Continuing with the theme of journeying and pilgrimages, last month we had a very important visitor to the Diocese – the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell – who was here to talk about Pilgrim Places in the North. Along with many others I went to an afternoon meeting with him at St Andrew’s Church in Tarvin, and others went to see him at the Cathedral in the evening. The Archbishop was very engaging and spoke about our life journeys, from birth to death and beyond, and about how these were enhanced by and through our faith. He also spoke about how we, as Christians and as members of Churches, could welcome, encourage and inspire others on their journeys (about which Christina wrote last month) and this is something we will all be thinking and praying about.

As I’ve often said before, we all come from different backgrounds and with different faith journeys but, as the old saying goes, we are all in it together, and we all have different things to offer one another along the way. And, who but God alone knows just what effect our actions and words and prayers will have, and will have had, on those around us. Two recent stories of different encounters have really struck home: the first followed our last discussion group on pilgrimage where I showed the group the flattened pewter ampulla in the shape of a scallop shell which was found by a metal detectorist some years ago in the fields below the Church and dated to the 14th/15th centuries. It is the emblem of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain (which I have started but not finished.....) but how it ended up in the field is of course a mystery – was it dropped deliberately or accidentally? On hearing this story one of the group, who had just finished the pilgrimage, spoke to me and offered to donate their scallop shell to the Church – and it can now be seen in the window of the Warburton Chapel, with an explanatory note underneath – such generosity and faith!

The seconds concerns a homeless young man who was camping in the Churchyard, and who was obviously very tired and thirsty – he was about to set off and we had a brief conversation and I offered him a cup of coffee from the Pub, which he accepted very gratefully, saying to me: “Thanks Vicar, you’re a real diamond!” I’m not quite sure what he meant, but before I could say anything he was off and back on the road, and I later saw him walking along the main road with a very heavy looking pack – there but for the grace of God..........

May our journeys, wherever they take us and whoever they bring us into contact with, be always hope filled and hopeful, and may they always be made in faith and love with those around us and those we encounter along the way.

May God bless each one of us in this coming month.

The Revd Alec Brown.