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| A possibly wild primrose amongst the snowdrops below Ripon Cathedral |
Background note: Settle is in the newly formed Anglican Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales, which is divided into five areas. Settle is in the Ripon Area -- map. Ripon Benthis 45 miles from Settle (38 miles the hilly route). Last week the Ripon Area put the Churches Together in Bentham Climate Change Lent Lunches on the front part of their website, and it also announced the important speakers at St Oswalds, Thornton in Lonsdale during Sundays of Lent at 9.30am.
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| Bishop John Inge |
On the evening 26 Feb I was at Ripon and I went to the first of the St Wilfred's Lectures at Ripon Cathedral in the series "Rural Life and Living: Challenges and Opportunities" It was given by Bishop John Inge of Worcester and his talk was entitled "The Rural Church in Place". He has written a book called "A Christian Theology of Place".
My idea of "a sense of place" is..
"What rocks is the church built of?
What flowers/lichens grow in the churchyard?. (or in the cracks in the pavement if there is no churchyard)".
"What are the buildings/houses/people/dialect like surrounding the church and are there green hills in the background or skyscrapers?"
Well it wasn't about that.. But it was about many other topics including about people's uprootedness because they keep moving; And that we ought to use our churches for many things. I will list a few good quotes lower down. You can read the short official report hereIn question time, Rev Ian Greenhalgh, vicar at Austwick and Claham, and Area Dean for the Bowland and Ewcross Deaneries, said how his four churches were kept open during the daytime. And how people enjoyed visiting the churches and the cemeteries.
My hand shot up.
And as the chairman had simultaneously been asking if there were any women who would like to ask questions, he gave me the chance to speak, and the microphone was fetched.
"If you come to Horton in Ribblesdale Church on the last Saturday of March I am running a lichens workshop there." I said breathlessly. (O why do I talk so fast!) And I brought out and held up my laminated lichens guide to Horton Churchyard... "And I'm doing a similar workshop on 20th June in Ingleton Churchyard - They have a beautiful book about the wildlfowers of Ingleton churchyard. And I've led a session on mosses at Giggleswick" Come out to our churchyards in the west of the diocese ans see our mosses and lichens."Well people got the gist ..
And now I shall have to make sure there are some spare guides in Horton Church.
We sang Happy Birthday to the bishop, as his birthday was quite close and then ate his birthday cake with cups of tea afterwards. I gave him copies of the Biodiversity / Saving Wildlife/ Rainforest Leaflet. I also asked the Dean if I could put up a few on the table beside the notice board, and he said "Yes"
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Some notes made during the talk:
Scriptures take place seriously. "In my father's house there are many
mansions.. I am going to prepare a place for you"
Churches stand as a witness and can help those who are rootless to
find their place.
Someone made a quote - we can look at a glass or we can see through
it to the world beyond. Similarly we can look at churches or see through them to
"heaven" beyond.
Churches are expensive to keep - We get less money form the government than any other western country to look after our churches. There are 16,000 Anglican Churches in Britain and 12,000 are listed buildings. 45% of all listed buildings are places of worship. 925 million pounds are needed for their upkeep over the next 5 years.
Just as Christ's commandments to people are: Love God and Love your neighbour,
so this should be applied to churches. Many churches are very good at the first, and organise
services, and make the place pious, but not always very good at the second.
The churches should see how they could serve the community more. The bishop quoted one church that has a village shop, several that have food banks. Stannington near Morpeth has an IT centre. There has been a suggestion that churches should supply WIFI. We should think more about adaptation than preservation.
In many villages the church is the only community facility.
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"Should we be thinking of sharing churches?" Asked Chairman of the York and Hull Methodist District, Stephen Burgess.
Revd Graham Carter gave the vote of thanks. He is former Chair of the Darlington District and was President of Methodist Conference in 2006. He wondered if we did sometimes fail to show people the glory beyond the church.. He said we should open our churches more to the community and let them come and treat it as their own.
When the Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd John Dobson, was introducing Bishop John at the beginning, he showed us the newly published "Growing God's Kingdom - a First Response to the Cathedral Consultation"
I liked the aspirations in the "Engaging with the issues and needs of the world."section:
Developing and implementing a strategy for social
justice
Reducing the impact our work has on God’s earth by
reducing our carbon footprint.
To be known as a Cathedral that can
speak with integrity on rural issues
In the "Promoting our Spiritual and Built Heritage" section there is an aspiration: Developing the Cathedral as a Centre for Pilgrimage. I wonder if more interst could be given the wildlife around the Cathedral. As people have to come to the Cathedral from 60 miles, and more, away in the Diocese Area, getting to the cathedral is a pilgrimage in itself. map. Perhaps more could be made of the wonderful walk in Ripon all along the River Skell. And Hurray for the Pilgrimage on Boxing Day to Fountains Abbey
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| Not so native Cyclamen - but very pretty. I wonder if they come from Greece or maybe Turkey.. |
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| Children feeding t'ducks beside the River Skell below the Cathedral |
