Reactions to pilgrims

Something I noticed when walking to Santiago & Finnisterre was that there were perhaps three different ways that people responded to a pilgrim.

As I was walking out of Porto there was an elderly woman who was clearly evidently thrilled that I was on my way to Santiago. Her total lack of English and my not much better Portuguese couldn't stop her conveying her pleasure that here was someone walking from her country to Santiago. That same reaction occurred later in the walk. A group of men working on the road were clearly thrilled. The presence of my rucksack protected my back from the over exuberant pats on the back they used to express their delight. Somehow my walking through their country was important to them and meant that they mattered.

At the other end of the scale of reactions was that of a market trader in Padron. By the time I arrived the market was over and they were packing up to go home. Among all the mess was a long cardboard tube - it had probably had a roll of cloth on it. The trader picked it up, used it like a pilgrim staff, and limped along with words that sounded like "So perigrino" - "I'm a pilgrim". It's probably a good job that my Spanish is nowhere near good enough to respond to the mickey taking. I would have liked to respond "Yes you are, from birth to death. How's your pilgrimage going?!" Just as well my Spanish is virtually non-existent!

A third response I encountered was a look of incredulity and non-comprehension - this particularly from people for whom life appeared to be hard. The look on their faces seemed to be saying "Life is hard enough as it is, why make it more difficult???" I found myself wondering whether they might not be right. The last time I saw people sleeping in bunks as in the hostels was years ago when I did a placement as a volunteer in an approved school for young criminals! Is going on a pilgrimage a self indulgent way for the comfortable to rough it for a week or so. Looking at the register in one hostel I saw the professions listed by the users as "Teachers", "Professors" (but they were French so probably only teachers anyway) "Lawyers", "Ships Captain", and of course "Chaplain". I saw no sign of "bricklayers", "labourers" or "carpenters". Perhaps pilgrimage is a whim of the comfortable.

Am I (becoming) a grumpy old man?

I've just come back from doing the Porto to Santiago camino, followed by on to Finisterre and all in all it was an excellent experience, BUT I found myself wondering whether the welcome of the church(es) to pilgrims was as it might be.

In my mind I found myself contrasting the welcome that visitors get to cathedrals I know in the UK with that offered by the cathedral in Santiago. UK cathedrals frequently have "welcomers" - lay people, often retired, whose role is to greet people arriving and offer them a little basic information or answer straightforward questions. There was no such welcome In Santiago the building was left to speak for itself - which is fine for those who know what they're seeing & where they're going but not so good for those who are less informed. And the only notices in the cathedrals we a list of "NO"s, NO flash photography, No use of tripods (why ever not - they're hardly going to disturb someone's prayer?!?) NO mobile phones, NO...

And in the Pilgrim Office (why on earth is it UPSTAIRS - after people have walked 200+km, why not make it easier for them and have it downstairs?) when I found it - I didn't know which door of the cathedral it was next to - there seemed little or no interest in whether I had had a good journey, why I'd done the journey... It was just fill the form in and leave a donation. I had been going to ask whether I, as a non-catholic, could receive Communion at the pilgrim mass the next day but didn't bother to ask as I doubted that the girl in the office could cope with the question. I hoped to see someone in the Cathedral that I could ask, but in spite of spending a lot of time in it, saw no one I felt confident to ask. The only option would have been to ask at one of the confessionals but that's not what they're there for.

On further reflection I found myself thinking about the churches along the camino. The vast majority were firmly locked & so no opportunity to go in to pray/look. It seemed ironic as a number seemed to have been built along the camino for the use of pilgrims, but the pilgrims are locked out. In Tui I arrived at siesta time and so the Cathedral was closed - that would be unthinkable in the UK.

I found myself contrasting all that with the welcome given to walkers by one church in this country where there is tea, coffee and a kettle left out for visitors to use.

So does the church need to up its game and think about the needs of pilgrims, or am I (becoming) a grumpy old man?

Mucky boots

Monday saw (in theory) the start of my sabbatical. Part of which will include a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. I fly to Porto and walk from there to the alleged burial site of St James some 150 miles to the north.

As part of my preparation I have been doing more walking than usual. Yesterday (Tuesday) I walked to Broadwas Church for their morning communion service. In days gone, nobody would have thought twice about walking in with mucky boots, but nowadays a carpet covers the floor & so I took my boots off as I went in. There is, after all, a precedent for taking shoes off on holy ground.

The reading for the service was Psalm 139 " Oh Lord, you've searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise... you are familiar with all my ways..."
That was good news as whilst I had checked out the footpaths on a map before walking down to Broadwas there were bits that were unfamiliar that I did n't know. There will be more unfamiliar bits between Porto and Santiago, so the psalm is rather reassuring.

Thinking inside the box

This week I was leading a harvest assembly for a primary school. There was, I told them, something very special in a box I had brought.
The children could tell that it was quite heavy and rattled when shaken. It would, I told them, if you did the right things with it, produce

• a woolly jumper,
• a drink of orange juice
• a story book
• an apple
• a cuddly sheep

Could they guess what was in the box?

They came up with

• credit cards - but they don't produce anything but debt
• money - but that doesn't produce anything, it just enables people to buy what others have produced
  
• love - a pretty good guess at many school assemblies but that's not heavy or rattles when you shake it
• a statue of Jesus - Well if the answer isn't "love" then usually it's "Jesus" but not today!!!

Have you worked out what was in the box yet???

It was soil, dirt, earth, compost. Not something we usually value but the basis for supplying most of our needs. In the Genesis 2 account of God creating man, He makes Adam from the Adamah, Compo from the compost, and tells Compo to serve and keep the earth from which he is created.

That "serving and keeping" of the earth is generally done for us by farmers.

Thanks to Exeter

Tuesday & Wednesday of last week I was invited to lead a workshop "Changing Countryside Changing Church" for Exeter Diocese's clergy conference. It was in Cornwall on the Lizard peninsula.

The workshop produced some interesting insights about the role of church and clergy in a very changed countryside.

The church role was:-

• Relationship building
• · Community cohesion
• · Worship God
• · Proclaim gospel
• · Recovery of medieval attitude of multifunctional building
• · Work with children
• · Pastoral care
• · Celebrate festivals
• · Hope bearers
• · Stable presence
• · Agent for change
• · Generous listening
• · Work/engage with the community
• · Saltiness
• · Is there a prior question – What sort of community will/should the gospel produce in this place?

The clergy role was:-

• · Enabler/encourager of others
• · Back stop
• · discipler
• · Expectation to be do-er remains and should be challenged
• · More Pauline – he exercised a remote oversight by letter
• · Spiritual oversight
• · Mini bishops
• · Valuing each church
• · Out of church buildings
• · Nourish people of God
• · Identifying new ways of being church
• · Occasional offices
• · Visible presence, being there
• · Interpreting God’s perspective for whole community

The list for the role of clergy is a formidable one and reflects something of the transition from the old way of doing things. Visible presence, occasional offices, Nourish people of God could all sit with a 1950s role. The move to Mini-bishop, Encourager/enabler of others, Interpreter of God’s perspective for whole community may cause tension. It will certainly will certainly require personal spiritual resources and highlights the need for clergy to be people of reflection, study and prayer.

But for me the main joy was going for a glorious walk on the coastal path in the Cornish sunshine, so here are some more photos of that!

Good enough to throw away

In a bizarre way these carrots are a victim of the bad weather.
Waterlogged soils mean that it hasn't been possible to harvest them. They now grown too big to meet the supermarket specification. They're healthy, nutritious, taste good, cook well, good colour... but they don't fit the spec.
So the field will be sprayed with weed killer and £3,000 worth of carrots written off. You wouldn't believe there are people dieing of malnutrition in the developing world and concern about rising food prices in the UK.
And the pea pods have occasional spots on them so the supermarket has rejected.

Dramatic pictures...

The water got into the cellar. It just about got into the bar. Selfish 4x4 drivers enjoying going through the water created bow waves that didn't help. And one silly driver of a Saab got the posh leather upholstery wet, but it was a loan car from a garage so perhaps he didn't care.


However the significant problem with the weather is less dramatic than the pictures. Prolonged persistent rain has left crops standing in fields un-harvested, just gently rotting. Added to that cereal prices are down on last year and production costs are significantly up. It's a difficult time for farmers - again.

Cause for concern

The concerned expression on Bishop John's face comes from listening to Margaret and Tony explain abut their farm.
They'd long since given up milking and the cattle in the background of the picture are the last that will be on the farm, at least in Margaret and Tony's time. The relentless scourge of TB has ground them down so there's no point in carrying on. It's not just them. Neighbouring farms are giving up cattle. The infection in wildlife is such as it can't be controlled.

Bishop John's visit was part of a day getting first hand experience of agricultural and rural issues in the diocese. He saw something of the "Go West Teme Valley" project (follow the link on the right), visiting Broadwas church and listening to their Listening Post.
After Tony and Margaret's he visited Worcester Livestock market.
Lunch was at the Young Farmers Centre at Hawford where he met "movers and shakers" from Worcestershire's rural and agricultural community. It was an excellent networking opportunity for all, never mind the bishop being there!

In the afternoon Julia Page Warwickshire College Vice Principal and Dean of the Landbased faculty gave us a whistle stop tour round the Pershore campus. The bishop's schedule was tight!

The day finished with a chance to met members of the chaplaincy committee over a cup of tea at Chris Bennett's farm. Thanks to him and Alice for their hospitality

Grass boards, boats and lawnmowers

One of the advantages of having a teenager staying is that you do things you wouldn't normally do. We had my niece staying with us and so for the first time in my life I've been grass boarding. Yes, all that safety equipment IS necessary. My ribs are starting to recover!

We also went to the brine baths at Droitwich. It is as salt as the Dead Sea, and is supposed to be very good for bruising and muscle strain. A good place to go after my escapades on the grass board.

We had a motor boat on the Avon from Evesham. Working the locks was a challenge with painful ribs.

We also had an afternoon when the Young Farmers when they were lawn mower racing. They were very competitive and how they kept some of the machines going showed great engineering skills.

Flower pots or concrete bollards?

I've just been for a week's holiday in Budapest enjoying the sunshine, the spas, the F1 grand prix, the restaurants...
I was struck by the similarity of the Hungarian Parliament building with the OK's parliament. Both are grand historic buildings. Both are on the edge of a river. Both have come to symbolise something of their nation.
But there's a subtle difference. Round the UK parliament there are defensive concrete bollards to prevent terrorist attacks. Round th Hungarian parliament there are wooden tubs with flowers growing in them.
It raises questions about what it is that we in the UK have done to make terrorism a threat.