To those of you who don't follow me on Facebook welcome to the sunny blue skies and very warm Shetland Islands. I bought a winter coat in St Albans before I left Mums - it's still in the case! I write this on the warmest day of the year here so far.
I have only been here seven days and have a whole month to go but am already very comfortable here with some lovely gracious people who keep thanking me for coming to help them and by the very slow pace of life. I find myself at moments getting very overwhelmed - it is a huge thing for me to be here, I've waited a long time for these weeks and already my visit here has surpassed my expectations. I never dreamt I would need sun cream!!!
Why is life sometimes overwhelming when you connect with things or people that remind you of a bigger picture and that suddenly you matter? I got the goosebumps inside me seeing the magnificence of God in nature here again as I saw my first vista leaving Lerwick for an explore. It's a good job that there are plenty of lay-bys to view the pretty bits as you drive round. I keep saying out loud "oh wow!" as I see a new sight or one I remember from 20 years ago. The other "oh wow" thing here is it doesn't get dark at this time of year. It isn't easy to sleep and you wake up not knowing what time it is. I sat outside the other night at gone midnight reading my book.
The Methodist Church here have made me very welcome. It was good to have lunch last Wednesday with Jeremy Dare, the Chair of District here. He retires at the end of the month and they will miss him. He is retiring to Yell so staying around as he loves it here though will hide for a bit to enable his successor to settle. I have been given six services to take over the five Sundays I am here, all will be very different. In the weeks ahead I will write about them here. One Sunday involves taking two ferries and another has me with no organist but someone on the recorder and I am rediscovering the joy of the 1933 Methodist Hymn Book!
On Sunday I had an overwhelming time leading worship in the little chapel at Whiteness. I led a holiday club in the church when I was last here - a glorious setting. 11 ladies were there on Sunday - mostly on the back pew! I said to the steward before the service how many will there be - she said "there are those that are here, and those that are here but not here." I asked her if she was going to welcome me. She said "no - they all know you've come!" I had forgotten how exhausting leading every bit of the service yourself is. I haven't read the notices out or done my own readings for years! I had also forgotten that you get very little response during worship. One lady didn't sing a note of any hymn and in the prayers when I said "Lord in your mercy" there was no "hear our prayer" back! They didn't hang around afterwards - shook my hand at the door and said thank you but there was no fellowship time - all of them have driven there. Two of them when I was getting my books afterwards told me it had been refreshing and a different angle and beautifully delivered. I wondered what the morning did to them. Clearly coming to the chapel mattered to them as part of their story and way of life but it cannot be there for ever. I found myself preaching without referring to my notes and being much more pastoral and less mission orientated in my message. What is the mission of a remote place like Whiteness? I preached on finding God loves you wherever you are and it being a surprise sometimes how that love is expressed. I am in these weeks in even more remote places so will continue to reflect on the purpose of presence here.
I had another overwhelming time returning on Friday to Walls where I was on placement while last here. I walked round the harbour and there was no one about. I went into the chapel which has a community cafe every Friday all through the year. The place was packed so clearly the whole community was on there- all ages, elderly folk, mums collecting children from the nursery, people out walking on holiday. The food was all homemade and cheap - the menu on the table said - to enable everyone to come and share. The place was buzzing. Community eating together especially in village halls on Sunday afternoons for teas is a huge thing here bringing isolated communities together. It was lovely to spend an hour with these folk - I learnt a soft roll is a local softie and I discovered what restit soup is!!
Before I came up here I had a lovely Sunday. On the Sunday morning I was in London and went to Marylebone Parish Church which was a wonderful hour and a half of spine chilling worship in a church with a strong choral tradition. The Gloria lasted ten minutes and I found myself being lifted up spiritually in it. The silence after it was very powerful. Sometimes our worship is too wordy, too rushed and no space to reflect on the message we have either just heard or read or sung or have heard sung. Stanley Hauerwas in one of his books suggests worship is about reminding ourselves that God is God and we are not, first - and after we have remembered that only, we celebrate this God is bothered with us and we can come to him. The mass was done to a piece of music by Weber. The service sheet helpfully gave me information on the music being used. He wrote "the singers are Italians, so never too secure, therefore everything should be as singable as possible: the alto is a dog!" Can't imagine lovely Stephen Page in the choir I sing in back home write that in notes of his compositions! The preacher was excellent - he reminded us in a deeply honest sermon that sometimes new life springs up and at first there is confusion and fear because we are not expecting it and we don't deserve it and it feels audacious! Not been preached to with a message for me and where I was that Sunday for a very long time. So, I am glad I walked along the Euston and Marylebone Road to encounter a special place.
That same afternoon I got on a train and headed for Peterborough (as you do) and a huge few hours which I will not go into here. But we did evensong at Peterborough Cathedral which was just overwhelming again. Apparently I said "wow" out loud as we entered the building. Sitting in the choir stalls I was aware again of the vastness of God and this need in me which I have found in these weeks to immerse myself in God far more. If you do this more there is a breathing in and a deep peace beyond words - the current in word is mindfulness - and when you are less frazzled and less church busy you have time to see what blessings are there and you might find new ones! Please readers of this back home in my CIrcuit remind me I wrote this in September!!! Again in this service sung and said holy place for centuries we got the rawness of the Psalter: Psalm 44: in God we boast all the day long and praise thy name for ever. Fab stuff. And done together as I have written before. Was a real privilege and also to be given a private tour afterwards including to Catherine of Aragon under the floor!
So one week in - was it worth a journey to London, a 8am train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh, another train to Aberdeen, which was delayed as it needed oil (!) a 12 and a half hour boat trip up and down a bit as the sea was rough - amazingly though a few hours after getting here the skies cleared and have been blue or in the wee small hours at 3am pink and sometimes orange. Was it worth it? While I feel far away from people (relief the mobile signal works) you bet it was. This is proving to be one of the most fulfilling times of my life... And there is still a month to go.
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