St Cuthbert’s Way

All posts tagged St Cuthbert’s Way

A brief review…”To the Island of Tides”

Posted by David Ward on 18/01/2020
Posted in: Books/Articles, Pilgrimage. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I have always enjoyed the slightly eccentric writings of Alsitair Moffat, so I always greet the publication of a new book with some anticipation. A kind relative gave the latest, “To the Island of Tides – a journey to Lindisfarne” to me as a gift at Christmas, and I was very glad when it came to the top of my reading pile.

I am no Christian, but sainthood and how it was achieved interests me very much…while walking in the shadow of Cuthbert and trying to understand his faith and the extreme lengths he went to in pursuit of piety and purity of thought and deed, I would also think about my own life. The contrast between his asceticism and beliefs and my lack of either could not have been more stark, but I hoped very much that I might learn something from Cuthbert.

from the Author’s note

The subject matter of the book, Lindisfarne and the Life of St Cuthbert was of instant interest…having worked on the island for a number of years, and spent time on retreat there more than a few times it is a place I know and love. I had not realised until I started to read that the book was also closely linked to the life and geography of St Cuthbert; I’ve also led a few pilgrimages along St Cuthbert’s Way for the Northumbria Community, as well as walking sections for my own enjoyment, and read widely from the sources and beyond about Cuthbert’s life, not to mention a few visits to Durham cathedral.

This is not, however, simply a historical travelogue. It is the pilgrim journey of someone with no religious faith searching for some answers and peace of mind as his 70th birthday rapidly approaches (I can identify with that!)…the unresolved conflicts, the joy and pain of a life lived is something I guess we all think more about as we age.

In his normal style, Moffat speculates and investigates places Cuthbert might have visited…some of them not the sites traditionally associated with the saint, but Moffat, with his interest in place names and the geography of the past, makes a convincing case. The climax of the walk is a few days spent in ‘retreat’ on Holy Island itself, with all its tensions of sacred space and living community, place of solitude and tourist trap, which, as someone who worked on the island for a number of years I truly identify with (and I can endorse his recommendation of ‘Pilgrim’s’ coffee shop…best coffee in this area!)

For me, it was a book to be read with a map open at my side, and I have already traced some of Moffat’s steps myself.

Did the pilgrim journey bring the peace and resolution Moffat desired? You need to read the book!

The process of pilgrimage – 6 REMEMBERING

Posted by David Ward on 03/10/2010
Posted in: Pilgrimage. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The first time I arrived at the end of leading a group on pilgrimage along St Cuthbert’s Way from Melrose to Holy Island I found I could not stop walking. Somehow the process of walking, thinking, praying and discovering had become so much a part of me that it was difficult to not be on the move.

In his book called “Urban Iona”, Kurt Neilson describes what happens when he returns from his pilgrimage to Iona, Ireland and Scotland.

“Still walking…My backpack has come through water and fire and faith and doubt and desolation and war and devil’s twisted wish and God’s clear promise. It has come home. But I have not.”

As I reflected on the pilgrimage for a magazine article, I wrote:

“Since finishing the pilgrimage I too have had this same sense of a journey begun, but one which is not yet complete, even though I have come home (and am glad to be there!).

Like Tolkien’s Hobbits I also sing, “The road goes ever on…”. Perhaps it is a good thing to reawaken the knowledge that our time here is transitory, that we are people who are intended to be constantly moving and changing as we push on through life to the great shared mystery of ‘what’s next’.

Journeying is about new horizons, adventures and opportunities, chance encounters with people and places which change us for good or ill, discoveries about ourselves in all our glorious reflection of the image of God and in all our disappointing, fallen brokenness. I travel on with a new sense of expectancy.

For me, at least, the lasting memory among many memories will be an intense experience of what community is and means as we daily shared our lives on the road. This was sharing characterised by relational highs and unbelievable depths, encouraging, supporting, confronting and a sense of achieving something together.

One thing is certain…when we set foot on the shore of Holy Island we were all different from when we set off from Melrose.”

Originally published in CAIM, the magazine of the Northumbria Community (Issue 45 Summer 2008)

This stage of remembering, trying to pin down the significant events and encounters, the changes that have happened to us and the insights into God, ourselves and others that we have gained must be given as much time as it takes for us to truly understand our experience and to appreciate how much it has been absorbed and become a part of who we are becoming. With the benefit of hindsight I can see  that the Cuthbert’s Way pilgrimage  was the starting point of the change of direction in my spiritual journey that has brought me to were I am today.

Remembering also brings us closer to a n understanding that in fact every journey is a micro-pilgrimage; the journey to work, the shops, to a holiday destination all provide us with opportunities to find God as we travel the ordinary journeys of life.

“Pilgrimage can therefore be seen not simply as an esoteric practice to be undertaken by a few enthusiasts, but as something to be encouraged, to help people deepen their sense of God in the ordinary business of life.”

‘Pilgrimage’ by David Osborne, p24

Metaphorical Coracle…

Posted by David Ward on 18/05/2010
Posted in: Personal thoughts, Pilgrimage. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

When Wendy (my wife) and I were beginning to plan our move to the Borders of Scotland and England, she came up with the expression “metaphorical coracle” to describe the ‘journey’ we were about to make.

Although we were setting out in the spirit of the Celtic travelling monks, who sailed away in their coracles in search of a ‘desert in the ocean’, our mode of transport was altogether more modern and less prosaic, hence the ‘metaphorical’ bit.

Northumbria Community uses two metaphors to describe elements of Celtic Christian spirituality – ‘cell’ and ‘coracle’. The cell speaks of the inner journey, of monastic life and contemplation, whilst the coracle speaks of geographical and physical travel, of mission and journey “for the love of Christ”.

I must confess that I have always had a bias towards the ‘coracle’ bit rather than the more static cell. Being a contemplative on the move, enjoying community ‘on the road’ has always appealed to my more pioneering and adventurous side. Pilgrimage has been an exciting discovery for me…I believe that every place was sacred, that God’s presence is everywhere in God’s world, but I have learned that it is more possible to be aware of that presence in some places than others.

I’ve just got back from leading the annual pilgrimage along St Cuthbert’s Way for Northumbria Community. Once again I have enjoyed the company of another varied bunch of pilgrims, deep conversation, aches and pains, silence and solitude, side-splitting laughter and happy ‘chance-encounters’.

It comes as the culmination of lots of thinking about a new context (a replacement for ‘Community’) to work out my relationship with God through Jesus; I finally believe that my new metaphor for this journey is, appropriately “Pilgrimage”. In one sense there’s nothing new…the road goes on, the journey continues. But in another sense it feels like a more dynamic and mobile metaphor than the settled and static metaphore that community had become.

I have been and am doing a lot of reading, thinking and meditating, the fruits of which will, no doubt, spill over slowly onto this blog. I am also planning more walking pilgrimages to special places with associations to my relationship and history with God, but along with these literal ‘walks’ I am also beginning to find new motivation in the whole idea of “Life as Pilgrimage”. Perhaps it has to do with the approach of my 60th year (yet another mid-life crisis!), but I find it a stimulating and energising metaphor.

“Life as Pilgrimage”…watch this space!