Month: July 2007

Well – we managed 46 miles today – Ian on the Brompton and me on Bamm Bamm’s mountain bike.  We cheated a bit by joining the N7 [on the National Cycle Route] at the top of Glen Ogle above Killin.  The Brompton for some reason managed five punctures during the day.  So it was Killin, then the switch-back along the southern shore of Loch Tay to Kenmore.  Then towards Pitlochry until Logerait where we turned south on the N77 towards Dunkeld.  It’s surprising that the N7 by-passes Aberfeldy – but then one of the more remarkable stragetic decisions made by our diocese in the past was that we would close and sell our church there.  So I shouldn’t be surprised.

We met lots of people from all over the place spending their holidays riding the length of the N7 from Inverness to Carlisle.  It was great – although, as the psalmist might say, my down-sitting and my uprising leave something to be desired at present.

We’re having a week off and decided to visit Scotland with friends.  Today was a walk around the hills above Loch Tay – at the Acharn Falls: ‘From Acharn, on the south shore of Loch Tay, the path rises through beech-woods past a narrow gorge where the Acharn Burn plummets over the Acharn Falls. Above the falls the route follows Land-Rover tracks over open moorland providing superb views, then passes an ancient tumulus and stone circle before fording the burn. Returning, view the falls from the gallery of a hermit’s cave.’

And tomorrow we’re going to unfurl the Brompton folding bicycles at the top of the hill outside Killin and cycle to Pitlochry on the National Cycle Route.  Imagine actually living here!

One of the interesting spiritual ideals during the first 1000 years of Christianity was the peregrinatio or “voluntary exile”. Those particularly devoted to the Lord would voluntarily leave their own home and undertake dangerous journeys to various places. Some Celtic Christians, especially some from Ireland, practiced an extreme form of this. They would get into a small boat, without oars or rudder or any other way to steer the boat. They would take no food or water. After praying they would cast themselves off from shore trusting the Lord to use the wind and the ocean currents to take them wherever He wanted and to provide for all their needs.

I like the idea of that – travelling without oars or destination.  But it’s not for me really.  We had the first meeting of the Implementation Group for the Diocesan Review last night – it’s really more a group which keeps everything on track – making sure that the Spirit leads us into all truth along a carefully charted course.  But I suppose I do have to admit that, for me, the joy of it is that ultimately I don’t actually know what the destination is.  I know the direction and the values which define the journey – but not the destination.

One thinks a bit about ministry – moving from Alan’s episcopal ordination in Belfast through the excretory realities of Easyjet to Glenalmond Commemoration day to Tembu’s Ordination.  And while it is important to be able to see some kind of common thread running through all this, I long ago found that the secret is to try to be 100% present wherever and whatever it is.  The problem with that is that I can’t remember where I was half an hour ago.

Tembu’s ordination in Dunfermline on Sunday was quite an event – the full details as ever are on the wee small hours blog   I never quite know what people expect – but it was clear that, for some who were there, it became a powerful and unexpectedly moving experience which will alter their perception of vocation, ministry and the deep things with which ministry deals.  It’s back to expectations again – higher the better IMHO.