Continents Colliding

At Thingveillir the Eurasian and American land masses are drifting apart. At Peggy’s Cove on the South Shore, this poster claims that Nova Scotia was formed by two land masses, Avalon and Meguma, coming together.  I do not know why they qualified as “continents”.  On the journey, Gordon was telling me about a course in cultural competence at the medical school where he works, and at the Fisheries Museum in Lunenburg I found out more about the original inhabitants and the effect on them of increasingly greedy settlers arriving from the “Old World” – further examples of continents colliding.
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See the Canada page for more about my stay.

Recharged

The device that I thought was a global charger turned out to be a mere adaptor, so I arrived in Halifax with all three batteries (iPad, Kindle and phone) running low.  A trip to Betterbuy was called for, and Gordon took me there after church, where a friendly assistant led me to the right section of the shop. Now everything is charged up and ready to go!

Arrived in Reykjavik

Heathrow Terminal 2 (the Queen’s terminal) is much more pleasant and relaxing than Stansted.   I said Morning Prayer in the Multifaith Prayer Room.   Reykjavik was cold but sunny, and there was a beautiful rainbow as I walked from the bus station to the guesthouse.  The “dorm bed” turned out to be one of two in a pleasant room; my roommate was a night owl so I hardly saw her.

Met Bjarni, the priest of the Anglican congregation, and his three daughters for a pizza.

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To read more about my stay in Iceland, see the Iceland page of this blog.

visiting card

visiting cardIn preparation for my journey, I ordered new visiting cards.  The Gothenburg ones had a nice photo, but all the text apart from my name and email address was no longer accurate.  Visiting cards are taken very seriously in Japan.  Is the new design is a bit too frivolous?

Two weeks to take-off

Having sorted out flights, trains in USA and India, and accommodation, I turned my thoughts to packing.
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After trying two possibilities, I decided on the piggy-back rucksack, with main bag and day-pack zipped together when I have to carry both. Not much room for anything I may acquire on the way, unless I wear my hiking boots.  But the larger rucksack would be oversize for the bus from San Francisco to Yosemite, adding $50 to the already high price.  I am stocking my Kindle with books, but have a few hard-copy maps, tickets, etc.

Julian of Norwich

all shall be well

In preparation for my visit to Norwich, I had downloaded a modernized version of Revelations of Divine Love onto my Kindle.  I read much of it sitting in her cell in the church which is now named after her.

There were eight larger-than-lifesize panels depicting some of the “showings” in the chapel at Ditchingham where the East Anglian Ministerial Training Course had study weekends and summer schools.  The crown of thorns and Christ’s suffering on the cross are even more gruesome in Julian’s words than in the paintings, which did not prepare me for her joyful reflections.  “Our Protector” (the word the editors use instead of “Lord”) “laughs with gladness at our prayers.”  Our sin, she believes, cannot hurt God because God never changes.  It can hurt us, but also can be the occasion of the great joy of being forgiven.

Edith Cavell Trail

cavell trail marker

After 4 days on the Norfolk Coast Path, I arrived in Norwich and discovered foot and cycle paths in honour of Edith Cavell.  Since my stall as a canon was in her memory, I had to follow it! From her grave and memorials at Norwich Cathedral, I followed a main road out of town to a succession of parkland, woodland and marshland, over a bypass and along country lanes to the village of Swardestone where her father was rector.

cavell and soldier cathedral gate

She wrote, the night before her execution: “Standing before God and eternity I realise that patriotism is not enough; I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”

 

Daffodil Labyrinth

Attended “Growing into Retirement” at Launde Abbey.  The theme was liminality (the state of being betwixt and between, neither one thing nor the other) which fits in with my view of 2016 as a gap year.  Beautiful surrounds, including this daffodil labyrinth.  What will it look like when the daffodils are over?

Evolving Journey

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The downside (or one of the drawbacks) of having booked flights in advance is that fresh information changes things.  My cousin Gordon, whom I shall be visiting in Halifax Nova Scotia, has kindly offered to drive me to Boston along a coastal route, stopping off 3 nights on the way.  Together with other considerations, this means that I would not get to Seattle in time for the flight I had booked to San Francisco, so instead I shall take the more scenic Californian Zephyr from Chicago and overnight in Denver, the mile-high city.

I have made contact with two other friends I shall visit on the journey: Bjarni in Iceland and Hanna in Cambodia.  And I have possible contacts in Chicago and Delhi.  The journey is looking less lonely.

Spirituality for the Perplexed

sheldrake book
Philip Sheldrake distinguishes four types of spirituality : ascetical, mystical, practical and prophetic.

In Psalm 95 at Morning Prayer, modern liturgies sometimes stop at the words “O, that today you would listen to his voice!”

In the ascetic tradition, this is a matter of discipline, focussing on God through religious practice.

In the mystical tradition, listening becomes hearing, and (whether or not through the practice), a new relation with God is possible.

The practical tradition affirms that this takes place here, now, and everywhere, in daily life, not (or not only) in silent or desert places.

And in the prophetic tradition, the listening/hearing becomes a reception and proclamation of the word.

Isaiah was in the temple, and saw a vision and felt a live coal touch his lips, while living “in the midst of a people of unclean lips”, and responded “Here am I; send me.”

Thus all four types are possible emphases in these familiar texts.  (My commentary, not Sheldrake’s.)