Northumbria Community

From Belgium we travelled to Germany on a beautiful warm spring, summer - like day. Making good time on the fast German autobahns we took the opportunity to spend two hours walking around Limburg. It is a beautiful city with wonderful mediaeval buildings, town squares and delightful shops. It was good to be back here where I had spoken at a conference in October when I was accompanied by Shirley my wife and Joshua our younger son both of whom speak and understand German. My ignorance and inability to communicate in a language other than English is a source of great embarrassment and some regret. Nevertheless the language of compassion and friendship can travel over boundaries limited by any lack of linguistic skills. We walked up to the cathedral and enjoyed the cool and peaceful atmosphere of a beautiful place of worship, built for the glory of God. Seeing a sign for the Chapel for the Holy Sacrament we took the opportunity to share Midday Office together. We prayed there for Jean Wilson, a Community Companion living in Tokyo, Japan; for Michelle and his father Leon in Belgium, for Reiner and Ilona and for all our families, the Community and those whom we would meet later that day. Resuming our journey we once again appreciated the German roads. They are wonderful and motoring in my now relatively old but still brilliant Honda with its 171,000 miles on the clock, we moved swiftly and comfortably at speeds that are illegal in Britain but normal and to be honest, enjoyable, here on the Continent. We travelled through the German countryside and past cities and towns moving through hills and plains, crossing valleys and gradually from Frankfurt climbing into Bavaria and onto our destination in Frankovia.

Arriving in the late afternoon it was good to see Andy Lang. I had first met him at the International Christian Dance Fellowship conference in St Andrews University in Scotland two years ago. We got on very well and when he visited Northumbria last year we went for a walk together in the hills around Wooler. Andy invited me to speak that evening at a ‘Barn Gathering’ at their home in Gefrees. He is a Lutheran pastor and a Celtic harpist. He with others, is seeking to revive the salon culture in Germany, where people would gather in their sitting rooms / salons and in Andy's case, their barn, to discuss and debate issues of life and faith affecting society. The conversion of the barn into an amazing environment and venue is a powerful icon of what church and community should and could be. A warm, welcoming, creative space of hospitality, worship, music, drink, food and conversation. It was an environment filled with imaginative, artistic flair but in essence very simple. Why can't the church replicate this model and create sacred, human space that provides a great context for people to encounter God and one another? Jean looked after Andy and Corinne’s children which enabled them both to come to the evening. Andy served as host and translator. I gave a talk on the wisdom of Celtic spirituality for a changing European culture and after a good break and some excellent Frankovian beer the evening resumed with a question and answer session, with plenty of good debate and discussion. Whilst it was not our purpose to promote or advertise the Community, Ken and I, almost inevitably fielded a while series of questions focused on Northumbria, the Community and how people could connect further. Several of those who we met at the gathering shared how the language and story of the Community and the spirituality that I had advocated gave him a sense of homecoming. If I had a pound or a Euro for every time someone has shared that I would be a rich man! Another lady was moved to tears because it had both inspired her and brought hope to her heart.

God is good. I never take for granted nor underestimate the privilege and honour of serving Christ and being an ambassador of the Community. It is my prayer that I, with other wanderers might be torchbearers, carrying the light of Christ for the kingdom of God wherever the Lord leads.

It feels good to be here in Germany, although I wish Shirley was with me. I sense a significance in the connections being made here and also with Reiner and Ilona. This amazing location here in Gefrees, which is part of one of the many pilgrimage routes to Santiago to Compostelo feels very much like an ancient path, a sacred place.

The gathering finished formally at 10:30 but it was just before midnight that we retired for a bedtime drink. Not whisky but hot water! Ken and Andy have given up alcohol for Lent and it seemed churlish of me to not join them. I climbed into bed just before one o'clock, tired but relaxed and thankful to God for his protection, provision and leading throughout the course of the day and evening. It was good not to be up at the crack of dawn the following day but to enjoy a leisurely breakfast together of cold meats, cheeses, good bread and fine honey.

That night we went out to an evening dinner concert at which Andy was playing. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. We talked, caught up on emails, went for a walk, did some preparatory reading for Prague and reflected on the experience of the last few days. It all feels significant.