On Saturday, 12th June 2010, we joined eight other Christians for a prayer walk at Spurn Point.   The day was fine although at the beginning of the afternoon a large and heavy black cloud threatened to reverse our fortunes!

For a variety of reasons but mainly because of pressures of time and other engagements in the morning we were unable to join the party at the beginning of the walk from Kilnsea.   Instead we drove down the peninsula and joined them at the car park.   They were already there, enjoying a break and a drink, when we arrived.   We set off towards the point pausing at the lifeboat station for our first prayer and reading.   We prayed for all those who worked to save the lives of others, sometimes in difficult and dangerous situations.

From there we proceeded up over the dunes to the old wartime bunkers where we pause for more prayer recognising how nature in her own time reclaims territory previously occupied by man.   The continuation of the divine creative process was everywhere to be seen.

Then we moved onwards to a high point where we had views over the sea and beach.   A hawk flew into the wind soaring with  its straight tale and wide pinions.   We later confirmed our identification of it as a marsh harrier.

Another stopping place was in a quiet glade amongst the shrubs and undergrowth.   For a few moments we enjoyed the complete silence which only allowed gentle bird song, the soothing movement of the sea on the beach and the calm sound of the breeze in the branches.   Somehow the divine presence seemed very obvious at this moment confirming the mystical experience of inner silence experienced by contemplatives.

As we moved northwards up the sea side beach we spotted a seal in the water and were able to enjoy its inquisitive looking from side to side as if to determine what these invaders of its territory were up to.   By the lighthouse we paused for further prayer.   Before we came together, however, we were much taken by moth caterpillars which invade the point at this time each year, infesting the buck thorn and other plants and some of which were sunning themselves on the lighthouse walls.   These caterpillars can be dangerous to humans causing rashes, allergies and breathing problems.   They are best completely avoided!

Next we found a quiet and relatively sheltered spot on the river side for a break and food, recalling how, after his resurrection the Lord shared bread and fish with His disciples on the shores of Lake Galilee.   Unfortunately as we ate and later prayed the tide was coming in.   By the time we finished we found we were cut off by the waters.   Undaunted we scrambled on to the sea wall, helping each other according to our relative mobility or otherwise.   A walk along the wall soon brought us back to the car park.   By this time we were well into the evening but the sun still had plenty of heat in it.

As we drove back up the road to Kilnsea we spotted a fox crossing the road.   It paused briefly to look at the car displaying the bird it was holding in its jaws - we were not able to identify what kind of a bird it was.   Then the animal slipped away into the bushes and we could see it no more.

Back to Kilnsea then where we used the toilets in the Crown and Anchor hostelry before having a welcome cold drink sitting outside, watching the activity  in the estuary.   Finally we arrived home at about eight o'clock tired but exhilarated by a time with fellow Christians, friends old and new, and with God.   We felt He had rewarded us with some wonderful sightings of wildlife and a real sense of His presence in creation.

Gaudete Deum, apud omnibus creatoribus!

Touching Heaven

I bent and touched the ground and fallen leaves
That lay and curled and crisply browned the earth.
It doesn't matter what a man believes,
Whether of dying or of springtime birth.
What matters is the touch, the grasp, the feel;
These are the things which truly are the real.

I  smelt the autumn leaves, the moulding soil,
And closed my eyes and felt the touch of mist:
I heard the sounds of countrymen who toil,
The sounds and sights I never can resist.
My mind and soul succumb to nature's spell;
I've touched the earth, and sense here Heaven as well.

God stays and looks at me and I at Him;
We pause together and we share the day.
The sun begins to sink, the light grows dim
And God has said what He has got to say.
It matters not if you believe or no,
Faith is the landscape where we all can go.

And when the baby cries or smiles at me,
Or when the child turns and grasps my hand,
Or when a tear in lovers' eyes I see,
I recognise they somehow understand.
They know that Heaven awaits us all nearby,
Where God will smile and sing His lullaby.

Creation's song

Creation’s song

The mountains rise in glory whilst the forests rest below,

They make a verdant contrast to the peaks dressed white with snow;

The oceans roar their greeting and the clouds respond with storm,

The wind roars out its orders just to make the waves conform;

Till they rise in spume-topped fury and race towards the shore,

Where they smash upon the rock falls, shake the cliffs right to the core.

And I heard this distant thunder and the way all nature sings

Of the spiritual beauty of such fine material things.

For the splendour and the greatness, the gentle and the strong,

Are the individual stanzas of the great Creator’s song.

We raced across the wave tops with our sails filled by the wind,

Like the seagulls soaring freely, knowing not where they will land.

Then we dived beneath the breakers to survey the coral scene,

Watching multicoloured fishes in their thousands past us stream.

We sat upon the beaches and we looked out from the shore

Whence we seemed to see a picture that we’d never seen before.

Where did the ocean come from? From where its myriad life?

Its quietness and its calmness, its storming and its strife?

It came from out of chaos, from the great Creator’s hand;

He poured out the mighty ocean before He made the land.

Then He raised the mountains skywards with a mighty wrenching reach,

So we’d recognise the lessons that He alone can teach;

And the tempests, rains and snowstorms still wear down the jagged peaks

As they wind and whistle past them – it’s as though creation speaks

Not in a voice of softness, but with a fearful scream,

Until there comes the silence and the peace which will redeem.

So we stand and look in wonder: now there sounds a softer song,

Sung by a gentler singer to wipe out all that’s wrong.

Now there’s peace lies on the snow face and gentle is the slope,

For the world of storm and violence has become a world of hope

Where a mother holds her baby as it suckles at her breast,

Newborn nature’s miracle lying quietly at rest.

The bonding of its parents, the statement of their love

Is the trinity of family like the Trinity above.

This fragile human being demanding human care,

From its parents finding peace and love and tenderness to share –

All these are part of nature, each has its part to play

In the statement of creation; their lives have much to say.

Whether mighty beating ocean, or jagged mountain peaks,

Or trees or flowers or people, through them all creation speaks

Of the mighty hand of Goodness, of the power of the Lord,

Of the judgement and destruction, the sentence and the sword;

Of the gently caring mercy and the all embracing peace,

And the care of our Creator Whose Love will never cease.