good friday

I’ve just been to a thought-provoking and stimulating three hour “preaching of the cross/Good Friday liturgy” service at St Mary Redcliffe. Last Tuesday, I sat in the church’s Lady Chapel for twenty minutes or so reflecting on my own spiritual journey into Holy Week (I’ve been reading Tom Wright’s “Lent for Everyone: Matthew” during Lent). The stained glass east window is absolutely stunning and provided a fitting backdrop to my contemplations. Our weekly “Ithaca” group has also been studying great friend Ian Adam’s excellent book “Cave, Refectory, Road” during Lent. This week, the chapter we were reading (“the way of rootedness – learning from the vow of stability”) talked about becoming “willing to be shaped by our setting, to root ourselves somewhere specific, to engage with a small piece of the world”. Well, I’ve been reflecting on this since Tuesday and think I might have discovered a couple of potential “rooted” places for me (Ian might not agree with having more than one such place, but I could envisage me ending up with three or four!!). I found the Lady Chapel very conducive to quiet reflection and my other “thinking” place could well be No.1 Harbourside (café/bar overlooking the harbour) – I drop in there quite regularly and think that it’ll become a regular source of “refreshment” as I enter retirement.

Photo: Easter detail from the east window at St Mary Redcliffe church.