Apologies for the random order of the pictures – no wifi and I am not able to control the sequence in the word press app (its probably user error!!!!)

Day fourteen to sixteen (18th – 20th August)

Chester to Queensferry (near the Spar)
Phone stats (slightly unreliable!): 16987 steps, 7.18 miles, walking time 2hrs 31 minutes
I had mastered the arriva bus app and am now the proud owner of a weekly M ticket. I left the car at the end point for todays walk, and got a bus into Chester – and met up with Moyra for coffee in a Café Nero!
So the big walk begins – touching Chester Cross as recommended by the walk book. It was very encouraging to be accompanied by Moyra for the gentle start to the Wales Coast path. Intriguingly the sign for the start of the walk was still in England (abit further out of Chester by the River Dee) and about a mile later we actually passed the border…. Moyra generously carried the lunch as I am currently serving a ruck sack ban until 30th August (while my scars heal), which is a bit awkward.
The views were mainly of a river, and I felt much more interesting than the walk book had suggested (it was rather disparaging about it) – we did dodge being run over by cyclists and it was very easy going (great for me who is rather unfit currently). Start for the next leg identified, and finishing touching spot touched
Day 15
A day of rest, and an opportunity to catch up with Matt at one of his churches (St Mary’s Church, Chirk), and enjoy lunch a glimpse of the impressive Chirk viaduct! Delicious lunch and then sabbath rest (with embroidery!!)
Day 16 Queensferry (near the Spa) to Flint Castle
Phone stats (slightly unreliable!): 16836 steps, 7.11 miles, walking time 2hrs 33 minutes
Starting touching post suitably touched and the river Dee widen out to more of an Estuary as the walk progressed – lots of industrial stuff, power stations and pylons! Steamy and humid but not sunny, and occasionally drizzly. The walking was more variable some on the road, some on paths, and some of it back on the cycle path. A touching post by Flint castle was identified as the end, and I had lunch near the car. I have decided to park the car here again tomorrow so I can get a bus back at the end of the walk (as I will walk a little further but I am not sure how far is sensible – café’s likely for lunch too!)
Walking was slightly curtailed due to the need to take the trusty panda to a fiat dealer as I was having warning light issues (now resolved thanks to the helpful team at Swansway Fiat in Chester (and they gave me an excellent coffee). This made up for the coffee I didn’t get from my thermos mug as I couldn’t get the lid off!!

Day 12
I have arrived in north wales, ready to start the welsh coastal path tomorrow (bizarrely in England in Chester). Progress may be less than I hoped as my body is still healing, so don’t expect long distances, just ramblings on my roaming. Possibly not too lengthy this week as I have no wifi!! Some pictures of my first week’s accommodation to set the scene.

Always did like psalm 121.. weather abit foreboding.

Day seven

Well, well, well – First Sunday on sabbatical and the first of many worship experiences – where I have no responsibility! So at one end of the eclectic range of worship I find brings me closer to God – I went to Hillsong in Tonbridge. The novelty of no responsibility – arriving 2 minutes before it started and walking away at the end was obvious. It is the first time I have been to worship which was definitely too loud (but that makes me feel very middle-aged!), but it was great to be surrounded by people getting in to it. Another first was 2 calls for money to support the work, first for the church and then the broadcast speaker. And that of course was another first – watching a preaching broadcast from Bermondsey!

It was a very challenging talk about the new wine passage in Luke’s gospel 5;37-39 and a worship song I really liked, spoke to my heart (See the link above!)

Jesus said: ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, “The old is better.”’*

I have been mulling over the interpretation of the passage ever since. The speaker was challenging us to grow – He described 3 types of growth in the Bible, physical growth, growth through our conscious effort and growth through the action of an outside power (meaning the Holy Spirit).

He used the passage to say we need to let go of the old to grow, and love the new to be fruitful. There were a series of challenging thoughts on how (and a good applied section of the talk which I appreciated)

• We need to grow new wine skins to be ready for the new wine.
• Are we willing to be stretched and let go of what has always been?
• We always need to live life sowing new seeds.
• New wine is coming when you start feeling bothered and dissatisfied with yourself.
• We need to be soft and pliable in the Lord, and delight in his work in us.

I have done some study on the old and new wine verses since this talk. Jesus was speaking into a situation where he was bringing something new, wholly and profoundly different – he was not a patch, repairing the old, and was not to be constrained by the bounds of the old either. We need to be cautious of treating the new wine of the Spirit’s work, as inferior to the old tried and tested wine of our previous experiences. One of the commentaries “You can’t put new ideas into old mind-sets. You can’t get new results with old behaviours.” Food for thought…

*New International Version – UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Space oddity

With University friends

Lots of school feathers mcgraw

Monsters inc!!!!

Spock

Days 4-5

Had a fabulous time, with my university buddies, Athene, and Hilary, along with Hilary’s husband Jeff – looking for Gromits, Wallaces and Feathers McGraws in Bristol.  New for me this time around was using the phone app, which was mostly a good experience. It was not great for determining when things were upstairs in Cribbs causeway shopping centre- but as long as there were no multiple floors involved it was easier than the printed map. Then there was also the ingenuity of decorated sculptures, this time some with moving parts – including my favourite Gromitronic – who had a 3D printed waggy tail (not shown above!)

I am honestly not sure what it is about looking at painted sculpture trails that makes me love doing them so much. Over the last five years, I have looked for Gromits, Shauns, Snow dogs, Sun bears and Owls in London, Birmingham, Brighton, and Bristol. Each time I have embarked on this kind of day – it has brought great joy. Some of it is the artistic interpretation and creativity, some of it is in the walking and searching, and some in the imagination and wonder. It’s a fine activity done alone, but even better with friends. I was in particularly good company this time around – with my pals from York University, who I first met in 1980!

The underlying reality is we are made in the image of a creative God, and our creativity brings him glory. It says in Isaiah 43:6b -7 (one of my favourite Biblical chapters) “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth –everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” * – This kind activity revels in all this creativity, may that’s why I find it such a joy!

Gromit hunting in Bristol is available until 2nd September… Comes highly recommended! 

*New International Version – UK (NIVUK) — Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Standen House

William Morris wall paper

And more WIlliam Morris wall paper

All a bit Scarlet O’hara

Day 3

Finally a day at a more manageable temperature, and a brief trip to Standen House, near East Grinstead for some creative inspiration. It was very good to be out and about (and I was careful not to overdo it!) There were William Morris tapestries and wallpapers from a time gone by in an interesting Victorian house, nestling in a glorious corner of West Sussex to enjoy. Well worth a visit, and I will return at some point when I am bit fitter, so I can enjoy the woodland walks and gardens more extensively.

I was very taken with the “tomorrow is a new day” fire screen, and it is true each day offers us a fresh start and new opportunities. We do need to concentrate on living in the moment, alive and engaged, not afraid of perceived or imagined hazards lurking in the shadows. However as a big fan of ‘Gone with the Wind’ – it also does remind me more than a little of Scarlet O’Hara, who often seemed to have the uncanny knack from the depths of dire present circumstances to utter – ‘After all – tomorrow is another day!’

Coming soon Gromits… EXCITED

This is a picture of the end of my first communion service as a priest on the 3rd July 2005.. The theme of the service was ‘promise’, Moyra preached, and it took place in St Michael’s in Basingstoke, where I was curate.  My first substantive sermon at Christ Church, South Nutfield, in March 2014, was looking at one of the promises or covenants God makes with his people in the Old Testament. Today, I have just been putting the finishing touches to tomorrow’s sermon at Christ Church, which is my last as a sabbatical rapidly approaches. This is also about the overarching storyline of promise or covenant in the Bible.

I can’t help thinking there is something very circular about this. It is always good to reflect on God’s promises or covenants revealed in scripture – and the way the new covenant works, since the coming of Jesus. It helps us to keep rooted and grounded in our journey of faith. Tomorrow’s  sermon  finishes with some of my favourite verses from St Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:38-39), as they are found in ‘The Message’

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us*.

As a thinker and someone who likes (and at times needs) time to think things through – I particularly like the rendering thinkable and unthinkable – “kind of” captures  the predictable and the unpredictable stuff of life. Though it may feel like I have had more than my fair share of unpredictable of late – none of that stuff whether its predictable or unpredictable can get between us and God’s love for us through Jesus. Amazing!!!

Study leave starts on Monday….

*The Message (MSG) –Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Thank you for joining me!. As the time draws near for my study leave in 2018, there are lots of things to think about.

• Leaving everything in good order in the parish and the area.
• What to do and when to do it as the time of sabbatical approaches
• And most importantly where is God in all this?

In Southwark Diocese, sabbatical time comes along at 7 year intervals post-ordination. This means on 4th July, I marked my 14th anniversary of ordination. Time is slippery stuff – I am older and wiser perhaps, but I am also very shaped and honed by these years and the work of the Holy Spirit. Like all life, there have been ups and downs, moments of clarity and doubt. Ultimately I am still Alison, talents and weaknesses in a quirky package.

I’m currently not as organised as I would like to be (this is quite common!), and I know as I am preparing, I will not quite be setting out on the journey I had hoped for, particularly in relation to my fitness. No doubt however, God has a plan, which will be (as they always are) better than any of mine!