Life has been busy for the last few weeks, hence yet another apology for a long gap in posting. And now there is a little time, I’m going to start backwards, as it were. The last thing to have happened was the ‘Walk into Lent’, but I wanted to write about that first, as it gives me an opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported this idea in prayer, with financial support and also with waffles and jam.
The ‘Walk into Lent’ was aimed at raising a bit of money for LCiGB, but also to raise consciousness of our own Lenten pilgrimages. The Evangelical Lutheran Worship Order of Service for Ash Wednesday invites us into Lent with these words:
“Friends in Christ, today with the whole church we enter the time of remembering Jesus’ Passover from death to life, and our life in Christ is renewed.
We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and for God’s mercy. We are created to experience joy in communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation. But our sinful rebellion separates us from God, our neighbours, and creation, so that we do not enjoy the life our creator intended.
As disciples of Jesus, we are called to a discipline that contends against evil and resists whatever leads us away from love of God and neighbour. I invite you, therefore, to the discipline of Lent–self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love–strengthened by the gifts of word and sacrament. Let us continue our journey through these forty days to the great Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection.”
The journey through Lent each year encourages us to look deeply inside ourselves, which is often not a comfortable experience. But this self-examination is really a reality check, which leads us in turn to return to God, shaken and penitent. So the journey never leaves us unchanged, thank God.
On Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday in the English tradition, Mardi Gras in other places) I set out from home at about 2pm
The first signs of spring at Enfield Chase station
and arrived at the Norwegian Church in Rotherhithe about an hour later. Torbjorn, Britt, Agnes and Liz welcomed me, and produced a plate of traditional waffles.
Strengthened physically and spiritually, I set out along the Thames Walk – and as the day was absolutely perfect, the walk was an unalloyed joy. The sky was an unbroken blue, the temperature in the low teens, and everyone I met seemed suddenly to be smiling. The south side of the Thames was a complete revelation, too – quiet streets, little snickets between houses, and stunning views.
View from Bermondsey westwards to the City of London
St Saviour's in a quiet back street in Bermondsey
And then the way led across Tower Bridge, and onwards to St George’s Lutheran Church in Alie Street, Whitechapel. This was used until very recently by a German congregation, now joined together with St Mary’s in Kings Cross, but the building now is the HQ for the Historic Chapels’ Trust. It is a beautiful old place – but the layout, with high box pews in the body of the church, makes it difficult for modern congregations to use.
St George's
The altar, with pulpit and 10 Commandments above it (in German)
Onwards to St Anne’s in the City, where I found Brian Fisher and Paedar Keighley setting up the church for Ash Wednesday. A welcome drink of water, a short prayer, and another photo op!
With Brian in front of the Lent altar
And on again, with the sun setting, through Smithfield and Farringdon, past Mount Pleasant Sorting Office and on to the International Lutheran Student Centre in Kings Cross. As the walk didn’t take quite as long as I thought, despite a couple of detours on the way, the pancake evening I’d been rather looking forward to with the Chaplain at the ILSC, Tuulia Matikainen-Castledine, and people from St Anne’s with Pastor Dearhamer, was an hour away; so as my legs began to get stiff as soon as I stopped walking, I stopped off briefly with Pastor Eliza Zikmane of the Latvian Congregation for a cup of coffee and set off back to Enfield.
Miles walked: about 6.5 with the detours
Blisters on feet: only 1!
Funds raised: about £2000, including Gift Aid and donations by post.
If you would like to donate something towards LCiGB, please click here to go to a Justgiving page.And for those of you who have supported this walk, thank you, and may God bless your Lenten journey.
A last photo: the baroque beauty of Grand Avenue in Smithfield – surely the most ornate meat market in the world.
