As many of you know, I was fortunate in March to have been able to trek to the top of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The summit is at a height of 5,895 metres (19,341 ft) above sea level and Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. It is interesting in having five different climate zones: an agricultural zone, through which we drove, before setting off at 2,100m through rainforest; then moorland, then alpine desert and finally the ‘Arctic’ zone, with its rock, scree, snow and ice.
We trekked for 6 ½ days up, taking the longer Lemosho route in from the west to give ourselves more time to acclimatise, as well as see more scenery, and 1 ½ days down via the shorter Mweka route to the south to 1,800m. The summit ascent day was quite a gruelling one, setting off from a camp at 4,600m at 11.30 p.m., ascending by the light of our headtorches through the night until dawn and finally reaching Uhuru peak at 10.20 a.m. Then the long descent to the camp at 4,600m where we had a 1 hour kip and a meal, before descending to a lower camp at 3,900m, the last hour and a half again in darkness. But we had made it!
As I write this, I have just been celebrating another ascent, Jesus’s ascension, 40 days on from his resurrection on that first Easter Sunday, with an encouraging Ascension Day service at Crowfield. And by the time you read this, Pentecost will also have been celebrated, marking the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, 50 days on from Jesus’s resurrection. Following which, we are, in the church’s calendar, into ‘ordinary time’.
In June, people celebrated in the church’s calendar include the hymnwriter Thomas Ken (on 8th), St Columba of Iona (on 9th), St Barnabas, Paul’s companion on some of his missionary travels (on 11th), Richard of Chichester (on 16th), St Alban, the first martyr of Britain (on 22nd) and St Peter and St Paul (on 29th).
Thomas Ken is famous for his great doxology:
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him, all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, Angelic host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
St Columba wrote the prayer:
My dearest Lord,
be thou a bright flame before me,
be thou a guiding star above me,
be thou a smooth path beneath me,
be thou a kindly shepherd behind me,
today and for evermore.
And Richard of Chichester wrote the prayer:
Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits thou hast given me,
for all the pains and insults thou hast born for me.
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,
may I know thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
follow thee more nearly,
day by day.
I hope you will find these all helpful to recall and recite.
Henry Stanford
Reader