Towards the start of the ancient path: End Days - 21-25

Days 21-25: End Days

In these days approaching the start of the ancient path and therefore the end of the beginning, I am struck by two things - how love leads us on and the question of boundaries.

It is love that leads me through this land and helps me to know it. Understanding how loving helps us to know has been a continuing quest of mine for some time. When we love someone or something, we want to know them more deeply and as I write these words, I find myself humbled by how God has shown us what it is to know this land. I want to know it better.

Paul said ‘love builds up’ (1 Cor 1) and knowing people and land, through and by love, is a fruit of the Spirit brought to bloom through perseverance. Loving generously and without limit brings us to full bloom. It builds up both us and the loved one. This is how God loves us and how he will know us - if we let him. If this love is not to be awakened until it so desires (S of S 2.7), then we must desire it to be awakened. Others, and the land, can know us because we love them; through loving, we can be known and to quote Norman McLean, ‘we can still love completely.’

Shifting into a new season, I was also reflecting on how boundaries are marked which led me to wonder if the ones we recognise are set by God. Are his boundaries, on and off the land, the same as ours and if not, how do we align ourselves with those that are his? To quote a prophetic voice, are the boundaries there because they are important or is the area important and thus it became a boundary? Did God create them to be liminal places where the boundary between the material and spiritual is thin?

In prehistoric times, the land around Bradwell was not bordered by sea but by low lying marshland, crossable in a wooden canoe. For generations, this land was tundra or polar desert but in later times, it softened as the ice receded, becoming marshy. Streams that began at Bradwell ended in Holland or fed into the Rhine which met the Thames where the North Sea is now. Awesome! Then the ice receded fully, melting, and the North Sea as we know it today was created with the water lapping at a high point – on our side, the edges of the Dengie Peninsular.

Now, the land around Bradwell is geographically bounded by sea and drained marsh, used for farming. St Peter’s chapel, out on the edge of the peninsular, is created from stones cut by Romans for their fort. Did Cedd sense that God had moved the boundary line and plant his monastery in that liminal place? Confluences and sacred landscape like this can create sacred portals.

Cedd’s Holy Spirit DNA was drawn from a Celtic understanding of God – although a bishop, he was also an abbot and one of the peregrinati – ones characterised by their compulsion to wander and share King Jesus wherever and whenever they went, to see the power of God manifested through miracles and compassion and justice released among the poor. They crossed wild boundaries to fulfil this vision. We thought to tread in their footsteps and to call for their anointing.

Their symbol for the Holy Spirit was that of the wild goose, so valid for the wild forest and marshes of the East Saxons. One of our walkers, Avril, wrote this poem for us:

Follow the honk of the wild goose
Follow the wild goose song
Carried by the wind of the Spirit
To places as yet unsung.
Listen to the beat of his wings
Distant and hushed though they be,
Follow his call to the marshes
That meet with the land and the sea.
Feed on him there in your spirit
Strong in the grace he supplies -
He will sustain and refresh you
At the pulsing of every tide.
Rested, refreshed, he’ll call you
Burning, to walk at his side,
He’ll make you a witness of glory
In his season and the turn of his tide.
Then, rise with a whisper and fly with his Spirit
Over the ancient way,
To the edge of the world with Jesus
Where he’s called you to watch and to pray.
Fly to the edge with his Spirit
Follow the beckoning call
There you will find your Saviour and Master
Your fullness – your all in all.

Walking the slender sea wall path towards St Peter’s the other day, we were aware of an increasing ‘thickening’ of the spiritual atmosphere, almost implying an opposing force. C S Lewis has described it thus:

It was such hard work that I felt as if I were walking against a headwind…a sort of invisible wall of resistance that met me in the face, (we were) fighting for each step...(Perelandra pp7-9)

At several points, this increase in density was tangible especially as Linda and I surfed three foot high grass screening baby adders for more than a mile. With the boundary approaching, humility was our watchword – and our mouths spoke ‘Glory!’ and ‘Hallelujah!’ with each step – believe me, it was the only way through!

Arriving around 4pm at Dots and Melons farm, we were exhausted with both the spiritual and material battle - and were surprised, delighted and relieved when Gerry told us the farm belonged to the family of a close friend from Romford. We'd prayed that morning that God would orchestrate any connections he wanted us to make - and should not have been surprised at his grace and strategy. Thanks for the great cups of tea, Malc!

Next morning we prayed for Malc and the land before we left, anointing him with oil - he has sown in prayer for years, calling for the Lord to come in power on the whole area. Gerry and I were walking and Linda was resting, after the battle the day before. Walking the sea wall together was such fun and finding our way along the tiny path a challenge - again, we met several baby adders and a really large one! He responded to probing with my stick by slithering harmlessly away into the long grass... After hours of enforced isolation with just grass, sea and sky, we reached St Peter’s church and Linda came with a hug and a smile to welcome us. We hallooed and praised and blew her shofar...

We imagined the many people who had visited in the past, drawing on its peace and beauty. In his day, Cedd recognised it as a thin place and today, it still draws those who have little other spiritual resource. Believing our mandate is to sow rather than reap, we came with hearts prepared to give in prayer - all we really have. As Linda’s magnificent shofar rang out over the marshland, the wind whipped our small Jesus flag into rejoicing at our arrival.

There is a phrase used today by Christian walkers that talks of ‘rolling up the ancient roads’ - we had rolled up the ancient paths of South Essex like a robe, presenting them back to the Lord as a gift for him to renew and shape afresh. In so doing, we frequently asked him to re-open Essex’s spiritual wells.

Part of our gift to the Lord involved repentance for some of the sins we knew had been committed in Essex – idolatry, especially of Seaxnot (whose symbol is the unredeemed Essex seax); bloodshed among the tribes of Celts, Saxons, Vikings and later Romans; broken covenants between tribes in the region and the immorality of power through kings and their servants like Richard Rich.

Talking with local people had made us aware how blocked up spiritual wells can become. For this reason, our team prayed first over these four core sins between the porch and altar of this ancient place of worship and then broke bread, using Celtic liturgy, with friends, Tim and Vera.

One spiritual well, the Peculiar People, were part of the people of Essex – there are some in our own community who, when young, frequently saw healing miracles. These believers were dotted around Essex in large numbers – from Barking in the west to Tillingham in the east - a deposit of the Lord into this part of our nation. One of their chapels remains in Tillingham village. Where Cedd had sowed, they harvested healings and deliverance and we need to see that inheritance re-embraced.

Cedd unrolled ancient paths to carry the news of King Jesus and his resurrection, our guarantee of future liberation from death of all creation. With miracles and power, Cedd declared that a new kingdom had come and that new kingdom exists still - but has been annulled in so many ways. We puzzled over the significance of our walk’s part in re-energising that kingdom’s existence, strengthening it towards becoming a reality that releases justice and peace. Remembering the dream of a ship and the impact of a single tugboat encourages us to continue – we made a start past St Peter’s towards Bradwell power station and finally, into the tiny port of Bradwell Waterside, from where we start again in October.