Synod Pilgrimage - Friday (II)

This will be a disjointed blog because  I was unable to walk the whole day because of suffering mild sunstroke brought on by the hot sun yesterday.

Today we were joined by Rosy wife of Dougie who designed the peace garden at Crookham. Rosy was a lively addition to our pilgrimage telling us about her textile business and her life in Galashiels.

I only walked one of the three sections of the walk but once again I must point out the gentle beauty of the borders and contrast it with the bloody carnage of 10,000 dead at Flodden Field which we reached in the afternoon. We were given a lecture about the actual battle and the weapons used. Luck seems to have played a large part in the english victory. If the land had not been boggy, if the scots had used different weapons it could have turned out differently. History is full of ifs.

We ended our day at the Peace Garden at Crookham which is beautifully designed to illustrate conflict, war, its aftermath and peace. Dougie James explained that he felt war was a choice one makes and there is always the choice not to fight. That may be so but it may nevertheless be an extremely hard choice and can lead to  death and the death of those you love. Some people die rather than take up arms such as those who followed Gandhi but its a rare choice.

Conflict is a part of the human existence and its our duty and ambition as christians to rise above the dog eat dog mentality, to try to love our enemy and to live in peace with our neighbours thereby bringing Gods kingdom on earth. I am fully aware that I will fail in this aim because its a high ambition and I am a sinner but it should always be the Christian's aspiration both in his or her relations with family (who are often the hardest people to love!) and the outside world.

Caroline Byles

Synod Pilgrimage - Friday

Well, the Pilgrimage is over.  Five o’clock, and we were gathering outside the URC at Crookham, ready to meet up with Dougie James who designed both the Selkirk and Crookham Peace Gardens.

It was a slower start than recent days, with a coffee stop before we even started. Norma drove us to Cornhill where yesterday’s stretch had ended, and once fortified we were back on the disused railway track heading south. The day was turning extremely hot, and the sight of Linda’s car (rather  than Norma’s bus today) carrying our packed lunches was extremely welcome.

at Flodden Field

 

Another hour’s walking and the Flodden Cross into view – and soon we were greeted in the car park by Clive Hallam Baker who led us up to the viewpoint across the Battle Field, and talked us through all the events of the fateful day in 1513 when not just James IV of Scotland, but literally thousands of soldiers from both armies, lost their lives.  

Chastened from this vivid telling of the story, we made our way down the hill through the battle field and on towards Crookham. Soon we were being led around the garden by Dougie, who helped us understand the journey through conflict to reconciliation which the design and planting of this magnificent garden.

at Peace Garden

Then we made our way to the village hall as his guests, where he served us a splendid meal, and then led a few moments’ discussion and reflection as we tried to share something of what this week’s pilgrimage had meant to us. By walking here from Selkirk we had walked in the footsteps of men going to battle, and the challenges of what peace and reconciliation might mean to us 500 years later had been on our minds all the way.

Rowena raised the matter of boundaries: the Scottish-English border had sometimes been the focus of our jokes, but there is something serious about the divisions that are universally recognised but which keep people unreconciled. Graham recollected one of Rowena’s stories, about the snowflake that finally broke the branch of the tree: how significant our own seemingly insignificant contribution to peace may be!

Charles had earlier in the day asked the most challenging question of Clive, while at the Flodden Cross: if James knew that the English had four armies while he had only one, why on earth did he choose to go to battle. Reflecting on his earlier question, Charles reminded us now that people who start wars aren’t really clever.

This and more to reflect on as the days after the pilgrimage go by…..

Tomorrow, most of us will be taking part in the Ecumenical Pilgrimage on Holy Island. Our thoughts move from Flodden back to the Lindisfarne Gospels. But as pilgrims, wherever our way may be leading us, we know that the same Lord accompanies us still on the journey.

 

John Durell

Synod Pilgrimage - Thursday

We started our day with haggis for breakfast. A Scottish idea which is a jolly good one. Then prayers and the theme for considering  today was "Borders" because we were starting our pilgrimage walk from Kelso in Scotland and finishing at Cornhill on Tweed in England. What do borders mean in the context of peace and to the Christian.

We walked through Kelso which gets my vote for one of the most pretty towns in Scotland stopping at the ruined abbey which must have been magnificent in its heyday. It was destroyed by the English in the time of Henry viii and the monastery disestablished later as part of the Scottish reformation.

We then left Kelso and headed for our destination following the south bank of the Tweed. Lunch was spent at Sprouston where Mary read us the charming story of the Reverend Frazer and his wife winning a Daily Mail nationwide competition for the best bunch of sweet peas in the British Isles ( note British Isles and not United Kingdom ).

After this I am sorry to report that the walking got very hard indeed. I was put in mind of T S Eliot's poem about the Magi :

"A cold coming we had of it, just the worst time of year
For a journey, and such a long journey"

The reference to the cold coming aside the words by Eliot accurately express the atmosphere among my fellow pilgrims in the afternoon. The sun burned down relentlessly. There was little shade and almost no breeze. It was tough and even Graham who is very fit and keen on sport looked tired at the end of the day.

I had to ask a local man for directions to the tea shop in Cornhill and he replied in an accent identical to that used in Kelso. Yet each village is in a different country. So as regards language at least there are no borders between Kelso and Cornhill. But there is a border between Scotland and England and there are differences between the two countries which will be tested by a vote on independence for Scotland in the near future. Borders separate humans but in Christ there are no borders. Christ is here for everyone. In the words of the hymn:

" In Christ there is no east or west,
In him no north or south,
But one great fellowship of love
Throughout the whole wide earth..."

Caroline Byles

Synod Pilgrimage - Wednesday

John and I drove up from Suffolk yesterday to join the pilgrimage today. It was a joy to meet old friends from the pilgrimage last year at breakfast. The accommodation at the Jean Muir centre is very swish compared to that last year. Rowena lead  us in a service after breakfast and asked us to consider reconciliation today. 

Walking in to Kelso

Since the last pilgrimage I have acquired two new young dogs and consequently am walking much more than I was a year ago but thirteen miles was nevertheless arduous. We started out from Dryburgh and ended our walk in Kelso. The beauty of the river Tweed and the borders with its sloping fields of bleached corn, its wild flowers and birdsong was a glory to the eye and peace for the soul. Motorists rush through this area on their way to Edinburgh, Glasgow and the highlands. More discerning ones stop perhaps in one of the towns like Coldstream for a coffee but the area can only be properly appreciated on foot following the river as we did today. It was a day of pleasure catching up with fellow pilgrims' news and of pain feeling sore and swollen feet towards the end of the walk! 

Reconciliation is a hard subject when one feels another has blighted ones life in someway. Or when one feels God has dealt one a very unfair hand. It gives rise to anger fury and fear - all negative black emotions. These feelings estrange us from God and the only way to surmount them is through following Jesus' teachings and strenuous prayer. A woman I knew hated her father who had blighted life at home with his adultery his bad tempers and violence. Finally she made the decision not to see him and did not see him for eight years. For her it was putting the lid on a can and she hoped thereby to rid herself of a situation which was causing her terrible anger pain and grief. But it didn't work because all the dark emotions remained and would surface from time to time worse than before when she did see her father. She became a Christian and went to a retreat in France for a week. While there, away from all the pressures and rushing around of her normal life she began to think seriously about making a peace with her father. She started by praying the Lord's Prayer and when she came to the words "forgive them that trespass against us  " she would say I forgive you in her mind to her father. She told me that the words came from her mouth but slowly ( it was not a quick process ) they came from her heart. She still remembered incidents from her childhood with sadness but without the anger and much of the pain evaporated. She met up with her father who by now was an old man who had had many serious strokes. They were reconciled before he died. She had moved from darkness to the light of Christ and by following Christ's teachings of forgiving those that sin against us and in being reconciled to her father she became closer to God and found a real peace. To achieve it we have to set aside "self" and our own importance and trust in Jesus.

Caroline Byles

Pilgrimage Lines

We set out on Day One
walking sometimes briskly,
in the face of the sun;
eight miles from Selkirk to Abbotsford.
Circling round the Eildon Hills,
nine pilgrims seeking peace.

We meandered on Day Two,
as the sun shone fiercer still,
hearing more tales of Border History:
eight miles from Galashiels to Dryburgh,
skirting the glistening River Tweed,
nine pilgrims, walking for justice.

Maggie Davison

Synod Pilgrimage - Tuesday

Tuesday started with a good hearty breakfast at 8.00 p.m. which everyone enjoyed. We then met for worship at 9.00 a.m. in the second floor lounge.

Rowena started our worship by posing the question, we are on a pilgrimage of peace, but can there be peace without justice. We then joined together in the Gathering Words, these were taken from the Iona worship book.

Rowena then led us in prayer, where we were asked to pray using our hands  to convey the meaning of the contents of the prayer.

Graeme then read from Isaiah 42 verses 5-7. Rowena then spoke about a book she had read by the author Alan Bozak and his experiences in South Africa. Alan seemed to say that he raged about injustice and while I think we can all rage at things we read and hear about where injustice occur s, as a Christian I have found very little in scriptures that shows us that rage is the way to seek justice and peace.

We had all received a candle at our worship at Selkirk URC on Monday and were to carry it with us during our pilgrimage, Rowena passed here candle around and asked that we pray for a matter that was of concern to us relating to justice, we were asked to share our prayer verbally or silently. We then joined in the Lords Prayer and then Rowena concluded worship.

Melrose and Rhymer's Stone

Our pilgrimage commenced at 9.30 p.m. our first destination being Melrose. We left the campus  and made our way through the lower part of the town and made our way down to the river Tweed and commenced along the riverside route to Melrose, at one point veering away from the riverside and taking the woodland track. On our way we passed Lowood bridge and the chain bridge. The river flows very peacefully and it is sometimes difficult to place the scenery and tranquillity in a world where there is so much strife and unrest. We arrived at Melrose and decide that we deserves a coffee and a cake at on e of the local tea shops.

Chain Bridge, Dryburgh

From Melrose our journey was to take us eventually to Dryburgh Abbey. On setting out we passed the ruins of Melrose Abbey and Mary and Henry gave us a short potted history of the origins and facts about the Abbey. We then continued our journey to meet with Norma our mini bus driver at Eildon who had our packed lunches with her. On the way we passed Rhymer’s Stone and Mary told us the legend of Thomas Rymer who was taken by the fairy queen for seven and when released had the gift of truth so ever after he could never tell a lie.
We met with Norma and had our lunch sheltering in the shade of a farmers field.  Following a leisurely lunch we set out for Dryburgh via St Boswell where ice creams where purchased and Mary told us of the works of Grisell Baillie.

We then progressed to Dryburgh Abbey our route taking us through some scenic woodland. We arrived at Dryburgh Abbey via the suspension bridge and the Temple of the Muses. The Abbey is now a ruin and according to the placards at the Abbey it was reportedly destroyed by the English forces of  Edward Seymour, 2^nd Earl of Hertford in 1544.  

The Abbey although once a magnificent buiding is now ruin and one must wonder if we can ever have a world where peace and justice prevail as history would not seem to show that we have made

much progress in either matter.

We then returned to the campus to rest and refresh ourselves for our evening meal in Galashiels.

Danny Pigeon

Synod Pilgrimage - Monday

We numbered nine pilgrims walking from Selkirk to Galashiels, in the first day of our journey to mark Flodden 500. The weather was unusually hot and we were graced with the excellent hospitality of the ladies of Selkirk URC who provided tea and coffee to accompany our packed lunches. A short service led by our Moderator Rowena Francis followed and we were each given a candle to remind us of the peace and reconciliation theme of the Northern Synod Pilgrimage 2013. The tenth member of our team was Norma our minibus driver - a welcome sight at the end of the first eight miles



Selkirk Peace Garden

A visit to the Selkirk Peace Garden was a tranquil moment before starting the climb out of the town. Soon, we were among hills, sheep, horses and a buzzard or two, identified by our physical walk leader Henry Gowland. We mused over the miles and miles of our country where there are no people at all, just creatures of the four-legged variety and an abundance of insects enjoying the blistering sunshine more than us at times!

We had various stops along the way when our second spiritual leader Mary regaled us with snippets of history even pre-dating the 1513 Battle of Flodden. Our backgrounds may have been quite different, but we fell into the easy conversation of friends sharing a common purpose.

Our route followed the Borders Abbeys Way, passing Lindean and Cauldshiels Lochs towards Abbotsford House once home of Sir Walter Scott, while the Eildon Hills were never far from view. We felt our spiritual journey had started in a very special place

Olive Ford and Maggie Davison