Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Christmas, leaps and bounds appeal, learning disabilities, monyhull, rspca, st bede's brandwood, st gabriel's weoley castle
Two highlights of Christmas so far. On Monday at St Gabriel’s we had, for the first time, the RSPCA Carol Service in Church and then at the Animal Centre.
As well as enjoying Christmas, with some very beautiful basset hounds inspecting the Crib, we were raising awareness of the RSPCA’s Leaps and Bounds Appeal for a new Animal Centre and Hospital.
Then, this morning, I travelled up the hill from St Bede’s to Monyhull Chapel for the Christmas Service with the Learning Disabilities Chaplaincy. There have been strong links between St Bede’s and Monyhull, not least during the period after the fire when St Bede’s congregation worshipped with the folk with learning disabilities. Since I have been Vicar, Rosemary and I have loved being a small part of the Chaplaincy Team, helping out when we are needed and sharing in services like today’s. My Grandad was Head Porter in one of the old hospitals and it means a lot to me to have this link. I learn as much about the nature of God and of love and community here as I do anywhere else.
I hope to post again over Christmas, although if I get lost in busyness, may I wish you all a Blessed Festival.
You are welcome to any of our services:
St Bede’s, Brandwood (B14 6NN)
Christmas Eve Children’s Carol Service 4pm; Midnight Eucharist 11.30pm; Christmas Morning Eucharist 11am.
St Gabriel’s, Weoley Castle (B29 5LT)
Christmas Eve Children’s Carol Service 2pm; Midnight Mass 11.30pm; Mass of Christmas Morning 9.30am.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: albergues, camino, Camino de Santiago, Camino Ingles, confraternity of st james, credencial, peterborough pilgrims, pilgrim passports, pilgrimage, st bede's brandwood
In just over a week, Meenakshi and I will be travelling to Spain to walk the Camino Ingles from A Coruna to Santiago. We seem to have been planning and preparing for this for ages; at last there is a school holiday when I’m not working and which is not followed immediately by exams. There should be a few posts about this in the coming week and then hopefully some live blogs from the Camino.
One of the lovely parts of the Camino is the credencial or pilgrim’s passport. You can buy one in Spain or France when you begin the Camino or you can get one in advance from one of the Camino Associations. The passport is proof that you are a pilgrim and entitles you to stay in albergues, the pilgrim hostels along the pilgrim routes. Getting it stamped once or twice a day serves as proof to the Pilgrim’s Office in Santiago Cathedral that you have walked or cycled far enough to qualify for a Compostela. The stamps (sellos in Spain, tampons in France) come from all sorts of places – churches, cathedrals, albergues, hostals, police stations, town halls, convents, bars and restaurants. They are a wonderful souvenir and memory of the Camino.
Here is my Confraternity of St James credencial from the Camino Ingles two years ago, with a page that includes the sello that is most important to me. Do you want to know which this is and why?
This time, for a change and because we are only walking for three days, we will be using the Credencial de Peregrinos issued by Santiago Cathedral. Rather than getting them from the Church of Santiago in A Coruna, I have got them in advance – thanks to Ian at Peterborough Pilgrims – as I would like to start things off with a stamp from my churches here.
Yesterday, I was looking through the archive at St Bede’s, Brandwood for some photos of Church activities in the 1960′s. Amongst the papers I found this Pilgrim Passport from the Birmingham Diocesan Pilgrimage to Canterbury in 1986 (well before my time here). This seems to be a good pointing to the pilgrimage in a week. I like the Pilgrimage Collect (click on the photo to enlarge it) and will use it next year when I complete walking the Pilgrim’s Way to Canterbury.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: fosse way, grand union canal, prayer walks, retreats, salt way, st bede's brandwood, the Jesus Prayer, walking
Last Saturday, as part of St Bede’s Retreat at Offa House at Offchurch, near Leamington Spa, there was the opportunity to spend part of the afternoon on a solitary and silent prayer walk. I jumped at it. I walked 5 or 6 miles through the autumn sunshine. I climbed down to the Grand Union Canal, crossing the busy Fosse Way, walked up the Salt Way (also Roman, now a mud track) and back along quiet lanes and a disused railway track – it was fascinating to pass signs protesting against the High Speed 2 Rail Link after walking all these major routes of the past couple of thousand years. I prayed the Jesus Prayer as I walked, contemplated the difficulties as well as the beauties of the world (the poem is coming on – watch this space) and arrived back out of breath as I was nearly late, but as usual with walking and prayer walking a whole lot better.
Here are some photographs which I hope show some of the spiritual meaning of the walk:
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: offa house, pilgrimage, st bede's brandwood, st gabriel's weoley castle, together with elderly people in weoley castle and bartley green, walsingham
September has been a busy but very fruitful month. It has included a Parish Pilgrimage to Walsingham with St Gabriel’s; the beginning of Together with Elderly People in Weoley Castle and Bartley Green, where St Gabriel’s invited all those involved in work with vulnerable elderly people in the area to come together to seek to strengthen work in a very difficult time; and last weekend, a Parish Retreat at Offa House with St Bede’s. More reflections on all this pilgrimage will follow as there is time, but here are three photos to whet the appetite:
walking back from the Slipper Chapel
St Bede's Retreat
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: dostoyevsky, st bede's brandwood, st gabriel's weoley castle
It was an old and rather poor church, many of the ikons were without settings, but such churches are the best for praying in.
- Dostoyevsky
Of course, neither St Gabriel’s or St Bede’s are old or poor buildings. Both, to my mind at least, have a necessary simplicity, are good places to pray in, and have been prayed in.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: st bede's brandwood, st gabriel's weoley castle, urban ministry
On Sunday Bishop David came to St Bede’s to Licence my colleague Kate Pearson as Pioneer Ordinand at St Bede’s and St Gabriel’s. An excellent day.
