Thursday, January 04, 2007

spiritual journey


One of the things we miss about moving from Oxfordshire is the wonderful mayBe community of friends. Not only did it provide a weekly get-together around a midweek meal (and wine!), but it also provided us with a particular kind of food for our spiritual lives. Our local church community in Bristol (at St Aldhelm’s) is wonderfully welcoming and we certainly feel we belong there; we’ve also been very fortunate to have the weekly house group, but we’ve become increasingly aware of how much we miss what mayBe had to offer. We spoke to Ian about this when we were in Oxford just before Christmas and he asked us why we didn’t “make it happen” ourselves… we’re still pondering this!
For me, like many, the New Year has often been a time for reflection and I sense that 2007 will make for further interesting times as we continue on our spiritual journeys. Some things have already been added to the “will-do” list: a) booked a week at Old Walls, near Kingsbridge, Devon in February for part-retreat/part-holiday and b) booked a week with Iona Community on the island at the end of August.
It’ll be interesting looking back at the end of the year!
Photo: beach at Berrow (from our walk on New Year’s Day)

7 comments:

Pete Gilbert said...
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Pete Gilbert said...

I can relate to that. Kingsbridge is my spiritual home. I feel more relaxed and peaceful there than anywhere else.

bigdaddystevieB said...

Pete: Don't know if you still have any kind of base there but, if you don't and feel the need to get back for a few days, Old Walls in Aveton Gifford (3 miles from Kingsbridge) is owned by great friends Gail+Ian and available for rent. Can highly recommend it!

Ellen Loudon said...

Steve...do you have any connection/contact with Foundation? I notice you have a link to the website on your blog? If you haven't then please do come along!

bigdaddystevieB said...

Ellen: yes (vaguely) - I've attended one of the quarterly services (last September??)(Moira's attended 2 or 3, I think). Also, when we first moved to Bristol (2003), we briefly rented a house near the cricket ground and met Paul when we attended Cotham Church a couple of times. Have received various e-mails from Tim Summers (who wanted to know more about "mayBe" I think?) and subsequently learnt about Foundation and blog links with people like you! Certainly intend to get to next quarterly service. Thanks.

Ellen Loudon said...

ace...hope to see you soon!

Ian Adams said...

sound like an interesting conversation opening up Steve - heh and thanks for the Old Walls mention ianx