"At the back of our brains, so to speak, there was a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life was to dig for this submerged sunrise of wonder .”
G. K. Chesterton
As an artist and a spiritual being, this weeks blog is my attempt to dig for this 'submerged sunrise of wonder.' To explore the forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment. It sounds quite deep and complicated, so let me simplify it for you with a description of my bike ride to church.
On Sundays when the weather is good I get on my bicycle and ride down to the river and across town to my church which currently meets at Guildford College. The journey takes about 40 minutes.
I have a piece of paper with the words "Collect memories not things" scrawled on it. These are the words that motivate me to go slower, take notice of all that is around me. It would be so easy to jump in the car and much more comfortable if I wanted to arrive at church clean and sweatless. But that car journey would rarely register in the memory banks of my mind in the way that the bicycle ride does.
At first when my church moved from its location at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre to Guildford College much further across town I was annoyed. My little bike ride would be lengthened and I would have to ride through the uglier parts of town. (Even as I write that I realise how petty I was being.) On the first morning when I rode the extra few miles across town I saw my old boss from Greyfriars Vineyard, Mike, coaching the Girls High school rowing team on the river. I ran into old friends in the GBC carpark, then I saw Loseley bakery setting up a Christmas market stand on the bridge by the White House pub and my path crossed with Solomon, an Indian student who I used to see at the University but hadn't seen for about 6 months. Every cloud has a silver lining.
This weeks blog is based around my journey to church. It is a tribute to the stuff I see, the people I meet, the church service. It is my burst of astonishment at being alive. My celebration of the glory that surrounds me.
I came that they ( me & you! ) may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance - to the full, till it overflows. John 10:10 ( Amplified Bible)
So it is Sunday morning, it is not raining. I have 2 bikes to choose from, the efficient fast mountain bike or the super slow but comfortable, fat cushioned postman's bike. If I'm in a rush I go for the mountain bike, if I have time for a slow ride or its been raining and I don't want to arrive splattered ( the mountain bike has no mudgaurds) I take the postman's bike.
I start with a gentle ride through the hamlet of Littleton. You would never know that you are right on the edge of Guildford, it feels like I am in the middle of no-where.
I cycle past this cottage and for most of the year the front door is open. It wasn't until this week that I finally worked out why. A friend was visiting me and I joked about how it was warmer outside my apartment than inside. Then the penny dropped. That is why this little cottage door is always open. This is an old property and like mine it is cold all year round. The owner is trying to warm up her house! Not only is the door always open, but the old Golden Retriever is always on the lawn. I think his name is Rupert and he is about 16 years old.
There is no village shop or pub in the hamlet but Littleton does have its own church, St Francis. It can just be seen behind the leaves in the photo above. The church is named after St Francis of Assisi, he was an Italian monk known for his love of animals. His habit of talking to birds and other wildlife gave him a reputation as a slight eccentric. Born Giovanni, he was a rich Italian kid who abandoned his wealth to focus on the poor.
St Francis church is not in use as a church except for the Christmas service complete with sheep and a manger. It does get used as a voting station for elections and this picture below always makes me laugh, Mike MM outside St Francis church.
There isn't much traffic to worry about. Just the occasional tractor!
We do also have a bright red post box in Littleton. This is where I turn right down another track where there is a free fruit and vegetable stand. The owner takes all the out of date, over ripe fruit and vegetables from the grocery shop in Godalming and places them on her stand to be picked up by anyone passing by. Everything is free and if you have some loose change you can donate it to the charity box for Shooting Star Chase.
The overripe mangos, bananas and pineapples are great for smoothies. Oranges can be squeezed and fresh orange juice made. I also like using the free avocados for guacamole.
My journey then heads on down the public footpath and past the Surrey Police headquarters at Mount Brown. At this time of year the footpath is overgrown with glorious frothy cowslip, it is like being swept up in the confetti of a wedding all the way down the track.
You water the field's furrows abundantly, You settle the ridges of it; You make the soil soft with showers, blessing the sprouting of its vegetation.
You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of your chariot wheels drip with fatness.
The luxuriant pastures in the uncultivated country drip with moisture and the hills gird themselves with joy.
The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys are also covered with grain; they shout for joy and sing together.
Psalm 65: 10- 13 ( Amplified Bible)
After navigating through the abundant luxurious curtains of cowslip I will then cross over the road and follow the track down to the river. Past the horses and the cows.
Did that cow really stick it's tongue out at the camera?
Usually as I reach the river tow path at around 9.50am, Shalford's church bells are ringing out across the flood meadows. I do like the sound of church bells. Hearing the chimes ringing out lets me know that church is starting soon and I need to get a move on.
I will continue on the river footpath path, carefully manoeuvring the bike to avoid collision with fellow cyclists, dog walkers and joggers. There is a kingfisher that lives in this section of the river but to date he has been too fast for me to capture him on camera. To my left is a trickling stream, feeding into the river and creating a muddy corner where everyone slows down to wade through the puddles.
I will cycle past the random church pew which is placed in an elevated position at the end of a garden. This is a great spot for the residential cat to view the river from. ( The bunny rabbit is safe if he doesn't move into the cat's line of vision! )
In the Spring this garden has the best lawn of early flowers on display, it rolls out like a floral carpet as it slopes down to the river. The flowers start in January with snowdrops and then delicate blue anemones. Next come the primroses & bluebells and presently the lawn is deep in meadow grass with a scattering of yellow buttercups and the white fur ball seed heads of dandelions.
At this point the river begins to get busy with rowing boats and coaches training their team. The footpath is also busier and there are obstacles to look out for.
I will keep an eye open for Mike as he runs down the tow path shouting instructions at the Girls High School rowing team. He will be running towards me and then fly past as I veer towards the wall, shout good morning and then continue on past the canal boats.
The river footpath finishes at the Yvonne Arnaud theatre where Emmaus Road church will be about to start their service. Here I swing my bike left and nip through the GBC carpark waving at a few Millmead church members in the council carpark.
My bike will glide on past St Nicholas, cycle over the bridge by the White House pub, then swing left and through the underpass into North Street. I will head on up to the new Waitrose and look out for any Chertsey street members. Here I cross over the road and come out at the Boiler room pub where I will head down the alleyway and out onto the road for Guildford College.
So that is my bike journey on most Sundays and it helps me to slow down, notice the world around me and talk to people.
I know a lot of people who say they are not religious, they believe in God but don't like church. In my experience they are missing out on all the fun. There are no perfect churches, it is easy to find a fault in any of them. But what I see in the churches of Guildford are a bunch of good people, kind people and a community of individuals helping each other.
You can attend a quiet contemplative church or a noisy concert of a church like Hillsong who meet up at G Live. ( photos below)
Whatever suits your temperament. It's not the building that makes the church it is the people within those walls.
There are some outstandingly amazing people to be found in church like the council street cleaner who joined our church because we used to be on his cleaning route. The coffee and tea served before our service gave him a good mid morning break, a place to sit down and chat before returning to clean up the debris of Saturday night in Guildford.
A few weeks ago I listened to an Eritrean lady speak at our church. She had recently been released from 32 months of living in a shipping crate that was used as a prison, crammed full of people who the Eritrean government wanted to punish. She was there for being a Christian.
Open Doors quote: Others have been in prison for over 11 years in miserable conditions; some are kept in shipping containers in scorching temperatures. Christians are considered 'agents of the West' and a threat to the state.
She had only good things to say about her life despite having survived a year and a half of being boiled alive during the day and frozen at night in a shipping container in Eritrea where the toilet facilities were one plastic bag that everyone had to share and empty out when they could! Finding joy in her solitary confinement, she said she was never alone and just hung out with God and chatted about stuff with Him all day. Sometimes it is not what you say but the impression you leave as a person. This lady was so elegant, so regal, such a princess of a woman.
A few years ago I remember meeting Canon Andrew White sometimes referred to as the vicar of Baghdad. He also left a big impression, a giant of a man. Gentle, kind and light hearted. (He sits to talk because of his Multiple Sclerosis. I think he had a flurry of complaints when he talked on the BBC radio 4 because he sounded drunk for the whole interview.) He used to live and work in Baghdad but has been forced to leave it now. Most of his congregation in Baghdad have been scattered or killed by ISIL. Some of his Sunday school children slaughtered because they refused to abandon Christianity and Jesus. Despite what he has seen, lived through and continues to battle he is such a happy carefree person. He is not at all phased by the depravity of humanity because he knows the hope and peace of the kind King he loves, who restores us to each other and to Himself.
He is also a big believer in dining with his enemies – a gesture that, until Isil, had worked quite well.
‘When I invited Isil to dinner they said, “Yes, we’ll come, but we’ll chop off your head,” he says matter-of-factly.' ‘Rather kind of them to warn me.’
Then this Sunday I was listening to Jackie Pullinger speak at Emmaus church. She left England at 22 years of age having been turned down by most organisations (she was aiming to work in Africa but no-one would take her! ) She bought a ticket to Hong Kong and started a new life helping opium addicts get free from their addiction.
Reading her book 'Chasing the dragon' had a great impact on my life when I was a teenager. (Serving on her team was also a trigger point for Pete Grieg and Heidi Baker.)
I know all these people seem very middle class and clean, but the church comes in all shapes and sizes. Take a look at guys such as Brian and Fieldy in the nu metal band KORN ( the R should be backwards but I can't get my computer keypad to do that!) if you want a tattooed, dreadlocked, black eye liner wearing Christian.
It amazes me that every Sunday when many are dragging their weary souls around town looking for a strong rich coffee and a hip pair of jeans, just a few hundred yards away behind the doors of school halls, theatres and colleges, there is a party going on!
Above are photos from my church Christmas celebration a couple of years ago.
If this all seems way too overwhelming and the quieter life is for you .... here are a couple of thoughts to ponder over.
"the human comedy does not attract me enough. I am not entirely of this world. I am from elsewhere; and it is worth finding this elsewhere beyond the walls . . . but where is it? ”
Eugene Ionesco
Ecclesiastes 3:11 [ God Set Eternity in the Heart of Man ] He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.
So I am grateful for my bike ride to church. I am grateful for the slower pace of life it gives me, for the nature that surrounds me and for the great people meeting in many different buildings who are the church in Guildford. My journey opens my eyes to the sunrise of wonder. The blaze is not forgotten, the astonishment is still there.