the marginalised Britons might at first have seen him and his monks as a threat, Aidan soon showed that he was not there to be a drain on the people – he gave all his money to the poor. Although he was, inevitably, a king’s man, he refused royal protection and a royal horse, walked everyone, never sponged, and that is why they welcomed his teams into the villages. He seemed a threat to ‘fat landowners’ who disliked his emphasis on justice, but he was not a threat to THEM, only to their false ways of life. Kate Tristram writes ‘Aidan’s total self-giving, to the people of the land, to his colleagues, to his rulers, surely flowed out of his self-giving to his God, who Aidan knew as the God of self-giving love, always being poured out without distinction’ (in 'Waymarks for the Journey' December 18).

This emboldens us twenty-first century children of Aidan to lay hold of the eternal and universal Christ whom we now celebrate, so that at our end it may also be said that we were ‘all gift, and no threat’. That is how Christmas can last for ever.

Submitted: 08:37:53 on 20th December 2010

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Topic: HEAVENLY CHRISTMAS CARDS

Thanks to all you lovely people who send Christmas cards with such interesting quotes or information. Like the supermarket Hallelujah Chorus on U-ube: ATT00727htm (1KB).

Skeena scribbled these words of Apollinaire:

'Come to the edge'

'It's too high'

'Come to the edge'.

'We might fall'.

'Come to the edge.'

And they came to the edge and he pushed them - and they flew.

Submitted: 09:40:33 on 18th December 2010

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Topic: A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FOR BETHLEHEM

Noeline has sent a Christmas card from New Zealand with this Christmas prayer from Garth Hewitt taken from 'Making Dreams Come True' (SPCK):

What have they done to the 'Little Town'?

Imprisoned it in a concrete wall.

Bethlehem - once a holy city

Trapped inside a ghetto wall.

Here where angels sang of peace

Where love and hope were born anew

Once surrounded by a heavenly host

Now surrounded by a concrete view.

Yet people crushed and hidden away

Still celebrate on Christmas Eve.

Lighting candles for the Child -

They still remember - still believe.

So light a candle this Holy Night

For Bethlehem and Beit Sahour

And for all the people caught inside

That cold and grey prison wall.

Beit Sahour is a place of peace-building by people from both sides and of international solidarity.

Submitted: 16:03:34 on 14th December 2010

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Topic: BREAK DOWN THE WALLS

Seven foot pilgrim Elijah Thomas Uhlig walked into ice-bound Holy Island. He has walked 4,000 miles from the Berlin Wall and the Jewish death camps. He will walk another 16,000 miles through wounded and sacred sites to the wall in Jerusalem. As he walks he learns the wisdom of nature, religion, and of the soul who journeys out of the ego into the true self. He has wept long over the death camps. Now, he weeps too for what Israel is doing.

Elijah has grasped the dynamics of denial that allowed the Nazis to flourish. He has grasped that many Israelis are in denial. He says that a huge percentage who come out of the Israeli army go on the trail to Asia where they drown their hurt in drugs and consciousness changing trips. They can cope neither with the reality of what Israel is doing nor with that of their own denial. He is encouraged that many youth in Europe now want to create a world fellowship under God, that up to one million Catholic youth may meet up in Milan with such a vision, and that Jews and some Israelis are joining the struggle for friendship that could lead to the dismantling of the wall. He hopes many people, of all faiths and backgrounds, will join up for the last stages of this great walk. See http://picasaweb.google.com/beobachter.jerusalem or email him at

Submitted: 08:53:09 on 10th December 2010

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Topic: GOOD NEIGHBOURS AND CUPS OF TEA

Icebergs on the causeway have to be cleared before folk in ordinary cars like mine dare cross to the mainland. Poor Ruth, however, has to get to or back from her mainland doctors' surgery before these have been cleared. Some islanders have large landrovers. One of them handed over hers, with the keys, so Ruth could get across in that. Another took her across the causeway in his vehicle, until she could pick up her car that she had parked by the A1. Good neighbours!

In his Christmas newsletter my cousin, Father Ken, tells about another good neighbour,US mountaineer Greg Mortenson. Although he failed to climb K2 in Pakistan, the world's second highest mountain, he came to know the people of a nearby village and their need of education. As a result he has been responsible for building 131 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He describes these in his book 'Three Cups of Tea'. This title derives from the local custom that the first time you share a cup of tea you are a stranger, the second time you are an honoured guest, and the third time you are one of the family and they would do anything for you. Greg was taught by one of the local chiefs how to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects.

Submitted: 10:31:45 on 9th December 2010

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Topic: SPACE AGE ICE PILGRIMS

Parts of Britain are 15 degrees colder than Iceland. Four pilgrims managed to reach the warmth of The Open Gate for our retreat on 'Make Space for Something to Happen'. Something happened for each of us. Elsa had a night in an airport, was diverted to London before arriving at Edinburgh, and still has no luggage. Today we went in convoy behind Jonathan in case he got stuck in the ice at the causeway, before reaching the A1 for his return journey. On our return to The Open Gate Graham's battery expired, but we lurched back without lights. Then his wife Ruth rang: could he help dig her car out the other side of the causeway. He dug my car out and drove it to gallantly rescue her.

IIn our last retreat session each person described how this retreat had been a unique, and life-changing space - in part because God used the the ice and snow. One leaves to explore. Another leaves to do something beautiful. A third has embraced 'considerateness' and is a transformed person. Another will make more space before returning.

In a Jewish mystical tradition God made space by getting out of the way so that creation could come into being. I am making space for others to lead our Community. By making space, new worlds can come into being. So we have become 'space age pilgrims', and recommend this to everyone.

Submitted: 18:01:18 on 3rd December 2010

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Topic: SEE AMID THE WINTER SNOW

For the first time in my sixteen years on Holy Island heavy snow has cut off roads in November. Buses and events are cancelled. Our Retreat House expected a full house for the Advent Retreat, entitled 'Make Space for Something to Happen'. Half the UK retreatants cancelled. However, one from Norway arrived a day early. Another from Norway is at Copenhagen, waiting for Edinburgh Airport to get clearance before flying in for the last half of the retreat. Who do these Norwegians remind me of? The people Jesus referred to in a parable who, if they knew that a priceless jewel was hidden in a field, would do whatever it takes to get to that place.

In the world's longest running play, Agathie Christie's 'The Mousetrap' in London, everyone is trapped in a snowbound hotel. Something dramatic happens. Holy Island today reminds me of that play. The something dramatic is not murder, as in 'The Mousetrap', unless it be the killing of a false self; it is an encounter with the 'God of Surprises'. The plot changes from now on. Watch this space.

Submitted: 13:44:22 on 30th November 2010

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Topic: UNIVERSAL CHILD, UNIVERSAL CHURCH

Spiritual seekers may not be interested in the church, but here's an interesting question: how do we create community? Is there something common to us all, part of the human grain, which we need to enter into if community is to grow? In the Christmas song Universal Child, Annie Lennox sings 'You're everywhere, shining like the sun, And I wished to God that kids like you could be like everyone.'

An amazing surprise is that a vast experiment is taking place to make this wish a reality. The Christmas Child inaugurated something. universal to continue after his brief life on earth. It's sometimes called Christ's Body and is also known as the Christian Church. It has a two thousand year story. There are two sides to every story. The bad side has been pushed down our throats by the media. There is another side. I am writing a book about it. Don't write the church off. There's always people at its heart who are serious about having organs in the Body that link the weak parts to the whole, and renew its health. so that it shines. In church jargon these are called 'the instruments of catholicity' - the Universal Child stuff.

Why bother with these? We only know about Jesus (The Universal Child) because the Church in its early days handed down records of Jesus (Scripture), and transmitted his practice of appointing apostles (Bishops). The outward structures of the church and its inner meaning find deepest expression when every member and every local church dies to self in its utter dependence upon the whole. Thus the structure of the Body sets forth the dying and rising with Christ in the midst of his people. This structure consists of the Bible, Creeds, the Councils when all the Bishops came together to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit, and the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. These point beyond self-centred things to Christ healing, feeding and moving to his death and resurrection.

There have been developments and splits in the church. The test of a true development is whether it bears witness to this pattern and whether it serves the organic unity of the Body in all its parts. The Scriptures, Baptism, Eucharist, apostolate, creeds, are vindicated because they are the means by which the Gospel of God in Christ prevailed over one-sided theories and perversions of Christian life. ‘The structure of the church is the catholic fact. How far the Papacy expresses this main fact or distorts it is a subsequent historical question’. (Archbishop MIchael Ramsey). The fact that Pope John Paul 2nd had the humility to invite Christians from all traditions to make suggestions as to how a papacy might better serve the whole Body of Christ is an indication that work remains to be done.

Don't give up hope. The Universal Child is still breaking into lives throughout the global village. Sometimes clouds of bureacratic arrogance hide him. But often times, and at a million altars, the sun still breaks through.

Submitted: 15:32:49 on 25th November 2010

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Topic: RAP AROUND THE CROSS

Mearns lives in Northern Ireland. A charity project brought him to Whitby, on the NE Yorkshire coast of England, where Saint Hilda led a great faith community in the seventh century, from which Captain Cook sailed to so-called 'new worlds', and to which Goths and Dracula fans flock. Mearns is a children's writer. He loves the story of Caedmon, the shy, uneducated cowherd in Hilda's monastery who felt he could never sing. After a vision and Hilda's encouragement he became the first pop singer of faith songs in English. Hilda unlocked the song in his heart. Our aim is to do this for people today.

Many schools have some thirteen-year-old pupils who can't read or behave properly. Mearns now teaches part-time at a local school. He told the story of Caedmon to thirteen-year-olds who had given up believing they could learn or do anything much. He asked them to help him illustrate the story of Caedmon. He took them up the 199 steps to the high stone cross near the great abbey ruins that depicts Caedmon's story. 'You can do it. Try rap' said Mearns. So these youngsters pranced around Caedmon's Cross rapping out the story. They begin to believe.

Submitted: 21:30:40 on 19th November 2010

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Topic: HAVE AN ADVENT RETREAT - MAKE SPACE FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN

I am preparing a retreat at The Open Gate, Lindisfarne, November 29 - December 3 on the theme Making Space for Something to Happen. We shall explore how Old Testament witnesses to Christ did this, sometimes only reluctanty, as moved by God. We shall explore how Mary made space in her womb, John the Baptiser made space in his movement, and how we may make space in our ego-centric patterns. There'll be lots of silence. Bookings at opengate@aidanandhilda.org.uk 01289 389222.

Now I am off to Whitby for our St. Hilda's-tide retreat and Caim Council. No internet with the sisters. So no blog until my return.

On November 17, St. Hilda's Day, we invite Aidan and Hilda Explorers and Voyagers across the world to renew their vows.

Submitted: 08:53:51 on 12nd November 2010

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Topic: A QUESTION AT GREENBELT

As I drove back from Llangollen in the dark I listened to an MP3 of talks on new monasticism given at the last Greenbelt Festival. A question to one speaker went something like this: What has new monasticism for people who are not in an intentional local community? There was no time for an adequate answer. An answer could be along these lines:

It can spur you to:

be accountable to a soul friend for your use of time, talents and money

adopt a way or rule of life

join a dispersed community.

Submitted: 09:23:19 on 11st November 2010

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Topic: WALES - LAND OF SAINTS AND SCHOLARS?

November 9, in 'Saints of the Isles '(Celtic Prayer Book Volume 2) is for All Saints of Wales. On that day I shall lead a half day for the Church in Wales' St. Asaph Diocese Spirituality and Healing Group at Dean’s Library, St. Asaph on ‘Gathering Threads: Renewing the parish community with inspiration from our Celtic and monastic roots’.

Saturday 6 November is Saint Illtyd’s Day. Sunday 7 November at 12.0 noon at Penmon Priory, Anglesey, founded by St. Seiriol in the 6th c. , Richard Adams takes his First Vows there followed by lunch with community members at nearby Llandonna.who run a B&B retreat house. I shall be resident at St. Beuno’s Spirituality Centre, near St. Asaph. Below is a synopsis of my day with St. Asapah clergy and healers.

God has called us to parish ministry. The church has become marginalized. Many who seek spirituality bypass the church because they feel it puts them in a ‘box’ that does not relate to this quest. Some who remain in the church resist change – they are comfortable within their familiar ‘box’.

Parish priests are pastors - they don’t like to upset their flock and they provide for their needs. They are Christians - they want to reach out to the population. So they try to do both. This can create overload, conflict, stress, misunderstanding, half-heartedness or resignation.

That is our dilemma. Is there light for us from the Gospels and from our founding apostles in Wales? In Luke 16: 1-12 Jesus says in effect ‘Learn how to be as astute for God’s kingdom as people in the world of business are for their little kingdoms – particularly in the making of friends.’ The Christian apostles of Wales made friends first of all with their large extended families – their tribe or kingdom. The early Celtic Christians had the vision of these becoming lands of saints and scholars.

So we will do a hitchiker’s power-point guide through ten features of our early Christian story which hold lessons for our present time of transition. I call this ‘The House that John Built’. All will become clear.... Except for you, dear Blogger, but you could book a 'House that John Built' symposium for your area.

Submitted: 10:20:24 on 5th November 2010

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Topic: DRUIDS, NATURE AND GOD

At Halloween the main UK TV news featured Druid, but not Christian celebrations. For the first time since Christendom the Charity Commissioners have recognised a Druid Order as a beneficial religion by assuming that its devotion to Nature is equivalent to devotion to God. A Druid spokesperson said that they become attuned to Nature, unlike religions whose gods impose things on people.

Have we (Druids, Christians and Don't Knows) got this quite right? In Celtic Christianity we see no difference between tuning in to the Source of all that is, and calling that Source a God of All-Compassion who helps us to understand when we are attuned and the damage it does when we are not. We share with many Druids a horror of the violation of nature by humans. In fact, we take this so seriously that we accept that a radical solution is needed. Humans need to be redeemed from this deeply embedded life-style of violation. We believe that is why Christ came and still comes to us.

We Christians also need to say sorry to Druids and others because so many of us have fallen into the trap of abusing our faith by abusing creation.

In 'Liturgies from Lindisfarne' (recently published by www.kevinmayhew.com in UK and www.mayhewbrodt.com in N. America) we celebrate Halloween with these words: 'We place into your hands the season we leave behind and winter's patterns which you call us now to live.... May light shine in the bowels of the earth. May light shine in the ghouls of the air.'

On Halloween one of Aidan and Hilda members led his congregation at Escombe up the hill and lit a fire in the vicarage garden. Then they celebrated Samhain in the church.

Submitted: 09:12:52 on 1st November 2010

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Topic: ONE LINERS

Goths throng Whitby town.

I preach at Whitby priory that Diogenes asked Alexander the Great if he'd get out of the way because he was blocking the sun

A bishop-designate in the pews says 'When I am enthroned I will ask people to stop blocking the SON.'

Mearns tells me how the story of Saint Caedmon is engaging badly behaved kids, the Arts Council and others in the school where he teaches.

Back home British Telecom lay cables and cut my phone off by mistake.

Our computer guru Brian does his annual security check and requires me to spend 135 minutes deleting spam, junk, drafts - you name it

Susan from USA comes to talk about the difference between pilgrimage as an event and pilgrimage as a life.

Paul completes the 63 mile Cuthberts Way and talks about his future.

Jo extolls her godly play project on Saint Hilda.

I could go on. And on. But I won't.

Submitted: 14:48:41 on 29th October 2010

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Topic: SAINT HILDA AND WOMEN BISHOPS

We gain inspiration from our dedication, 'The Community of Aidan and Hilda' for many reasons. Both Aidan and Hilda kept the rules of the church in their time, yet they transcended bureacratic ways and prejudiced attitudes, were open to fresh leadings of the Spirit and Hilda sent an advocate to Rome on behalf of a priest she felt Bishop Wilfred was treating unjustly.

World wide bloggers from many and no church streams may not all know that the Church of England is being torn by a disagreement as to whether women should be made bishops now, although the largest branches of the universal church have not permitted this. Some members of the group known as 'Forward in Faith', which believes that the Roman Catholic position of 'no women bishops' should be retained in their church, have formed a 'Society of St. Wilfred and St. Hilda'. I have received expressions of surprise that St Hilda should be used as an ikon of this cause.

What do you think? Hilda was willing to serve God under first the Irish and then the Roman framework as that was introduced. She sustained friendships with people in both camps. She was not ordained, although she was the leader of men and women in her community at Whitby, and at least five of her students became bishops.

People in both today's camps re women bishops have been deeply hurt. I think Hilda's priority would be to bring healing, and to advise restraint.

It adds poignancy that I have just arrived in Whitby as the locum chaplain to the Anglican sisters of the Order of the Holy Paraclete for several days, while the chaplain, Simon Lumby, a CA&H Voyager, supports friends in the Dublin marathon. The Irish connection continues!

Submitted: 16:15:38 on 22nd October 2010

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Topic: A FELLOWSHIP OF LOVE

When we drop from a flotsam life of much ado about nothing and are drowned in the overwhelming seas of Divine Love, a new alignment of relationships takes place. We share the universe with people of all shapes, colours, abilities, backgrounds who live continuously in this Deep Centre where there is always space for our true selves to lie down or leap up. This experience is denied to those whose work for God is still oriented around ego or is rooted only in social gregrariousness.

Every period of profound rediscovery of God results in this inter-knittedness. It is the holy matrix of the 'communion of saints.' In this fellowsip cultural differences are levelled. Each is at ease with the other -the scholar with the miner, the mamma with the celeb. People in this fellowship are related as are mountains that go down into the same earth. This is eternal life.

This blog is inspired by today's reading from 'Waymarks for the Journey'.

Submitted: 09:16:44 on 16th October 2010

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Topic: LOUIS THEROUX'S WEIRD WEEK-ENDS

In keeping with my new 'How to be Idle' regime I watched Louis Theroux's Weird Week-end TV episode in India, where he went in search of spirituality. Louis so far sits on the fence as far as his own spiritual commitment goes, but he is human and balanced enough to ask perceptive questions. He met gurus whose followers claimed had miraculous powers: 'but is there a danger of making an idol of these powers?' he asked. He met an American devotee named Courtney who was visiting his guru. He had changed his name and his voice pitch. 'When can I talk to the real Courtney?' asked Louis. Louis tried out chants and body and breathing exercises. He queued to receive a hug from Mama Anna who effuses love and said he definitely received something. Then he returned to his usual routines - or to his next filming of a weird week-end.

These are my thoughts: Westerners on mystical trails like this are often emotionally impoverished, and they google in to some bit of a stream of consciousness that gives a temporary boost. I long for them to find their true selves, in relationship to the Eternally Real. This ideal seems beyond reach until we focus on Jesus, and find that through a relationship with him this becomes possible. The Christian idea of 'the resurrection of the body' is really about eternity - we are neither snuffed out nor just absorbed in the endless stream of consciousness - we are eternally our true selves, in the love of God.

Louis, why don't you do a series interviewing people who don't do stunts seek the cameras or revolve their work around devotees because they have this 'eternally real' experience that you seem to think is a good thing? People like Rowan Williams, a Mount Athos Monk, Cairo's 'Mother' of the slum church, and young new monastics for example?

Submitted: 08:51:40 on 8th October 2010

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Topic: HOW TO BE IDLE

When I took life vows on a boat in London my former spiritual director gave me a book. I can't imagine why. It 's entitled 'How to be Idle' by Tom Hodgkinson.

The first chapter calls upon us to stay in bed when we wake up. The second chapter harangues the miserable puritans who invented the work ethic and 9.0 to 5.0 working hours. Animals and aristocrats don't live like that. 'The mania for consumer goods has created a deadly culture of overwork', he says, 'lets bring fun back into work.' So chapter three is about the delights of leisured people such as pop stars who can experience the creative flow that comes from a lie in. A long elevenses is time for 'a little smackerel of something' as Pooh bear had it. The author commends Robert Louis Stevenson's view that school children learn more about life when they are bunking off than they do in a classroom Noon is time for a hangover, which may lead you into a visionary state. Was that when William Blake saw 'a universe in a grain of sand'? The slow movement has much to teach us about lunch. Extend it for several hours. Don't let a speed-addicted life destroy the pleasure of eating.

By now, of course, one can afford to be ill. The author suggests that 2.0 pm is a good time for this. Perhaps a better word for it is 'convalescing'.

The nap comes at 3.0 pm. I think 'power nap' sounds better. It certainly makes me feel better. The Prophet Muhammed is said to have taken a nap in paradise, so it must be O.K. It's best to have a nice squashy bed for this if we are still on earth.

4.0. pm is tea time. Those of us in the UK must not let this great British institution be eroded by all those wretched countries that replace the tea break with performance targets, timetables, and a quick coffee. A plague on them! 'One drinks tea to forget the world's noise' writes T'ien Yi heng. 5.0 pm is Ramble Time. In Italy they call it Strolling Time. Hodgkinson thinks the prophet Ezekiel followed this practice. Keep your eyes open as you walk and a different world will be opened to you. Sherlock Holmes became a great detective because he loved to loaf like this. 6.0 pm is time for the first drink of the day (but when does the day begin?). Just a celebratory aperitif, you understand. Fishing, of all things, is suggested for 7.0 pm - where does this man live? Well, he claims that Winchester Cathedral has a stained glass window of just such a fisherperson. We have to defend fishing against city toffs who glower over their papers in a tube train at 7.0 pm. 8.0 pm is time to light up one's pipe. Oh dear, oh dear! Yes, he knows that 'smoking kills', but to make his point he quotes Richard Klein ('Cigarettes are Sublime' 1993) who explains that tobacco was needed to calm us down. So find something - anything - to calm you down. 'The 9.0 pm chapter is about The Idle Home: 'Without stirring abroad one can know the whole world; without looking out of the window one can see the way of heaven' Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching 4th c BC). Taoists believe 'Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.'

I really should not mention the following most distasteful chapters. 10.0 pm :The Pub. 11.0 pm: The Riot. Midnight: The Moon and the Stars. 1.0 am: Sex and Idleness. 2.0 am: The Art of Conversation. 3.0 am Party Time... Ah! There's no need to excoriate me for the next ones. 4.0 am:Meditation. 5.0 am: Sleep. 6.0 am: The Holiday 7.0 am About your Waking Dreams.

As I say, I can't imagine why a spiritual director should give me such a book. Nor can I imagine why I have revised how I keep my vow to maintain a good rhythm in my life... I hope you like this blog. I wrote it during my new lie-in time.

Submitted: 10:26:33 on 3rd October 2010

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Topic: FULLER SEMINARY, SARAH PALIN AND THE PODVIG

A lively and diverse collection of USA church workers spent the week at Holy Island's St Cuthbert's Centre as part of a Fuller Seminary study course. They had input from five island Christians. I explored the ancient Celtic and today's emerging church with them.

As a Community we are open to all strands of Christianity, and at our Open Gate Retreat Centre we welcome Americans from all political parties. I learned from one, untypical ,student about some of the thinking behind the USA Tea Party movement, which sometimes focusses on Sarah Palin. 'George Bush was clear about good and evil. Nations that are hostile to USA are evil. Churches that get involved in justice are part of evil because they distract Christians from saving lost souls for Jesus'.

I would like to join a tea party with Sarah Palin. I would point out that the primary purpose of the Old Testament Books of Law is to establish a godly basis for a good society, and that much of the Books of the Prophets are about promoting a just and condemning an unjust society. But perhaps she only takes the New Testament seriously. In that case I would point out that Jesus taught that it is not those who call him Lord but those who meet the needs of the poor in his name who shall enter God’s kingdom (Matthew 25: 31-46). But perhaps she might reply that here Jesus is asking individuals to be kind to other individuals, but Jesus does not wish us to be involved in corporate affairs. In which case I would point out that a significant number of Jesus’ parables are about good corporate management (e.g. Luke 16: 1-13), that in his last parable he likens care of the planet to people who tend a vineyard (Luke 20: 9-16a), and that he expects people who join him after death to take on corporate responsibilities - his twelve apostles would be in charge of communities, or tribes, Luke 22: 30.

Don't worry, one student named Todd took me seriously. He asked me for a sleeping bag so he could sleep on Cuthbert's Isle on his last night. Unfortunately, he did not tell his B&B host, slept too long, and got back after the coach had left. His hosts raced him in their car and caught up the coach. I had told Todd that a Russian Orthodox Christian might call his act a Podvig - an ascetic act of devotion that pleases God alone and serves no utiliatarian purpose. Very counter-cultural. That's why he did it. We prayed in our chapel that Todd's grandchildren would benefit from his Podvig. Bless him.

Submitted: 20:32:41 on 25th September 2010

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Topic: TWENTYFOUR/SEVEN VOWS ON THE SHORE

A friend, accompanied by six fellow workers from the Twentyfour/seven prayer movement, stayed with us. Our privilege was to accompany them to the north shore and witness his vows. The first was a life vow, similar to that made in the nineteenth century by Count Zinzendorf's mustard seed prayer movement. It begins 'Fool that I am, I vow my whole life, all that I have and all that I am to be true to Christ....'. It continues 'Weak as I am, I vow my whole life to be kind to people ...'. The third vow is 'Small as I am and wherever I am, I vow my life to the Gospel of Christ. Today I offer to spend myself on behalf of the broken and poor in the power of the Spirit, giving my whole life that you may be loved in every language, tribe and nation in our generation ...'

He then took a five year vow he had worked out with a soul friend that was particular to him. We then broke bread and prayed. I was asked to say these words: 'Dear cymbrogi, friends of N., today N. has made these promises but there will come a day when he fails. In these moments he invites us to remember to restore him humbly, lovingly and gently in grace.'

My friend gave us each a sheet of paper with some quotes: 'Vow: A promise made to God. The promise is binding. A vow is an act of generosity towards God.’ (Catholic encycyclopaedia). ‘Community is a fellowship of little people who together make God visible to the world’. (Henri Nouwen). ‘At the eve of our lives we will be judged by our loving.’ (John of the Cross). ‘Let us begin, my brothers, for up to now we have done but little’ (the last words of St. Francis of Assissi).

Submitted: 14:38:06 on 22nd September 2010

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Topic: THE POPE'S UK VISIT

The Pope visits the UK. Today, representatives of the churches and religious communities of the UK, including our Community of Aidan and Hilda, pray with him in a service at Westminster Abbey. In UK CA&H is an Associate Body of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. One of our representatives, Penny Warren, asks us to join in prayer with her, and emails:

On Friday morning the Pope meets with 'Religious Leaders and People of Faith'. There was a warm appreciation of the Pope and the cathlolic church as a whole by Chief Rabbi Jonathon Sacks this morning. Forgiveness was sought many years ago by Pope John Paul XXI from the Jews; there has been an on-going growth in the relationship since then. In our call to work for unity in our Way of Life, we seek to honour and support that; not least with our understanding and our prayers. We pray too for the meeting with leaders of other faiths. As we meet in Westminster Abbey - a gathering of 'Christian leaders including Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and leaders of the Free Church and other Christian traditions ..and organisations' - it will be a time of prayer ' in which Christians across our naion will also take part that demonstrates the journey that the Christian churches have taken from being strangers to one another, to becoming true friends and pilgrims' AMEN!

There is an awareness of the growth of new monastisism in this century and I believe that there is an honouring of that from what I see written about the occasion.

Let us not be sidetracked by much mud-slinging encouraged by the media, but come in sorrow and pain over our failings and in joy that there is within us a deep longing for unity that is a part of our soul cry to God.

Another of our members adds that we must also hold one another to take decisive actions of repentance for the terrible abuses committed by public representatives of the church - which affect every part of Christ's universal Body.

Submitted: 08:56:34 on 17th September 2010

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Topic: PHOTONS, PROTONS AND BOSONS

The prayer board at St Mary's, Holy Island usually has lots of requests such as 'God bless my nana' and 'please heal all the sick people in the world'. These we read aloud at the evening service each day. Yesterday, however, included the following prayer:

Give thanks for electrons, protons, nutrons, quarks, hadrons, bosons, photons and all the building blocks of our universe; Maxwells equations, relativity, quantum mechanics and the rules by which the universe holds together. For water, the well of life, but most of all for Jesus who gives it all meaning.

Follow that.

Submitted: 08:38:06 on 15th September 2010

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Topic: HEROES OF THE SEA

Their country was occupied by a racist regime. They lived by the sea. They secured a boat. By night they stole fuel cans from the airport. The next night they voyaged south of the territorial waters, veered sharply east into the unending ocean, and hoped they might reach a free land. They were five untried Norwegian students, who in 1941 left their offshore island of Flekkeroy. Three were so sea sick that they nearly gave up. If one screw was lost on a can of fuel they might not have survived. They passed through mined areas. Allied ships, thinking they were an enemy torpedo, turned off their lights and gave no help.

Five days later they saw a castle and a harbour, they knew not where. 'Friend or foe?' said an English voice. 'Friend' they replied. They had landed at Lindisfarne. They were warmly regaled and fed at The Lindisfarne Hotel. Phone calls and a train to London followed. Four served 'The Allies' in the Canadian forces. Three of these were killed. One returned to work for Allied Intelligence. He was imprisoned in Norway.

This month the daughter of one of the survivors returned, with a delegation from their island of Flekkeroy. near Kristiansand. In Amble they thanked those who had arranged for the engine of the students' boat to be shipped to their museum at Flekkeroy. In the morning I was privileged to give them a lecture in St Mary's Church on early Christianity in Britain and Ireland. In the evening, through the good auspices of Dick Patterson of the Lindisfarne Centre, they invited islanders to St. Cuthbert's Centre to thank them, to re-tell the story with pictures and sea songs. Next morning they dedicated a public seat in memory of the five and in gratitude to Holy Island. Islander Peggy Teagoe, ninety next month, who remembers the saga, and Gunlaug Henriksen, the daughter of one of the five, were the first to sit upon it, side by side. The seat overlooks the harbour. These words are inscribed on it: 'In great gratitude for the good welcome for our five freedom-fighters: Tor Mod Abrahamsen, Nib Havve, Sven Moe, Jan Stumph and Kay Thorsen, received here on Holy Island, 5 November 1941, after crossing the sea in a small boat'. Their spokesman, retired pastor Nils Ingvar Nilsen, invited residents to visit their island of Flekkeroy.

.

Submitted: 09:34:23 on 12nd September 2010

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Topic: THE BOOK OF TWEETS

A Friend of the Community suggested I join Twitter. I emailed back that I would not waste time on such trivial distractions. A look at Google’s Top Tweets confirmed my distaste: I love how RoboCop is both a zombie and a robot. Or It is now Beverly Hills day! Go sleep with your best friend's significant other, wear tight t-shirts and whine melodramatically! However, two factors made me change my mind. The first is that Christians are called to redeem things – so why should the devil have all the best Tweets? The second is that I did Dorothy Neilson’s Open Gate Enneagram week. I discovered I was type 4. Unredeemed Type 4’s wallow in selfish introspection and fail to connect with the outside world. Redeemed Type 4’s best connect with the whole world. So I decided to Tweet.

Manfred helped me with the technology and, since the computer desk in my home (White House) looks out to Aidan’s Bamburgh and Cuthbert’s Inner Farne, he assigned me the username whitehouseviews. My first Tweet was ‘May I tweet with the melody of the lark, the wisdom of the owl, the energy of the wild goose, in the name of the Holy Dove.’ I looked up whitehouseviews on Google and found myself next to President Obama. A good start, I thought. Many hundreds of thousands look at the tweets of people like Obama and (to go from the sublime to the ridiculous) Stephen Fry. I looked to see how many had heard my tweet. No one! I then thought ‘Why do birds tweet? Occasionally to attract another, to express pain or to herald an approaching change, but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Why shouldn’t I do the same?’

But WHAT should I tweet? My mind went back to my Roman Catholic colleague in my days with the Christian Church in Bowthorpe, Father Taylor. Each week in the parish newsletter he dispensed what he called ‘Dr. Taylor’s tablet’. It was a pithy, practical word of wisdom that lodged in the mind through the week. Then I thought of the Bible. Is not The Book of Proverbs something like that? People spoke pithy sayings for anyone who bothered to listen. The most memorable were collected. From these collections a selection was made – and, hey presto, we have our Book of Proverbs. In modern terms it could be called The Book of Tweets.

I am lucky. At 8.0 am each day on Holy Island someone gives a homily that applies the day’s Gospel reading to us. Sometimes a sentence or two from this becomes my Tweet: the world can now eavesdrop on a Holy Island homily. At other times a stream of communications flows through my lap-top from emailers or resource material – and something from this or from something I read becomes the tweet. The lap-top is on a desk which has my White House views. Occasionally, an inspiration pops into my head from the perspective of the places I look upon associated with Aidan, Oswald and Cuthbert – places where women like Hilda may also have put in an appearance. If no tweets from those sources come, I can always quote a verse from The Book of Proverbs – so long as it has no more than 140 characters. In fact, this proverb will be my Tweet on this day that I write: For lack of wood the fire goes out. For lack of whispering a quarrel will cease (Proverbs 26:20)

Tweet tweet.

Submitted: 16:32:23 on 7th September 2010

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Topic: THE LIGHTHOUSE

A busy week, during which I discussed with Manfred the re-surfacing of a long-held vision of schools of prophets in modern societies. The practicalities felt daunting. My rest day went out of the window so I took Sunday off. I climbed Arthur’s Seat at Edinburgh. Below was a Diathlon. Tired, I felt I would never run seriously again. In fact I felt unheroic, depressed, decrepit. As an introvert, part of me resisted socialising. But a deeper part of me found its way to The Lighthouse at Musselburgh – an afternoon meeting in a school of a fellowship and church-planting network led by Scott, an Explorer of our Way of Life. A band led restful music during which we invited the Holy Spirit to come in to our visions, family, work and community. Faith gave a talk on the theme ‘Encourage one another.’ Fourteen cell leaders looked upon the people and gave any words of encouragement that came into their minds. To my astonishment three of these had words for me. ‘You are to be a long distance runner and complete the marathon (of life)’ said Anthea. ‘You are an Indiana Jones’, said James, ‘a hero of the Faith’. (Who is Indiana Jones? I really must see that film.) ‘You are called to listen to God and see what God is doing in peoples’ lives and to increase in this’ said Graham.who did not know me. A little girl sat on the lap of a man who was not her father. He explained what God was doing and what words were being given to various people. She showed an amazing capacity to understand; she was spiritually sensitive and engaged. ‘That’s the way to develop schools of prophets’ I thought.

I take the view that I do not share ‘words’ when I am a visitor to a church, unless I am invited or I quake so much that I cannot not share them. However, the moment I entered the building and saw these fifty mostly younger people, I sensed that they were hungry to be fed, but tired easily if the music or the ministry up front finished its course. ‘Athletes of Christ’, flashed into my mind. I felt that these dear folk need to develop the daily spiritual disciplines that makes them fit for purpose, whether or not their leaders are on hand. Afterwards I told Scott and Faith this. ‘Would you help lead such a course?’ they asked.

Next day Scott rang. ‘I’m not much of a pastor but I do care, so I thought I ask how you are’ he said. Fellow bloggers isn’t this a great way to ‘encourage one another’?. If you’re interested in finding out more about Lighthouse, see www.thelighthousechurch.org

Submitted: 13:16:53 on 6th September 2010

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Topic: ICE CREAM

Glad you liked my piece on Kids. Thanks for sending this gem that's going the rounds. It bears repeating:

'Last week, I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, 'God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice for all! Amen!'

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, 'That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!' Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, 'Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?' As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job, and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, 'I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer.' 'Really?' my son asked. 'Cross my heart,' the man replied.. Then, in a theatrical whisper, he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), 'Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes.'

Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment, and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and, without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, 'Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes; and my soul is good already.'

The End '

Submitted: 08:10:32 on 4th September 2010

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Topic: KIDS

A tourists day out. A five year old boy gapes at features like the castle and the harbour, and then the church. 'Mummy, what do people do in churches?' he asks. She is not sure. A byestander's suggestion was 'They get close to God'. What would your reply be? Send your answers. Marks out of ten.

Edana, who is a little older, came across the Children's Log Book in my TRANSFORMING CHURCH series. She made her own daily prayer book on three sides of a folded sheet of paper. This is what she wrote:

One day I got up at 10 past 8 and prayed to god this: God I love you and I love the way you wake me up in the morning, by the sun. Amen

Go to Sleep Prayer

I’ve had a busy day God, I’m feeling tired, I wish I could stay up all night but I need some sleep. Please help me God to rest and sleep, to remember your great Name. Amen

Dinner Prayer. Lunch and breakfast too.

Thank you Jesus for this food and help the people that don’t have much food to be able to feed themselves and children. Amen

Help Prayer

God please help the people that don’t have schools, houses and food be able to learn, live and not starve. Let them play and be healthy and free. Every child had the right to have toys and be able to play. Amen

Submitted: 17:51:44 on 26th August 2010

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Topic: THE HISTORY BOYS

Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Many hundreds of make-shift venues. Endless experiment and energy. Colourful streets packed, sardine-like, with jostling crowds, actors, acrobats, artists, musicians. In between the street acts I went to Alan Bennett's 'The History Boys'. Alan was a working class lad who went to a posh university; an emotionally undeveloped boy who for a long time thought he was gay; a thoughtful and sensitive person who saw through the banality of the politics and politically-correct education of the 90's.

He does not want education to be just about scores, league tables and getting noticed for jobs. Hector, who teaches literature, is dismissed because he won't collude with that approach. For him education is the glory of language and poetry and memory.Only one of the pupils is keen on God. But that turns out to be only a flirtation.

I am touched by this play, but also disappointed. Yes, education - and life - is about beauty as well as function, but it is more still. It is discovering and living all the dimensions of human reality: God in business and sex, art and friendship, values and use of talents, tragedy and community . This play depicts a way of let-down, not a way of life.

Submitted: 09:01:20 on 22nd August 2010

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Topic: CORNISH PILGRIMAGE

I was the guest of Paul and Sally Nash, Aidan and Hilda Friends, at their cottage by the River Tamar. This separates Cornwall from Devon. On our first evening we drove to the ancient stone circles known as The Hurlers, on Bodmin Moor, before enjoying John Mortimer’s play ‘A Voyage Round My Father’ at the Sterts Open Air Theatre. On Wednesday we skirted the south coast until we reached Rame Head. The little chapel on its summit is thought to be on the site of a much earlier Celtic hermitage. On to St. Germans Church. The first church on this site was established by St. Germanus of Auxerre, who visited Britain in 429. It was he who led the Christian Celts in battle against the invading Saxons with massed shouts of ‘Alleluia’. This resulted in the famous ‘Alleluia Victory’. Back to the coast until we paused at a little-known Celtic site directly opposite Looe Island. It was a pilgrims’ chapel which monks on the isle rather cherished – for if pilgrims could not get to the island because of the tide they could leave their offerings here!

A longer journey on Thursday took us to the place where, according to legend, the boy Jesus first set foot on Britain with his uncle Joseph, of Arimathea. This is St. Just-in-Roseland, an exquisite church and grounds of natural beauty. There is no historical evidence that Jesus came. However, tin-miners (like Joseph) did come, and this has a deep-water inlet that was very likely used by such merchants. On to the north coast and Perranporth, which has become the focus for Cornwall’s cultural and spiritual renaissance. A walk across the dunes to the high cross brought us to the site of Saint Piran’s hermitage. A misconceived effort to prevent vandalism caused it to be covered in concrete last century. So we prayed at the memorial stone on its top. Thankfully the St. Piran Trust hopes to restore and make more worthy this site. On Saint Piran’s Day in March hundreds of pilgrims walk from Perranporth to this shrine, carrying Cornwall’s national flag of St. Piran. The white cross on a black background signifies both the white and the black in tin that is mined, and the triumph of light over darkness. We also prayed at the remains of the nearby later Celtic church.

Another day and we voyaged across the large expanse of the Tamar to the place where pilgrims once set off on their long pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. Then we went in the other direction to a little shore-side chapel that marks the site where Saint Indract and his sister arrived from Ireland in the seventh century. The chapel fell into dis-use, but in recent years the parish church has restored and had it re-consecrated. We shared in a liturgy of ths saints and in prayers for the renewal of the spiritual life of Cornwall (Kernow).

Submitted: 09:26:22 on 14th August 2010

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Topic: THE WELL

I am at Glastonbury's Chalice Well. The well is at the foot of the famous Tor. So is she. The well marks the site of the earliest Christian baptism in Britain, so folk lore has it - about forty eight years after the birth of Christ. From the other well 'white' water gushes. From this well 'red' water flows. Pagans, goddesses, Buddhists find this a sacred place. So do Christians, who liken the white and red water to the water and blood that flowed from the dead body of Christ - signs of everlasting dark and light, death and life.

At dawn I meditated in the always silent Upper Room. Wellesley Tudor Pole, following a mystical vision, furnished this as a fresh expression of the Upper Room where Christ hosted his Last Supper. Thus twelve wooden stools made by a carpenter, and twelve plus one wooden plates, and a chalice, grace this holy place.

But she is downstairs. She has fought with dark forces amid the ancient stones in the Orkneys and the Isle of Lewis. Some Christians tried to destroy these. They could not bear them. She says they are signs of the dark forces within. She has to know them in order to transform them. A real woman, to her, does not remain the victim of fear. But here, at the gentle well, she seeks to pause. The One she knows as 'The Shepherd' teaches her that when you learn some new lesson, you must not rush on, you must rest, you must keep the sabbath. The sabbath is not a day marked by absence of activity. It is a pattern. Always pause and process whatever new light has come to you.

Her name is Shailor. She studies with the Dalai Lama's Tibetans and with other luminaries. She has researched ancient North American Indian cultures. They believe, she tells me, in 'The Original Instructions'. These are similar to the Jewish Ten Commandmants. She is writing a film narrative about these. She hopes Stephen Spielberg will direct it. She thinks he is a rabbi, although he does not know it.

She stays. I journey on to Cornwall, to holiday at the cottage of Sally and Paul Nash. After that I share in an Aidan and Hilda week-end in Devon. I have come from Dumfries, from a Scottish Aidan and Hilda gathering. I journey on. But I also pause. I pause at Street's open air swimming pool. I pause at a Moto motorway inn that provides WI Fi and record this blog. As I eat and as I drive I will ponder the meaning of my meeting with The Woman at the Well.

Submitted: 13:19:01 on 10th August 2010

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Topic: THE SECRETARY

Naomi is about to become the manager of our Open Gate Retreat House on Holy Island,UK. That means the office is empty. We need a Secretary. The Secretary will maintain our database, be a book-keeper, and answer emails and phone calls. Across the road is our Celtic Christian Studies Library. We need a librarian. A Secretary-librarian would put returned books into their right place and keep the online catalogue up-to-date. A Secretary could be on a work experience placement. As well as free food and board, the Secretary could do some study, experience community life, engage in spiritual direction and Celtic styles of worship, meet fascinating people, and explore an island unique in its natural habitats and as a Cradle of Christianity. A Secretary would need to be rather unselfish, bend with the wind, and understand human foibles. A Secretary could come for a year (minimum of three months) or longer. Sooner or later a Secretary might, if contributions to CA&H increase, even receive an honorarium. If you are interested, email grahamandruth booth@btinternet.com or admin@aidanandhilda.org.uk.

Submitted: 20:21:13 on 5th August 2010

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Topic: THE FLAG

The British flag, like many others, is red, white and blue. A flag is a symbol of a healthy love of one's country. But racists such as the British National Party (BNP) hijack it for their own unhealthy ideology. Their massive use of it in their propaganda distorts and poisons the message of the flag for new and long-standing citizens. The BNP claims that there is a pure British race (Celtic/Saxon) and implies that citizens of other ethnic origins should be repatriated or reduced in number. The BNP's history is bonkers: The British comprise waves of immigrants before, during and since the Celtic/Saxon period. But the spell of the myth that they promote, which violates so many, can only be broken by a greater, truer story - a story about the Shaping of Britain that needs to be told in every school and in film and other media. This is the story:

In the 5-7th centuries Britain and Ireland had four hostile races, each with a different language, who brutally killed each other. Then people in each race were introduced to the ways of Christ. They wanted to be all-out for Christ. They admired Christians in the Roman Empire who had submitted to death rather than deny Christ. They named these the red martyrs. Now that such persecution had ended, they wanted a different way to be a martyr. So they called people who left their beloved homeland for ever and lay down their life to bring Christ to another people the white martyrs. For example, the Brit Patrick gave his life for the Irish to become a land of saints and scholars. The Irish Aidan gave his life for the English to follow Christ's ways. Christians who stayed at home, but who dedicated seasons to prayer vigil and acts of service were called blue martyrs (the colour of death - they died to their own wills). So there were red, white and blue martyrs. Through these three types of martyr the four hostile races began to be a fellowship in the Gospel .

I have told the stories of this period to teachers who teach in BNP areas and to others. I start and end by waving the Union Jack. They are excited. They ask for these stories to be recorded or delivered live. They say a film should be made. SO I APPEAL TO YOU MY BLOG READERS: invite me to recorded storytelling gigs, and make a film, or compose songs. DO SOMETHING TO HELP EVERY RESIDENT OF YOUR COUNTRY KNOW WHY THEY ARE ROYAL SOULS. APPLY THIS TO EVERY LAND.

Submitted: 21:30:08 on 1st August 2010

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Topic: THE VICAR

The historic hub of Holy Island is the Church of England parish church of St. Mary. Only this church has a full-time resident priest. This priest is known as The Vicar. The word Vicar - which is like the English word vicarious - implies that the priest acts on behalf of Christ, and lives out his spirit.

Since Christmas there has been a vacancy for a new vicar. The process of finding the right person to fill this vacancy is taking a long time. One of our island representatives on the interview panel said 'We need someone who understands the island'. Applicants, of course, come with their own agendas, but unless they understand the patterns and possibilities of the island and the mind-set of islanders (as well as the needs of pilgrims) they are doomed to disappointment.

The news that no one has yet been appointed co-incided with St. James' Day. The apostle James once wanted the top job. Jesus told him the job would involve suffering. 'The job' of following Christ changed James. He ended his life as a martyr. In a homily on the Gospel account of James our locum priest, John Wylam, reminded us that Jesus does not look for 'good' people, because 'good' people can look down on others. He looks for people who are at the bottom, who are ground level people. At that level there is no one to look down upon. Someone like that would make a good vicar of Holy Island.

Submitted: 08:57:27 on 26th July 2010

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Topic: THE SHED

I have been allowed to employ a P.A for 8 hours a week who will relieve our new, smaller, less attended Community office of non routine matters that come my way. Holy Island has a chronic shortage of accommodation and staff. The planners have required us to get rid of our caravans that housed volunteer staff. What is the answer?

My shed! I have taken out the drift wood, spiders and junk that filled it. Ken has put in an unwanted desk. Brenda has arrived. Brian has enabled her computer to connect to the house wireless. She has created job sheets. I create work for her. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Submitted: 16:56:57 on 22nd July 2010

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Topic: THE BOAT

The boat's name is Elsdale. You reach it by crossing the bridge at West Drayton overground rail station, west London. About forty people got on board before it cruised off last Saturday, with two staff, a finger buffet, lots of bottles, Archdeacon Rachel, representing her bishop, and two people who took The Long Voyage. The two people were Simon and I. The Long Voyage meant we made perpetual vows and prayed: 'I put my hand to Christ's plough. I will not look back. I set sail on Christ's ocean. I will go where his Spirit leads. I am Christ's soldier and servant... I commit to this calling for ever.'

No one pushed us overboad, but Edward Steen, as always ready with a perceptive wit, said: 'At baptism you go under the water, so for this you have to do something deeper and more daring, such as getting to the bottom of that BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and putting it right.' See what he means? Watch this space.

Submitted: 08:44:56 on 21st July 2010

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Topic: BIRTHDAY * BOWTHORPE * BLESSINGS

Nineteen 'Aidan and Hilda' people gathered at George and Mollie's Norwich house for an Agape meal and sharing of news and my 'year-long significant birthday' (lucky me).

The following day about seventy old friends came to a marvellous birthday drop-in at Bowthorpe Church Centre. Such kindness. Such creativity. I have so much to be grateful for. Sister Sally sent out invites, compiled a photo-log on screen. Brenda (who is still in the prayer ministry team since the time I left Bowthorpe) made a gorgeous cake. Local counclilors, and former head teacher and school-kids also came. 'I thought I would see a wizened old man with a stick', said one bubbly ex pupil - but you don't look like that at all.' The family of the the brother of Nigel, who lived in our house before he died a cames a young man. His nephew Joshua plays centre forward in football as did Nigel. Some were waiting to hear if Norwich would get the City of Culture award - in fact this was given to Derry, and I am sure this will benefit Derry.

I am touched that I am welcomed to sleep in my old bedroom . Some churches won't even let former vicars come near them, their present leaders are so paranoid. But the Stokes family live Christianity as a loving extended family. So Matthew moves out of his bedroom and I sleep in a Manchester United room: the duvet, pillow case, curtains, lampshade and wall posters are all Man U. Its a pity I support Newcastle. I know no other teenager who would be so Christian as to do this. Three cheers for Matthew.

Submitted: 17:18:48 on 16th July 2010

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Topic: SPEAKERS CORNER, HYDE PARK: MY SOAP BOX.

I attend the 50th anniversary of my cousin Ken’s ordination as a priest at Saint Aidan’s Church, Little Chalfont. Two days holiday in London follow. I spend the first at the famed Speakers Corner. There Yusuf gives me a book about Christ in Islam. An African shouts this question to his hearers: ‘Why are there no women prophets in the Qu’ran?’ (The answer he wants us to give is ‘Because Muhammed’s moon god is sexist’). An impressive Muslim cleric asks western Christians why they do not get rid of their evil rulers. Killing is legitimate, he says, in order to do this, though in fact Muslims do not do this: in Iran they exiled the Shah. It seems he had not heard of democracy. There was the predictable sour-faced, hell-fire Bible preacher. He had only one listener – plus a placard about the blood of Christ that alone saves anyone from their sins. I said to him ‘Smile, Jesus loves you.’ An American with cowboy hat and white trousers on which were emblazoned ‘Jesus is alive’ informed us that Christ the Messiah would come again once Israel’s boundaries from biblical times were restored. All this was rather pressurised, but two people did offer free hugs. Finally there was the big man with a coconut who said he was Lucifer - but his jokes were far too good to come from that source.

As I escaped to the seclusion of the lakeside I had two thoughts. One was that ego-centrics ruled at Speakers Corner whatever their religion. The second thought was how much better I could do!! I should explain that I did once speak at Hyde Park when I was a theological student. The Church Army trained us for a week, and gave us each a soap box. Should I do it again I asked myself? My get-out was that they don’t allow microphones, and now I have reached a certain age my voice would not carry. My solution is to put my soap box on line, so to speak. So tighten your seat belts. Get ready for my rant – and please understand that a soap box is not an academic exercise – it’s much harder than that..

Christian preachers go on about Jesus. Muslim preachers go on about the wicked west which should put God first. Jesus asked us all to pray to God ‘Your kingdom come on earth’. The Qu’uran calls everyone in the world to help create Ummah .. a world-wide community of justice and harmony under God. These are the same thing. Let us unite to create justice, respect, the honouring of good and God. Let us challenge and stimulate one another to do this better.

Muslims stress the first of The Ten Commandments – have no other god but the One God. Christians also believe this – they believe in One God. The discussion should not be about whether there is one God, but about what is the nature of the One God. If you have two people – one is individualistic, but the other has a nature that has a place for the other; one is self-sufficient, the other has a nature that gives and receives love – which would you say is the better, the greater person? Yes, the second. Christians say that God is like the second person. At the heart of God is a communion of Loves. The Prophet Muhammed taught that God cannot beget. Christians agree with that in the way Muhammed meant it. Christians do not teach that God begat the baby Jesus, they teach that it is in the nature of God eternally to always beget. Islam believes in the ninety nine names of God. God is all-powerful and can give expression to each of these qualities. Christians are saying that God the Father is always begetting God the Saviour who are always transmitting God the Spirit. In this understanding Christians are not splitting God: God is modelling love. Some Muslims teach that the first Christians did not believe in the Trinity – it was a heresy invented hundreds of years later. In Matthew’s Gospel chapter 26 verse eighteen Jesus commands his disciples to baptise all people ‘in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’

Muslims set a good example by praying in the rhythms of the sun. They remind us that Jews and Christians used to do this, but have lapsed. I have good news. All over the world Christians, too are now beginning again to pray in the rhythms of the sun. I am part of a movement of Christians who commit to do just this – not in exactly the same way – but several times each day. We may not copy the same way exactly; for us a relationship with God is more important than formal words. But let’s not argue about it – we can talk about this later as friends. For more information, see our web site. God bless you. Soap Box Ray.

Submitted: 12:35:10 on 12nd July 2010

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Topic: THE PERSON

People who come here to Holy Island to chill out or retreat for may ask someone to give one-off spiritual direction - clergy do this especially. This week Whitehouse has hosted such pilgrims. Typically, one person has become stale, another exhausted, or another discouraged. Do not be horrified, you blog-crawlers who know nothing of churches, and do not say 'They should know better'. Other hard-working people have Trades Unions or Professional Organisations to safeguard their working conditions: Clergy volunteer out of love, and have no protection from the mountains of impossible demands made upon them. They are heroes. Salute them.

The first thing in spiritual direction is to listen to the problem. I might follow that with a question: 'If church routines are not life-giving, what DO you find life-giving?' Three frequent responses are 'nature, relaxing with friends (for extraverts) and connecting with people who are not Sunday church-goers but who value my presence at some event (e.g. a funeral, a wedding, or a meal). These people want to live fuller human lives and it is a privilege that they sense that I might have some key that enables this.'

We might then visualise a different way of doing church. Suppose routine stuff that is not life-giving is ditched or delegated. Suppose the focus of church activity then becomes enjoying nature, creating socially enjoyable relaxations with varied friends , and learning how to be fully human beings? These would be signs of the Kingdom of God in our midst. They would remind us of Irenaeus' words 'The glory of God is seen through a human life fully lived.'

The term 'parson' is used in Britain by the general population to describe any priest or pastor. The idea behind it is that the reverend is a sign of what it means to really be a PERSON - not a celebrity, not an ecclesiastical apparatchik, but a fully human being. UP WITH PARSONS.

Submitted: 16:02:18 on 8th July 2010

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Topic: BULLET-PROOF ANGEL

John and Olive Drane discuss in White House garden preparations for the autumn visit of theologians from Fuller Seminary, USA . I will lead one day of their week on the island.

Knowing of John's role as a tutor in an evangelical Christian college and of his books that seek to connect with pagan forms of spirituality, I asked him about these connections. He told me this gob-smacking story: A traditional, left-brained evangelical minister suddenly had a charismatic experience. He informed John that a ten foot angel in a yellow bullet-proof vest was standing behind him. Ten years later John had a group in a street. On one side was a locked Gospel church with posters about hell-fire; on the other side was a bright, welcoming new age shop. They entered the shop as part of their research. The lady in the shop said she was a pagan. She told John that a ten foot angel in a yellow bullet-proof vest was standing behind him. The vision of the Christian and the vision of the pagan were identical. What do we make of that?

Submitted: 15:03:20 on 5th July 2010

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Topic: THE BALFOUR DECLARATION

Monica converses in the garden at White House. It is a riot of colours. In her quiet times God has given her a thought about a key to peace in the Middle East. As I understand it, in 1917 the British Government, which with France ruled lands of Palestinians to whom they had promised independence, issued the Balfour Declaration which offered Jews a home in part of this land, but guaranteed Palestinian land rights. This led the way for the League of Nations to create the state of Israel.

Britain's colonial arrogance and thoughtlessness in making incompaible promises, remains a cause of the confusion, bitterness and mistrust which bedevils this area today - compounded by religious and racist misconstructions. Knowing that we commit to 'healing of the land', Monica explained how she believes many people should prepare to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration in 2017 by acts of repentance, friendship and peace-making. I told her of our pilgrimage to the Holy Land last year with its reconciliation agenda, and of our commitment to move the world from fragmentation towards wholeness. Perhaps petitions and courses, retreats and friendship pilgrimages can help to break mind-sets that are now entrenched.

Submitted: 11:08:11 on 2nd July 2010

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Topic: A FORGE FOR CHARACTER FORMATION

Guri is a Norwegian missionary in Mali. She took her First Vows here before she returned. A fellow pilgrim learned that Saint Columba asked God for three gifts. 'I ask God for awareness, love and order', this pastor told me, 'can you advise me how I may develop these?' He told me that the Christian renewal movement, Korsvei, whose annual gathering I spoke at two years ago, has now started an Order which invites people to commit to four practices.

Three delightful Dutch Bible College students have chosen to stay here for their summer assignment - which is to understand Celtic Christian spirituality and lessons for leaders today. They do video interviews with us. By good timing, Scott, the apostolic founder of churches such as Lightouse, Musselbough, is also here. So they talk about the place of the Holy Spirit, intuition, villages of God, the Trinity, saints, indigenous/incarnational styles, personal growth... and so much else.

I have a new Personal Assistant. Brenda comes for 8 hours each week. We have cleared out the garden hut to create her an office. Rejoice with us.

Submitted: 11:25:32 on 30th June 2010

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Topic: HIS NAME IS S0LVE

Solve studied theology and gymnastics. He pastors a young church in northern Norway. He has a wife and two infants. He has walked Saint Cuthbert's Way with twenty other Norwegians. He has become an Explorer with Anam Cara - the Community of Aidan and Hilda in Norway. He converses over tea in my garden.

'I felt in my soul that there is something more. Our congregation is good; there is no conflict. People are friendly and trusting. For a time we looked to mega churches in USA for guidance. I felt this was not the way. I wanted to go deeper, to be more natural, but for too long we have forgotten about the desert, about daily prayer whose rhythms we can naturally sink into without striving, about the spiritual practices. Now I meet with a soul friend. My parents have given us a portable staircase, so I have a prayer room in our attic where I can pray even when the kids are noisy. But the church must find ways to bring this way to young families. Now we invite one family each week to a meal, and give them tools. It is a help to be linked to others who follow these Waymarks - to be part of a movement.'

I rise from our conversation as if I have wings like an eagle.

Submitted: 18:02:12 on 22nd June 2010

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Topic: HOLY ISLAND HOMILY

A man died. Someone asked his friend 'What did he leave?'. The friend paused. 'I think he left everything' he said. Since we can't take anything that perishes with us, why not build up assets that we can take with us, because they are part of the true selves that God intends us to be for ever? Kate Tristram introducing Matthew 6:19-23 at this morning's Eucharist at St. Mary's Church

Jacob comes to lunch. He would like to recruit five fellow students in Colorado to create a sort of modern monastery. Their only treasures will be the multiplication of little community houses where people who currently do not know Jesus will become colonies of heaven.

From homily to home truths?

Submitted: 09:26:59 on 18th June 2010

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Topic: GOD, RELATIONSHIP, SOCIETY

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We dismiss a merely individualistic society as selfish and unsustainable. So why believe in an individualistic God? We dismiss a person who falls in love with their own reflection as narcissistic, and regard a person who can love another as more whole. So why believe in a God whose nature has no capacity to love another? The dialogue between Muslims and Christians is not about whether there is one God - we all believe in one God - it is about the nature of God.

When the Prophet Mohammed declared that God did not beget, Christians can agree with his point. There was a time when a baby was not. There was never a time when the Divine Saviour was not. When Christians use the phrase 'only-begotten Son' they refer to an eternal expression of intimacy, of giving and receiving love, which is in the heart of God, echoes of which are in the core of our being.

Graham talked of this at our annual week-end at Redhill Centre, near Stratford, UK, and triggered a process of fresh thinking of what this could mean for the the kind of society we must now build. At Redhill I talked to Ghulam, an expert on Islam, who now cherishes the wonder of forgiveness and loving relationship at the heart of the Christian religion, even though so many Christians have failed to live it.

If you'd like a holiday near Shakespeare's Stratford book in at www.redhillcentre.co.uk

Submitted: 11:29:35 on 14th June 2010

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Topic: FOUNDATIONS AND FUTURES

Six hours at London Heathrow waiting for the plane to Glasgow. Jet lag on Sunday. Mail mountains on Monday. York on Tuesday - an enjoyable storytelling day at Saint Bede Centre. If everybody who now lives in our multi-cultural society knows the stories of those who shaped the land they now live in or emigrated from - turning warring, hostile races into a fellowship of Christ's friends - Patrick and Brigid, Aidan and Hilda and even Arthur - what might people inspired by our selfless heroes aspire to now?

Wednesday preparing for our Caim Council and annual week-end at Red Hill near Stratford I combed through the seven national web pages on our web site. What treasures are there. What more might come on line? Read Matt Lamont's blog on Australia New South Wales.

Submitted: 22:11:49 on 9th June 2010

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Topic: THE CANADIAN CHURCH

A senior churchman came for half a day to The Farne farm and retreat house here at Elmwood, Durham, Ontario. He spoke of research into the decline amd fall of organisations. If an organisation can bring in fresh energies when the plateau takes place it will revive, bit if it waits until the downward curve becomes too steep, it will become very difficult to pull things round or it will collapse. He feels the Anglican Church in Canada has left things too late. He believes bishops at last are fearful and realise that some new approach is needed, but they do not know what to do. My friend feels the Celtic approach and the new monasticism are so vital and urgent that they must be made known quickly to a much wider audience. Please contact me if you have suggestions.

Submitted: 02:06:37 on 4th June 2010

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Topic: OTTAWA

Randy and Sharon Goodfellow hosted me with much thought in their lovely home. On Friday Gregor came to supper. He is a former Sufi, a fine leader and meditator who has just begun an ordained ministry across the river. On Saturday St.John's Church, March was the venue for a day conference on Celtic Christian spirituality. This included a power point presentation of our Way of Life. That evening about twelve friends came to the house for refreshments and conversation. On Trinity Sunday St. Mary's Church invited me to preside and preach at an open air Celtic Eucharist in the woods in the church grounds. Randy made the altar. I preached on 'O Canada, land of the maple leaf, land of the Trinity' and had significant conversations afterwards. I can send this sermon as an attachment if you email me via the CA&H office.

After a swim in the garden pool Randy's business colleague, George, drove me to the airport. He is passionate to create a capitalism that makes a profit out of things the planet really needs. In their case they use waste materials (e.g. tree bark discarded by lumber firms) to create bio energy.

Barb and Bob Hudspeth met me at Toronto Pearson airport and drove me north for two hours to their farm and retreat house in the wilds of Elmwood. Here I chilled out, visited the cabin by the little lake and am catching up with emails.

Submitted: 17:40:24 on 1st June 2010

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Topic: PASTORS, BUSINESS PEOPLE AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTORS

On Monday the Doctorate in Ministry students had a special meal and I lectured on Celic models and new monasticism.'I am one of 20 pastors in the 3,200 member Chinese church' said one student. Several led Pentecostal churches. The Ghanese founder of a revival church was so humble he asked me to pray for him. It is hard for those who lead bustling churches to think 'outside the box' or not to control.

On Tuesday about seventy business people connected to Touchstone ascended to the 35th floor of the Toronto Harbour scyscraper - a stunning conference suite recently purchased by Touchstone. The founder, Norm Allen, who is a CA&H Explorer, enables those in this network to relate as soul friends and to draw on our own and other resources. Thank God that Canada has so many honest and god-honouring finance people. I spoke about how Celtic Christianity brings Christ into the centre of every area of life and can help us win a society that is in thrall to modern idols.

Wednesday I am at Manresa, the Jesuit Retreat Centre, with twenty members of the new Tyndale spiritual directors network. Some church leaders here now affirm these spiritual directors publicly and invite members of their churches to use them. Spiritual direction is taking off. I hope churches in other lands will take their cue from this. I am leading retreat sessions on soulfriendhsip, saints, rhythm, creation and culture-friendly mission in the Celtic tradition. There's such a warm response, despite, not because of, the sweltering heat.

Submitted: 20:27:05 on 27th May 2010

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Topic: THIN PLACES IN TORONTO?

Last time I led a retreat in Canada I invited retreatants, who had visited 'thin places' such as Iona and Lindisfarne in another country, to make a list of Canada's thin places, where the gap between earth and heaven is thin. They mentioned a few Indian sacred places, and one place in Quebec where people felt they had been visited by the Virgin Mary's mother. That was all. No one imagined fast and fashionable Toronto as a thin place.

This week-end I encountered places in Toronto that are starting to thin. I met a group who call themselves 'The Carrying Place', after the trail of this name, starting by the river Humber, that links different regions and was used by the Indian, British and French peoples. The name comes from the Mohawk term toron-ten, meaning 'the place where the trees grow over the water', an important landmark on Lake Simcoe through which the trail passed. The Carrying Place group seek to re-hallow ancient sites.

One of these is Toronto island. On Saturday we took a ferry to this island whose different parts include residents, tourist facilities, nature, and the Lakeside church. There we had a retreat . This included stories of how Ireland was transformed from a place beholden to idols in to a land of saints, scholars and 'desert' places of prayer.The vision is to make, with permission, this little-used church a place of regular retreat and prayer.

My hosts were Deborah and Duke Vipperman. He is pastor of Resurrection Church. Following an evening event at St. Olave's church I preached at the morning service at Resurrection church. Ten years ago this was at a low ebb. Now it is vibrant with multi-cultural expressions of Christ. One example especially appeals to me. A member named Chris is a musician who grew up in India. He holds public events such as Yeshua Satsang, where, with Indian instruments like sitar tabla and harmonium they offer their hearts in praise of the Sat Guru (the True Teacher) with bhajans and kirtans in Indian style. Skeptics and believers are welcomed.

Now it is Victoria Day - a public holiday. ('Who is Victoria?' I hear someone in Britain ask - the clue is she was a queen). All is closed. I crash out. But tonight I am honoured to meet with tutors in the doctorate of ministry school for a holiday meal and to share insights on the new monasticism.

Submitted: 19:42:01 on 24th May 2010

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Topic: THIN PLACES IN TORONTO?

Last time I led a retreat in Canada I invited retreatants, who had visited 'thin places' such as Iona and Lindisfarne in another country, to make a list of Canada's thin places, where the gap between earth and heaven is thin. They mentioned a few Indian sacred places, and one place in Quebec where people felt they had been visited by the Virgin Mary's mother. That was all. No one imagined fast and fashionable Toronto as a thin place.

This week-end I encountered places in Toronto that are starting to thin. I met a group who call themselves 'The Carrying Place', after the trail of this name, starting by the river Humber, that links different regions and was used by the Indian, British and French peoples. The name comes from the Mohawk term toron-ten, meaning

Submitted: 19:39:58 on 24th May 2010

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Topic: SPARKING CONNECTIONS IN TORONTO

I thought I worked hard back home until I came here to Tyndale University College and Seminary, Toronto, to give four 85 minutes lectures each day this week on themes such as 'How Pagan Ireland became a land of saints and scholars', 'How the Irish birthed an English church', ''Celtic Monastic churches and the emerging church today', and 'Celtic Spirituality in the 21st Century'. These were preceded (this morning) by a 7.0. I.T. check, and followed by talks with students, who seem electrified by these themes. I gave a taster of our new course 'Igniting the Flame' and they queued with lap-top stick to make copies. No more of these. Orders please to our office. When students have completed their written work I have to mark these and return them by July. These will be credits towards their year's qualification.

Tyndale has mushroomed from a small evangelical Bible College to an expanding enterprise that embraces 20 Christian denominations and many cultures. Chinese is the second language after English. The college has purchased the large St Joseph's Convent nearby, sponsors a spiritual direction network and training courses of Christian leaders. It also uses the Jesuit Manresa Centre where I will load a teaching retreat next week.

A gym break at 5.0 pm is nice. Last night three staff who have visited the Open Gate and two wives shared a meal: Arthur and Lorna de Boers, Paul and Marlene Bramer, and David Sherbinho. Arthur gave me a copy of his new book 'The Rhythm of God's grace'. Tonight Anne Crosthwaite of Contemplative Fire took me out. This Pentecost week-end looks so exciting it deserves a blog to itself. May the Spirit ignite us all.

Submitted: 02:58:10 on 21st May 2010

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Topic: CELTIC CHICKENS AND ASCENSION DAY IN KASLO, BRITISH COLUMBIA

I drove six hours between snow-capped mountains, on deer-frequented roads which require cars to have snow chains between October and April, over the 1,200m Monashee Pass, across Arrow Lake on a ferry, to the small town of Kaslo, where Karen and Dirk Pidcock were my generous hosts. Dirk has Voyager vows with our Community. Someone at Sorrento Centre told me they had Celtic chickens. I found out what this meant. Two chickens had been named after Celtic saints – Brigid and Hilda – but a bear had attacked the chicken house and they are no more. Never mind – there is still a rooster named Cuthbert.

The Pidcocks had invited folk from local churches to an Ascension Day gathering at their church of St. Mark. Following a 10.0 am service, at which I preached on Christ and creation, nearly thirty people gathered round large tables for a teaching day. Dirk asked me to give people a sense of who I am, what the Community of Aidan and Hilda is, what Lindisfarne is about, and four key things about Celtic Christianity that we can take hold of today.

The church has made a labyrinth in its grounds, which walkers on the riverside trail sometimes use. We had a lunch break beside it. For the final session Dirk invited people to say what they would like to know more about. A brief outline of early Celtic church history, how to make a pilgrimage to Lindisfarne, and how Kaslo church could develop as a village of God were three requests.

It was announced that we would eat supper at the local hotel, and anyone was welcome to join us. Among those who came was a couple of ex catholic non-churchgoers, and we had great conversation.

The journey back to Sorrento revealed a touch of exhaustion, so I stopped off at the at Crazy Creek Hot Baths and relaxed. We gotta keep the rhythm.

Submitted: 03:45:29 on 15th May 2010

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Topic: VOLCANIC ASH, CANADA AND MR. LIND

Volcanic ash grounded Glasgow planes. I left a day early, trained to London, took a cheap hostel in Southall and vowed never again to heave a month's luggage in three bags up and down so many steps. (Where's the monastic rhythm? I tried to step up rhythmically like the Shaolin monks).

I left Heathrow at 1.30 pm, changed planes at Calgary to Kelowna, hired a car, drove two hours to Sorrento, and arrived at 4.30 am British time - it was a lovely evening in Sorrento. The former director of Sorrento Anglican Retreat and Conference Centre left last year to become a bishop and original plans for my visit did not work out. Things are working out in a different, really inspired way. The new director, Chris Lind, has been here only days and we both feel that this time has been given us to share experiences and thoughts, and writings, and vision for how places can become villages of God. Incidentally, he says his is a Scandinavian name and he thinks the Vikings must have given Lindisfarne its name.

On the long plane flight I read the book Scott Brennan suggested 'Why Men don't go to church'. Scott wonders if he and I might collaborate to write about Celtic and modern examples of men who build, struggle, adventure to create God's kingdom on earth - which is true church. Here at Sorrento I meet men who are competitive in sport but compassionate and inclusive in the way they encourage youngsters. On Wednesday I drive five hours ro Kirk and Karen Pidcock for an Ascension Day gathering at their landholding - along with what he calls their Celtic chickens. Watch this space.

Submitted: 21:17:05 on 10th May 2010

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Topic: NEWBURY BAPTISTS AND OXFORD MUSLIMS

Howard and Maria Grace are exceptional peace-builders. I met Howard when he was an atheist. Now he is a Christian, but he believes God can speak to everyone and that too many Christians hinder this happening through their holier-than-thou approach. He facilitated my visit to Newbury Baptist Church to talk about Celtic Christianity and fresh insights into how we engage with our multi-culural world. Next day I spoke to Christians of an opposite approach - the Progressive Christianity Network. Then on to Oxford to learn from Peter Riddell about his peace-building work in the Middle East. At Oxford Islamic Centre we heard Professor Ron Greaves of Liverpool Hope University speak about the many and fast-changing facets of Islam in UK. We learned of a mosque that attracts 5,000 worshippers of 52 ethnicities. The Professor studies what happens to a religion when it moves from one location to another. He asks What is its core? What can be changed? From what? By what? To what? He quoted this verse from the Qur'an: We have created you tribes that you may know each other.

Submitted: 11:34:31 on 30th April 2010

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Topic: CANADA -CELTIC -EMERGING -SORRENTO

I am preparing for a speaking and pastoral tour of Canada. It starts in British Columbia at the Sorrento Centre May 9-14. We'll have time together to pray and explore Models of Emerging Church and Celtic spirituality.

I'd like to see you there. If you'd like to come, go online to sorrento-centre and make a booking.

Submitted: 18:00:53 on 26th April 2010

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Topic: I'M ON TWITTER

I swore I would not Tweet. Until the Enneagram course. I am a Type 4. Redeemed 4's go deep within to their place of authenticity. Then they have to connect, not by socialising with a few but by sharing with the many. So it has to be.

My first Tweet, which no one listened to, was: May I tweet with the melody of the lark, the wisdom of the owl, the impact of the wild goose, in the name of The Holy Dove. Google www.twitter.com/whitehouseviews

A hermit who lives in a prayer house visited. The prayer house is provided by the local church. The hermit welcomes people to Quiet Days there, and offers his services to the church on Sundays. I have long searched for such places. How good!

Submitted: 15:59:12 on 24th April 2010

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Topic: VOLCANIC CLOUDS - IT'S STILL EASTER!

The Spirit moved as I led prayers at the 8.0 am Eucharist at St Mary's on Holy Island this morning. Manfred, who was prevented by volcanic clouds from flying back to Germany from our London Caim Council meeting, was present. He pressed me to put these on the blog - but can I remember?

They began with an echo of a prayer of Gregory of Nazianzus.'Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with him. Yesterday I was dead with Christ; today I am alive with him. Yesterday I was in despair; today Christ's hope fills my being.'

Yesterday we thought humans controlled the natural world and God was peripheral. The grounding of planes by the volcanic clouds reminds us of Jesus' words that only the meek shall inherit the earth. In future may we travel wisely and sparingly. May we eat what comes from the earth we know and in the season, so that the earth may be replenshed and the poorest in lands without plenty may eat as well as sell the food they produce. May those who serve in finance and government put money in its place and seek the well-being and integrity of the earth and all its people.'

Now you can continue ...

Submitted: 09:12:09 on 20th April 2010

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Topic: A BIRTHING IN IRELAND?

Banners in the languages of Cornish, Manx, Breton, Welsh, Scottish and Irish brightened the opening event of the Pan Celtic Festival at Dingle. The organisers most generously allowed our, mainly English-speaking group, to contribute to the programme. A coach-load of Welsh-speakers joined the Wednesday pilgrimage led by Mairt Hanley, a new Explorer and Dingle’s Church of Ireland minister. We visited three ancient monastic sites, including the Gallerus Oratory, and returned along the Dingle Way by the shore. I contributed meditations. The much loved Msg Padrai O’Fiannachta enthused us with Irish and Welsh bardic literature. He has turned the defunct convent into The Diseart, a cultural and spirituality centre which draws many USA students to its programmes. On Friday several of us gave talks on Celtic spirituality. And on Saturday the Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick, formerly leader of the Corrymeela Community, led us in discussion about new monastic expressions of Christianity. This was timely in view of the crisis affecting the Roman Catholic Church. |

Dominick, a Pentecostal-style pastor who has opened a centre named My Father’s House brought some singers. He told Mairt that God is bringing something to birth. Mairt invited me to tell the story of The Community of Aidan and Hilda, and to introduce us in a service which will be broadcast. Mairt has gifts as a lecturer, archeologist and friend which will unfold. As I relinquish my tasks my thoughts turn to the development of our studies programmes. Could there be a link with places such as the Diseart – maybe a summer school? Fr Jim Sheahy leads a pilgrimage to Northumbria next month.

The service will be broadcast at 10.45 on June 20 by RTE Radio 1 Extra, long wave 252 and can be downloaded from its web site for seven days after that. In case you forget – here is the message.

I come as a pilgrim walking the saints ways of Dingle. I bring you greetings from And’s outpost in England, the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where Saint Aidan went from boyhood beside the Shannon to manhood beside the Saxon. Aidan was a bishop, but he refused to put on airs or abuse the trust the people placed in him. If he was given money by fat cats who wanted to buy influence, he gave it to the poor and carried on as before. When he was given a royal horse to speed up his mission, he gave it to a beggar and continued to walk everywhere. Aidan was a great walker. He was one of those many Irish pilgrims for the love of God who for ever left their beloved homeland and lay down their lives to make another people great – in Aidan’s case that the unruly, barbaric English might learn the gentle ways of Christ.

That was a long time ago, yet Aidan’s example, almost forgotten by his own people, has inspired a modern movement of spiritual seekers across the world. What an extra-ordinary thing that this should happen at the very time when people, disappointed by failings in organised religion, put their trust in the Celtic Tiger and during the boom years we fell in love with the things money could buy. But it could not last. And deep down we knew that we could not take those material things with us when we die. That is why people are asking ‘Where do we head for now? We don’t want to go back into a closed box nor fall off a ladder of plastic gold’

Columbanus thought of people as guests of the world. Why don’t we make this global village our home and earth our friend, and let our feet follow our heart until we find places of resurrection? That is what those who follow our Community’s Way of Life, along with many others, seek to do. Columbanus also advised that as we walk the world we hold a book in each hand: in one, the book of Scripture, in the other, the Book of Nature. If we comb through the Bible we find pearls which are like love letters from God. Why don’t we store these love letters in our hearts so that they inspire our every step? If we become still and truly present to nature, star and stone beckon to us, and we learn to flow like water, soar like birds and run like deer. Those who follow our Way of Life make a daily practice of learning in these ways. Dingle will host sporting races of running, cycling, swimming and kayacking. We encourage people also to be Athletes of the Spirit.

At Bangor monastery, where Columbanus trained, they taught that a person with a soul friend, an anamchara, is like a human being without a head. So we, along with ever growing numbers, invite a soul friend who is an Athlete of the Spirit to accompany us on our journey - someone with whom we can be ourselves and entrust our deepest thoughts.

We had a reading about a prophet named Elijah who went into a desert place and listened to God. Elijah actually started a school of people who learned to listen to God. Listening is almost a lost art, so we are trying to develop groups who learn to listen to God. If you would like to be one of them, please contact me through our Community of Aidan and Hilda web site. The New Testament reading described how Jesus sorted out someone who felt a hundred voices were tearing him apart. I know that feeling, too. The hubbub of soundbites and adverts, invitations and advice and expectations within and without – how do I choose the right way? We pledge to create spaces of silence as well as work, play as well as duties so that we develop a good life rhythm, with time to think.

I have spoken to priests in the last few days. ‘We have got to learn to let go’ said one – then there’s no knowing what new thing God will do. When we modern people make our promises to let go of our own control and let the divine spirit deep within lead us, we have a little ceremony. We call it Making the Voyage of the Coracle. We read a piece from the Voyage of Saint Brendan, who set out in his coracle within sight of this church. I have witnessed young and old people Make their Voyage of the Coracle in places as varied as the Australian outback and a Norwegian fjiord. When they have pledged to leave behind all that holds them back from following the call, we say words like these to them, and we extend them to you, today:

God is calling you to leave behind everything that stops you setting sail in the ocean of God's love. If you have heard the call of the Wild Goose, the untameable Spirit of God: be ready for the Spirit to lead you into wild, windy or well-worn places in the knowledge that God will help you restore a weakened church to its mission a fragmented world to its wholeness

Submitted: 12:45:59 on 12nd April 2010

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Topic: FROM THE FERRY TO IRELAND

Welcome to my first blog from a ferry to Ireland.

Northern Cross pilgrims walked over 100 miles in atrocious weather to arrive at Holy Island on Good Friday, the sun at last smiling upon them. Fr. Gerard Hughes led a meditation at The Open Gate each morning of that week. He urged us to pay attention to a feeling more than to an 'ought'. On Good Friday my 'ought' was to sit in a pew for three hours during the 'Three Hours at the Cross'. My feeling was 'Walk to the shore to greet the pilgrims, give them cards of welcome, and invite some to use my bath'. I followed the feeling. Four women asked to use my bath. I had never used it. I discovered two things: that the hot water came through the cold tap. and that it takes a woman to make a bath last one hour.

Now I journey to the 39th Pan Celtic International Festival at Dingle. A friend named Mairt asked the organisers if the programme could include some Christian spirituality. So I will help lead a pilgrimage along Saint Brendan sites, a symposium on Ecology and Celtic Christianity, a talk about The Community of Aidan and Hilda, and a Sunday service to be broadcast on radio. Pray for us.

Excuse me - the sea is rough. I feel sick.

Submitted: 18:17:38 on 5th April 2010

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Topic: THE ENNEAGRAM

A week at the Open Gate with Enneagram practitioner Dorothy Neilson. I am Type Four of the nine types. I learn that at our worst we are moody, self-concerned, in a world of our own, and feel excluded (even so, I am still glad I am not a Perfectionist No. 1!). But we can all be redeemed, Dorothy informs us. So at my best I am creative, deep, loving, and integrate my personal journey with the outside world in order to contribute to a society that is more whole.

How does knowledge of the nine types help us to live better in our home, workplace and faith communities? We had 'light bulb moments' as we discovered what helps and hinders those of different types to give their best. Number twos and number nines don't like deadlines (I knew that - you bet I did). But I learn that it helps them if we agree together on a deadline rather than think the Christian thing is to go along with never delivering anything on time in order not to upset them.

What about 'the complete human being'? What about Jesus? Dorothy's husband Peter concluded our week by suggesting that most people (note this all you who take part in the coming UK elections) pursue goals in this order: 1) Achievemement. 2) Significance 3) Sustainability 4) Acceptance (the last two being unfulfilled longings). Jesus (and this is an idea to think about during Holy Week), starts with 1) acceptance (of his Divine Father's will and of his being the Son) 2) Significance - which he finds in being true to himself and his call 3) Sustainability - he is sustained because he is one with the Source and does not dissipate energy trying to pursue and patch up after false goals 4) Achievement. The outcomes of his life might not have been exactly what he first thought or hoped for, they involved the Cross, but he died achieving his life's work knowing it would have everlasting good repercussions.

We can turn round the other way and follow Christ's sequence ourselves. Have a good Holy Week

Submitted: 11:35:39 on 26th March 2010

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Topic: FROM EGO TO TRUE SELF

I prepare to lead a small Lent retreat on this theme next week. It is possible there are still a space or two left. Some Bible Christians don't like words like ego and true self. The ego is our tendency towards not being true to ourselves.. The true self is our tendency to be true to ourselves. Sin versus God?

Twenty four people squashed into my front room the other day to celebrate a significant birthday. The Kahn brothers brought meals from their award-winning Tandoori restaurant in Berwick. They said 'You are a man of God so we will give you free vegetables.' That's a new spin on capitalism.

Gerard Hughes gave me a card with these intriguing words: 'It's not how old you grow but how you grow old'. Thank you to all who sent me cards and good wishes, and the raspberries, strawberries and herbs to plant in the garden as my contribution to sustainable living.

Submitted: 12:36:23 on 11st March 2010

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Topic: HOODS, HOLY ISLAND AND SIMPLICITY

'Hoodies', in Britain at least, are young shop-stealers who avoid detection by security cameras by covering their head in a hood. That is one image. A different image is that of clergy of a certain type who wear long black clerical cloaks topped with a hood. For years I thought that to wear one of these might be a bit like the pharisee-show-offs whom Jesus disapproved of. Until I reached a certain age and experienced a certain Holy Island winter plus a daily early morning 90 minutes in a freezing church. So I purchased one of these garments - for purely practical reasons, you understand.

However... I am committed to simplicity, but the hood on my nice new cloak is detachable. The moment I leave my door the North Sea winds blow it off my head. I do contortions with one hand and try to get it back on, and again and again. The hood then detaches from its 'pop-ins'. I get home and try to re-attach it. But these are not simple. It takes several attempts before they are all popped nicely in. Only for the hood to blow off again.

I am reading a book called 'How to Get things Done'. What should I DO? What would you do? ... In order to tick off what this book says I must do about such conundrums, I have just sent the following email to the cloak-makers - who, by the way, are an excellent and personalised business:

'Dear Jilli, My cloak arrived safely. It is lovely. Except for the hood. This blows off my head as soon as I leave the door of my Holy Island House. I try to get my hand around it and pull it on again. Most difficult. Several times a week this causes the hood to detach from its metal ‘pop ins’. To get these in place again takes several attempts– they don’t go with one push. And I am committed to simplicity! So may I suggest that you develop a new line known as ‘Holy Island Hoods’. The hood could be non-detachable (or detachable in an improved version), and have a ribbon or velcro fixture to ensure that it is wind-proof and secure round the face.'

Watch out for a new line. Let's continue the Simplicity Revolution - with creative innovation.

Submitted: 10:09:38 on 4th March 2010

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Topic: GOD OF SURPRISES

It is delightful that Fr Gerry Hughes - the Jesuit and author of such classics as 'God of Surprises' - is on Holy Island awhile. We had what I hope will be the first of many chats.

He told me that Ignatius Loyola's best friend thought that Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises should be made accessible to Jews and Pagans as well as to all Christians - in modern terms that means everyone. In his ministry Gerry has tried to get such spiritual treasures 'out of the church box' and into the lap of many. When he had a post at St. Beauno's Retreat Centre, they realised that they could fill it just with oft-visiting priests. So they introduced a points system. Poor people, lay people, unchurched people got plus points. A card-carrying communist got 8 plus points - as many as a bishop!

Gerry believes that ecumenism and world peace-making are closely linked. In the past, nations have tried to secure peace by eliminating the enemy. (Let's not go into how churches have dealt with their opponents). The ecumenical and peace-building way is to establish friendship, listen to the other, try and agree on a process for making decisions or agreeing to disagree without manipulation.

Let integrity rule. What say you?

Submitted: 10:20:05 on 26th February 2010

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Topic: SAINT COLUMBA'S HOUSE, WOKING

The Nursing Sisterhood of St. Peter, in the leafy outskirts of Woking, Surrey was dying, but it owned valuable land. The trustees sold part of it for £2 and ¾ million, and used this money to build a modern conference and retreat centre with internet, TV and telephone access throughout, which can accommodate 34 overnight and 60 day guests. They employed Revd. Owen Murphy to develop its ‘mission identity’ during the first year or so, and thereafter to make it pay. He engages in this with Reverend Mother, who, with another aging sister, lives in the grounds, and with a newly recruited pastoral group. The centre is called St. Columba’s House and was opened last year by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Owen invited our Community to explore with them how they might develop ‘Celtic Community’, and become the first Celtic Spirituality resource centre in southern England. He pointed out that Surrey was once occupied by the Celtic tribe the Atrebates. Members of their pastoral group hope to visit Iona and The Open Gate on Holy Island.

On Monday I listened to the ‘God intuitions’ of the pastoral group. A common thread was the feeling that ‘doing church’ the old way had no future. Christians need to journey with the spiritually hungry where they are, to have places to which they may come without being caged, and to offer spiritual direction. A key question was: Could this happen at St Columba’s unless it was staffed by people who modelled a daily rhythm of corporate prayer?

We then discussed the question ‘What’s in a name – could that contain a clue as to our calling?’ Evidently the original St Columba’s House was built in the 1960’s and given that name after some sisters, for some unexplained reason, made a retreat on Iona. Their altar and Celtic Cross was made of Iona marble. The story and significance of Columba was explored, and of the Mission Iona sent to the English under Aidan. Reverend Mother has named the new rooms after saints which include Aidan and Hilda. On Tuesday Owen and I prayer walked the grounds. On Ash Wednesday we began the season of Lent together with prayer and reflection. Watch this space.

Submitted: 09:47:47 on 16th February 2010

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Topic: WHAT IS A GUARDIAN?

The last blog brought this response from Maureen - maybe she thinks I'm trying to be God

What is a guardian? One who cares Of others issues As well as theirs Who cares for flocks but lets them be their exclusive individuality No two people are the same Each has a self A gift a name So arms reach out The world to hold Without fear or doubt Within the fold And so with all technology To reach the folk wherever they be So each new person Has their way Life moves on We cannot stay Voyagers travel to places new worldly places Spiritual too, Bound together God's will to do And so this is my heartfelt prayer Gods gifted people will be there Hold us Lord Our Guardian be To journey on By Spirit free That gifts of people May not be missed For Superman does not exist Only mortals brought together Powered by your love WHATEVER

Submitted: 20:41:22 on 11st February 2010

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Topic: HOW TO FILL A VACANCY

We are preparing a process of leadership transition. I wrote a paper on the role of a Guardian which had twenty five sections. This reminded Paul Martin, our Acting USA Guardian, of the church that interviewed candidates for a post: 'We want someone with a Ph.D in theology and a diploma in counselling skills, but someone who can drive a van will do.'

Penny took a different approach. She suggested we should think about the Angel Gabriel, who informed Mary, who would become mother of Jesus, of her unique appointment. What might the angel be saying to candidates for our post, she wondered?

Over to you. And the angels.

Submitted: 20:25:57 on 4th February 2010

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Topic: ECO TIPPING POINT

Thirty six people squeezed into out Retreat House and were fed with delicious food cooked by a great team - it was the annual Houseparty for Voyagers. The subject of the Teaching Day was 'The Eco Tipping Point and our Way of Life.' I kicked it off with two lectures. In the Celtic tradition we take the four elements seriously. So I zoomed in on the four elements in order to grasp something of the planet’s malaise.Here are a few highlights.

EARTH

There are three great stretches of rain forest left in the world: the Amazon, the Central African and the SE Asian rain forests. These have huge long-term value for the planet. Scientists variously estimate that between 50% to 90% of all living species find their homes in tropical rain forests. When a rainstorm above the Amazon ceases clouds of moisture rise from the trees to form new rain clouds that the wind blows west to provide rain elsewhere. We depend upon these forests for rain.

Yet every minute a section of forest the size of three football pitches is cut down in the Amazon alone. This inflicts a deadly wound to the integrity of the earth’s web of life. Scientists estimate that recuperation might take 100 million years. Before deforestation soil erosion was 0.3 tons per hectare per year; after deforestation the rate rises to 90 tons per hectare.

What can we do? Recycle paper. Buy trees in a rain forest through a charity that buys forest zones so that multi-nationals can't. Support email petitions asking governments to regulate against, name and shame multi-national companies into ceasing such destruction.

If you wish to read about tissues that focus around the other three elements please download the talks from the web site.

Submitted: 12:26:08 on 1st February 2010

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Topic: POTPOURRI

I jogged in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park, which had just become snow-free. So I thought. Packed ice on a climbing footpath sent me bang on my back, and up with a damaged wrist. Berwick Infirmary put it in a sling. It proved not to be broken.

Two teeth extracted three days later. Let's light that wood fire and relax by it as I watch Dragons Den. But we have much to prepare for our annual members Houseparty next week. I have to prepare a power point presentation on the planet's eco crisis and our Way of Life. I study books by Al Gore, James Lovelock, Alastair McIntosh, and trawl eco web sites and the Pope's New Year Message on Ecology and the Human Crisis.

Not to mention checking the proofs of a fresh edition of THE JOY OF SPIRITUAL FITNESS. We have no vicar in our parish church. I daily share in the 7.30 am, 8.0 am and 5.30 pm church services and in the 12.00 noon and 9.0 pm services in our chapel.

In the office Naomi reminds me I need to write an annual report of things achieved last year and goals for this year, to go out with our February magazines and renewal forms. At a deeper level I think night and day about the leadership. There is much work to prepare the way for wider, more creative forms of leadership to emerge. I write a twenty four section reflection on the Role of a Guardian and email this to twelve concerned people.

Naomi, my PA, helps to plan my visit to Canada next May. Fresh invitations have come since the first plans were made. We re-schedule flights and I will stay on three more days. Graham will take my place at the Edinburgh conference to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1910 Edinburgh Confernece to Evangelise the World in One Generation.

< I need an intern, rather like those volunteers who help MP's and learn inside knowledge of the ways of Parliament. We need sponsorship and candidates to volunteer. I look forward to hearing from you....

Submitted: 20:27:09 on 22nd January 2010

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Topic: THE WORST OF TIMES AND THE BEST OF TIMES

There are times in my life when others see in me only the glow of inspiring words on a page. There are times in my life when people see only the gashes of fragmented parts of my being. I am the same person. There are times when these two come together. Such as now. The worst of times are the best of times. Could it be that there cannot be one without the other?

Can this truth apply to nations? People say ‘How can you see anything good or of God in the Haiti earthquake?’ For the dying and destitute it is indeed the worst of times. Yet the unprecedented scale of the tragedy is drawing an unprecedented response of love in action; possibilities of food-sharing by churches and agencies, building something beautiful out of what is broken. Blessing coming out of calamity. The worst of times and the best of times.

Submitted: 14:33:46 on 18th January 2010

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Topic: CAN WE BOTH HIBERNATE AND GIVE?

We commit to 'go at winter's pace in winter' and use the season to store knowledge and prepare good infrastructures for the coming three seasons of growth, out-going and harvesting. You might call this 'positive hibernation'. But how do we avoid stagnation and do we cease to be giving people?

On this snowbound island Ian, the warden of Marygate House, who enrolled as a coastguard, took the coastguards' 4by4 vehicle to mainland supermarkets with a shopping list from housebound folk on the island. I popped in with food for a few neighbours too.

Today I read in Waymarks for the Journey these words of former USA evangelist Billy Graham: God has given us two hands - one for receiving and the other for giving . So throughout each winter day I try to receive and I try to give in one way or another - by an act, a piece of writing, something I prepare for use later on, or by prayer. Yesterday I did a phone interview with trans world radio. Today the Haiti tragedy surely calls for a gift to an Aid agency.

Submitted: 14:05:57 on 14th January 2010

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Topic: SNOW, SAND AND CRACKPOTS

Holy Island is snowbound for the first time in the living memory of the younger generation. Meanwhile some of our members in Norway, who, unlike the British, take snow for granted, are walking in the sands of Egypt to the hermitages of Saint Antony and Saint Paul the Hermit. Computers still work - and I am touched by responses to my New Year Message about the Year of the Crackpot. If you want to read all about it, subscribe to THE AIDAN WAY admin@aidanandhilda.org.uk

Submitted: 14:15:10 on 8th January 2010

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Topic: CAFES, CLUBS AND CELTIC VISION

My New Year Message is on site beside the Blog. Meanwhile I hear from my namesake, a Methodist named Maureen Simpson who writes: RE Topic: CAFES, CLUBS AND MOTHER WINSOME GET THE METHODISTS OUT OF THEIR CHURCHES . Wow we struggled to get them out of dangerous pews onto lovely red soft chairs, They are still playing musical chairs because we have 2 rows less, and we have 140 chairs for 24 people.

I looked for God in the church But found rows of chairs And rows of posh frocked people Claiming they were theirs

I sought him in the doctrine Rules and Hats galore I sought him in theology But knew there was much more

I stepped aside from all this My self to explore And there I found bliss He gave me more and more

I visited creation hospitality and care And then inside my inner self I found my God was there

Submitted: 16:10:31 on 31st December 2009

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Topic: CHRISTMAS PEARLS

At Christmas we think of the old, and they receive gifts for their comfort. But a man approaching ninety, who did not think of his age as a problem, or as a reason not to keep giving out, sent me a gift. He described his age as ‘the Methuselah tendency’. Those of you who study the Bible will know that the seemingly ageless Methuselah just went on and on until God took him.

In his last week on Holy Island, Brother Damian reminded the four mad people who had struggled at dawn along the ice rinks called pavements to the unheated church that John the Forerunner, who prepared the way for Christ, is celebrated at the summer equinox because each day thereafter diminishes, and he decreased each day so that Christ might increase. And that is also why Christ’s birth is celebrated after the winter equinox, for the light thereafter increases each day, and as we add our light to the Christ-lights of the world, the cosmic Christ light increases. I thought that was OK for the Roman Empire and the northern hemisphere but not for the southern hemisphere where that symbolism does not work. Actually, a symbolism just as powerful is possible. As the outer darkness increases each day the inner light shines brighter each day.

Submitted: 10:43:10 on 23rd December 2009

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Topic: TOOTHACHE, COPENHAGEN AND THE X FACTOR.

This week I blog from the micro to the macro. I’ve had raging toothache, a new dentist, painkillers and antibiotics. So I was laid up for the farewell celebrations for our Holy Island Vicar, Brother Damian. Bad but small matter.

Fifty days ago the UK Prime Minister said we had fifty days to save the earth, but the Copenhagen summit ended with no legal agreements. Low-lying nations will now certainly be washed out. The ‘all must sign up or none will sign up’ approach is not the only option – and it appears culturally abusive to countries like China. Why not a vast internet campaign in which countries and organisations commit to X, Y, and Z and ask who will be next to sign up? With gathering momentum, few countries would want to be branded as the ecological black sheep. Let’s also take this thing out of the hands of the control freaks. We need a spirituality that cherishes the earth because that is what humans are called to and earth deserves, and because we reap what we sow. As we learn to commit to one another at the local level, we can build up a feel among nations for what it means for us to commit to one another.

Take heart from the fact that Simon Cowell’s X Factor winner sold fewer CD’s than the ‘Rage against the Machine’ counter revolution on Facebook. Jesus helped people see through the religious set-up run by Pharisees that was all show. Is today’s equivalent the Cult of Celebrity? Sherlock Holmes sussed this out. He said that celebrity is the last refuge of the fool. Let’s have a revolution of the real.

Submitted: 09:13:51 on 21st December 2009

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Topic: BE PREPARED

I have a toothache and eye cataracts. I am still alive only because there is a free health service. Without electricity, which is mostly sourced from oil, this would collapse. The oil is fast running out. Thousands of world leaders convene at Copenhagen. The poor nations are heartbroken - for the rich nations want won't discuss legally binding agreements. I go to church in its season of Advent. Advent is a call to wake up, realise things are urgent, and prepare for a world that is fit for God's creatures and God's children to live in. I buy Professor Lovelock's book - a Wake Up Call to save the planet laced with this old man's geo-physical possibility thinking. I buy Al Gore's latest book on saving the planet, which gives scientific data, clear-cut issues, and practical action plans. Al Gore recognises the need for a universal, accessible spirituality. We can only save the planet if top-down regulations are matched by grass-roots awareness and care. People who have made a god of 'freedom' (that is, my freedom to have power and riches) oppose plans to save the planet as a Communist plot. But the grass-roots spirituality IS about the free choice of millions. No one has an excuse for evading this challenge.

Submitted: 09:07:53 on 15th December 2009

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Topic: HAPPINESS AND THE NKECHI PROJECT

I pass someone in the street who is always in pain. Be Happy I say. She says I Am Always Happy. I say I am miserable - can she tell me how to be happy? She points between her eyes. Think it. Feel it. Tell it. I ask her to explain. If my mum dies, she says, I shall feel sad, but that is transient. Deeper than that sadness is joy. That is eternal.

I enter the office. Naomi is using her private time to make and sell Christmas cards and gift certificates for her charity project - The Good Shepherd Orphanage in Bamenda, Cameroun. Sister Jane, the orphanage’s founder, saw many children orphaned through Aids who needed a safe home. After their parents have died, the children are homeless, desperately hungry, left to fend for themselves, in need of shelter and love. Sister Jane turns none away. These women selflessly care for the children, and also spend hours sewing beautifully ornate designs onto fabulous African printed fabrics. Some weeks they make and sell enough to get food for the children - and at other times there is no food at all.

At present they have a large number of babies in their care, and they cannot afford to buy the milk these babies need. Naomi says: I wanted to help, so what could I do? I set up the Nkechi project. Nkechi is a female name in Igbo, a West African language. It means Gift from God. Through the Nkechi project I hope to raise enough money to feed all 90 children in the Good Shepherd Orphanage for at least a year. £8 will feed one child for a full month! I have designed and made Christmas card packs, and also Gift Certificates, which purchase meals for the children (there are various amounts) and can be bought to give as presents for family or friends.

To get catalogues and order forms email admin@aidanandhilda.org.uk

Submitted: 15:24:56 on 7th December 2009

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Topic: AUTHORS, DEADLINES AND INSPIRATIONS

Waymarks for the Journey: daily prayer to change your world is in the bookshops. I am gratified with feed-back that this is a most significant book. I, too, feel this in my bones.

Tomorrow is the deadline for sending a manuscript which will for the first time provide us with a complete one volume hardback prayer book for the post 9/11 world which connects with the soil and the streets as well as with the Scriptures and the Spirit.

My publisher, Kevin Mayhew rings. Yes, he will get the manuscript on time. He and his wife Barbara are reading Waymarks each day. They love it. There are the germs of two new books in it. They really would be worthwhile. When could I provide them? I tell him that we are in the middle of change-over processes in the Community that need my best attention, that I have spiritual formations to attend to, a chapter on new monasticism for another publisher to write. Like the poor who are always with us, so is the novel on Aidan I am always wanting to finish. We agree that I will not write an Advent course for which I have no great passion, and that I will write the two books for whose subjects he rightly intuited I have a passion.

Submitted: 11:30:59 on 30th November 2009

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Topic: THE BARD IN US

At our St. Hilda’s-tide retreat at Saint Oswald’s Pastoral Centre, near Whitby we had sessions on Holy Learning, Holy Laughter and Bards. I was urged to disseminate some of this, so here are a few of the thoughts about Bards.

Ancient communities had bards. Modern communities need them. There is a Bard in each of us. You are God’s poem – a work of art still in progress writes the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:10.

The Bard in us gathers the memory – the stories, the values, the meaning - of a people that otherwise would be lost. The Bard lets these gestate, makes them her own, expresses them in pictures and words that linger long in the hearers.

The Bard in us follows a river to its source, a tree to its roots, a people to its soul, and the planet to its heart. The Bard in us needs to ask: What sources and values do I need to connect with? Where is the Bard in me? What do I need to reveal to the world of what I am discovering? How may I best do this?

The journey we begin as we answer the call is long, and filled with all that we have been and all that we will become.

The Journey of each person to become the Bard that they are might take us through the cycle of the year, bringing a greater sense of connection with all of nature, and with the ancient heritage of the wisdom tradition.

The aim of this journey is to help us express the Bard in us more fully in the world. It may do this by helping us to: discover the sources of our creative power, so that our gifts may flow more fully. Teaching us awareness of sacred space, the elements, the circle, the use of ritual - rituals that help us attune to the natural world, to the rhythms of the earth and moon, the sun and stars in a way that brings access to the deeps of our soul- - that part of us which feels at one with all life.

For the Christian, Christ – not the neutered Christ confined to bell, book and candle – but the Christ of the Gospels and of the End of all Things, the Christ of every day and every way, is the heart and sum of all wisdom.

And no one is too simple or too isolated, too young or too old to be part of this holy stream of wisdom. In his book on Discovering the Welsh Tradition, Praise Above All, A M (Donald) Allchin introduces us to the poems of a little educated, but Christ-centred, tenant farmer’s daughter named Ann Griffiths from the foothills of mid-Wales who died in relative obscurity in 1805, aged 29, leaving just over 70 stanzas in the Welsh language which contain some of the great Christian poetry of Europe. When Donald became aware of these poems through an English translation, he marvelled that Ann seemed to carry and express a whole tradition – a living sense of the presence of the past and the nearness of eternity, earthed in the practice of praise. Somehow, those poems connected with the ancient Celtic monks’ nature poetry and the recent rousing Methodist hymns and so much in between.

Submitted: 10:14:03 on 23rd November 2009

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Topic: DIVINE LEARNING FROM GLADSTONE TO NOW

Gatherings to honour the bi-centenary of Britain’s four times Prime Minister, who did much to ameliorate the plight of prostitutes and the uneducated at home, and the Bulgarians and Irish abroad, were held this week in London and at St. Deiniols Library, Hawarden, which he bequeathed to the nation, and where I met some of the guests. Gladstone was begged to donate the library to a famous public school or university, but he insisted its purpose was to make learning accessible to people who could not go to such institutions. He himself collected over 32,000 books, and he read 23,000 of them, many of which are annotated with his careful notes. He welcomed locals into his home to use the books. At the age of 83 he carried on his hobby of chopping trees for firewood, and transported his books, wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow, to a tin-roofed building he built to house his national library. |He bequeathed the equivalent of two million pounds to endow this, asking that students and clergy, being impecunious, should have subsidised rates. There are now over 250,000 books in this remarkable residential library.

Gladstone had a passion for divine learning to become the people’s pastime. The present versatile Warden, Peter Francis, finds a hundred and one ways to keep this vision alive and up-to-date – from getting institutions to sponsor scholarships, marketing its excellent cuisine for week-end tourist groups, linking with he local university, and networking with groups like our own Community of Aidan and Hilda to offer week-long or one day courses. The latest development is to get Islamic sponsorship and engage in Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Queen Victoria found Gladstone annoying. His wife informed him that if he had not been a great man he would have been an awful bore! But I find him an inspiration for holistic politics and I would like to emulate him in fostering divine learning among the peoples of the world.

Submitted: 17:14:49 on 15th November 2009

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Topic: POETS OF WALES

Twenty five leaders attended the symposium on Celtic and Monastic Roots for the Emerging Church which I led at St Deiniol's Residential Library, Wales. It was good to meet old and new friends and also to savour Wales' sacred sites. We made afternoon visits to Saint Winifrede's Holywell and to the Spirituality Centre named after her uncle, Saint Beuno. On the Sunday after it ended I left early to visit the Llyn Peninsular and sacred sites that have not been overlaid by Roman or English influence. After looking out to Bardsey Island, where it said 20,000 saints are buried, I entered Aberdaron Church, where the poet R S Thomas was parish priest. I once sought permission from his son, who lives much of the time in the far east, to quote a poem in one of my books - and met with difficulty. His son breezed into the church, with the translator of R. S's new Chinese edition, and he said he was happy for me to use any of the poems but if I was Rupert Murdoch he'd send a large bill! I liked these words, displayed on the wall, from the poem The Moon in Lleyn:

The last quarter of the moon of Jesus gives way to the dark: the serpent digests the egg. Here on my knees in this stone church, that is full only of the silent congregation of shadows and the sea's sound, it is easy to believe that Yeats was right. Just as though choirs had not sung, shells have swallowed them; the tide laps at the Bible; the bell fetches no people to the brittle miracle of the bread.... Religion is over, and what will emerge from the body of the new moon, no one can say.

But a voice sounds in my ear: Why so fast, mortal? These very seas are baptised. The parish has a saint's name time cannot unfrock. In cities that have outgrown their promise people are becoming pilgrims again...

I squeezed into the very last little balcony seat for the bi-lingual Remembrance Eucharist at St Pedrog's Church. lLanbedrog. The vicar, Andrew Jones, who has produced books and DVD's about the two nearby pilgrim routes to Bardsey Island, finished the service by reading this poem a child in the Sunday School had written:

Maybe it is pointless to wish for lasting peace

For all mankind to lay down arms, for all fighting to cease.

I could despair of seeing, peace throughout the land

No longer hearing talk of war, blood mixed with desert sand

We do not have the tolerance for cultures not our own

seeds fly on an ill wind from beds where they are sown.

Hope lies in a child's heart not yet turned to stone

A mind free of prejudice, a child not alone.

If all children of the world held each other's hand

They could do what we could not

Make a brotherhood of Man.

See yer.

Submitted: 17:59:01 on 8th November 2009

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Topic: BUILDING FOUNDATIONS IN A NEW GENERATION

I was invited to send a message to the Synod of the International House of Bishops of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This is it:

Greetings and prayers .from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Cradle of Christianity for English-speaking people.

Thank you for the ways you co-operate with God’s stirrings in our world and also for remaining human. As you seek to discern your core values and build God-given foundations into a new generation of leaders, know that we resonate with you, for we, too, are seeking to do just that.

As I begin to hand on my Guardian’s duties I have moved to a new home named /White// House/. Those early missionary founders Martin of Tours and Ninian of Britain established White Houses that formed the praying, hospitable heart of mission networks. Smaller white houses of prayer and sacrament became the hub of Christian outreach in many parts of what is now Scotland.

I have no sense that God wants me to control things, but I do hear these words: Foundations, foundations, foundations.That is why, for several years I have poured my life experience into the writing of daily reflections and spiritual exercises on our Way of Life which is published this month as /Waymarks// for the Journey/. We are also preparing a Foundations Course, but even more important than these will be building foundations through relationships.

... Do not strive to make things happen: allow God to lead you into the deep touching places. It is a crucial and a costly time, but it is God’s time. So, dear brothers, be real, go deep, laugh, cry and journey through cross-cultural but cross-centered exchange into the lasting fruits of resurrection. ..

Submitted: 14:44:28 on 28th October 2009

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Topic: I AM A PIG

I have survived life's journey so far. I am quite an old hand at keeping the ego in its place now – or so I was telling myself until I read these words of Rowan Williams. Reflecting on the monastic communities of the desert fathers, he describes living alongside each other as a converting process in which we are all called to be involved in converting each other to Christ by sacrificing something of ourselves. He writes: the neighbour is our life; to bring connectedness with God to the neighbour is bound up with our own connection to God. The neighbour is our death, communicating to us the death sentence of our attempts to settle who we are on our own terms and cling to what we reckon are our achievements.

This reminded me of something Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche communities, said: When I lived alone I thought I was a saint. When I lived in community I realised I was a pig. That, friends, is why I am in a bad mood.

Submitted: 20:40:08 on 22nd October 2009

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Topic: CAFES, CLUBS AND MOTHER WINSOME

The Church of England and the Methodist Church invited thirty people to the London Spirituality Centre to explore the strengths and weaknesses of New Monasticism as a model for building mission-centred forms of church for the changing cultures in the UK. Whew!

Discipleship is mainly to do with character formation formed by godly repetition said Bishop Graham Cray, who overheard Rowan Williams say: Whenever I hear someone mention the word strategy I have the greatest difficulty not to collapse in laughter.

Ian Mobsy, a founding member of the Moot Community (www.moot.uk.net) seeks to develop an arts and spirituality café alongside a community some of whom live in a nearby house. He said: New monasticism has to create the sacred in the secular – e.g. in pubs and parks.

Jim Barker of the hOME community and an independent facilitator of communities said: I keep meeting businesses that want to be communities and churches that want to be businesses. Ian Adams, a founder of the mayBe community in Oxford (www.ianadams.info). said: experiments such as this have three marks that come from deep monastic roots: the cave, the refectory and being on the road. New communities, like ancient monastic communities, make a statement that: lay is not second class. Pauline Warner (Methodist minister on leave while she promotes soul clinics) reported that many Christians in Coventry have had ‘nudges’ to revive the monastic roots of the city. The Bishop called together Christians from all churches to explore this.

Tessa Holland of Contemplative Fire (www.contemplativefire.org): ‘Some see rhythm as a bolt-on extra rather than a discovery of what is already given by God and is within us. The Rhythm of Life is not a system it is an approach to what is life-giving.

Abbot Stuart Burns OSB, Mother Winsome of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin at Wantage and I were invited to reflect back on the day. If you wish to read these, buy our magazine!

Submitted: 18:46:14 on 18th October 2009

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Topic: LUTHERANS BLESS AN IKON

Twenty of the Aasmundveit family and friends came from Norway to Lindisfarne. They are mostly members of the Free Lutheran Church. This church is wary of using what is created as a prayer aid lest we end up worshipping the created instead of the Creator. However, Aasmundveit, who has studied iconography at university and, under a Russian Orthodox mentor, has become a noted icon painter. She presented her specially made icon of Christ’s Baptism to our Open Gate Retreat House, and following her talk about its meaning, I was privileged to bless it in our chapel.

After sprinkling it with blessed water, cross-shaped, in the name of the Trinity, I used these words of blessing which the Lutheran and the Orthodox had agreed upon as being right for both traditions:

Reader: For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4: 4-5.

Lord God, our Heavenly Father, you have made yourself known to us in person through your Son Jesus Christ; we ask you to open our eyes to your salvation. We ask you to bless this icon as a visible sign of the invisible reality of your presence and protection. Strengthen our belief in you so that we may use what is created to worship you, our Creator. Let this image remind us that we ourselves are made in your image, who in words and deeds will praise you until the day when you will return in your glory and we will see you as you are, face to face, O God our Redeemer.

Submitted: 18:30:40 on 7th October 2009

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Topic: MORE THAN A BIT OF FOLK LORE?

p> An incomer made his home on Holy Island. An islander who had moved to the mainland made a return visit. I love the island, the incomer told him. But the island does not love you said the islander. However he continued, if you search for a Saint Cuthbert bead on the shore, and make it into a prayer rosary which you keep close to you, then the island will come to you.

I wondered whether this was a piece of superstition or whether there might be a deeper spiritual meaning behind it. St. Cuthbert's beads (or Cuddy's beads) are fossilised portions of the crinoid. They have been here for millions of years. Compared to them all those who have ever been the island's inhabitants are newcomers - guests. Saint Cuthbert came to the island after many brothers had left for Ireland. Those who remained had tensions and disagreement. Yet Cuthbert's kindness, prayers and eventually the burial in the island's soil of his body which did not disintegrate led indirectly to Lindisfarne being given its new name of Holy Island. So could the meaning of this folk lore be that if we embrace both the nature and the hospitable ways of Cuthbert on in this place, the island will indeed begin to come to us?

Submitted: 13:45:58 on 28th September 2009

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Topic: SPAIN'S MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN BUILDINGS

My sister Sally and I took a package holiday to CLASSICAL SPAIN. We delighted in the cathedral at Cordoba, which is set in the middle of the vast, spiritual columns of the mosque that preceded it. We delighted in the glories of Ronda, Seville, and the Alhambra at Granada. For over five hundred years Christians and Muslims, more often than not, worked side by side in mutual tolerance.

On Sunday, our last day, we heard that the popular church of the locals, Saint Augustinias, had an 8.0 pm service. This large, ornate, art-filled building was packed to overflowing. Its many side chapels were full and people stood in the aisles. A student filmed procedings. Women and children led prayers and singing. A choir lifted the rafters. The priests were mostly young. There was no sense of decline here.

Submitted: 10:56:45 on 23rd September 2009

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Topic: SPAIN'S MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN BUILDINGS

My sister Sally and I took a package holiday to CLASSICAL SPAIN. We delighted in the cathedral at Cordoba, which is set in the middle of the vast, spiritual columns of mosque that preceded it. We delighted in the glories of Ronda, Seville, and the Alhambra at Granada. For over five hundred years Christians and Muslims, more often than not, worked side by side in mutual tolerance.

On Sunday, our last day, we heard that the popular church of the locals, Saint Augustinias, had an 8.0 pm service. This large, ornate, art-filled building was packed to overflowing. Its many side chapels were full and people stood in the aisles. A student filmed procedings. Women and children led prayers and singing. A choir lifted the rafters. The priests were mostly young. There was no sense of decline her.

Submitted: 10:55:41 on 23rd September 2009

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Topic: SCHOOLS

Brother Damian gave the annual Markwell Lecture on education at Holy Island's St. Mary's Church in the presence of its teacher and governors. Under the umbrella title of JOURNEYING TOGETHER the joint school of Lowick and Holy Island has a Vision statement and a Behaviour Statement. These are the best I know of. I recommend them.

The Vision Statement: To foster a safe yet stimulating and challenging culture in which all individuals are valued, respected, nurtured, enthused and appropriately prepared for the ever changing world in which we live. (In order to realise the vision twelve aims are then set out). The Vision Statement ends with the following sentence: The spiritual, moral, cultural, social and physical development in our schools will be based on Christian values such as love of neighbour, the pursuit of truth and justice, challenge of service and duty and the experience of forgiveness.

The Behaviour Statement has three circles based on Respect, Safety, and Forgiveness. When any child breaks out of a circle they are asked to think about the feelings, space and property of others (circle 1); the safe actions (circle 2) or they try and forgive someone who makes a mistake and is truly sorry (circle three).

This is what we mean by holistic learning.

Submitted: 10:29:44 on 7th September 2009

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Topic: SAINT AIDAN AND THE FUTURE OF BRITAIN

Dr. Ian Bradley, of St. Andrew’s University, a prolific author and broadcaster, and a contributor to the Demos Think Tank, gave the keynote lecture at the St. Aidan Week Celebrations on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Census returns and other research, he said, reveal that white people increasingly think of themselves as English or Welsh etc, whereas black and brown people increasingly think of themselves as British. The break-up of the United Kingdom might harm all its peoples, for the whole is greater than its parts. Therefore we need to give attention to what is Britishness, as his book on this subject has done. He touched on both the forms and roots of British identity. He saw this as a series of overlapping identities. He would go further, he believes that the Christian understanding of God as Trinity needs to be expressed in nations, and that the UK at its best is a paradigm of this.

Although England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have a patron saint, the UK has none as Billy Bragg’s millennium song put it: ‘Britain isn't cool you know, its really not that great. It's not a proper country, it doesn't even have a patron saint.’

Today people care about identity and symbol. Patron saints are about giving a spiritual identity to a people. In a pluralistic society, they are inclusive, and they can do this. Other religions would rather live in a country that, unlike France, gives public space to religion. A patron saint like Aidan would pose no problem.

He said we all need role models. Protestants have stripped saints from public life. He, as a Protestant, feels they have done a disservice to their peoples. We need neighbourhood, national and perhaps international saints. If the people are not given them they will find them in pop idols. Saints provide us with stories, drama, narratives, legend. A generation brought up on Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings is hungry for stories such as that of Aidan.

Why Aidan?

1) His style. Corman, who led the first failed mission to the English from Iona, was bullying and aggressive. He wanted to force the people into his mold; he dismissed them and wrote them off. Aidan was full of grace. English Christianity which he spawned has been the most gracious and moderate. Aidan provides a rallying cry for the broad, welcoming God.

2) His commitment to the needy and to all people.

He was no respecter of persons. He gave away the royal horse which would have enabled him to go around in style. He kept his feet on the ground. He care about the poor. He sat lightly to the things of this world. The British often find God not only in good works but also in nature – outside the church. Aidan appeals to many beyond the world of the church.

3. His links with monarchy and nation-building. King Oswald is a great proto-type of the open-handed, generous king. The alliance of the monarch and the church who both seek to build a kingdom around Christian values is a fine model. The British monarchy still has the opportunity to sacralise the nation.

4. He nurtures others. Hilda, Chad, Wilfred are examples of people Aidan nurtured who took the Gospel further south.

How should we promote Aidan?

Establish a network of churches dedicated to St. Aidan. Establish an Aidan pilgrim route A route is being explored between Iona and St. Andrews. Rosanna Cunningham MSP has promoted this. Discussions are continuing on a route from Columba’s birthplace in Donegal to Iona. A route to Lindisfarne from St. Andrew’s could make up the third leg of a triangle: a trinity of pilgrim routes. This could be called The Aidan Way. In Norway the revived St. Olav’s Way is the fruit of co-operation between church and state. Prisoners and asylum seekers are beneficially sent on these pilgrimages. A retired Polish general walked this route to atone for those he had killed. People walk not just in the steps of medieval pilgrims, they also celebrate many aspects of a wonderful country and its nature reserves.

Submitted: 09:08:41 on 4th September 2009

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Topic: A REVOLUTIONARY READING PLAN

So Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez is giving away free books to his citizens. Classic Novels for Nothing is part of his Revolutionary Reading Plan, along with his own speeches, The Communist Manifesto and Les Miserables. He deploys book squadrons to encourage reading in public squares, parks and transport. Books are colour coded: red for autobiography (to motivate); green for re-symbolisation (dismantling false and assembling true symbols); orange for community building and black for combat, in this case against imperialism.

The Bible tells of a whole nation being summoned to a revolutionary reading plan. A lost but revolutionary book was discovered, and the people who were recently returned from exile were summoned to the central square in Jerusalem to hear it read aloud day after day. This was headed up by Ezra. The Book (which comprised the first five books of the Christian Bible) explained a Way of Life upon which a people should base their lives if they wanted well-being.

When people contact us to say that they have had enough of our hedonistic western lifestyle, and that they would like to learn about alternative, holistic models, such as the Celtic, we provide them with a revolutionary reading list. You can download it from this web site.

Submitted: 16:02:09 on 13rd August 2009

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Topic: LANGUAGES OF LOVE

We try to learn from our mistakes. So Carol, who looks after our Open Gate Retreat House at Lindisfarne, and I explored the different 'languages' people use to give and receive love. In his books Gary Chapman lists Five Love Languages of God:

• Affirming words
• Quality time
• Acts of service
• Touch
• Gifts

I add a sixth language:

• to be understood and know that the other person is there for me but not on top of me.

If I express love in my love language to someone who uses another, they do not hear it.

Of course, Freud discovered that the ego has insatiable love demands, that can never be satisfied by another. That is why deep spiritualities teach us to detach ourselves from chasing illusions until I AM replaces I WANT. Then we find our well-being from within, and do not place upon another what is not theirs to give.

If you have another love language or experience to share, please email me at the office on the web site.

God Bless. Ray

Submitted: 09:33:29 on 9th August 2009

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Topic: MATT LAMONT'S BLOG

Read Matt Lamont's Blog. Open the Australia Flag and then the New South Wales page on this web site and you will receive words of wisdom

Submitted: 09:04:49 on 9th August 2009

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Topic: A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM

Life can be hard. It is riddled with prejudice, hostility, and indifference – or simply lack of understanding and empathy, especially among us adults. This week has brought much pain, and loss.

But just when I thought I could not feel worse, some island kids and their visiting friends hailed me. “I love you” said one – this was wholly innocent, free, delightful and unsolicited even if it is not PC. His friends then told me all about themselves – they offered friendship, untarnished by the ego defences of adults. This reminded me of a verse in the Prophet Isaiah that a time will come when even fighting animals will live in peace with each other and with humans and a little child shall lead them.

I called in on David and Denise Adam to swap some books. They are very well. David gave me a book by Eckhart Tolle about awakening to life’s purpose. He speaks of our “pain body” and how all our thoughts and energies revolve around our hurts. But if we can accept the pain without analysing or hitting back, we can become aware that it is there, but it is not everything. There is space around it. We then become free. The love at the core o our being can begin to emerge. This is “Presence”.

Submitted: 19:39:44 on 5th August 2009

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Topic: THE GATHERING

I drove the Aarmundsveit family from Iona to Glasgow, and spent Saturday in Edinburgh at the largest ever gathering of Scotland's clans, who came from as far as North America and Down Under. On Friday leaders of over one hundred clans met in the Parliament to discuss their role in a changing society. Are they a nostalgic remnant or a sign of an emerging way of expressing community and belonging?

Holyrood Park was turned into a Tent Village: tents for each clan, Robert Burns re-enactments, gigs,food, and the main area for sports and the pipe bands.

May the Simpsons wear Fraser tartan? Yes. If my great grandmother Jane Simpson came from the Borders, then we are definitely 'in'. I was about to have my DNA tested until they asked me for £150. Another time! On Saturday evening we lined the Royal Mile as the clans and the bands paraded through Holyrood Palace up to the Castle for ninety minutes

En route home I joined Musselburgh's Lighthouse Church, led by Explorer Scott Brennan, for their afternoon worship. Faith Brennan gave a talk on managing finances. She and Scott had just returned from the other Clan Gathering, run by the the Christian New Wine network, to which 4,000 came. New things are budding there.

Take care. Ray.

Submitted: 09:53:33 on 27th July 2009

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Topic: THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

There will be a gap in my blog after this, because I'm on holiday on Iona with the Aasmundveit family of Norway. They are writers like myself, and we shall no doubt talk about Sven's Norsk book LISTENING TO HORSES and books I have written which Anne'Kristin has had translated into Norsk.

Last week I welcomed people each day to White House who talked about the value of the Pen. Michael Mitton's book RESTORING THE WOVEN CORD is to be re-published and several of us are invited to add a few pages describing how people have woven Gop-given strands of Christianity over the fifteen years since this was first published.We spoke of ourb society's need for poets and writerw who envision and challenge and I think Michael will increasingly emerge as one of these.

Some asked what books there were on meditation. We said there were not a lot. So we are making a booklet of David Cole's excellent articles in our magazine THE AIDAN WAY about meditation. Today also Kevin Mayhew the publisher received the text for a new incarnation in one volume of the best in the four volumes of The Celtic Prayer Book, and the proofs of a book of a year's daily reflections and meditation breath exercises are on their way.

Oh, I nearly forgot. My holiday reading is Rees tome on Pelagiuswhich Sven and I wilol no doubt delight in discussing! See yer.

Submitted: 18:20:26 on 17th July 2009

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Topic: WHEN JESUS CAME TO HANGER LANE

It was a a long journey from Lindisfarne to London, but I wanted to support our Deputy Guardian Simon Reed and his fellow church members as they celebrated their seventieth anniversary in a Saturday ceilidh and a Sunday service with the Mayor of Ealing. There are creative links, as these extracts from my address reveal - and its a long time since I*'ve been applauded at the end of a church sermon!

Congratulations! Seventy years is a significant number in the Bible. For a person, it means that we’ve done things, we’ve survived, and from now on life is a bonus, a gift. We are free to do what God puts into our hearts. We can shine. I think it can be like that for a faith community like you, too.

Jesus says that a community that is built on a hill cannot hide – so let its light shine. You are a community of a hill. I learned, as I read the history of Hanger Lane by Norman Pointing that its name comes from the Saxon hangre – wood hill. You still have some trees on the hill - I walked among them this morning – even though mostly now it is people.

It was on a hill far away that Jesus was nailed to a tree. That Tree of Death became the Everlasting Tree of Life. You have witnessed the death of innumerable trees and people, of projects, hopes and organisations over these seventy years. This place has known the passing of the Saxon Age and of the Norman Age, the death of the countryside and horses as they were replaced by roads, rail lines, canals and houses, the deaths of The Garden Estate and Haymills Estate and of World War 11, of the 200 plus Sunday School of the 1940’s as commuters with little church connection took their place. You have seen these deaths, but always you have believed that the Tree of Death can become the Tree of Life: the new mobility enabled people who don’t live in the parish to be drawn to the life of the church.

I assume that when Rev. Francis Hall arrived in 1938 and the church was dedicated in 1939, with Sylvia present, that it was then given its name of The Ascension, the Ascension of Jesus being, of course, on a hill. It is interesting to note that in Luke 24:50 the hill that Jesus took his disciples to was on the outskirts of a village – Bethany. Did he choose Bethany because there he had been made so welcome, as in the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus? Did he choose Bethany because there were the likes of Mary, who shone as a contemplative, of Martha, who shone in practical good works, and Lazarus, who listened to Jesus’ voice in the deep place of unconsciousness and so was raised to life? Was that the same hill where Jesus wept over the city, longing to gather its people to him as a hen gathers her chicks? And are those the same three shining qualities that Jesus looks for in his children who have gathered to him in the Church of the Ascension today - contemplative prayer, practical good works, and the deep listening that brings forth life?

Contemplative Prayer To practice, each day, awareness of the Divine Presence in oneself, in the leaves of the roadside tree, in the reading of a book, in the listening to music. ‘The real voyage of discovery’, wrote Marcel Proust, ‘consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.’ I asked Justin what he thought was a distinctive characteristic of local people. ‘We are urbane’, he suggested. Those who take time to contemplate can be channels of calm amid stressed people.

Practical good works Ephesians 2 suggests that we are ‘created for good works which God has prepared beforehand to be our way of life.’ To what way of life are you called? The Diocese has a Mission Action Planning Process: a church that lives Christ’s way of life is the best process of all. To what good works are you called? You are part of the Borough of Ealing, and the mayor’s presence today honours this relationship. Ealing got its name from the Saxons: Gilling (people of Gill’s tribe) changing to Yealing and Ealing over the centuries. The Saxons began as hooligans. They were civilised by Christianity, in part spreading from the Irish Mission base at Lindisfarne, which taught them to feed the poor, free the slaves, educate the ignorant, tune in to the Source of all good - God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and to undergird their common life in a rhythm of prayer and praise. Those Saxons learned to cherish creation as God’s precious gift. Today Ealing is known as a Garden of London, and I salute the Borough for its Green agenda, and this church for being an eco-congregation. Build on this in the future. The Saxons were inspired by the Irish who evangelised through wandering minstrels and whose churches had rotas of bands who offered frequent praise. Your worship band was much appreciated at our Community of Aidan and Hilda week-end near Stratford Upon Avon. Maybe in the future you will have buskers, minstrels, teenage bands and bands of all sorts inspiring pubs, clubs, public spaces and drawing people here. Through that early Irish Mission hostile peoples of different race and language became one fellowship in the Gospel. When I was a curate in a multi-racial part of South London our vision was to build the peace of the world in the streets of London. You already have a fellowship of people from varied ethnic backgrounds. Perhaps in the future this will embrace Arabs, Chinese and Eastern Europeans, too? The Irish churches moved with the people - they were flexible. We are in an age of networking which calls for varied expressions of church. Perhaps over the coming years you will have networks of Christians all over the place, and this building will be a resource centre, not a substitute, for these? All this needs lateral thinking; it needs us to ask ‘Where is Jesus?’ An example of such an approach comes from Basra, in Iraq, where a Christian knocked on the imam’s door at a mosque and asked ‘Is Jesus here?’ ‘Why don’t you look in a church?’ asked the surprised imam. ‘Because in our Gospels we learn that Jesus could not be found in the places where he was supposed to be, but in unlikely places’ the Christian explained. So they looked for Jesus together.

Deep Listening that brings forth life. I am told that someone had a prophetic gleam that you are to be like a generating station. This speaks to me of the 24/7 prayer movement and boiler rooms. Young people maintained prayer by rota for 24 hours each day for seven days and this was such a powerful experience that they sought a way to sustain an experience that motivated them and inspired them. In certain places they have secured a building where a rota of people keep prayer alive each day and where drained people are re-energised. Such places combine the prayer and the outreach, the input and the output. They kindle the flame so that they can pass on the flame. Perhaps some of you will engage in some deep listening about this?

Conclusion When I was asked to come today the words of a poem by the war time padre G.A. Studdert Kennedy came into my mind, entitled ‘When Jesus came to Birmingham’:

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged him on a tree They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary. They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were his wounds and deep; For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by; They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die. For men had grown more tender, and they would not give him pain. They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain…’

Although I am no poet, I thought, ‘Why don’t I try to write a poem about When Jesus came to Hanger Hill – for if I can dare attempt this, anyone can, and perhaps some at Ascension will have a go. So here goes:

When Jesus came to Hanger Hill a tree or two still grew And Jesus spoke as from the tree of what he’d seen and knew: ‘I knew the earth, the trees, the birds before the humans came. I knew the humans’ every thought, their glories and their shame.

When that big house was built on top of Hanger Hill I noticed the shenanigans, each room, each window sill. I saw the hardship down below, the labour and the sweat And I longed to lift the people up and take them to my heart. I was there when roads and railways brought people here in swarms. I stood astride the giratory and stretched out my welcoming arms. I wept with you in trials, in waywardness and war. I leapt with joy when this place of prayer first opened wide its door. And now I come afresh to you, my Ascension community. I say “Explore and pray and learn: lift the people up to me”. My children come to me today, that through you I may shine. Come as you are, in simplicity, and let this land be mine.

Submitted: 21:33:12 on 12nd July 2009

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Topic: REPEATED

Over seventy folk gathered for our annual week-end in glorious sunshine five miles from Shakespeare's birthplace at Stratford Upon Avon, UK. The theme was UNVEILED GLORY, and these things were unveiled: Sally Steen's 60th birhday party with extended family, Eddie and Alec's infant blessing, a launch of HIGH STREET MONASTERIES, prayer beads based on the Three Principles and Ten Waymarks of our way of life, the story of Aidan and Hilda in song with Northumbrian singer Andrew Lobb. .

There was lots of creative networking. I promised the Daily Telegraph writer James LeFanu I would send him my thoughts on his book WHY US? HOW SCIENCE REDISCOVERED THE MYSTERY OF OURSELVES. He took two of my books. My favourite quote came from another journalist, Edward Steen, speaking of the atheist crusader Richard Dawkins: A MAN WHO DOES THIS TO HIS HAIR (REPEATED ACTION) - THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIM!,

As Carol and I drove home Sarah and Odd Harald were married on Holy Island. Tonight I have to speak on Celtic spirituality at their wedding ceilidh at Wedderburn Castle - so it time to dress up posh.

Submitted: 11:49:07 on 6th July 2009

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Topic: FACEBOOK AGAIN

Sorry, you are quite right. I should have given you the names of our first CA&H Facebooks: Look up Community of Aidan & Hilda ('&' not 'and')or David Cole (wanderingkeltos) Try it and contribute as you will.

Submitted: 20:43:41 on 22nd June 2009

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Topic: WHITE HOUSE VISITORS

Fourteen years ago the boy Chris Mitton and his two sisters joined the seven founders of The Community of Aidan and Hilda in making vows on Farne Isle, upon which I now look as I arise each morning. So it was a delight that his Dad, Michael and Chris were the first overnight guests in my new house. Chris is now an intern at St.George's Church, Leeds, with a two year ministry to students.

Bishop Eric Pike and Tony Thoms, his co-leader of twenty four pilgrims from South Africa, talked over coffee in the garden about the work of the Community in Africa. Eric is an Explorer, and they felt that there's much interest in a place like Cape Town. So watch this space.

Before they left Biker Bill Balfour had arrived on his way from Norfolk to the Scottish highlands. Bill and his wife Jan ran our Open Door centre at Bowthorpe, where I was minister, and we used to partner each other at squash. We reviewed lots of past friendships.

That same night a new Explorer came to tell me amazing stories of God at work in her life and in the depths of human distress.

Then there is Facebook. Two members have started a Community Facebook - and there are implications. Oh yes! So this morning, Naomi took me in hand in the office and inducted me in to Facebook. I only do it because I am vowed to obedience - honest.

Then tonight two Birmingham trainee Jesuits arrived for evening prayer in the church, having walked from York, and we will meet up at The Open Gate tomorrow morning.

Whatever next?

Submitted: 20:34:22 on 22nd June 2009

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Topic: ANCIENT VIKINGS AND TODAY'S NORWAY CHRISTIANS

Mecky Wohlenberg and seven clergy colleagues from the Church of Norway's Bamble Deanery have spent a good week with us on Holy Island. They were here on Monday, June 8th. This, says Mecky, is the date of the Viking invasion in 793 (but in the 8th century there was the Julian Calendar which at that time had become about 5 days too late according to the later Gregorian Calendar. That means that the exact date of the Viking invasion was around the 13th of June, according to our calendar), Holy Island was the first place in Britain to be ravaged by the Vikings. It was a 9/11 kind of event. It sent a shock wave around Europe.

Our pilgrims went to Sandham Bay, on the north shore, which is thought the most likely place the Vikings landed. There they held a prayer service and said sorry for what their forbears did. One honest clergy person later admitted that he also felt a little bit proud. 'You are entitled to feel proud that you built such brilliant boats', I suggested, 'but not, I hope, that you murdered people so well.'

I was gratified that each of them had read the Norsk edition of my book 'Keltische veimerker'. They warmed to the insight that the glory of God is seen through those who live their manhood and womanhood to the full, and that clergy are called to model this, not to be machines of ecclesiastical organisation.

Nor, for that matter, should they be machines of blog sites -so I better sign off.

Submitted: 20:39:37 on 12nd June 2009

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Topic: FROM THE FOLK HIGH SCHOOL, STAVERN, NORWAY

Greetings from this lovely High School by the sea. I am with about 130 pastors and youth workers of Norway’s Free Lutheran Church. Their aim is to have deep roots in Scripture and be fellowships that are open to the world. I have led workshops on ‘Being the Church in a New Time’. In between there has been storytelling in an underground cave, a football match and personal contacts with many interesting people: the theologian who works on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the bridegroom who prepares for two days of wedding celebrations at Lindisfarne and Wedderburn Castle, late night conversation on conflict resolution. A constant phrase has been ‘We must get outside the box’.

Several people here are soul friends to those who follow our Way of Life and we shared insights about life coaching. Sven Aasmundveit, the Director of the Free Lutheran Study Centre in Oslo, has completed a book entitled (in Norwegian) ‘Athletes of Christ’; this will be a good resource. The Chairman of the Synod tells me that excellent relationships are growing, not only with the State Church, but also with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches which are reviving in Norway after centuries of absence.

Now by Ryanair back to Glasgow, and to Holy Island by car. Who is on the plane? A group from Norway led by Mecky Wohlenberg!

Submitted: 15:03:44 on 5th June 2009

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Topic: PICTISH MONASTERIES: HIGH STREET MONASTERIES

I spent two and a half days visting

sixth or seventh century Pictish monasteries.The Picts were the original Scots, before the Irish colonised and Christianised southern Scotland. Picts were evangelised by Celtic Britons such as Ninian, by Irish Christians from Iona, and by God-inspired wandering hermits.

I took an hour's boat trip to the Isle of May, far out in the Firth of Forth, where Saint Ethernan is first thought to have settled. Excavations in the nineties revealed evidence of thisl Then to Dull, near Abernethy, and its three remaining Celtic standing stones. I could not resist a return visit to Glen Lyon. There a little hamlet is still known as Eonan Hamlet. Eonan is another name for Admonan, an Iona Abbot, who is thought to have established a little monastery there.

My new book co-authored with Simon Reed is out. It is entitled High Street Monasteries:Fresh Expressions of committed Christianity. It explores the incoming tide of new monasticism, and how it can become the heart of our global village. It surveys five waves of new monasticism, unearths forgotten treasures-for-today from old monasticism, addresses hard questions for new monastics and explores the idea of ‘the universal monk’ in everyone. The final chapter looks at fresh expressions of church, and how villages of God can evolve. It gives examples of little experiments around the world and provides a conceptual plan of a village of God. It then explores how the parts can embrace a sustainable spirituality and link with the greater whole. It moves into lateral thinking and makes proposals for villages of God around cathedrals and in capital cities. Could a village of God in London embrace Holy Trinity Brompton, Brompton Oratory and the Russian Orthodox Cathedral? Simon Reed writes a brilliant appendix on ‘Followers of the Way: Biblical Foundations for Monastic Living.’ Over one hundred notes on sources are included.

We hope you will find helpful anything that is written about your own connection. Available from good bookshops or In UK: Kevin Mayhew www.kevinmayhew.com In North America: www.mayhewbrodt.com In Australasia: Willow Publishing Pty Ltd info@willowconnection.com.au.

Submitted: 18:20:33 on 31st May 2009

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Topic: ALABAMA

Alabama pilgrims have jazzed up Holy Island this week. Their musicians filled The Crown and Anchor with Irish songs for two evenings, which many others joined in singing. This group was led by Bill King. He gave up being his Episcopal Bishop's senior staff member in order to minister to a small country parish and develop pilgrimage. He gave out copies of his little gem of a book.

In Chapter One Bill outlines four traditional types of pilgrimage, and then a fifth which is emerging for twenty first century Christians which he calls Re-Membering Pilgrimage. He writes ‘Many Christians have the Cross and the sacred books, and even the sacraments, but do not have a connection with holy ground from past ages. We simply do not know our family history and sacred home sites, and we no longer remember the stories of family members from ages past… Re-Membering Pilgrimage helps us rediscover our spiritual roots, which we must do to be spiritually whole and complete.’

In Chapter Two he recounts what he did on his 2004 visits to Jerusalem, Rome, Canterbury and Lindisfarne, where he visits The Open Gate and writes poems. He then asks the question: How do people who can’t keep going to such places make pilgrimage in their own back yard? He chooses twelve ‘secret places of prayer’ from his extensive sabbatical travels in his home state of Alabama. They include an Orthodox, Catholic and Baptist church each with some special drawing power. They also include a North American Indian sacred site, Dr. Martin Luther King’s former church where civil rights actions were birthed – and a grocer’s shop. Here, in 1965 a gunman was about to shoot Ruby Sales when Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian, stood in front of her. He died and she lived. Now there is a monument to this young man who gave his life for another, and a little space in the market place where people may ponder the qualities of a hero.

Readers in continents outside Europe, as well as those in Europe who cannot travel far, may be inspired to discover their own ‘secret places of prayer’. I'd love to hear from you.

Submitted: 20:03:23 on 22nd May 2009

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Topic: LONDON AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Uxbridge churches held a Week Exploring Prayer and Celtic Spirituality. Extra chairs had to be brought in for the Wednesday night meeting. In order to pay the high rent and mortgages many people work from early to late. Things like space, body/mind/spirit balance, fun, creativity and community can go out of the window. So it was delightful to meet people who wished to become aware of God's presence in work and creation and to celebrate God through all the senses. We explored how memorising Scripture, embracing simplicity, praying daily following the natural rhythm of the sun and the seasons, and working with a soul friend could help to overcome stress-inducing workaholism. Before flying from nearby Heathrow airport to Belfast I was able to enjoy half a day off at the delightful Kew Gardens.

It was a privilege to lead the annual week-end conference of the Celtic Spirituality Centre at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, Northern Ireland. On this site Saint Patrick established his mission headquarters. The Centre is now sponsored by Catholic, Church of Ireland and Presbyterian trustees and contributes to the vital ongoing peacebuilding processs. Participants came from north and south of the border.The theme was 'The Sacred Weave of Life'.

On Saturday afternoon there was an art workshop and a guided tour of the Armagh Public Library, founded by a great archbishop as a Christian resource. We hope to promote links between our Celtic Christian Studies Library on Holy Island and this library. People come on sabbaticals to Holy Island. They could also do so at Armagh, by staying at the upmarket youth hostel nearby and joining in the daily prayer at either or both of the cathedrals. For more information write to Rev Grace Clunie at the cathedral, Armagh.

Submitted: 11:49:43 on 18th May 2009

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Topic: FAITH COMMUNITIES AND THE GOOD SOCIETY

I met people from a church who provide practical services for needy people without financial reward. A trainee social worker spent a week with them.The following week all the trainee social workers reported on their placements. They were full of gloom, But this one told with amazement of improvements in all sorts of clients. 'They must have had especially strong characters' was his only explanation. The social work set-up cannot believe that faith is a key factor in improving social well-being, and often Local Authorities discriminate against faith communities. Yet the national Government encourages them to work with faith communities because its reseach shows that in UK as in USA the social outreach of faith communities is huge and cost-effective. Sooner or later people will realise that faith rooted in the command to love your neighbour is the most sustainable basis for a nation's social fabric.

Submitted: 09:23:44 on 11st May 2009

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Topic: CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM PRAYER MATS

Since my last blog swine flue has declined in the world, I have met with Britain's Methodist Mission Enablers at Northampton, six of us have spent twenty fours hours in council at a member's house in the shadow of Arsenal Football Club's fantastic Emirates Stadium in London, and I have talked to Netherlands pilgrims about The Lindisfarne Gospels.

They were fascinated by the link, suggested by the Lindisfarne Gospels' expert Dr. Michelle Brown, between the 'carpet pages' in the Gospels and the oriental 'prayer mats' which probably inspired them, and which are still used by Muslims. Mollie Richards, of Norwich, has made a beautiful prayer mat for our Open Gate Chapel with Celtic designs, and is making a second one. The Netherlands pilgrims encourage many of us to make and use such prayer mats. They think this would also help to increase good bonds between Muslims and Christians.

Make those mats. Send one to us!

Submitted: 15:31:39 on 5th May 2009

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Topic: ST. GEORGE, MERRIE ENGLAND AND EASTERTIDE

As Guardian of an international Community God has given me a deep love of different countries outside UK. Within UK, we who draw inspiration from Celtic sources often neglect England at the expense of the so-called ‘six Celtic nations’. Sometimes English people resent this, and there is indeed a rising interest in what constitutes the English spirit. Some call for April 23 – Shakespeare’s birthday and St. George’s Day – to become an English national holiday. I have at times been a bit embarrassed about this. However, during the move to my new house I came across an old hand-written page that someone had copied from the Visitors Book in Holy Island’s Marygate House for Easter 1987, entitled Gladsong. It includes the following:

“He shall awake these counties. He shall shake the shires with morning. He shall ring the bells of Easter stirring westwards to ears that are young to hear. He shall start up the story of enterprise with wild words fathered with feeling.

England, lift up your pecker, tell ‘em as it’s time to fetch the maypole out of mothballs and dance, dance for Him and Albion. England is to be the Queen of May – hawthorn put out more flags – oak, for this you grew your silver bough – ash, let your black buds burst with the new, the King has come for his Anglia, his own earth-angel that he loved of old.

Wake up the ones in the graveyard of sleep, wake them up – they’re going to miss eternity. The long lines of the hills are lifted up with pride for his processional, the rivers ripple clearly their applause, sycamores in full relief rejoice to see Him, geraniums cheer Him from way-side window boxes. Parish churches choke with a mother’s pride…”

This lifts the heart. Maybe it will inspire blog readers from other countries to write an Easter paean that reflects the distinctive glories of your land. If so, I’d love to receive them.

Submitted: 15:55:02 on 24th April 2009

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Topic: SPRING HARVEST

Three Community of Aidan and Hilda members, David, Penny and Simon, led Reflective Worship at the Spring Harvest week at Butlins Holiday Centre, Minehead plus a seminar on How to Develop a Rule of Life. Three hundred came each evening to the first and two hundred to the second.

David writes 'These days have been such an encouragement to me, showing me that there is such hunger for what we, within the Community and Celtic Christianity more widely offer people in their walk with God.'

Submitted: 12:48:43 on 21st April 2009

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Topic: EASTER AND RICHARD DAWKINS' 'THE GOD DELUSION'

Belatedly, this Easter I have read Richard Dawkins' 'The God Delusion'. He demeans both scholarship and science. He poses a question, but instead of answering it he changes the subject with derogatory but unsubstantiated comments. For example, he reminds readers that a traditional Deist argument for the existence of God is that everything has a cause, so there must, before anything existed have been an uncaused First Cause. Instead of investigating this argument he merely says that the uncaused First Cause does not have to be called God, Of course God does not have to be called God!

He writes an entire book about atheism without investigating the Resurrection of Christ. Some omission! Presumably he dismisses the cogent arguments for the resurrection as part of his skimpy, imperious dismissal of The New Testament as 'not reliable'. He makes the absurd statement that 'The only difference between the Gospels and Dan Brown's novel 'The Da Vinci Code' are that the gospels are ancient fiction while the Da Vinci Code is modern fiction.'

Do you know anyone who has laid down their life in defence of 'The Da Vinci Code' or met any of the dead characters who have come alive again? Do you know of any serious scholar in the world who doubts that Christianity is a historical religion, and that it started with people who knew Jesus, witnessed his death, claimed to have experienced his resurrection and who wrote the Gospel accounts in the same century that Jesus died?

Perhaps the next most famous atheist after Dawkins, Professor Anthony Flew, has become a Christian after fifty years as an atheist. He says he has converted not because of a religious experience, but because of science, which, unless there is some Supreme Intelligence, could not exist. He asked T N Wright, Bishop of Durham, to write an appendix to his book on the evidence of the Resurection. Flew says this is the most brilliant and convincing exposition of the reality of the resurrection he has read.

So I am bold to greet you as believers in Russia and in many lands greet one another: 'The Lord is risen'. And you reply 'He is risen indeed!'

Submitted: 17:19:05 on 11st April 2009

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Topic: THE TRUE SELF IN HOLY WEEK

Two days in Jesus' last week on earth: On one day Jesus experiences the fragrance of an act of generosity - a woman anoints his feet with precious oil. The day after, Jesus experiences the devastation of an act of betrayal - in return for money a close colleague betrays his whereabouts to those out to get him. In both situations Jesus' response is deeply intuitive. On the first day he soaks in the love. On the second day he does not block out his intuition in order to postpone pain.

Judas and Jesus model for us the two different levels of our being from which we may live. Judas lives from the Ego. His hopes of Jesus becoming the Top Man have toppled. He is disillusioned, angry, and assuages these feelings by devising his mercenary plan. Jesus lives from his True Self. Without blame or flight he gives Judas bread. He embraces the pain: 'Do what you are going to do quickly'. Then he says 'Now God is to be glorified in me.'

This is the glory of living and dying as True Self, as Gift. In Jesus' unique case he does this as part of the Trinity. In our case, we do this as those who are being drawn into the Divine through Christ.

Introduction to the Gospel reading at the morning Eucharist, St. Mary's, Holy Island.

Submitted: 20:46:57 on 7th April 2009

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Topic: IS THIS THE END OF AIDENSFIELD AND HEARTBEAT?

'Heartbeat' is the long-running British TV series, with fourth best ratings around the world. It is set in the fictional village of Aidensfield, named after the seventh century missionary Bishop Aidan. The title 'Heartbeat' has a double meaning: The hero is a handsome young policeman who makes girls hearts beat quicker. He and his colleagues also plod around their beat (their area) in a solid, old fashioned way. The programme is to be axed.

Last week I visited the village where this is filmed. The village is Goathland, near Whitby, complete with the TV signs for Aidensfield Arms, and Scripps Funeral Services. In the Post Office I dutifully signed a petition asking the TV company to revoke their decision to cease filming after May this year, The reason is that the internet has taken much of the TV advertising income.

The village will lose money. The viewer will have to make do with repeats. But do not despair. There is another heartbeat that nothing can kill off. Aidan brought Christ's ways to the barbaric Anglo-Saxons because his heart beat with compassion. He tuned in to the heartbeat of God. That heart still beats for today's children. Aidan's field is any place where his spiritual children are at work. If you think this is twee, let me know. If you don't, keep plodding on. Tune in to THE Heartbeat.

Submitted: 15:14:00 on 5th April 2009

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Topic: FOOTBALLER TURNS DOWN CELEBRITY TV

A footballer spent a week-end with us. A TV channel preparing one of those virtual reality series when different types of people are filmed day and night, inter-acting on an island or in a large house, had put him on a short list and asked him to a final interview. He told them he could not attend the interview because he would be visiting Holy Island. They offered him the place anyway, and pressed him to accept. The footballer is a Christian - he wanted viewers to see how a Christian is a real human being - not like some of the stereotypes that are promoted. He engaged in an inner struggle. He concluded that the TV people wanted to use (i.e. mis-use) him, and that God could find other ways of helping people like him to connect with the population. So he turned the TV offer down.

He told me this on the day that traditional Christian churches in the West name as Passion Sunday. The Gospel reading quotes Jesus as saying that unless a person allows their ego to 'die', like a seed that allows itself to be buried in the ground, it cannot sprout up later in the form of a spreading plant. I encouraged my friend to believe that many young people would discover something life-giving as an indirect result of his decision to 'die'.

Submitted: 09:15:22 on 30th March 2009

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Topic: MOTHERS, LAMBS AND A BISHOP

Children from Holy Island School read poems they had written about their mothers for Holy Island's Mothering Sunday Service. On the whole they blessed them. The Bishop of Lindisfarne preached, received a blessing from the Vicar, and led everyone to the Lambing Sheds, to visit mothers of a woolly kind, each with their kids in their own pen. The Bishop then blessed the lambs and all creation. Lots of blessing.

Submitted: 18:11:09 on 23rd March 2009

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Topic: NO MORE SOULLESS TOWNS

Today I read a report of the Queensferry Business Association, which seeks to transform this fragile Burgh, gateway to the iconic Forth Bridge, and the crossing point of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland. It's Development Plan is called Queensferry Ambition. This is what I emailed its chairman, Douglas Flett:

I have just read your report in the evangelical alliance’s 2gether Scotland on the plans for transforming Queensferry. While appreciating the excellent aims, I felt a sinking in the pit of my stomach that foundation planning has no mention of spirituality. Soulless towns have built-in degradation. Every resident has body, mind and spirit, and if these needs are not addressed, surely the plan will fail?

For example, the centre of a town needs a sense of enclosure and some sacred space where people can contemplate or pray. Existing religious buildings need to be opened and joined up with other facilities. Throughout Europe, while church-going declines, pilgrimages increase steeply.

Ireland’s Heritage Council sent teams to learn from British heritage sites, and I read their reports. I think they concluded that, although they learned some valuable technical lessons from the British approaches, they hoped that Ireland, in contrast, would co-ordinate historical, ecological and spiritual approaches in their heritage work.

Why not commission a study on pilgrimage and spirituality issues? Why not offer a trail that re-ignites awareness of Margaret, Queen and Saint?

My friend Dr. Ian Bradley, of St. Andrew’s University, whose book on pilgrimage has just been published, might be of assistance.

Members of The Community of Aidan and Hilda in Scotland had a day of pilgrimage at Queensferry and Inchcolm. The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is now beginning to get people who walk and ferry southward along Scotland’s east coast.

Submitted: 10:54:42 on 20th March 2009

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Topic: THE SIMPSONS IN IRELAND

My brother Tony has supported the establishment of the Irish Republic's new Christian radio station, and his son Peter is a director. The station has now been on air 24/7 for more than a year.Tony has so far recorded 168 'seed thought' talks of up to 90 minutes on his mini-disc recorder. These are then fed in between music and other features.

People from many lands have come to Ireland in recent years.Tony's wife, Anita, has completed a literacy course for Chinese people who want to learn English, based on the Bible. She has been told that some Chinese authorities welcome moral values and concepts and her courses are also used in China. At present, though, she is teaching a young man from Somalia who as a boy was tortured by having his hands and feet burned, and who could not therefore read even in his own language. The official English-language-speaking classes rely on people being able to read in their own languange. The reading classes rely on them being able to understand what the teacher says in English. So he slipped through the net. Now, with Anita's help, he is making progress, and he is grateful to her and to the marvellous Irish doctors.

Submitted: 14:56:38 on 16th March 2009

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Topic: RESOURCES FOR LEADERS

We had a great bunch of Christian leaders who came to retreat in order to advance. They learned about inspired leadership from Winston Churchill, Barack Obama, Richard Branson, the Bible, Geology and Depth Psychology!

My favourite quote was from John Wimber: 'Never trust a leader who walks without a limp'.

Of course, we got on to management, too, and church councils.... How about this quote from the former British Prime Minister Clement Attlee: 'It is essential for the Cabinet to move on, leaving in its wake a trail of clear, crisp decisions. That is what government is about. And the challenge to democracy is to get it done quickly.'

Graham introduced excellent books on leadership from our Resources Centre at The Open Gate. Yes, of course we had to mention 'The One Minute Manager', and we described how we spent one minute a day (sometimes!) observing each person and affirming something positive. But then we hit the Crisis of Rising Expectations. Oh dear! That led us on to Jesus' Creative Absences (now that makes for a good Bible study) - and making time to have fun. So we ended by having fun together.

Have fun.

Submitted: 21:55:38 on 15th March 2009

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Topic: HOW SHABBY CAN YOU BE?

Frode is here. He is a pastor of a church of several hundred people near Kristiansand, Norway. Today he told me 'When you preached for us you were the shabbiest person in church.' 'I am sorry' I said. 'Oh, no', said Frode, 'it was the only way we could get the smell of someone who brings desert spirituality to us.'

What do you make of that?

Submitted: 15:50:06 on 9th March 2009

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Topic: WHAT'S BEHIND MY MOVE TO THE WHITE HOUSE?

On March 19 I move into the White House. I do not aspire to President Obama's abode - though let it be said that the USA made a conscious choice to build a more modest house than the palaces of its former colonial masters. No, I move into White House, Fenkle Street, Holy Island, Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 2SR. This is two doors down from The Island Store, and has a garden view to the sea and castle. My present abode becomes The Community House, Office and Studies Centre.

Seeking to shed any grand pretensions to a Washington style of White House, I wondered whether Ishould change the house name, until I was reminded that early Celtic Christians built White Houses of a more modest kind. Around 400 AD Ninian established a White House at Candida Casa, which is why that place, in Galloway, Scotland, is now known as Whithorn. Although the little travelled Anglo-Saxon historian Bede did not know this, Ninian imported from Martin of Tours’ community in Gaul, not just masons, but both Christian brothers and the names of Martin’s houses. Candida Casa, White Hut, is simply a translation of Bright White Hut (Leuko-Teiac), the name of the bothy on Bishop Hilary’s farm near Liguge, where Martin first organised his family of Christians. According to Archibald Scott, in his classic work 'The Pictish Nation: its people and its church' (T.N. Foulis, 1918 – out of print but in our Lindisfarne Library) Ninian’s house was unlikely to have been as grand as later writers made out. It was more likely to have been like the later White Houses that were modelled from it, a modest house suited for prayer and sacraments at small gatherings. This view is supported by the references to this White House when Paulinus of York and Alcuin gave help to preserve it. These White Houses are found associated with Celtic Churches from Dornoch in the north of Pictland to Ty Gwyn ar Dav among Britons in Wales. It is believed that Ninian established places like these White Houses in these shires: Ayr, Glasgow, Forfar, Aberdeen, Invernesss, Sutherland right up to the Orkney Islands. Ninian divided much of Pictland into districts, or parishes, at the hub of which was often one of these White Houses. The names of many of the successors he appointed are known. These formed one family, or dispersed community, who looked to The White House in Galloway as their mother house.

Wouldn't it be great if my White House could be a fresh little expression of that tradition?

Submitted: 19:16:28 on 6th March 2009

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Topic: ASH WEDNESDAY IN WALES

I have been working on a book of daily readings at St. Deiniols Library, North Wales. Britain's largest residential library was endowed to the nation by former Prime Minister William Gladstone, who included provisions such as bursaries for poverty stricken clerics like myself.

On Ash Wednesday five resident students decided to make a pilgrimage to Pennant Mellangeth, a shrine in honour of an early Celtic saint and animal protector which survived the Reformation. There we prayed, lit candles for peoples' healing, and I was asked to try out a meditation from my forthcoming book - direct from my lap-top. We joined in Midday Prayer and were invited to the centre next door for soup.

This remote place would be derelict if heritage organisations had had their way. It took the vision of Rev Evelyn Davies and others, who drew support from Prince Charles and the locals alike, to make this happen. That's what our countries need. Reviving daily prayer and hospitality on ambient sites - in populous and remote places alike,

Submitted: 21:33:28 on 28th February 2009

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Topic: FINANCE, SEX AND DARWIN - IN 250 WORDS

It's my turn to write the Pause for Thought column in our local newspaper. Six months of thoughts have to be condensed in to 250 words. This is it:

My Vicar on Holy Island says ‘The world financial crisis is an opportunity to change to a sustainable way of life.’ My Tweedmouth gym has put up a notice. ‘Beat the credit crunch by sharing an allotment and growing your own food.’ Bring back allotments.

Paul Moore, the former head of regulatory risk at HBOS, who was schooled by Benedictine monks in Yorkshire, warned his bosses against lending, to consumers whose ability to repay was doubtful, far more than the bank had in solid assets. This reflected the Christian advice to avoid unnecessary debt. He was sacked. He says ‘The world needed this crisis to bring it to its senses because it was gripped by a kind of blindness. What we need is capitalism with a conscience.’ Bring back conscience.

A twelve-year-old fathers a child. The nation is shocked. Yet for years the teachings of great religions about the sanctity of marriage and sex have been banned as not politically correct. In their place the mechanics of sex have been taught ad nauseam. Bring back Christian sex.

We celebrate the bi-centenary of Charles Darwin. Atheists claim him as their own. In fact he always believed in a Creator. He did cease to believe in the God he thought Christians proclaimed. When he concluded that bees evolved ‘through instinct’, he thought it necessary to add ‘rather than by the design of God.’ He, along with many religious leaders of his time, failed to see that God could be in the process. Bring back belief in the God within.

Submitted: 15:22:31 on 14th February 2009

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Topic: ALZHEIMERS, TERRY PRATCHETT AND MY FRIENDS

Terry Pratchett has Alzheimers. He has invited a film crew to chronicle his 'dark path'. He is determined not to be seen as a victim.

I have two priest friends with Alzheimers. One had such peace in the deeper levels of his soul that he his still peaceful and happy. He is fine, its just his memory that's gone. Another touched us greatly when he celebrated (yes, celebrated) Holy Communion recently. 'In this holy sacrament' he said, 'the infinitely loving God pours his mercy into our bodies, minds and souls. OK, our bodies are disintegrating - they won't last. OK the mind may be disintegrating - mine is - it won't last. But the most important thing is that He pours his life and love into our souls - and they last eternally. That is the only thing that really matters.'

Isn't that wonderful?

Submitted: 12:45:54 on 8th February 2009

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Topic: 'YOU ARE A PROPHETIC COMMUNITY'

Senior churchman Godfrey Butland is the person to whom our Community gives account.While he was driving to the annual houseparty of those of us in first vows he asked God what he should say to us. He told us that he thinks God is pleased with what he sees. Godfrey also thought that this Community is a prophetic sign. It lives out now what everyone is meant to live, and what in the future will be mainstream.

Submitted: 13:53:49 on 1st February 2009

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Topic: CHANNEL 4 TV'S MESSAGE FROM LINDISFARNE

The British TV Channel Four are broadcasting a series on The History of Christianity. Episode Four is entitled The Dark Ages and focusses on Britain, especially Lindisfarne. The presenter, the black British theologian Dr Robert Beckford described how warring kingdoms were united, and the English became a nation, through Christianity. At Jarrow, the site of the monk historian Bede, Beckford asked 'What does Bede's Englishness consist of?' His answer was to open the pages of The Lindisfarne Gospels on Holy Island with the scholar Dr. Michelle Brown. These Gospels, she suggested, were a manifesto of an Englishness that embraces the world and glories in cultural diversity. They contain Irish ogham and Germanic runes, Latin and Greek, swirls that would have reminded a girl of her mother's pearls, designs from prayer mats inspired by the Muslim east and used in England, all woven into the larger tapestry of the Eternal. They were a symbol of a new dynamic so powerful that kings who previously only maintained themselves by killing and pride, gave up power to become humble servants in a monastery. The early English church, said Beckford, was not small-minded but was the epitome of diversity.

The influence of this church, like that of the Irish, spread across Europe in the 8th century. Although the flame flickered over the centuries, Beckford claims that the Lindisfarne Message lay behind the abolition of the slave trade and the workers' rights movements. As someone who came from the slave culture of the Caribbean, and who saw the church through the narrow prism of that context, he says he is liberated to discover that there is a wider, deeper, more inclusive basis for the Christianity of the land he loves.

Submitted: 20:30:48 on 25th January 2009

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Topic: MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President,

Our international movement for change prays for you.

We commit ourselves to healing our torn-apart world. We refuse to demonise. We love Muslims, Christians and Jews – children of Abraham, children of God, and challenge all to listen to God and to one another for what is best for God’s family.

We commit to live simply, that others may simply live, and to renounce the demon of Mammon. We urge all people to use the present economic grim reaping as a God-given opportunity to build a different, more sustainable basis for our common life.

We commit to cherish the earth, and pray that your plans to create many jobs that will save or increase renewable energy will go further, deeper and ever wider.

Our symbols are Flame and Struggle. May the flame of hope that you have kindled, spread across the globe.

We pledge ourselves wholeheartedly to the struggle that will be needed if these hopes are to be delivered.

Submitted: 20:07:18 on 25th January 2009

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Topic: GAZA

Today I welcomed back Ian Mills, Warden of Marygate House, on Holy Island, from several weeks of his sabbatical leave which he used to serve Palestinian charity workers in the West Bank. Today, also, the Director of our St Cuthbert's Centre here sent me the following message from his United Reformed Church press officer:

Three major world religions regard Israel/Palestine as a 'holy land'. Jews, Christians and Muslims cannot understand their spiritual traditions without some appreciation of the long history that has unfolded in Palestine/Israel and the wider region.

The deeper theological perspectives of the three faiths include the wisdom that all people have their place in God's purposes, and that people of each faith have a fundamental responsibility to safeguard the common interest. Muslims, Christians and Jews are all people of a robust peace that is rooted in God's unconditional love for us all. This is where hope and future lie.

It is not right that the rich spirituality of our traditions is corrupted into hatred and violence, demeaned into a narrow stridency seeking political or military advantage for one interest - at the cost of the well-being of others or of the common good.

It is scandalous that the wise traditions of our historic faiths should be subverted by powerful secular interests to justify defending any one community at any price. Such manipulation can never be for the common good or the wider peace. Political and military power, disconnected from the lively spiritual God-centred peace at the heart of our three religions, offers no prospect of healing or justice for anyone.

Yet our three faiths are also the means by which these precious gifts may be offered to Palestine/Israel - and to the wider world. If Islam, Judaism and Christianity fail in this, our faiths will be roundly condemned and rightly consigned to the dustbin of history.

Stuart Dew Press Officer. United Reformed Church

Submitted: 15:44:56 on 13rd January 2009

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Topic: HOW YOUR NATION CAN BE GREAT

Today I emailed this Thought for the Day to my mates in Australia:

In living to make others great I find my own greatness.

As I am so is my nation

Submitted: 18:10:32 on 9th January 2009

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Topic: MORE LIGHT, LESS HEAT

MORE LIGHT, LESS HEAT Details: They call this the season of Epiphany. The best quote I have been sent is this by C.S. Lewis: I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

Submitted: 18:32:55 on 6th January 2009

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Topic: THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

'On the thirteenth day of Christmas I saw King Jesus go about the plain beyond my pane wearing the cap of snow...'

Thanks for sending me that line from Charles Causley's poem. Now write the next line - what's he doing outside your window?

Submitted: 18:18:40 on 6th January 2009

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Topic: HOLY ISLAND NEW YEAR

January 1 is Men's Day. I had a drink on the house at The Crown and Anchor.l Since I was called upon to lead Evening Prayer in the church I then did something unheard of - I had a latte coffee at The Manor House Hotel. Its the spirit that matters.

January 2 is Women's Day. I stocked up in case of a knock on the door - Celtic hospitality and all that. Two women came to work. Karen, fresh from snow-bound Washington and without her luggage, and Judith. They have turned the Library into a maelstrom of good works - cataloguing, labelling, sorting etc. Concourse Books have extended their free trial period and offered us a half price subscription thereafter. Soon you will have internet access to this unique library.

Submitted: 11:23:24 on 2nd January 2009

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Topic: NEW YEAR

Hi folks, my New Year Message is on the front of the first web page. Bulls-eye!

New's Year's Day is Men's Day on the island. I had a drink on the house at The Crown and Anchor. Since I was called upon to lead Evening Prayer in the church I then had something unheard of - a latte coffee at The Manor House Hotel. It's the spirit that counts.

January 2 is Women's Day. I have stcoked up in case there is a knock at the door... Celtic hospitality and all that.

Submitted: 10:19:05 on 1st January 2009

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Topic: CHRISTMAS DAYS ON HOLY ISLAND

Clive's Nativity Figures are floodlit in the Gospels' Garden.

Our ad hoc choir sang Vivaldi's Gloria

My sister Sally arrived and slept on the library floor.

Had a staff party at The Open Gate - I brought the Chinese takeaway and Helen and Naomi brought their home made chocolate roulade.

Pauline Warner and friends, ensconced at 'Shalom', had us round for a Swedish Christmas evening

< A walk to the north shore and the anonymous hermit's homemade hut. Left a message in the 'history book' which is kept in a plastic container.

/Holy Island is the only sane place in Britain' someone said. Everywhere else is crazed with shopping addiction. Here there is the sea, the sand, the silence and the Presence.

We climbed Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh, had an eat-as-much-as-you-like four course Chinese meal for £5.49 pence, and enjoyed the 'Sunshine on Leith' musical at the Festival Theatre.

Joyce's funeral. The whole island turned out. She was just back from a Caribbean cruise, asked us to light all the Christmas candles, sing Away in a Manger, and wave to her as the hearse took her to the crematorium. Then we had refreshments at The Crown and Anchor. Joyce is a hard act to follow. On Millennium night she asked me when I would ask her to marry me. 'Maybe some time before the next millennium ' I replied.

Sally leaves and Judith arrives. Karen's plane was delayed a day by snow in USA. She joins Judith to give weeks of volunteer service - to finish cataloguing the Celtic Christian Studies Library that you, dear reader, can benefit from whenever you can make it. Please do make it.

Submitted: 20:46:16 on 30th December 2008

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Topic: THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

'Glow sea and sky For the One who is drawing nigh' (a prayer we said). 'Wow! Look at that' - a visitor refers to the glowing sky and seascape.

Home-maker God, come at night to all who are sleeping rough; come to cardboard huts and the dampened squats; come to the young who have lost their way and to the old who have been forgotten' (a prayer we said). A man who spent the night in a caravan was offered breakfast at the Vicarage.

A late Christmas card from Paul Oliver included these words from his poem: 'He comes, friend to disinherited and forsaken, awakening a life prepared for us only in secret... And now his presence lightens the heart and gives voice to a world deafened to his gentle words of Love.'

Submitted: 09:28:41 on 24th December 2008

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Topic: EQUINOX MYSTERY SOLVED?

Of course - how stupid of me. That light I saw was on the Equinox. Up here in the northern hemisphere that is the day of least light. Dave - that prayer you sent, asking us to use it at midday, gives us the clue. For the sake of everyone who blogs on I will copy your prayer below:

Warmth of all warmth, Comforter of all comfort, be within me this day, that i would share your warmth with others and be to the other that which you are to me.

Let not the darkness overcome us, but let the Light shine from within to illumine that which is darkness. As the darkness stretches it's long hand over this nation, let your Light shine from within your people, that we would be left not in darkness, but in the hope of the coming Light.

Great Light, be my guide and hold me fast in this darkness that I may be the fire on a hilltop in this dark time Burn now and ever more Amen

Submitted: 11:26:28 on 23rd December 2008

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Topic: WHERE WILL GOD TURN UP NEXT?

Holy Island is dark and deserted in the depth of winter. Only five people turned up to the morning church service. We went up into the sanctuary - the area where all the important God things are - the altar, the Bible, the ikon, the candles, the flowers. While the vicar was praying, I looked down to the back of the church - to the area where none of the God things are, where the brooms are stored and the rubbish is kept. To my amazement it was flooded with bright light. Could some TV crew be preparing for a visit? No. Was it a some light specially fixed up for a children's nativity? No again. What could the explanation be?

Back in the sanctuary a Bible reading came to my ears. It was about God not being born in a big religious centre, but in some back water - a stable in some village. That unlikely place was flooded with light. Angels came. God turned up there. But most people missed it.

Where will God turn up next on planet earth, I thought? The light by our broom cupboard makes me think that God might turn up in a place where the down-turn is making folk feel forgotten - in a down-to-earth corner of the world. Look out. Let me know.

Thanks. Ray.

Submitted: 22:05:20 on 21st December 2008

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Topic: TOP PEOPLE FALL: LITTLE PEOPLE GROW

The world recession daily sees rich and powerful people fall. What the headlines miss is that lowly people grow. This is the timeless truth that the Christian season of Advent symbolises. .

In the past, a far-seeing commentator named Zephaniah suggested that the obvious front runners, the Jewish Establishment, would be deported because they were no longer to be trusted. But two other groups of people could be trusted and would be used to build a better world. One group were beyond the margins of what they thought was 'the civilisaed world' - beyond some river in Ethiopia. The other group were the ordinary people of Israel who were too poor to be deported ( Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13).

The people who regarded themselves as the world’s front runners looked down on other peoples whose economies were in a mess but in fact they themselves had lost the plot. They could no longer be trusted. Yet a people far off beyond the boundaries of a river in Ethiopia could be trusted because in their poverty and simplicity they had sincere hearts. Then the chosen people would cease to strut; they would be removed and the ordinary, humble people who would be left behind would live honestly and inherit the possibilities.

(p>In the New Testament Advent reading that goes with this, Matthew 21:28-32, Jesus makes a similar point in relation to individuals. The person who outwardly was up to the job, who had ticked all the right boxes on the form, in fact failed to do the job. The person who said he would not do the job, in the event turned up trumps.

In Holy Island Church today this prayer was offered:Lord, bring into the light those parts of our lives that are closed, dysfunctional, non-co-operative and uncreative. Help us to embrace our vulnerability and be available to you. Take away false defences and self-righteous pigeonholing of others. We pray this also for those countries and leaders who think of themselves as the world’s good guys....

Submitted: 11:56:36 on 16th December 2008

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Topic: STAR OVER LONDON

Sorry you missed me on Holy Island. I shared in a London church's annual festival of their patron, Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus to you, me and the marketeers). The people of this church - St. Nicholas Perivale -are the salt of the earth. The building links an industrial area with a housing area. There are a few white and brown faces in the church, but most are black. I pushed my way through an Oxford Street crammed with shoppers and bought a Christmas star from Selfridges. This I presented to the church with these words: 'We come from an exploding star. We are made of star dust. Each person is a star. Our job is to help each star shine'.

The Church of England Diocese of London has a campaign to 'Build the City'. I asked my Perivale friends if they could best build the city by being like Jerusalem or Bethlehem. I suggested God would guide them as clearly as a star to build an ever-growing family among the ordinary 'straw' of life - to be a Bethlehem kind of place in London. Pray for them.

Submitted: 17:03:45 on 9th December 2008

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Topic: CHANGE@ GOV.COM

Change@gov.com is the name of a campaign by over one million organisations world-wide. They claim the coming change is unstoppable. The only question is whether we will co-operate with it or resist it. They say that if we co-operate, something will come to birth even more wonderful than a baby being born, but if we resist it, we will be left stranded, with nothing but our own regrets to keep us company.

The gov.com refers to God. The campaigning organisations call themselves churches. The campaign period is known as Advent.

You want more information? For heaven's sake, don't ask me. Go to higher authority.

Submitted: 17:13:48 on 2nd December 2008

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Topic: THE SHACK

Yes, thanks for telling me about it, I too have now read this bestseller.

What did I enjoy most? I liked the bit when God (you know Who) emerged with plates of pancakes and fried potatoes (though I am sorry William Paul Young’s God is not Green), dressed in a long-flowing African-looking dress, complete with a vibrant, multi-coloured headband, singing along to Bruce Cockburn’s song ‘Oh love that fires the sun keep me burning’ and glowingly exclaims ‘I love that child’s songs! I am especially fond of Bruce, you know’, and when asked if Bruce was her favourite, she replied ‘I have no favourites, I am just especially fond of him’.

I’ll sign off now, but before I do so I want you to know this: I’m especially fond of you.

Yours fondly

Sunshine Ray.

PS On my blogs the Divinity spells English the British way – papa’s especially fond of this spelling.

Submitted: 15:26:55 on 25th November 2008

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Topic: HILDA AND OUR TIMES

A retreat in order to advance drew us to Saint Hilda's Whitby, on Britain's eastern coast, where the ancient abbey and the modern priory keep watch. On Saint Hilda's Day we joined sisters of the Order of the Holy Paraclete for an open air service in the abbey ruins, courtesy of English Heritage, and our Carol, of The Open Gate, read from Bede's account of Hilda. We were then invited to the sisters' main priory for their annual celebration, followed by a lunch. I had the honour of preaching. This is the start of the sermon, based on the writings of the prophet Isaiah chapter 61: 10 to 62:5:

Hilda’s great community up there for women and men, students and workers, was in effect a village. A village of God. Today’s Old Testament reading describes the birthright and the legacy and the divine possibility of such a place – in this case, not a village but a city of God. The prophet speaks to this place. He tells it that despite failures and set-backs, destructions and even ruins, because they have put God first they will be seen as a place where God can be seen, where people in authority shall see the divine glory: ‘The nations shall see your vindication.’

I believe the time is approaching in our world of climate, energy and financial melt-down when people of influence will see that their authority is imploding, but places like Hilda’s Whitby stand for an authority that nothing can destroy.

God transforms first a person, then a place through that person; then it becomes a platform that begins to transform the world. As it was with Jerusalem: so with Whitby.

The Divine Spirit comes upon the prophet, who says: ‘My whole being shall exult in God.’ That’s Hilda, too. Nothing half-hearted, namby-pamby or dualistic about her. Body and mind. God in the soil and God in the Scriptures. God in the chants and God in the chores. My whole being. God in the academic novices who would become bishops: God in the unread cowherd whose tongue was tied.

Submitted: 16:38:46 on 20th November 2008

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Topic: BANFF CHURCHES TOGETHER GO FORWARD - WHAT ABOUT OTHERS?

Banff is a well built town of 4,000 people on the rural north-east coast of Scotland. The representatives of its five churches on its ‘Churches Together’ studied my book 'Church of the Isles: the emerging church in Britain and Ireland – a prophetic strategy for renewal', drew up an audit of each of their churches, and invited me to spend a week-end with them when they could offer their vision to the town and begin to draw up achievable priorities.

The five churches, in order of their number of worshippers, are: The Parish Church of the Church of Scotland, Our Lady of Carmel Roman Catholic Church, Riverside Christian Church (independent charismatic), the Methodist Church and the Scottish Episcopal Church. This initiative was the inspiration of Rev John Woodside, the deacon in charge of Our Lady of Carmel. On the Friday evening three delegates from each church shared a meal together. On Saturday morning each church presented an outline of its activities, history and aims. A spirit of encouraging one another was evident. In the light of the book’s check lists on how to turn a church into a spiritual home, and of the ingredients that might make up a ‘Village of God’, I asked questions and made suggestions. On Saturday afternoon I did a prayer visualisation walk the length and breadth of Banff, encompassing the harbour, football ground, gardens, shops, pubs, tourist centre, Duff House and the five churches.

Riverside Church hosted a 7.0 pm public meeting at their modern Harvest Centre, advertised as ‘A Vision for Banff’. This was open to non-church-goers and the audience included a county councillor and a couple from Banff Community Council. I suggested that the election of President Obama was evidence that a dream can come true. A dream for a town should embrace excellence both in its material provisions and in the spirit that inspires its citizens. A town’s resources for renewing this spirit were as important as its consumer provisions. Addressing the churches, I outlined changes in society which were marginalising churches – these resources of the spirit. This called for churches to re-connect imaginatively and compassionately to all parts of their society. I spoke of Villages of God and gave examples of what was possible.

After this meeting the Churches Together delegates met again. Three achievable areas to explore were identified: 1) Instead of Churches Together activities being ‘one more thing’ on top of already overcrowded agendas, certain existing church activities could be done more effectively together. For example, A Churches Together web site, twice yearly newsletter to every home, information sheet for tourist and residents centres, men’s breakfasts, use of the redundant high street church which the council was to turn into a modern centre, making Banff a Fair Trade Town, as are Aberdeen and Oban. 2) The spiritual renewal of church members. A common experience was that church workers were spending more time on organisation than on renewal of the inner life, yet unchurched people often wanted spirituality more than organisation. Churches needed to develop soul friends, listeners and disciplers who could mentor a new generation in Christian spirituality, meditation and prayer. First steps towards this could be quiet days, retreats, courses or circulation of devotional material delegates from each church found helpful. 3) Contributing to fun or adventure pastimes among the public such as the town’s annual festival (Busking? Children’s crèche? Free home-made cakes?) and the Grampian Coastal Trail. This trail could begin and end with St Columba, who visited Aberdeen (the start) and Inverness (the end) of the trail. It goes through St. Catherine’s Head, St. Cyrus, Kirkton, St. Fergus, St. Combs and near Deer Abbey. Ancient Christian sites and today’s churches could be linked with it. At the least a leaflet with some suggestions for sites and prayer could be available in the tourist centres. If you’d like a CD of the evening talk and responses, send £3 to ‘Riverside CC’ , Castle Street, Banff, Scotland AB45 1DH

Submitted: 15:53:29 on 12nd November 2008

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Topic: OBAMA AND INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

The Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri thinks that the USA election was about a call. He writes in the London Times 'nations become what they are because of certain crossroad choices they have made. The American elections are about the secret symbolic destination of our age'. He thinks the Obama story is one of the most audacious and inspiring stories of our age. He writes 'We like people who set out on impossible journeys. They reawaken in us a sense of human greatness, which we appear to have forgotten in these dismal times.... We are searching for a new America, a new paradigm for our times, a new phoenix out of the moral and financial crisis of our age. This is a time for new directions, a new revival..'

All this is true. But Obama can't do this on his own. We need many ordinary people who set out on the journey towards greatness. Those who Voyage with our Way of Life can be harbingers. Many, many more are needed.

Submitted: 17:05:48 on 5th November 2008

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Topic: THE BALLOON BURSTS - GLOBAL CREDIT CRUNCH

Thanks for your questions about the money crisis. These are my thoughts.

'I don't know much about world finance', said my brother's wife, Anita, ' but I know that if you continue inflating a balloon it will burst.' Now the balloon has burst, but financial experts bleat 'We didn't see it coming'. I did. For two years I have felt in my stomach that things could not go on like they were, and I have said so.

Our international community recommend a way of life. Its values include simplicity, balance and stewardship. In the Companion Book to our way of life ('A Pilgrim Way: new celtic monasticism for everyday people' published by Kevin Mayhew) we advise people to avoid unnecessary debt, not to borrow more than we can repay and to invest ethically. Aggressive banks have borrowed thirty times the amount they have in assets. Before you use a bank, find out if its assets are greater or less than its borrowings. Only invest in responsible and ethical banks. I have transferred my meagre savings to a Co-operative Bank ethical fund.

Submitted: 20:39:52 on 28th October 2008

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Topic: THE STONE OF DESTINY

I saw The Stone of Destiny at a cinema in my beloved Edinburgh yesterday. It brought tears to my eyes. It stirs the blood to see young men re-possess a sacred symbol of their nationhood which they perceive another nation (in this case England) to have stolen from them.

However, we struggle for an even higher goal - the healing of the lands - and for truth. The legend of The Stone of Destiny carries healing truth. It was the pillow of stone on which Jacob of the Bible lay his head, before he saw heaven opened. It was used by young King Joash at a coronation. It was taken with the Jewish refugees into exile. It came into the hand of a good, local Egyptian king named Gathelus, whose wife, Scota, desired to travel far. Eventually, via the Danube, these pilgrims came to Ireland with the precious stone. The Irish colonised part of northern Britain. They brought the Stone to Scone for a time. It was brought to Dunadd for the first Christian coronation of a British monarch, King Aidan, by Saint Columba. The future English King Oswald was brought up there in a faithful covenant between the parties of the two peoples. Saint Aidan was there, and the great Arthur, later eulogised in fables, who united Scots, Welsh and English in alliances of honour. Who knows if Oswald, too, was anointed upon that stone? The Kings of Scotland were crowned sitting upon it. When King James of Scotland became also King of England, and again when there was a Union between Scotland and England, this became a symbol of shared blessing, and was lodged beneath the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey, to be used at the coronations of the joint monarchs of the Scots and the English. Following the re-possession/ theft of the stone, it was surrendered to UK authorities. Prime Minister John Major ordered that its home should again be in Scotland, but it should be taken to the Abbey for each coronation.

My proposal is this: That each person who touches this Stone should wrestle with God as Jacob wrestled, until the barrier between heaven and earth is broken through, and the barriers between every people on earth are broken through, and the Stone becomes the Sacred Place of God's Presence, where every human being on earth receives their due and honours another people. The Lost Tribes are re-United under one God. So help us God.

Submitted: 16:23:32 on 21st October 2008

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Topic: PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN AT GLASTONBURY

Pagans are meeting Jesus in their dreams. If Jesus is not prejudiced against non-Christians, why should Christians be?

Christians and others gathered at Chalice Well, Glastonbury. Margaret led a prayer walk through its garden, and explained that the red well water and the white well water are taken by Christians as a symbol of the blood and water that flowed from Christ's side. Pauline led a Eucharist of Divine Wisdom. Another retreatant read the Bible aloud for the first time in his life. This followed a dream in which Divine hands opened his heart. David and I visited the goddess temple. This is the only space in that town where anyone can sit on a cushion, in the ambience of music, incense, and beautiful images. Why can't churches provide such spaces, and allow women to be touhed by the Divine Feminine and be affirmed in the beauty of their origins in God? Emerging villages of God must provide such spaces.

I stayed on for the funeral of Pamela, which she had planned most gloriously not long before. God bless her!

playing,

Submitted: 18:26:56 on 13rd October 2008

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Topic: ANGELS DOWN UNDER

G'day Mate

Yep, I know that the angel season in the old country is all about Michael and his task force protecting helpless souls against the encroaching dark of the northern hemisphere, but I don't agree with you that angels have no place Down Under.

Yep, I know that you know that folk think about the following: Michael and his angel force (September 29); the kids' guardian angels (first week of October); firing, blazing seraphim (the next week) ; the miracle of Le Mont St Michel in France (19 October - read about it in my 'Saints of the Isles' if you've forgotten); Raphel the healing angel and his six companions (October 30) and, yep, I know I could have said her instead of his.

But I want you to know this. I also know that they are the angels of LIGHT and that Down Under the light is flooding in - and why don't you celebrate this with all YOUR bloomin' angels?

I also want you to know this. Just now a woman from Brisbane told me how back home she knelt on the soil and heard the earth weeping. Afterwards she found that the Aboriginal people had gathered at that spot for a great weeping after suffering terrible mistreatment. She heard the sounds of the earth. Each of those dead souls had their angels. They still have them. Listen to the angels. Do you hear me?

Submitted: 16:51:47 on 2nd October 2008

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Topic: A FIT, A FAINT OR A FATALITY?

The bed plunged and the wall spun endlessly. It was 5.0am. I was in a single room - the co-leader of a retreat for 91 people - and on Iona, an island with no resident doctor.

Mercy, however, was resident. The Iona Community drove me across the ferry to the medical centre on Mull at their expense. That is their policy. The doctor put me on their new, state-of-the-art machine, which revealed I had not had a fit or a faint... 'so we are talking pathology.'

Mercy also accompanied me on my return. A young German lady ditched her train journey and helped me drive to Edinburgh. A member of the Community took me in overnight. Next day I got to Berwick Infirmary. They told me I could choose one of two hospitals. I thought of Saint Cuthbert and the view of his hills, and chose Borders Hospital at Melrose. Another Community member drove me there. Through a noisy night of endless tests they eliminated brain tumour and heart problem as the culprits. The culprit was the third, inner sanctuary of the ear. Medication for that followed, and a visit to the 'Falls Unit' in October awaits me. Mercy, however, has never left me.'

Submitted: 07:19:07 on 28th September 2008

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Topic: LINDISFARNE PROPERTY

Lindisfarne has 130 residents who have to care for half a million visitors. This is a big pressure. Hotels and charitable establishments alike have a chronic need for more staff, and therefore for staff accommodation. Most have built extensions or rented cottages to meet this need.

Our small, Open Gate Retreat Centre, with only three guest rooms, offers hospitality and spiritual resources to larger groups, day visitors and members of our dispersed Community as well as to our own guests, including meals in a room which doubles for meetings. This creates unaceptable stresses on our volunteer staff, but we have no space to house the extra staff we need, so we drew up draft plans for an extension and consulted with island neighbours. We withdrew these, out of respect for those whose view would be affected, and those who have fond memories of this property as an Island Bar and who do not wish an Elizabethan treasure to be altered.

Out of the blue, the owner of The Lindisfarne Hotel asked us if we would like to buy that. The hotel had run down and was no longer what it used to be. It would enable us to have the staff, the meeting room and disabled access which we sorely need, and we could still sometimes offer rooms to the public. No decisions have been made. We welcome help and guidance.

Submitted: 09:57:57 on 16th September 2008

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Topic: IONA, SWEDES AND PILGRIMS

I'm off to Iona to co-lead with Ian Bradley a week on Pilgrimage for Swedish pastors and others. Luther opposed pilgrimage, so why are so many Lutherans now exploring it?

Because, so my workshops will suggest, pilgrimage is a metaphor for a human life and for the life of a church.

At the same time our dispersed Community's physical pilgrimage to the Holy Land gets under way, led by Martin Warren. Pilgrims will meet ordinary fellow Christians who are involved in conflict resolution. Pray for them.

Submitted: 13:40:10 on 5th September 2008

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Topic: AIDAN SIGN AND WONDER

An Explorer and a Friend of The Community of Aidan and Hilda placed Rosemary before the statue of Saint Aidan in Holy Island churchyard and took a photograph. The photographer saw blue all around the edges of the statue and the colour yellow at the top. She was quite taken aback. The other person also saw a blue aura around Aidan but it began to fade. What might God be saying?

Submitted: 18:14:48 on 29th August 2008

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Topic: Aidan Week on Holy Island

Five Christian communities shared their treasures at a celebration in St Mary's Church, Holy Island during the Saint Aidan Week. At the close they made this open statement together:

As disciples of Christ we follow his path of simplicity of life; proclaim his message of peace and live his life of prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through actively sharing in the Apostles' teaching, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and by prayer we seek to make Christ better known in the world.

Submitted: 17:17:03 on 29th August 2008

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Topic: BAREFOOT CAMPAIGNER

Today I met a man named Ewen Hardy. He is walking barefoot from Edinburgh to London to show solidarity with the oppressed Burmese, and to raise money for their development and education. He aims to arrive on the day the Beijing Olympics begins, in the hope that this will not entirely crowd out the world's awareness of Burma's plight. You can donate online at justgiving.com/barefeetforburma. For more information visit barefeetforburma.blogspot.com

Submitted: 09:17:25 on 2nd July 2008

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Topic: SANCTUARY IN LONDON

Members and friends of some Ealing churches devoted a week-end to learning how to build an inner sanctuary while living in the fast lane. This involved learning several arts: the art of saying 'no'; the art of planning margins of time around each area we need for a balanced life; the art of meditation, and the art of loving God in the present moment. To find out more visit www.churchoftheascension.org.uk

Submitted: 09:08:08 on 2nd July 2008

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Topic: THE ANGEL AND THE TOUCH ON THE SHOULDER

Sixteen Norwegians walked the sixty three mile Saint Cuthbert?s Way and then stayed on Holy Island in order to walk more closely with God. Two days before youth worker Hovard Haugland took his First Voyage vows with Anamcara ? The Community of Aidan and Hilda in Norway - he had a vision of an angel. Then Philip, a young man from Ghana doing business studies at Durham, who was staying elsewhere on the island, asked if he could sit in on the morning retreat session. That evening he knocked on my door to tell me something. He had felt a hand on his shoulder. But neither the man on his right nor the woman on his left had their hand on his shoulder. He kept looking to check this out, for the hand would not go away. Eventually he came to the conclusion that it was God?s hand on his shoulder, and that is why he had to tell me, for he had never experienced something like that before.

Submitted: 09:09:09 on 30th June 2008

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Topic: Seabirds and saints

Recently visitors who came to a God in Nature retreat made a day visit to the Scottish seabird centre at North Berwick. The growth in pilgrimage includes both those who want to pray in a holy place, and those who want to find peace in a place of natural beauty. This visit combined both types. This amazing centre has permanent cameras on three bird sanctuary islands in the Firth of Forth, which the visitor can control from the centre. You can zoom in on every detail of a bird or a rock. Bass Rock, one of these islands, was the home of Saint Baldred, who the Lindisfarne monks sent to be a hermit there, and an ancient pilgrims chapel fronts the centre?s Saints and Seabirds exhibition. Their web site is www.seabird.org.

Submitted: 18:29:18 on 22nd June 2008

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Topic: BURMA

Ben Rogers of Christian Solidarity Worldw-de and his Burmese friends Victor and Cheerie spoke at our Annual Week-end at Red Hill Centre neart Stratford, UK. Their news was dire. The troops order peoploe to return to non-existent villages. They shoot them if they do not go. We prayed for the 400,000 soldiers, many of who have a heart; also for the fortune tellers who tells the senior general what to do, that the Holy Spirit would fill the teller with loving insight.

We also heard from our member Therese, who is starting a medical centre in The Democratic Republic of Congo, for the poorest and most needy. We ended with a Eucharist for Justice by the lakeside.

Submitted: 18:26:23 on 17th June 2008

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Topic: EX-ATHEISTS, GREAT SCOT !

This week I have encountered a young and an old ex atheist. The young ex is Scott Brennan, who spoke at our 'Heart for Scotland' conference at Scottish Churches House, Dunblane. Five years ago he started The Lighthouse church movement in theb Lothians. Now there are thirteen cells and a youth bus. But when Scott was at school he wrote an essay entitled 'Why There Is No God.' It won a national award. He received a prize. It was a Bible! It seems he has never looked back.

The second ex atheist is Antony Flew. For fifty years he was one of the world?s most influential atheists. He changed his mind in 2004, and wrote a book entitled 'There is a God.' He faced up to the fact that modern science spotlights three dimensions of nature that point to God. The first is that nature obeys laws; how did these laws come to be? The second is that there are intelligently organized and purpose-driven beings; how could they originate from non-life? The third is the existence of nature; how did it come into existence? He came to the conclusion that it is more unrealistic to account for these by chance than by God.

In his book 'There is a God' Flew quotes Professor Stephen Hawkins: ?You still have the question: why does the universe bother to exist? If you like, you can define God to be the answer to that question?. He quotes Einstein: ?We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws?A little child entering a huge library knows someone must have written these books. It does not know how?. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God.? He quotes Charles Darwin: ?I feel compelled to look for a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.?.He quotes Paul Davies: ?Atheists claim that the laws (of nature) exist reasonlessly and that the universe is ultimately absurd. As a scientist I find this hard to accept. There must be an unchanging rational ground in which the logical, orderly nature of the universe is rooted.?

Submitted: 15:54:54 on 8th June 2008

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Topic: CANADA\'S FORESIGHT GROUP, THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE CHURCH

At last I have time to catch up and I find some notes of my address last year to the Foresight Group that meets in Canada's Parliament. Representatives of science, business and Parliament met for the first time to consider future trends in religion. Evidently I said: 'There is a growing conviction among people most passionate to conserve the environment that we cannot swing it without a grassroots spirituality that motivates and sustains the changed programmes andhabits that are necessary....

The second millennium church in the West allowed itelf, however, to become disconnected from the soil. It identified its call to mission, allied with the work ethic, as a mandate to treat the earth as an inert commodity. Many therefore turned to Buddhism or New Age spiritualities. The international Community of Aidan and Hilda is an example of emerging Christian movements who enable church and other people to become friends of the earth in their values, religious observances and practical habits. This includes the habit of honouring the land and those who have lived on it in each place'. I then told the audience about some of our members: Lars the Deep Ecology Outdoor trainer in Norway, and Manfred, and his project to create eco lodges in Brazil's rain forests that encourage the indigenous people not to be bought out by the multi-national tree-slayers. The Deimels, and their rituals for seasons and blessing the earth...

God help us.

Submitted: 19:15:24 on 21st May 2008

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Topic: TRANSFORMING CHURCH IN THE HEART OF ENGLAND

I went to Shakespeare country - Stratford -Upon-Avon - during the May Bank Holiday to launch the new series on 'The Transforming Church'. This consists of seven books: A leaders course guide, log books for adults, young people and children, little prayer books for adults and for children, and a little meditation book on the eleven themes of the course. These may be ordered from the resources section on this web site.

Submitted: 18:58:02 on 21st May 2008

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Topic: CABBAGE AND KORU

In Christchurch, New Zealand, after a packed meeting at Theology House, the Celtic group presented me with a bunch of large cabbage leaves. They see these as a sign of God?s grace dancing in the leaves. The cabbage tree is unbreakable fibre, an enduring sign of the land and of God?s creation, of musicality, resilience, and of comfort. Maori use it for clothes and baskets, and on hill tops as way-marks.

That morning I had purchased a booklet by Mike Cole entitled ?Koru Christianity? which begins ?The centre of the Koru (a fern) is the Heart of God. From this place, life flows in all its forms. All creation came from this Heart that is Love?. God spoke to me. Mike, an Anglican Vicar, his RC brother Paul, and his Baptist colleague Alistair Mackenzie and wife Alison, who are all charismatic friends, took me out to a pub to talk through how new, young groups with kids can sustain a daily rhythm of prayer. Thank God for Koru people.

Submitted: 06:44:20 on 17th May 2008

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Topic: EMERGING DOWN UNDER

The Launch of Brent and my book 'Emerging Down Under' is going well. It scratches where people itch and sells well. We met people at theAustralia Forge Festival who sense the time has come to set up combined studies of the Aussies Celtic faith hertitage with the reviving studies of the Aboriginal heritage.

We met with John McIntyre, Bishop of Gippsland, and his Diocese's new Anam Cara Community which fosters contemplative prayer. They have a loss-making centre on Raymond Island. They have resisted calls to sell it and aim to turn it in a centre of spirituality, ecology and pilgrimage with an ethos which Anam cara and contemplative residents will help to sustain. They wanted to learn from our mistakes and successes at The Open Gate.

Submitted: 23:40:48 on 13rd April 2008

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Topic: COMEDY OF ERRORS DOWN UNDER

The start of my teaching and pastoral tour Down Under was a Comedy of Errors.The Edinburgh plane was delayed so I took an earlier one. My luggage was not transferred and six days later is still not here in New South Wales despite hours at baggage counters and on the phone. The Travel Agency listred me as staying at Empire Hotel Kowloon but they told me I was booked in at The Empire Hotel Hong Hong, so after several hours travel etc I was ensconced there. I was met at Sidney Airport by the recent leader of the Iona Community's sister Australia Community - Wellsrping - Neil Holm, and stayed with him and his wife Margaret. They put me on a two hour train to Newcastle. Matt was not there - he had told them I should get off at the previous station. I looked up our supposedly updated list of members and took a taxi. This was in fact the previous home of the Lamonts - they left it six months ago. Eventually, with more taxis, I got to them. This morning I queued and paid 105 dollars to get a month's supply of eye drops - I was advised by the doctor to live without the prostate tablets since I am now doing well - un less the problem returns - since they will be very expensive. I Matt and I have just gone to a 'high place' and had a good long talk, and he wishes to take The First Voyage. Tomorrow I lead the first seminar. Maybe God wants me to learn from the Aboriginals and be content with my skin, health, food, roof and friends. Tomorrow the first seminar begins. God Bless

Submitted: 16:07:54 on 22nd March 2008

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Topic: IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH

I had a very nasty urinary infection. There is no way I could have gone ahead with the imminent tour of Australasia. Anti-biotics cured the infection. Three days before the planned departure energy returned. One day before departure the phone rang. Jean (the first warden of our Open Gate Retreat House) had gone to a church to hear her husband, Ross, preach and had been invited to share thoughts. These about healing. Afterwards Sonia and Rob who run a gym nearby, made friends with them. I had been a member of a gym ex marine Rob once ran in Berwick. Since meeting Sonia he had become convinced of the value of holistic healing. 'Did you know Ray wrote a book about spiritual gym'? Jean told them. 'I'd like to read it. We plan to set up a well-being centre here' they told Jean. So a copy of my book 'The Joy of Spiritual Fitness' (Zondervan UK) is on its way.

With a new sense of wellp-being I fly off Down Under. The main public events are on the News Flash on the web site. A garbled more detailed list follows soon on the blog.

Submitted: 09:35:29 on 9th March 2008

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Topic: A VISITOR TELLS OF SLAVE TRADE HEALING

After seven week-ends on the job elsewhere, I succumbed to a nasty urinary infection which does not allow me to leave home until the anti-biotics do their job. But thank God for one visitor whose story I now relate.

David Pott walked from Hexham to Lindisfarne. He is the leader of the Lifeline Expedition, a Christian response to the legacy of the Atlantic slave trade. In recent years he has walked with a team along the meridian from Greenwich to the heart of Africa, in chains, to symbolise their recognition of the slavery their forebears promoted among Africans, and wearing T shirts which say ?Sorry?. The Vice-:President of Gambia was so moved to meet them that she personally took the chains from them and forgave them. Scenes like that, as those of England?s two Anglican Archbishops (one white, one black) leading the team in a procession of penance and healing in a former slave port city, have hit the headlines. But David told me stories of individuals of African descent who have experienced healing of false self image during their travels together.

My visitor brought more good news still. He told of the diary he has written about his aged parents? recent deaths, for they were good deaths indeed, and worthy to be treasured and learned from. David believes that if a child and a dying parent can talk about death openly, with no skeletons in the cupboard, they become free to grow ? in heaven and on earth. His parents did not cling on to life, nor were their children saying ?Don?t leave us? ? instead they recalled or did things the parents enjoyed, had a wedding anniversary party shortly before mother?s death which included a letter from the Queen, and shared Scriptures, prayers and plans that built one another up.

Northumbria Community has published David?s notes as a booklet entitled Journeying Home: thoughts on dying well (www.cloistersonline.com). It includes this paraphrase of George MacDonald:

Come now, live in us. Let us stay in You, since if we be all in You we cannot be far from one another, though some may be in heaven and some may be on earth.

Then I heard that my dear friend Hazel had died at Bowthorpe, and I made this our prayer for her.

Submitted: 19:26:04 on 24th February 2008

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Topic: DESERT SPIRITUALITY IN LONDON AND PARIS??

Can contemplation thrive in the city? Can the inner victories wrought ?in the desert? shine out in the streets of London and Paris? The Bishop of Woolwich (south London) Christopher Chessun, who once said to me ?Help us bring the desert into the city? joined a small group at the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine, in the heart of London?s renascent dockland, to explore this in retreat.

He told how had taken his staff to the Jerusalem Community in Paris. The mission of the Monastic Communities of Jerusalem is to live in the heart of the city, in the heart of God. The essence of their vocation lies in Jesus? words ?Father, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one? (John 17:15). Since human beings are created as the most beautiful likeness of God, the monks and nuns want to meet God in the city, among its inhabitants. Through a life of community and contemplation, revealing God?s presence in the heart of this world, they want to serve and to reach out to all those who seek God. The Bishop outlined the five characteristics of their vocation. This is described in The Jerusalem Community Rule of Life see www.jerusaloem.cef.fr He felt that in contrast to many new and old expressions of ?mission-shaped church?, this faith community never pounced on people. Rather, they lived a life and invited others to enter into it. Their liturgies (which are preceded by 30 minutes of silent prayer) and some meals are open to others. Lay groups of similar age or interest relate to them.

The retreat examined the Sayings, Struggles and Soul Friendships of fifth century hermits in the Egyptian desert, and ways to put their principles into practice in the city; for example by turning city hold-ups into sacred spaces, city frustrations into the arena for spiritual struggles. We tried to meditate in the fast lane. We learned how Francis de Sales taught the practice of the presence of God in busy Geneva, and how John of Kronstadt learned the rhythm of total giving by day and total receiving by night in his hard-pressed Russia sea port. ?Takeaway Food? was the title of the last session ? ten tips on how to experience desert spirituality in busy places.

Submitted: 09:33:04 on 17th February 2008

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Topic: COPT MEETS CELT IN NORWAY

As part of Coptic Bishop Thomas? preaching tour of Norway about fifty people met in the Church House at Grimstadt to meet him. These included members of The Community of Aidan and Hilda (Anamcara) who had gone on pilgrimages to Egypt. Bishop Thomas explained that, in contrast to western churches which often cut short times of prayer to fit the pressures of the clock, the Copts often continue until they have fully entered in an aspect of worship until they are ready ?from the inside? to emerge into a next phase. They also can teach us to enter into seasons of spiritual discipline or experiment. For example, Bishop Thomas felt he should spend forty days closely observing people in the city, and write down what he thought Jesus? feelings would be as he observed these people.

?We think there is a connection between Copt and Celt which we, too, need to connect with?, said the host, Tom Martin Berntsen, ? and tonight we have Copt and Celt with us?. He asked me to speak. After outlining the early Irish and British connections with Christian Egypt, I said that the western church had later become far removed from the purity of the desert traditions. But now, after all these years, a new interest in the desert is evident among people who are sick of the flabbiness of western Christian society. The British TV programme ?Extreme Pilgrim? had just featured an Anglican priest who was floundering in his faith, but who rediscovered it on a visit to the hermitage of Saint Antony of Egypt. Andthe Bishop of Liverpool had just suggested on radio that the account of Jesus? desert temptations should be required reading for the USA?s presidential candidates. I informed them that the Bishop of Woolwich (south London) had said ?Help us bring the desert into the city?. ?How do we do that?? I asked.

Bishop Thomas said that we have to create a desert space inside ourselves, for we are temples of God, and then go into the city with this space in our hearts. In the physical desert we bring the people to God in prayer. In the city we bring God?s love to the people.

Submitted: 15:32:08 on 11st February 2008

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Topic: LENT AND ATHLETES OF THE SPIRIT

Muslims from an inter-faith women?s group in Nottingham were staying at Marygate House on Ash Wednesday, the start of the Christian season of Lent. Some came as friendly observers to the end of the morning service. I explained to one lady some of our Lent practices. She said, ?The Prophet Muhammed, blessed be he, taught us to have water in one third of our stomachs, food in one third, and to keep an empty space in the other third.? ?What a brilliant idea? I said. ?Yes?, she continued, ?but with fast food and additives that make you want to eat more, it is easy to give in to temptation?.

That, perhaps, is why the early Christians of the Egyptian desert were called ?athletes of the Spirit?. They knew they had to flee or overcome temptation. From 13-15 February I lead a retreat in London on the them ?Desert in the City?.You can book in through our office. I wonder how many will come?

Submitted: 18:03:08 on 6th February 2008

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Topic: VOYAGERS AND THE DESERT

Last week representatives from Ireland, Germany and Norway joined UK Community of Aidan and Hilda Voyagers for our annual retreat, house-party and meeting. There was a Teaching Day, a Quiet Day and a Meeting Day.

David Runcorn led the Teaching Day on the theme of the desert. ?It took one year for ancient Israel to get out of Egypt?, he said, ?but it took forty years to get Egypt out of Israel? The desert is the primary scriptural symbol of the absence of human aid and comfort, and the priority of God. Those desert ?athletes of the Spirit? have much to teach us today. Tom Martin Berntsen, of Norway, informed us that a modern Desert Father, the Coptic Bishop Thomas, will meet with us next week when I join the Norway members of the community.

. On the Quiet Day Manfred Jahn of Germany led us into contemplation and deep silence; Stella Durand of Ireland gave a paper on Praying with Ikons. The Meeting Day included our Annual Meeting (like a Chapter of a traditional Order) in the morning, walking the moors of Sheffield in the afternoon and having a party in the evening. Our Episcopally endorsed Community Soul Friend, Godfrey Butland, led our final Communion service on Friday and reflected back to us what he felt God might be saying, which he summed up under the headings of stability, visibility, continuity. Following this the Caim Council, which aims to encircle all the expressions of the world-wide community, met for six hours.

Submitted: 11:25:15 on 5th February 2008

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Topic: THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND RE-CONNECTING

Three CA&H Voyagers have just led a week-end for some hundred Readers (licensed but unpaid church workers and preachers) in the Church of England Diocese of Portsmouth. It was styled as ?A week-end of seminars and workshops to help us re-connect with the Spirit and the Scriptures, the saints and the streets, the seasons, the soil and silence.?

You may already have spotted that this echoes the Community?s headliner that is now printed on our literature. Brenda Lofthouse led sessions on how we can re-connect with the streets (e.g. the street angels of Bradford where she lives), and with silence. Ryk Parkinson helped lead sessions on how we can re-connect with the soil and with the seasons. I explored how we may re-connect with the Spirit, the Scriptures and the saints.

On Sunday morning we explored how existing and fresh expressions of church can make transforming connections. Ten groups came up with a vibrant and fascinating list of examples. These will be put on the Diocese?s web site. (do a google search for Portsmouth Diocese/Readers). I gave tasters from the multi-dimensional course soon to be published by Kevin Mayhew Ltd ?The Transforming Church?.

I began my homily at the final Eucharist by quoting child psychologist Oliver James, author of Britain on the Couch, who diagnoses our national condition as ?affluenza?, whose symptoms are ?hysteria that reflect feelings of low status, insignificance, powerlessness ? while part of us longs to be the best?. The church is the divine agency to heal and transform this sick society, to be the soul of the body politic. Sadly, however, the church has to overcome some built-in hindrances if it is to fulfil this historic calling. As Dr Wendy Savage, researcher in psychology and religion at the University of Cambridge impolitely put it in her comment on the 2006 report The Future of the Parish System: Shaping the Church of England for the 21st5 Century:

?One difficulty is how to motivate the ?settled blancmange? of the softly acquiescent majority ? social loafers who are just bums on pews. Christian ?niceness? is ubiquitous. This can tie churches up in knots??. She says that the hangover of feudal patterns elicits bad behaviour such as status seeking, fawning, bullying, passivity, blaming others and gossiping.?

This week-end explored how to spread a vision that takes people beyond all that, and how to motivate and equip leaders to raise up a new people who journey with God, and transform, in God?s way and time, every aspect of our society.

The Transforming Church course will be published the Spring.

Submitted: 21:25:31 on 27th January 2008

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Topic: BOWTHORPE - A NEW MOVE OF THE SPIRIT

Last week-end a glorious thirtieth anniversary celebration of the planting of The Christia n Church in Bowthorpe, Norwich too k place, hosted by its current leader Simon Stokes, who returned with me from a retreat on Holy Island. Here are some extracts from my talk, which followed a reading about John the Baptist and Jesus from John?s Gospel Sunday 1:29-42

John the Baptist started something good. Thirty years ago I, and a few others, started something here. And it was good. John came to realise, however, that he had to make way for a fresh move of God. How did he know who to make way for, and when? He knew when he sensed the anointing of God?s Spirit on someone, who up till then, had looked like anyone else. We?ve also had to let go, to let God move things on.

I?d like to share with you a few ways in which I have been led since then, and since I left you, that illustrate what this story of John and Jesus teaches us.

Thirty years ago I was commissioned by representatives of more churches, said the Bishop, than this country had ever known, to ?establish one family of Christians for one neighbourhood.? Today?s Gospel reveals Jesus? first steps in creating a spiritual family ? he invites Andrew and his friend into his home.

I?ve learned a few things about what is, and what is not, true family in the last few years. When I won?t let the other person be their true selves, but am more concerned that they meet my needs, and fit into my way of doing things - I have lost the essence of family. If I try to control, or fear to lovingly confront another ? I have lost the essence of family. If I am unwilling to let my spiritual children multiply, and do different things - I have lost the essence of family. Even thirty years ago and later we envisaged something of that family flexibility here: the church focus was a shop in the first village, a school in the second, a home in the third. The seeds were there ? but now perhaps they can come to flower as the Spirit moves upon you now.

Thirty years ago two of us climbed up to pray on a large haystack where the heritage garden now is and did prayer visualisation over this land of promise named Bowthorpe. Jesus did this sort of thing. He went UP mountains to seek his Divine Father?s agenda as a prelude to MOVING mountains in the valley of needy people below. Jesus built this practice into his life-style. He lived a rhythm of prayer and action. We stumblingly did do when we started twice daily prayer here, but at the time God was moving me on He led some of us in different parts of the lan to build a rhythm of prayer and work into our way of life: publicly pledged and shared with a spiritual companion. We believe God is raising up a world-wide movement of people who journey with God in this way, and those in the Community of Aidan and Hilda, which I now serve, make daily prayer spaces and yearly retreats. Many Evangelical Christians nowadays are looking for churches that live by such a way of life.

Thirty years ago we had to hammer out whether we would be a closed or an open church .Isn?t it amazing that the Son of God began his world-changing three year mission by doing nothing except be around in the right place at the right time. Two of John the Baptist?s followers noticed this, asked him where he lived. Jesus was open to them, and invited them to his home. He had open house. Our Clover Hill Centre became The Open Door. Later, at this place of worship, we decided the doors would be open for some period every day. Even more important, we decided that we would open our hearts to every person in Bowthorpe because each is a loved child of God, and God longs to draw them to Himself.

After leaving Bowthorpe I learned what it is like not to be welcomed ? but also how to reach out to each person in the way Christ would. Our Vicar, Brother Damian onceasked us once ?If you saw a visitor for just half a minute, how could you touch them as Christ would with a word, a touch, a look, a gesture?? He asked each organisation on the island ?How can we support you?? And he found a slot for people like me so that we formed a team. He keeps us informed of why he does things and what is going on so we feel included, and understand, even when we don?t agree. In such ways I have learned to keep reaching out in love rather than nursing my hurts in private. God bless you as you seek to be open, like Christ, to every one of his children in Bowthorpe.

Thirty years ago we were a fairly mono-ethnic community; there was hardly a Muslim to be seen. John the Baptist was mono ethnic: he only worked with his own people. Jesus, however, begins to recruit a team of Twelve. After his resurrection some of these reached out to other races: Peter in Italy, Andrew in Greece, Thomas, so tradition says, in India, and John in what is today?s Muslim Turkey.

It was a Muslim at the old Bell School of Languages, across th road, who challenged me about corporate daily prayer. He said he had seen no Christians in Bowthorpe ? and that was because he had seen or heard no call to public prayer. Since I left Bowthorpe the number of Muslims in England who pray regularly in the mosque has overtaken the number of Christians who pray regularly in the Church of England. Are Muslims a kind of John the Baptist movement to shame the people of this land and shake them from their godless ways? And how does God want us to work with them? Jesus enlisted John?s followers in his mission before they understood who he was.

Since I left a couple who follow the Aidan and Hilda Way of Life turned their house, in a 90% Muslim area of Birmingham, into an Aidan and Hilda House. Their Muslim neighbours called: ?We have heard that Christians are hospitable ? can you give us accommodation??. A German student lodger walked their lawn each morning praying aloud. The devout Muslim neighbours were impressed. The German prayed in the streets and Muslims accepted his invitation to pray for their healing.

After leaving I wrote a book about the future of the church in Britain. It starts with a dream. A visitor from Mars finds worshippers taking off their shoes, and prostrating themselves in prayer on carpets ? but they are Asian Christians, who worship the Triune God in a way that is natural to their culture.

I am told 20% of St. Michael?s school pupils are now Muslim. In many areas Muslims, like most people, prefer faith schools, because they know that if pupils respect the Source of all, they respect people, learning, parents, streets, shops, their own body, planet earth. Let?s rebuff the delusion that Christianity is not central to education ? without it, education can be manipulated and not truly serve the common good.

Thirty years ago Bowthorpe was advertised as a dream village ? or three linked villages which would converge at the Main Centre with its shops, health centre and church. I remember going on Radio Norfolk with Bowthorpe Project Manager Jack Haggar. Jack said: ?This was a dream village ? until people moved in?. Over thirty years you, like people everywhere, have learned that when people are out of harmony with God dreams can become nightmares. Constant struggle is needed to overcome evil with good, to combat violence with love, disintegration with wholeness.

Since I left you we?ve had an archbishop of Canterbury calling on the inherited church to invest in fresh expressions of church, and we in Aidan and Hilda have explored with churches how they can become villages of God. In November I met with the leaders of a 600 strong church in Norway until 1.0 in the morning, who were all passionate to explore how their church could network with the nearby social services, shops, police, scouts and sports groups to become a village of God. They are so excited by this vision that I return in three weeks to lead a week-end on how they can equip fifty people to be soul friends or mentors to their young people.

It is true, as Lawrence Singlehurst, former head of YWAM, which has sought to extend God?s work through cell and other expressions of church has said, that: ?they always swerve to rot? (not to the right, but to rot ) In other words, what starts as a movment ends up as a monument. We are tempted to keep in our comfort zones. Of course, we do all need our nurture base. That?s why in CA&H we ask both how we may receive nurture and how we may reach out.But I believe that your growing and renewing vision is part of a rustling of the trees, a moving of God?s Spirit in different places that helps to carry us along and beyond these comfort zone tendencies.

As I left Bowthorpe to journey to Lindisfarne, a wild goose flew overhead ? which in some parts of Britain is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was going before me to Lindisfarne. Now I bring you this quill. It is a symbol of how you can be one family, but each having your individual calling. The main bone is Christ in Bowthorpe. Each of you is one strand. You are different, but one, as you remain connected to Christ.

.

Submitted: 09:56:26 on 21st January 2008

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Topic: BALHAM, GATEWAY TO ...

i

I spent last week-end with Balham Community Church, London. This multi-racial congregation has joined Concerned Citizens, a voluntary coalition of groups who ?listen to London?. This listening process has been extensive and inclusive. Any group is welcome to voice its concerns to CC. Muslim communities, for example, felt they were being wrongly stereotyped, and asked that councillors and officials should actually meet them. A list of the ten most commonly shared concerns was drawn up and presented to London?s mayor, who responded in some measure, at least, to each concern.

When communities who are the bottom of the social pile, or who are linked with a religion that is badly mis-represented in the media are not listened to, anger builds up that often explodes in violence. Comunities that are listened to and who feel understood usually find more creative ways of addressing wrongs. This is part of what we mean by ?healing the land?

Submitted: 20:50:38 on 17th January 2008

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Topic: STORMS

Holy Island suffered a wild storm. The rushing, mighty wind was so great some people could not walk on the path to church - they held to the wall and crept round. There was a power cut.

Lindisfarne's previous Vicar, David Adam, said it was a good thing God chose Jerusalem, not Holy Island, for the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost like a rushing, mighty wind. 'If it had been here we would not have noticed' he said.

How about your place?

Submitted: 08:38:20 on 11st January 2008

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Topic: CELTIC EPIPHANY?

Celtic Epiphany? In one sense there is no such thing. Except insofar as we seek to re-connect with the Wisdom tradition, which weaves naturally into the Epiphany insight of the gradual revealing of the riches of Christ. Luke chapter two tells how the adolsecent Jesus grew in wisdom, and in stature of body-mind-spirit. I have an icon of Wisdom which depicts Jesus as a slender South American boy upholding the globe.

Meditation on this Jesus enables Wisdom to be revealed in us, and through us in the world.

Submitted: 00:01:19 on 11st January 2008

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Topic: THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS - DIRECTIONS FOR THE COMING YEAR ? MENTORS, MONARCHY AND MEANING FOR OUR

.

December 31 is New Year?s Eve in western and other lands, a long day in which to seek God?s direction for the coming year and usher it in; a day to ring out the old, the false, and ring in the new, unfolding plan of God. Tonight we shall gather in a watch night vigil in The Open Gate Chapel on Holy Island. I share with you some directions that have been put on my heart.

In our global village our various peoples are adrift, aimless, hedonistic - an orphaned generation. That is the seed-bed for disintegration and violence. Each country needs faithful carers who strive for the good of people in every walk of life. The Bible calls these people shepherds ? those who feed and protect their sheep. But most people have never seen a sheep. The prophet Isaiah glimpsed a time when national and local leaders would be like parents to their people, humbly honouring, serving, challenging and mentoring them as they waited on God (Isaiah 49:23).

In the UK the recent TV series on Monarchy by the historian David Starkey showed how monarchy served the people well when it connected with real needs. A century back the UK royal family connected with and supported a) the class that formed the leaders - the aristocracy; b) the poor, through patronage of charities c) the multi-national family of peoples joined together in the British Empire. Now, all these three groups have dissipated: anyone can rise to the top, the Government runs welfare, most Commonwealth countries are republics. But who has taken over the Monarchy?s ?shepherd? role? The State? The State does not love individuals. Businesses ? even the national services such as health and education are run as if they are businesses?. The media, politicians, the professions are in the pocket of people with money. People in hoc to Money cannot be shepherds Starkey thinks that Prince Charles, as King, could redeem charitable care and make it a nation-wide engine of care, art and enterprise without strings. He suggests that there be a publicly acknowledged role for cultivating the things of the spirit ? in the widest sense, and that monarchy could take on this role. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, affirms that Charles could be an excellent defender of all faiths and minority groups who seek the good of the community by virtue of the fact that he would be symbolic Governor (i.e. Protector, not leader) of the Church of England, whose Faith requires respect for all.

This could, indeed, be a needed and inspiring role for monarchy in UK. But every land, and every level of society, needs such people. In Harry Potter?s ?Hogworts? Dementors are those who drag people down by feeding their inner demons. We need the opposite, Mentors. Mentors are leaders who:

Seek the best for each person without fear or favouritism

Come alongside and enable those who who lack encouragement

Foster education, talent, creative art and science, and the things of the spirit.

In ancient Israel such people, whether they were kinown as shepherds, foster parents or prophets, were not appointed but they were recgonised. I believe God is calling into being such people in our lands.. The Community of Aidan and Hilda will, please God, in a most humble way, seek to play a part in fostering this.in 2008.

Submitted: 09:35:03 on 31st December 2007

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Topic: THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS - A FAMILY FOR EVERYONE

On 30 December churches focus on ?the holy family? and on the value of family life.

Who is Jesus? family? It begins, certainly, with Mary, Joseph and Jesus in that stable. The Gospels later tell of other brothers and sisters ? or cousins. The New Testament describes James as ?the brother of the Lord?. Best-sellers such as The Da Vinci Code and The Grail fantasise that the blood line of descendants of Jesus? family can be traced. These books are fiction. When their pseudo research is investigated it leads nowhere.

Yet Jesus? DNA did seep into the human gene pool. Therefore every human on earth in this sense is related to Him. There is a deeper, more important, more spiritual reality even than this. Jesus bequeathed his beloved friend John to the foster care of his mother; thereby John became, in the early and in the Celtic understanding, the foster brother of Jesus. John and Mary were foster mother and foster brother of Jesus? first spiritual family (the men and women who accompanied him in life, death and resurrection).

In churches the world over Mary and John stand each side of an altar, with hands stretched out as if to welcome us into Jesus' timeless family. This is an eternal truth. We can be part of the holy family.

Submitted: 07:52:49 on 30th December 2007

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Topic: THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS - VISITORS

We go back now to the first week of Jesus? life in that cave. What kind of people would visit a family in such a situation? The Bible only tells us who were the first visitors ( shepherds from up the hill) and the last (magi from the east). But news soon spreads. No doubt all sorts of people wanted to visit in between times. Who would they be? The curious, the equivalent to today?s paparazzi? Maybe, though they may have preferred VIP?s in expensive inns.

The Irish had a better intuition. They thought that Mary would have needed a mid-wife, someone just like their saint Brigid. Out of her heart poured compassion. She would not hesitate to visit anyone who needed help. Out of her practised hands flowed skill. Out of her mind flowed a shrewd appraisal of the situation Jesus' family was in. And in her heart she knew God was there and that He demanded the best she could give.

Brigid was called the mid-wife who, second only to Patrick, brought pagan Ireland to faith in Christ. It was she who taught that a person who welcomes someone in need really welcomes Christ in the guise of that person.

Today, as we listen to our hearts, we may be shown who we should visit. And we, too, shall be visiting Christ.

Submitted: 09:52:54 on 29th December 2007

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Topic: THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS ? ASSASSINATION

December 28: Mrs Bhutto is assassinated in Pakistan. The threat of a clash of civilisations draws closer. Confusion, anger, fear, violence rage. . What can anyone do?

On this day the Christian church recalls how a ruler assassinated infants in Bethlehem, for fear that one of them might one day usurp his role. . Confusion, anger, fear, violence raged. What could anyone do? Jesus? father listened to God, slipped away in the night, and found asylum in Egypt until that ruler passed away. Jesus inaugurated a way of bringing in good through a grassroots movement in which a thousand flowers bloomed.

The Community of Aidan and Hilda members on Holy Island used A Service After an Act of Terror for their Midday Prayer (from Volume Three ? Healing the Land ? of The Celtic Prayer Book). Each lit a candle for a particular intention. One prayed that a ?goodness bank? would be built up in Pakistan through the acts of many ordinary people that would come to be larger than the ?terrorist bank?. It worked at the time of the first Christmas. It can work again now.

'Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death.' Desmond Tutu.

Submitted: 14:16:18 on 28th December 2007

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Topic: WITH THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS COMES THE GIFT OF INTIMACY WITH GOD

Most people in the world know there is a Supreme God. John, Jesus? soul friend, goes further: ?We have heard ? seen ? touched ?? he writes in his First Letter chapter one, which is read in churches today.

In the Celtic tradition John, because he is contemplative, is imagined as having ?the eye of the eagle? ? for the eagle was thought, alone of all birds, to be able to gaze into the face of the sun, and Jesus is pictured as The Eternal Sun whose rays are revealed at Christmas. Bishop Tom Wright, of Durham, UK, likens John to a hawk. A hawk sees the big picture ? so does John, e.g. ?in the beginning was the Word? ? but a hawk also notices the tiniest detail, which enables him to get his daily food. Christ?s gift of loving intimacy enables us to experience God?s love both ?wide, wide as the ocean? and in the little nuances of another person to whom we become truly present.

Submitted: 08:57:06 on 27th December 2007

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Topic: THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS

December 26 ? thoughts inspired by Canon Kate Tristram?s words at the 8.0 am Holy Island:

One day after celebrating Christ?s Nativity much of the Church commemorates its first martyr, Stephen. Why? This seems a major, unsuitable switch of gear and does not sit lightly with the glut of booze and buying that characterises today?s western Christmas.

The answer is, first, that martyrdom is a reason to continue, not to cease, celebration. Second, as the early Christian teacher Tertullian wrote: ?The blood of the martyrs is the seed bed of the church?. In other words, the number of people in whom Christ is born greatly multiplies. Third, it roots us in the reality of life. There was no birth without sacrifice. There is no ushering in of God?s society on earth without struggle and opposition from the selfish forces in and around us. There will be no resurrection without death

How different this is from the shallow Christmas that fills our shops and TV screens. Joy and suffering go together. Christianity is holistic. ?The holly bears a berry, and Mary bears sweet Jesus Christ. No berry without the sharp and prickly holly.

Submitted: 09:52:14 on 26th December 2007

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Topic: CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR GREETINGS

Greetings to you all, and many thanks for your wishes, gifts or prayers. This Christmas morn I walked towards Cuthbert?s sun-lit beach and recalled these lines of Kathleen Raine:

Aidan and Cuthbert saw God?s feet walking each day towards all who on world?s shores await his coming.

That we too, hand in hand, have received the unending morning.

And this St Aidan?s Prayer from Bradford Cathedral:

Let the rumble of traffic diminish and the song of the birds grow clear and may the Son of God come striding towards you.
**********

On Christmas night Holy Island?s Vicar, Brother Damian, told how an island boy went into the lambing shed of farmer Jimmy Patterson. Adults were busy elsewhere, but this little boy, having time to explore, heard something in the corner, out of sight, hidden by old machinery. It was a lamb that no one had noticed being born. ?I have found Jesus? the little boy excitedly told the adults. 'Jesus is the Lamb of God, who is among us, but over-looked and marginalised', Brother Damian said. ?But supposing we kept in mind all day and every day that Jesus is with us, in this place, wherever we are, what difference would it make??

Why don?t we do this in 2008?

Some weeks before Christmas a troubled man and his wife came to Holy Island. They sought out first this person, then the Vicar, then a Minister, and none were available. Someone said ?Why don?t you knock on that door??. It was the door of The Life Boat House, where Graham and Ruth Booth live. Graham was utterly exhausted after a punishing series of undertakings. He had just sat down to a cup of coffee when the door bell rang.? ?Oh no?, he thought, ?I have nothing to give.? The man began to talk about his dilemmas. Graham realised that he was not listening. However, someone came beside Graham and spoke loudly into his ear. Graham repeated what this person said to him. And, although this kind of thing was not in Graham?s tradition, he knew without a doubt that this person speaking to him was Aidan. He repeated to the troubled man what Aidan said. After each sentence the man clutched his stomach and said ?Oh?. Shortly afterwards the couple left. Before Christmas Graham received a letter. The man explained that every word Graham (and Aidan) had spoken had cut to his heart and he had carried them out. He had resigned from all kinds of things, and now served Jesus among the poor. He was free, more free than he had ever been in his life, and he wanted to thank Graham and Aidan.

The endless rush and consumerism of a western Christmas is absent on Holy Island. But the best Christmas gifts are not made by man.

So I wish you such Christmas gifts as I have described . May your Christmas last for ever.

You are in my thoughts. Much love Ray

Submitted: 13:42:22 on 25th December 2007

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Topic: CELTIC ADVENT

The Celtic Advent begins forty days before the Nativity, that is on November 15. This corresponds with the Eastern Orthodox practice.

One way to use these forty days of reflection is to contemplate 'the ancestors of God' - people such as Ruth, the mixed race God-honourer, David the righteous king, Joseph and Mary.

In our advent retreats we will meditate on Luke's story of Elizabeth and Mary meeting, and Saint Fursey's visions of angels, demons, and the judgement of God. Why not do something similar at home?

Submitted: 12:48:13 on 21st November 2007

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Topic: The Pope and Saint Oswald

I sometimes contribute to the Lindisfarne.org web site's ezine newsletter. This is what I sublmitted to the editor today.

In recent times the leaders of the three churches and two retreat houses on the island have been meeting most months to see how best to support the island and pilgrims. These are St. Aidan?s, .St. Cuthbert?s Centre, St. Mary?s, Marygate House and The Open Gate. One thing we all thought we could do together is to offer a simple healing service at 11.0 am every Wednesday (except late December and January). This rotates around the three church buildings, and the five of us take it in turns to lead. Sometimes there is quite a queue for the laying on of hands. We never, of course, give away confidences, but I can say that a number of people have come back to give thanks for healings. One person said ?I have become a dry old stick and I want you to pray that I will come to life?. Soon after that I saw her beaming with happiness.

We all supported Sister Tessa when the Papal Nuncio blessed the altar of the renovated St Aidan?s Church in October. It was good to see a number of islanders and other residents also present, and Lady Rose. Bishop Kevin of Hexham gave us some interesting information. He told us that Saint Oswald, who became a model of a good and godly King throughout Europe after stories were written about him in German speaking lands, has many churches dedicated to him in the European Union. Pope Benedict 16 grew up in one of these St Oswald?s churches, and was ordained there. So, said the Bishop, we can all feel connected through our local saints with a much wider world.

Submitted: 15:03:40 on 29th October 2007

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Topic: A MODERN KNIGHTHOOD

Members of the Blue Pilgrim Knighthood are on the island. I am asked to wriite a message for their newsletter This is it.

A Message from Wise Guardian to The Blue Pilgrims Knighthood October 2007

Since I shared your retreat at Offchurch a few years * ago we have not been in touch. Life is full of this and that , and our devotion to Divine Simplicity surely means that we must focus on the Present Moment, rather than vainly strive to be in touch with everyone all the time. Nevertheless, you have always remained in my heart. Some might say that your regular recourse to Tennyson and his Arthurian myths makes you dated, or irrelevant. I disagree. I believe, with you, that our emerging society cries out for truths and values that those myths keep alive.

Since I was with you I have written a novel (as yet unpublished) and visited Canada. In the novel Saint Aidan, the Peoples? Saint, is stationed by his Iona monastery at the royal stronghold of Dunadd, where Saint Columba anointed Dal Riata?s first king. That Christian King became a monk and so delegated his leadership of battles to his son Arthur, who won many victories at twelve places between the two Roman walls, and made alliances with Christian Britons thatv reached into the south west. Legends were growing about the late Arthur while Aidan was there, and he broke through the mists of later misconception. He found out, for example, that the Round Table is a knot of rock in front of what is now Stirling Castle. The novel is called ?The Lost Gospel?, for Aidan also takes a Gospel to Syria, and meets a follower of the Prophet Mohammed.

In Canada the Chief of Staff of the main Opposition Party, on hearing of a grass roots movement of people living out noble ideals, said ?We politicians must tap into this.? My host eschewed high office in politics, and has set aside his executive business position, because he wants to enable others to live out their highest ideals, rather than be dragged down by ego-centred agendas he is deputed to deliver. He, and others, have a vision of creating a ?Celtic Christian Village? in woodland. That is, a circle of simple, wooden dwellings where people of faith may gather for a day or a week to seek the ways of Christ for their profession and their land. What could be a greater calling than to see businesses where a person?s word is their bond, and where good, not profit, is the primary goal. To rally the forces of good. To create a ?cabinet of conscience? of the noble and wise from every walk of life. To re-establish courtesy in relationships and honour in love. To appoint Christ as the Leader of the Land?

Now I am down to earth on this little island and you are down to earth where you are. And each thing we do, each greeting we make, is grist in the hands of the Christ who is God come down to earth. This, therefore, is also my Christmas wish for us all.

Wise Guardian.

I came to the retreat under my birth name, Ray Simpson. When Undaunted asked me about adopting a Kinghthood name I explained that on the very day I discoverd that my first name, Raymond, meant Wise Guardian, my Community of Aidan and Hilda asked me to be its Guardian.

Submitted: 19:46:55 on 11st October 2007

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Topic: UNLOCK THE SONG IN EVERY HEART

'What is the purpose of the Community of Aidan and Hilda on this earth?' we asked members. 'To unlock the song in every human heart' was one reply.

:In the later 1970's the Venezuelan composer Jose Antonio Abreu started rehearsing with eleven slum kids in a garage. Thirty years later the youth orchestra El Sistema was the flagship of one of the most extraordinary social experiments ever. The young musicians were not just talented: many were brought up in the violent barrios of Caracas, where free lessons in classical music turned them from potential gang recruits into virtuosos. Abrou headed a nationwide programme involving 250,000 deprived children and more than two hundred local orchestras.

Sexual longing and aggression are the emotions that always and everywhere inform the music of the youth, both at its magical best and its mindless worst. What Jose Abreu realised is that this is not enough: that what easily enthrals, easily infantilises. It wasn't just the challenge of learning an instrument and the pride of belonging to a skilful group that redeemed the children of the slums. It was exposure to a range of emotions way beyond the limited horizons of adolescence. It was a chance to grow up.

Extracted from Jeremy O'Grady The Week 1 September 2007

Submitted: 17:20:44 on 24th September 2007

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Topic: OLDIES REVOLUTION

Today some churches celebrate Theodore, saint of Tarsus, and the first Archbishop of Canterbury to win the heartfelt allegiance of both Celtic and Roman traditions in the seventh century English church. But I celebrate the fact that he was sixty seven when he began his twenty one years of great work.

He was third choice. The first choice died. The second, the young African monk Hadrian, thought himself too inexperienced and so suggested Theodore instead. Most people in those days died at forty. Yet Theodore travelled far, visited the length and breadth of the English kingdoms, set up dioceses, educated the clergy, established agreed rules and good order, lived the faith, and was loved by the flock.

This makes me want to explore the lives of people who began a great work for God in their old age. Moses was one such person. he began at eighty. Send me details of others: .

You may not have guessed the reason for my interest in this subject. I am sixt yseven.

Submitted: 15:52:59 on 20th September 2007

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Topic: N. Ireland Celtic Spirituality Initiative

An edited version of the address by Revd Ray Simpson, Guardian of the International Community of Aidan and Hilda at the commissioning of Rev Grace Clunie as Director of Celtic Spirituality by the Archbishop of Armagh at Armagh Cathedral on

Sunday September 2 2007

I bring greetings from Lindisfarne, Cradle of Christianity to English-speakers, to you, who have been, are and can increasingly become another cradle of Christianity in our changing world. I congratulate you on this inspired move to appoint a Celtic Spirituality Director, with its hope of a retreat house and resource centre to follow.

Some may ask ?Is this British?? Most certainly, yes. As you know, Armagh?s first Bishop, Patrick was a child of the British church. For a thousand years Christendom gave pre-eminence to the British Church because it believed it was founded very early after Christ?s resurrection by Joseph of Arimathea. The bright beams of Christ?s light that melted Britain?s pagan coldness soon reached up to the north west coast where Patrick was born.

Grace, with your help, is seeking to re-kindle that heritage for today. Patrick inspires people of most diverse backgrounds. In our Celtic Christian Studies Library at Lindisfarne we have a book on Patrick published by The Orange Lodge, a book by a Roman Catholic, and a book by George Hunter 111, the USA church growth leader, entitled ?The Celtic Way of Evangelism: how the West can be won ? again.? George Hunter believes that Protestant, as well as Roman Catholic churches, have been too ?top-down, one shape-fits-all? in the second millennium, and that if we are to recruit today?s generation we need to learn lessons from the likes of Patrick about how to swim our way into the imagination of the people, and inspire spontaneous, grassroots networks of faith.

Somebody might ask, ?Why do we need anything new?? Rowan, the first Celtic Archbishop of Canterbury I can recall, calls on the inherited church to cherish its own treasures and also to invest in fresh expressions of those treasures. Each generation needs to do this. When I was a curate in the Church of England my bishop, Hugh Montefiore, discussed parishes of which I might become vicar, but he also listened to what God had put on my heart. ?Ray?, he said, ? the church needs some people who have one foot inside the establishment and one foot outside among the unchurched, I think God may be calling you to be such a person.? That is surely true also of Grace.

People ask ?What is Celtic spirituality?? Look at this Celtic Cross that I wear, the cross with a circle which is so typical of Ireland. The cross speaks of the centrality of Jesus? Word, his Death, his Resurrection. The circle speaks of creation, the whole of life, which is embraced and transformed by Christ. This is inclusive. God loves and reaches out to everyone through us.

Celtic Christianity is about faith as a fire in the heart. You, here, have a heritage of holy fire. As you know, Patrick celebrated Christ?s resurrection by lighting a fire on the hill of Slane, which the High King?s Druid prophesied would never go out. Patrick prophesied, with a British colleague, that a holy man named Colum (the Dove) would be born to the Irish church who would spread the rays of Christ the True Sun far afield.. Columba?s disciple, Aidan was perhaps born about the time that the night sky became a fiery ball the night Columba died on Iona. Could that be why Aidan, whose name means Flame, was so named? Aidan went from Ireland, via Iona, to the largest of the pagan English kingdoms and set up his mission base at Lindisfarne. Explorers of our Way of Life, inspired by Aidan, wear a badge which depicts Aidan?s torch of fire, and which has the words ?Pass on the flame?. Grace ? I give you this badge to mark this occasion. Many people who seek God come as pilgrims to our Retreat House, The Open Gate, at Lindisfarne. I hope many will come in the future to your retreat house, and that we can send them on to each other. Pass on the flame.

Celtic Christianity seeks to restore Christianity as a way of life. When Christianity began, it was a way of life more than an institution. Those who follow our Aidan and Hilda way of life, for example, seek to learn something from scripture, creation or life every day, to share our life journey with a soul friend, to live a rhythm of prayer, work and re-creation, and to cherish the earth.

It sees the church as more like a ship than a house. Lutherans in the state church of Norway, like many of we Protestants, threw out monasteries, pilgrimage and saints at the Reformation. Yet they call their churches ships (as we use the term nave, from which we get our word the navy). Now increasing numbers of them realise that a ship is meant o voyage ? with God. They want to continue to avoid the abuses that flourished at the time of the Reformation, and yet to re-connect with God in the creation ? and how better than to walk and be pilgrims. Pilgrimage is reviving among all Christians, and that is why your provision for pilgrims here could be so timely and such a blessing ? as they use your libraries, the lovely garden, the beautiful daily liturgies in the cathedral and do the Patrick trail.

Celtic Christianity seeks to weave together those God-given strands within Christianity which became separated. That is why this new work will no doubt build on your existing ecumenical partnerships;

This re-connecting with roots that have been neglected can be important for our Episcopal/Anglican Communion. I returned from USA last week, carrying the heart break of members of an Episcopal church which is being torn apart. I would like our American friends to know that this world-wide Communion is not an accident of colonialism, it is a continuation of the church founded by the apostles to Britain and Ireland. I would like to tell them that they can come to Armagh and trace their bishops back to Patrick, or they can come to Lindisfarne and trace them back to Aidan.

There is another reason why your fostering of a Christian tradition that is grass-roots and non-threatening is so important ? power corrupts, even in the church. Here I have a confession to make. I have an addiction to Sister Fidelma novels. Unfortunately the bad man in some of them is Brother Ultan of Armagh ? for he wants to enforce his power upon all the other dioceses for most un-Christ-like motives. We have to admit that not every period in our church?s history has been as inspiring as the first period. There is a need for humility, repentance, reconciliation, healing of the land. That, too, is part of the Celtic Christian way.

Hospitality is at the heart of Celtic spirituality. There is a mother?s heart in the heart of God. I hope you will all offer a smile to the stranger, a space to the seeker, a prayer and a helping hand to Grace as together you develop the centre. Finally, blessing is important, too. Patrick blessed places. His beautiful blessing of Munster has come down to us. May I end by giving you this blessing from us:

Here be the peace of those who do your sacred will. Here be the praise of God by night and day. Here be the place where strong ones serve the weakest Here be a sight of Christ?s most gentle way. Here be the strength of prophets righting greed and wrong Here be the green of land that?s tilled with love. Here be the soil of holy lives maturing Here be a people one with all the saints above. (Celtic Hymn Book: Kevin Mayhew Ltd)

Submitted: 14:28:45 on 9th September 2007

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