Day 54 of the End to End was my fourth day on the Lancaster canal. It was also Ascension Day which meant everything was up in the air. It was a grey morning. Not a total wipe out but grey enough to obscure any long views of the hills. I was in the green canal corridor, a quiet and calm route winding its way under bridges up to Lancaster.
Once again the early start was designed to avoid the rain forecast for later in the afternoon and again it was mostly successful. Some light rain fell as I approached St Peter’s Catholic Cathedral which provided a welcome refuge. A large Victorian Gothic building it became the centre of the diocese in 1924.
The words from today’s Bible reading from the beginning of the book of Acts open there for me to read and that lodged in my brain were
‘Has the time come?’
It’s a question asked in different places by different people in diverse circumstances everyday.
I discovered that Lawrence Binyon was born in Lancaster in 1869. He had as an Anglican, most well known for his poem ‘To the fallen‘. It includes the stanza commonly used as the salutation at Remembrance:
They grow not old as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them nor the tears condemn,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
With Ascension, Jesus moves in to ageless remembrance, no longer limited by time and place. The question ‘Has the time come‘ is one Jesus now transcends, coming to us in any time and place.
It means all our usual human understanding is up in the air.
So too was the Lancaster canal as it passed over the Lune Aqueduct. This grade 1 listed structure is over 200 years old and had a face lift a few years ago. It’s a most impressive achievement. We completed today’s walk at Hammerton Hall Bridge, number 111. On this canal it is amazing to realise that the main part of the 41 miles follows the same contour, making it unnecessary to build locks.
Not so impressive were the Roman baths we stopped to see by the river Lune later. One of the less memorable things the Romans did for us in Lancashire.
From Acts 1
Is it time yet?
Timeless God, we who are obsessed with time need your calm reassurance.
Help us to wait expectantly,
Neither anxious or too laid back.
Your promises are reliable
And you will not restrict the potential of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Tonight, grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.
JAL 30.05.2019
Day 54 of the End to End, bridge 88 to bridge 111 via the Lune Aqueduct.