Day one of our Memorial Walk, 22km whizzed by, with thoughts about all those who have died of Covid, and Thanksgiving for the brilliant folk who have cared for loved ones and strangers.

Sandra and I will crack on tomorrow. 

In the meantime, I was chatting the other day to my brother the Archbishop of York. The Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell.
Well he is not really my brother, but he is in clergy terms, and when I say chatting, he was addressing Synod via Zoom, and I was sitting Virtually at his feet.
But I think he is my brother. He started off talking about his love of walking, and his Camino experience. Like me.
He had planned to walk the Portuguese Camino last year, but it was cancelled. Like Me.
He used words like Beautiful and Wonderful and Attractive as he spoke about Jesus. Just like me!

He was very wise and poetic – so that is where the similarities end. 
I loved listening to him, he was truly inspiring, and it made my heart sing as I picked up his sense of hope.

He spoke about the same thing I did during my video last week, about the message of the Gospel being totally inclusive, and encouraged us to see a wall, and knock it down, or see a boundary and cross it.

The main thrust of his message was about how we evangelise during a pandemic, and he spoke about how the beauty, goodness and light of Jesus can be reflected in us, and when it is we become attractive.

Of course much evangelism is about conversation, and much of that conversation is about listening. Perhaps the idea is somehow to enable others to dip their toe into the water of faith, or to explore the territory of belief.

The Archbishop spoke very enthusiastically about how we can learn to be creative with our use of the digital media as we embrace Zoom and Youtube and our online worship, and it was so encouraging for us to feel that we are certainly on the right track with all of this.

I was having such a great time, I don’t know how it could have got any better. But our Afternoon speaker, the Very Revd Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans, spoke, and he too mentioned conversation. And he said ‘A proper conversation is one during which no one is trying to win’!

How brilliant is that. It completely tied together the whole message of not just our Synod, but the whole concept of Faith sharing and evangelism. 
This is how it makes sense to me. We walk alongside folk, whoever they are, wherever they are going, and we get to know them and learn to love them, and let the Beauty and Light and Goodness of Jesus be reflected in us. And then those folk may want to walk alongside us, and dip their toe in the waters of faith.

There was so much more, but that is for another time.

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you,

Buen Camino,

Marcus
The Earth is charged with the Glory of God,
and then I blinked and missed it.

And in that split second I lost sight of the Joy that surrounds me.
I missed the awesome wonder and beauty of creation
and focussed instead on what I can’t do.

No bars. No Restaurants. No social gatherings.
No hugs. No singing, no dancing, no gigs, no festivals.

No flights home, and no time with my family. I miss them dreadfully.

I, Me, Me, Mine.

What about my feelings. What about my plans. What about what I really really want to do.
Come on God. I am sure my wants and desires fit with your great plan.

It was a long blink.

And then I went for a walk, up the great hills behind our house. And I sat and watched the sunset, and I knew that the sun had gone down where my family live. I wonder if it was as beautiful there.

And I had a conversation with God. A good one, where no one tries to win.

He asked after my loved ones, and I said they were fine. In fact that were beautiful, and they tell me they love me.
Then he asked how my tummy was. Was I hungry?
Of course I wasn’t. It was evening, and I had my tea earlier, and it was delicious.

He checked on my house, and my friends and my health and the people I live amongst.

He asked about my life, and my travels and my faith and whether I ever felt alone.

I replied that I was lucky, and that all was good, but sometimes I felt separate from the ones I love.

So he simply said – ‘Well who are you chatting to now? And you are not lucky, you are blessed.

I blinked again, and this time I lost sight of that self imposed misery. I knew in my heart that God always walks alongside us, and that the earth is indeed charged with the glory of God.