July 2022 – Notes from Bambi

End to End via the Churches, part 1

Welcome to a bit of a summer blog about the churches I visited on my End to End in 2019 that was inspired by a recent conversation on Twitter. The actual blog on the 2019 End to End started in April of that year and took 117 days for a distance of 1110 miles. At that time most Parish churches in England were open, though I can’t say what you will find now. Some other churches were open from to time time, depending on local conditions and events, like flower festivals and the like. There will be several parts to this blog because there were a lot of churches and because I started at Land’s End we have the South West up first. In part 1 I’ll cover Land’s End to Truro.

St Sennen, founded 520AD

St Sennen church under blue sky, April 2019

Founded before Columba landed on Iona or Augustine made it to Kent, the early date of this foundation is probably accounted for by missionaries between West Ireland and Brittany. There are a lot of unusual saints names in Western Cornwall for this reason. The church yard and surrounding path include several early stone slab crosses.

2. Borah Chapel, 1878

West Cornwall is also full of chapels, often in very small villages. not all of these survive as places of worship but, like this one at Borah, have been converted to other, often domestic use. Interesting because many of the nonconformist denominations began as worshipping communities in people’s homes. The tradition has come full circle in some places, like Borah.

3. St Michael’s Mount

Not actually visited in 2019, I have crossed the causeway several times over the years. Named for the Archangel himself (rather than a brand of underwear), it’s an interesting spot, under the care of the National Trust.

4. Marazion Methodist Church

This village is on the SW Coast path opposite St Michael’s Mount. The church has a history of of hospitality and shelter. We once left our tandem there and they kindly kept an eye on it.

5. St Hilary Parish Church

This is a fascinating place, with early stone slab crosses in the churchyard and inside the remains of a Roman stone inscription. The interior is also decorated with painting by local people of the early Cornish Saints.

6. Gwennap Pit

Associated with early Methodism, this is an open air place of worship, visit by John Wesley. There is also a small Methodist Chapel on the site. Wesley is said to have preached at Gwennap Pit 18 times between 1762 and 1789.

6. St Kea Parish Church

Another delightful Parish Church named for a local Cornish Saint, the small village of St Kea is just off the A39 on the way to Truro. We had a picnic in the churchyard.

7. Truro Cathedral

The first Cathedral on my LEJOG route was at Truro. It has a small pigrim chapel inside the main door, otherwise you’ll need to pay the entrance fee for the main part of the building. The style is Victorian Gothic and it was built between 1880 and 1910.

From my remembered bible: Come and be a living stone!

One more step along the world I go……

Janet Lees, one time End to Ender, now living in Longdendale.

Roles

Dear Benedict,

I am writing to you. It’s one of my occupations. I’m not sure if it’s one of my roles but that’s what I’m going to write to you about today. The bible reading/remembering today was the story of Martha and Mary. Well, actually a small bit of it. Like most of the gospel we only get small snippets of information into the daily life of Jesus and those who followed.

Everyone in a family has their roles, so too anyone in a community and your Rule has loads on that. But most of all you say it’s not competitive. For example, when the Deans are chosen in chapter 21, it’s for wisdom not rank. Yet as humans we are obsessed with competition. So too with interpreting Martha and Mary. In Luke’s words even Jesus gets hung up on it: Mary has chosen the better part.

I’m suspicious about the gospels (or any religious text really). Luke is seen as a ‘good editor’ for women so why did he write this nasty little snippet in which Martha understandably gets upset when tired and Mary gets commended for the better part which ‘won’t be take away from her’ but ultimately is (i.e. women are stripped of their right to equal discipleship by the Church)? There are a few options but most have the get out clause: sexists society, sexist Jesus.

John comes in later with a different snippet on the family: Lazarus dead, Mary grieving and Martha announcing Jesus as ‘The One’. Different tensions, different words, but still the roles get taken away. Whatever way you look at it, Martha and Mary do not come out of the written gospels with their roles as equal disciples with the named male disciples in tact, at least according to traidtional Church Theology.

Today I played the unassailable role of organist at the small church in the village. Anyone can preach (today my husband) but not everyone can play the organ. Most of the year now it stands in the corner gathering dust. I can play it. I learnt years ago and it still gives me a huge lift in my mood to sit there and thunder out a good tune (even if I do it rather poorly). So you’d think I’d be happy, and certainly as small communities go this is a delightful one.

But I’m still left with my Martha and Mary questions and much besides about roles in any community. There have been and will be many wise ones who will not be appointed to appropriate roles because someone else will get the job due to bribery, favouritism, phobias and other corruptions. Even in the death defying communities that the church is supposed to be, the status quo will predominate. Someone will be slow to embrace change and that will trip us all up.

In my rememberings of Martha and Mary they were carers for Lazarus, the non speaking member of the family who died in unspoken circumstances: the one who gets called out from his own tomb by the Tomb Quitter. These two sisters knew each other well and if 1st century caring is anything like 21st century caring they were both exhausted. One makes and bakes, another sits and listens: roles should be made for us but in family, or community, life is not always like that. Even Jesus struggles to hold the tension together, making promises about discipleship that the Church will eventually fail to honour for centuries.

There was a moment in my organing this morning when I pulled out the trumpet stop in the middle of a verse and blasted it out, because it had all got too comfortable. We were singing ‘Jesus Christ is waiting’ and that moment where it says in the lyrics ‘I am angry too’ we all sounded too nice. This was my ‘hymn of the pandemic’ and I’m still angry, so I let an 8 foot trumpet rip for a couple of lines and felt better. It’s probably a sign that I am completely unsuited to any role in community.

From my remembered bible: ‘I am like a green olive tree’ (Psalm 52: they are known for longevity in harsh climates).

I am angry too!

From a Friend of Scholastic and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees: 17.07.2022, in Longdendale.

Build

Dear Benedict,

Yesterday we gave our toy bricks away. Some of them I’d had since a child and some were from my daughters childhood, but they never date. We passed them onto a child, aged 9, who arrived from Ukraine on Tuesday, a country that will require substantial rebuilding.

Look around our world and you see a lot of that: there’s a lot needs rebuilding. I expect you found that too. Its wasn’t all picturesque ruins even then. I’m not sure there’s really any such thing. After all the ruin of anything has a complex story to tell as evident for example in the Grenfell inquiry.

Walking along the canals of Britain I’ve seen many extremes. Some things are rebuilt, some are pulled down, some places are rewilded, some are chopped down. There are disused things, like railway lines, that are reused for traffic free paths, while other sections got swallowed up when the M1 was built. A railway route existed between London and the North of England. It was called the Great Central Railway but it was closed so now HS2 starts the process all over again.

All of this made me thing of chapter 57 about Artisans in the monastic community. These were skilled people who could make stuff but the point was they had put that skill at the disposal of the community. Therefore it was directed by the leadership of the community and any benefit accrued was for the community. The artisan was expected to be humble.

It sounds quite sensible until inequalities start to creep in. The leadership might keep more of the artisans products than they should for themselves and the profits are not all given back to the community for decisions about what to do next, for example. The artisans may be encouraged to be humble but what about if their gifts are misused or they are taken for granted. The chapter is not just of concern to the artisans who’s work is under consideration, but for everyone who is concerned for a fair community.

Such are the challenges in community. After all, as we regularly hear these days, it only takes one bad apple. We can rebuild stuff, we can rewild places, but we have to see it as a benefit to everyone. It seems that some businesses that contribute most to human induced climate change wish to be excused some of the responsibilities or receive greater compensation. It’s as if they don’t believe that having a thriving planet is in everyone’s interest.

Building is therefore a complex subject. You go as far as to suggest that monastic artisans should under cut the market price compared with prices outside the monastery. But what if those outside do not have the same support as the monastic artisans and have more overheads from high rents or a profit driven supply chain? If these artisans are under cut by the monastery then they may be driven out of business and into poverty. Not for the first time I find your rule lacking in an understanding of justice, but maybe market forces didn’t seem as complex in your day.

Any worker should do what they can to retain their integrity, but that can include calling out unjust situations or unsafe conditions. ‘Artisans are doormats’ is not an attractive slogan in a monastic community or anywhere, particularly when we regularly see the product of unsafe working or unjust labour laws.

At school I was told by the class bully in a pottery lesson that I should smash up the clay figure I’d made as it was ‘too good’ and that was somehow ‘unfair’ to everyone else (including him of course). I didn’t. I still have it to remind me of some of the challenges of being an artisan in a community.

From my remembered bible: a wise person builds on rock

May we have the integrity to build justly.

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet lees, 03.07.2022, in Longdendale.