HI folks, how you doing? We will see how the weather pans out before deciding if we are meeting in gardens or on zoom, but if you are up for meeting in gardens please comment below.
We are on the cusp of some big changes as a society as the easing of lockdown is ramped up again. I wonder how you feel about that? However you feel, please do look after yourselves and each other as this could be a tough process for many.
As I was considering the easing of lockdown and what we should discuss this week, I was scrolling through twitter and came across a tweet that made me sit up. It was an encouragement to check out Sheridan Voyseys Pause for Thought on Radio 2. I had a listen.
It was about pilgrimage. We have discussed this a few time over the years, but it struck me as I was listening that the releasing of lockdown gives us the chance to reflect on pilgrimage a little differently.
A couple of weeks back Karen and I went to Harrogate to see my mum. It was the first time we’d seen her since September. We drove down roads we had not traveled in months and it felt like a pilgrimage. While in Harrogate we spent a bit of time with friends and going for a walk with them and with mum. Once again, we walked and visited places I had been before, but we also went on new walks and new paths that I had never been on before. It was all beautiful!
As I reflect on it now there were some thin places where there were moments of deep connection and joy. There were moments of spiritual connection: watching my mum laugh, and looking her in the eye, seeing a mate who had struggled with his mental health early in lockdown now looking well and present, another friend who had to face tough decisions at work and walking paths near my mums house that I have trod for years. Remembering and connecting again with the stillness of nature. Sharing food with friends an act of communion. As I write my heart is full!
What if as lockdown eases we consider the paths and roads we have traveled before as a pilgrimage? What if you stopped more regularly as you drove or walked and took in the sights and sounds? What if you went to places you had been before all this started and took a moment to take it all in? To stop!
The easing of lockdown gives us the chance to re-set. Maybe even to try and not fill up our diary as much as we had before, to go steady with ourselves and with others as well. We are not all in the same place, many folks have changed over the last year, some of us feel more vulnerable and we may need to learn to interact again.
Yesterday Karen and I went to look at some carpets but the shop was closed. Instead we went to our local pub for a tea time beer, spontaneously… It was lovely. We met some guys who sat opposite us and they clearly wanted to talk, and so did I. I was in the mood to interact with strangers and it felt good. We both came away smiling but also exhausted! I realised it’s going to take time to adjust.
So as you leave this next stage of lockdown, embrace the pilgrimage! Go steady, stop and take it in, stop where you can and meet people, don’t rush, rest well when its time to put your feet up.
Some questions:
Over recent few years where have you visited the most and why? Have you been there in the last 14 months?
Where are you most looking forward to going?
Who are you most looking forward to seeing that isn’t a family member?
What part of this blog struck you the most?
How can you make the easing of lockdown become a pilgrimage?
Peace, Rob
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.