Wednesday 6 July 2011

Times move on



Time has come the Walrus said to speak of many things,
Of ships and seas and sealing rings
Cabbages and Kings.

I have decided that this blog is to close for now.
I have said much,
but I do not want to say more.
My theologising about pilgrimage has come to an end.... for now,
at least in this form.
Thanks for following me
if you have?

More over to the new interactive blog,
Yes! you can post on it as well.
here is the url

Tuesday 29 March 2011

I am still alive!

If you are reading this you are to be appalled and thanked. For it means that I have not lost everyone along the way. So many weeks since my last post. I expect that everyone has gone someplace else. But as you have come to this blog I owe you an explaination.
As you will have seen I injured my knees last autumn. They have taken a long time to recover and although they do not cause me pain anymore in normal life, when I walk any distance I know about it.
This has had a number of knock on effects and to put it bluntly I have become fat( some think that I was fat already) so walking become event more arduous. So I have rather retired to parish work, mostly in the study for the winter. Coupled with that has been a withdrawal of my leadership of Peterborough Pilgrims so that others can take the lead. Therefore the sum of all this has been that I have somewhat stopped living on planet pilgrim.
This does not mean that I have been inactive. I have been working to establish a Free School at the church where I serve. It is going well but there is much still to do before the D of E says yes and we can start poring concrete.
So what has been exciting me recently- This has. It is called the WMAP. ( Thanks to Brian Cox on the telly) It is a photograph of  the sky showing the background microwaves that come from the beginning of everything. It shows that the radiation is not even and that is why the universe came to be . It is a blueprint for everything, and it came into existence at almost the instant that the big bang happened .
We are not talking days here but millionths of a second. The way it works is this. The slightly denser parts became more dense until they became atoms, which in turn gathered and gave birth to stars, then galaxies and so on. In this blue print is the potential for everything. It is more than potential. Once
this came into existence, everything as we know it came into being in it right order. There is no random chance here. Therefore evolution from stars to people is causation. There is no room for 'it sort of just happened' we are not the product of random chance. I some unfathomable way I am part of this early map. The old chestnut of we are a product of random evolution is now dead as a theological question. Evolution is only a bottom up explanation..I am here, where did I come from? I can from an ape who came from a fish, who came from a single green cell. All it does is to trace my family tree backwards along a predetermined path. And who determined what should be? Do you need two guesses?

Saturday 1 January 2011

The first step is always the hardest





Today I have begun a new adventure. I am going to Santiago. I am going
on a pilgrimage. Today is the first day of that pilgrimage. Well want's
new about that? 'Have you not been on many pilgrimages"? you may ask
me. And it is true. I have walked from many places to Santiago. I am no
stranger to the Camino in its many forms. This one will be different!
Today I have accepted the discipline of the long walk. I am not fit. I
am going to lose three or four stones. My dream weight is twelve stone
something. I have a serious knee problem that is still with me after three
months. Walking is difficult.I do not think that I can walk more than
a mile or so at the moment. I am going out for a short walk this
afternoon to begin the training. So what is distinctive about this
pilgrimage? I am going to walk from my own front door to Santiago
via Portsmouth and Santander in 30 to 40 days. I will start on
Sunday 14 August and arrive sometime mid September. Due to
illness I did not complete the walk to Portsmouth last year. So
it means the most of the route is unknown to me. However I do
know that the northern coast route and the Primative are well
known for their difficulty. Therefore the need to lose a deal of
weight and get properly fit this time.
Sometime ago a friend gave me a CD set called "Finding Santuary"
by Abbott Christopher Jamison. ( It is worth buying your own copy)
In it he discusses the application of monastic life to daily life. I
have been impressed with his teaching. The
life of which he speaks resonates with much that I understand
through pilgrimage. It does however go much further. The
consolations of pilgrimage are described but they are only the
foothills of much higher mountains. So this coming pilgrimage
is to be a great exploration of the hills now seen
from afar. The route I have chosen will be very quite. I do not
expect that  many pilgrims will come into view,that will add to
this time alone with God.
If you want to come along, you are welcome. It will not be easy
in any way.
But for now I must get this knee better. I need healing so pray for me.