Category: pilgrimage

pilgrimage, Spirituality

Walking with Werburgh 4

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

My Franciscan Third Order book Lentscapes, https://www.spiritoffrancis.com/lent/ uses the clarity and light of Antartica to reflect on the honesty and the exposure of Holy Week.

By contrast, my Werburgh walk today, over the hills near Macclesfield, was misty and dank – weather Macclesfield does particularly well. And the fog meant I could not see clearly at all.

But perhaps that’s not an inappropriate landscape or weatherscape for the Tuesday of Holy Week either – or for the muddle and confusion of so much of human existence, for that sense of seeking what we can’t quite see, struggling to understand what we can’t quite grasp, for the sense of not knowing and not understanding that often characterises the spiritual path.

And I found myself musing about ‘in groups’ and ‘out groups’ on my walk today, inspired in part by my breakfast reading of Ian Mobsby’s blog, Contemplative Christian. For the Monday of Holy Week Ian wrote about the generous outpouring of divine love represented by Mary, washing Jesus’ feet and annointing him for his death in John 12.1-11 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012%3A1-11&version=NIV

https://postsecularcontemplative.substack.com/p/monday-of-holy-week-radical-reconnection

The nature of that divine love is echoed by Jesus’ washing of his disciple’s feet in John 13 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2013&version=NIV

This is not a love that guards against vulnerability, that seeks to hold onto status or even dignity. This is a Love, this is a God, who kneels at the feet of people who will betray and lie and seek to engage in violence. And who offers Love to them.

Because Jesus washes Judas’ feet, the person who will betray him to his death; Jesus washes Peter’s feet – the one who will run away and lie to save his own life; Jesus washes the feet of the friends who will abandon him. Perhaps there are other disciples there too, those the artists don’t include – perhaps Mary is there, with her sister, Martha. Perhaps Jesus’ mother is there. Perhaps he washes their feet too – the mists of time have obscured their presence if that was so.

But the point, for me, is that what we are doesn’t matter to whether God kneels before us or not – nor to an extent what we do. Nor does it matter which group we are a part of or NOT a part of – whether we are part of the ‘in group’ or the ‘out group’. God kneels and offers to wash our feet, pours love into a bowl and, if we consent, holds each foot tenderly and soothes away the dust and dirt of our lives, then dries each toe gently and puts our foot back down again.

And it can be hard to recieve, that kind of love. Peter, initially, resists – no Lord, you can’t possibly wash MY feet. And it’s hard to accept, too, that each human person, no matter what they have done or will do, is also offered the same Love, has God kneeling before them offering care, offering kindness.

Just this week I read a post by a (male) priest who was incensed that Sarah Mullalley, our new Archbishop of Canterbury, met with other women on the eve of her installation. He saw, in this gathering of women, evidence of witchcraft and feminism, both clearly meant as insults.

Quite apart from the ignorance this displays, of both witchcraft in it’s modern form and of feminism, I was struck by the fear in that post, the sense of impotent rage screaming about power taken away, status diminished. And yet God kneels in front of that fearful man and offers to wash his feet. And God asks me, as a follower of Jesus, the Christ, to do the same.

And that IS the challenge of Holy Week. To love as Christ loved, not condemning or cursing or hitting back in anger. But kneeling before my Judas, my Peter. And offering to wash their feet. That, for me, is what is exposed in my own soul by the clear light of God’s generous, transparent and universal love. My own reluctance to kneel before those who pour contempt on women, who would take away our hard won rights, and who belittle and mock out of their own fear, their own insecurities, their own littleness of spirit.

I fear such people. And God calls me to walk into and beyond the fear, whether I can see the way clear ahead -or whether the dank mist of Macclesfield obscures the view.

And God also calls me to let my feet be washed by Love that holds my fear – and those of such male priests – in gentle hands. For eternity.

pilgrimage

Walking with Werburgh 3

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

“Creator of all, have mercy on us

Jesus bearer of our sins, have mercy on us

Spirit of grace and truth, grant us peace”

The prayer above emerged in the course of a 12 mile walk this morning along the Macclesfield Canal as I prepare for my June pilgrimage along The Two Saints Way. 6 miles one way, 6 miles plus breakfast on the way back ( I left early, to catch the bird song!)

And what I realised I had done was to craft a trinitarian prayer. The Holy Spirit can seem the poor relation of the trinity – She is mentioned far more rarely in our Christian prayers and liturgies than the other two persons of the trinity, traditionally God the Father and God the Son. And I make no apologies for prefering to gently balance the overwhelmingly masculine language of protestant Christianity by naming the first person as Creator, whatever the theological arguments against it (and there are many! There always are!)

One of the books I have been reading this Lent is a beautiful new translation of a spiritual classic, the Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (a 16th century friar). This translation is called Practice of the Presence and is by Carmen Acevedo Butcher

Butcher speaks of the ‘kind divine community of the Trinity’ that weaves throughout the friar’s teaching as a bedrock of Christianity, a ‘healthy threeness’ often somehow missing from theology and church language.

So I am choosing to prepare for my pilgrimage in conscious company with that kind, divine community, as well as with St Werburgh and St Chad and my Franciscan friends, St Clare and St Francis.

And as I prayed I began to wonder who, exactly I was praying for? And indeed who I was going on pilgrimage for in the first place?

And at the start of today’s 12 miles I found I was praying for people I know and love – my own family and friends and the people of St Oswald’s, Bollington whom I have been privileged to serve and to grow to love these past 3 years. And then my prayer widened ….and I realised I was praying, too, for the wider world, and asking Jesus to bear the structural sins of inequality and poverty, war and racism, sexism and homophobia.

And then my prayer widened still more. Last night I was attending a Lent Course with my sisters and brothers of the Third Order https://tssf.org.uk/ which you can find here https://www.spiritoffrancis.com/europe/,. And we were asked what the land, in this case of Europe, asks us to remember truthfully. And perhaps because of that I found myself, this morning, praying for the land I was walking upon and asking the Creator to have mercy upon Mother Earth and Christ to bear the sins that we inflict upon Her and the Spirit to bring peace between humanity and the rest of creation, as well as peace between people and nations and peace to the heart of every human.

And I pondered, too, on the purpose of my pilgrimage. At a simple level it’s a kind of retreat, time out to mark the end of my ‘training curacy’ and the beginning of…..whatever the future holds. But I began to see, as I walked and as my prayer widened, that I would be walking and praying and letting my walking BE prayer for many people; for my churches, St Oswald’s, Bollington https://stoswaldbollington.org.uk/ and St Peter’s, Windmill Street https://stpetersmacc.org/; for the schools and carehomes I have worked with, for the diocese of Chester in which I serve https://www.chesterdiocese.org/ ; for our nation and the nations of the world and, yes, for Mother Earth itself on whom I will be walking .

St Francis understood the relatedness of all people – and all things. He called all humanity Sister and Brother but he extended that relatedness and mutual dependence to all of creation.

I hope to quietly, prayerfully, do the same.

And did I mention that the porridge at Waterside Cafe https://www.facebook.com/cafewaterside is REALLY good?

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Walking with Werburgh 2: When to press the pause button….

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

So this morning I set out at 8.30am planning another 12 mile walk, in preparation for my June pilgrimage. And I had excellent intentions. Three miles along the Macclesfield canal, before a pause for breakfast at the excellent Waterside Cafe https://cafe-waterside.res-menu.net/ . Then I was planning 3 more miles towards Marple before pausing for lunch, turning around and walking the 6 miles home

And breakfast WAS excellent – porridge with peanut butter and toasted hazlenuts. I thoroughly recommend it. But as I sat there I realised that my head was aching and I was feeling pretty exhaused after a busy week. And it was hot!

And I COULD have pushed on, of course I could. But instead I turned back, had lunch at home, had a rest and then walked a few more miles later in the day.

St Paul, more than once, uses the metaphor of a race for the spiritual life (e.g. 1 Corinthians 9:24). I don’t find it a particularly helpful one, if I’m honest. The metaphor of a race suggests winners and losers and I find that hard to reconcile with the generosity of God that Jesus preached, with his images of the kin-dom of heaven as a feast to which all are invited.

If I were going to pick a personal metaphor for the spiritual life I think I’d pick something gentler and more playful than a race – a circle dance perhaps? Something collaborative, not competitive. Something kind.

Because I don’t think the spiritual life is a competition. I don’t think life itself is a competition for that matter. I don’t think we have to prove ourselves to others. We are all human, all imperfect and for the most part all doing our best. And we all need other people – not to compete with but to help and be helped by them, to walk alongside, to enjoy life with.

And for those of us with aging bodies, a bit of kindness, a little gentleness towards ourselves seems to me a wiser, more fruitful path than always pushing, always striving onwards.

So today I pressed the pause button, came home, rested and then did a little, not a lot, more walking later. I failed to achieve my goal. And failure, too, is a surprisingly important part of the spiritual life.

St Werburgh was famed for kindness towards creation. Well, I am part of creation too. So today I chose kindness towards the little bit of creation that is me. Sometimes I forget, if I’m honest. Sometimes I push myself too hard and try to be ‘best’. But today I remembered to walk with Werburgh and to be kind.

And I really do recommend the porridge.

pilgrimage

Walking with Werburgh 1

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

A few days ago I went for a walk. A long walk, for me, of about 13 miles in the hills around Macclesfield. It was my first walk in preparation for walking The Two Saints Way, from Chester to Lichfield, later this year as I approach three years since being ordained into the Church of England. The Two Saints of the Two Saints way are Werburgh and Chad.

Werburgh was a local girl. Born in Stone, in Staffordshire, an Anglo-Saxon princess, she is associated with a monastery in Macclesfield. St Michael’s and All Angels http://www.stmichaels-macclesfield.org.uk/, the town centre church, has a picture of her in its ancient Savage Chapel.

Werburgh is also patron saint of Chester. I’ve told her most famous story elsewhere in this blog The Story of St Werburgh, or One of my geese is missing. She is a saint I have known about for many years. I look forward to getting to know her better as I walk in her company….and the company of all the saints!

St Chad, associated with Lichfield Cathedral, I currently know nothing about and look forward to making his acquaintance, perhaps becoming friends even, as I prepare for and undertake my pilgrimage.

As I walked near Lamaload Reservoir, listening to oyster catchers, curlew and buzzards calling overhead it struck me that while the world has certainly changed since Anglo-Saxon times, when Werburgh walked these hills, the cry of the buzzards is the same; the shape of the hills is the same. And the human need to find the space and the time to be quiet, to think and to pray – whatever prayer means for us – is the same too. And so is our need of friends, companions on the journey.

That’s what the ‘saints’ are, I think. Friends, neighbours even, already in eternity but still cheering us on as we journey through life. There to chat with. Reminding us that God is all around us, beyond us, within us and at work in the lives of ordinary people, like us.

I enjoyed my walk with Werburgh, though my feet were sore by the end. I look forward to more.

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Praying Creatively with St Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

Most high, omnipotent good Lord (Our Kindest Grandmother Adored), To you be creaseless praise outpoured, And blessing without measure. From you alone all creatures came, No-one is worthy you to name.

My Lord (God) be praised by Brother (Sister) Sun, Who through the skies his (her) course does run, And shines in brilliant splendour. With brightness he (she) does fill the day, And signifies your boundless sway.

My Lord (God) be praised by Sister Moon, And all the stars that with her soon Will point the glitt’ring heavens. Let wind and air and cloud and calm, And weathers all repeat the psalm.

By Sister Water then be blessed, Most humble, useful, precious, chaste. Be praised by Brother (Sister) Fire; Cheerful is he, (she) robust and bright, And strong to lighten all the night.

By Mother Earth my Lord be praised; Governed by you she has upraised What for our life is needful. Sustained by you though every hour, She brings forth fruit and herb and flower.

My Lord (God) be praised by those who prove In free forgiveness their love Nor shrink from tribulation. Happy, who peaceably endure; With you Lord  (Mother) their reward is sure.

By Death our Sister praised be, From whom no one alive can flee, Woe to the unprepared. But blessed be those who do your will And follow your commandments still.

Most High omnipotent good Lord (Our Kindest Grandmother adored) To you be ceaseless praise outpoured and blessing without measure. Let every creature thankful be And serve in great humility.

The Canticle of the Creatures is a hymn that St Francis wrote near the end of his life. It expresses his sense of the profound sacredness and inter-connectedness of all creation. I love it and sing a version of it more or less every day, and have done so for nearly 15 years. And I do so – creatively. I quite deliberately play with the words. Because, like most God-talk throughout history and round the world and in all traditions (and all faiths) it assumes that the Holy is male and exclusively names God as He.

Which, at this point in my life and my spiritual path, I find …..unhelpful.

So, generally, I change the genders of Brother Sun and Sister Water – sometimes they are Sister Sun and Brother Water. Playing with the genders gently challenges the stereotype that men are always strong and in control and women are always gentle and pure!

I play with the opening.  ‘Most High Omnipotent, good Lord’ becomes  ‘Our Kindest Grandmother Adored’. Someone once asked me which woman ‘imaged’ God for me and I knew at once that it was my beloved grandmother. For me, God is not an omnipotent, royal male (God isn’t female either, of course, God is all genders and none). So I lean on that powerful, personal image in my own praying of the Canticle. In the version above my own adaptations are in bold type. You can make your own!

But I sing this version of the canticle while I walk, or run or cycle in God’s good creation.

I began playing with prayer creatively as a young mother of three children. To carve out time alone was sometimes, frankly, impossible so I learned to pray – with my children. I committed prayers to heart so I wasn’t reliant on books and I would sing or say my prayers with them as I went about the work of the day.

It was a very practical decision.

Years later, I committed the Canticle of the Creatures to heart so that I could sing it on my daily run, and still fit in silent prayer before breakfast, caring for my family, working part-time, studying and helping to lead a church. Again, it was a very practical decision.

Now I have more time available I continue to pray creatively, playfully – and now it is a theological decision. And the version I sing is a theoological decision, too.

Humans, made in the image of a creator God are creative at their core. It is never a question of ‘are you creative?’ but ‘how are you creative?’ And I suspect that most, if not all, people of faith are creative in how they pray and when they pray and where they pray. Yes, there is tradition and that can be beautiful and wonderful. And then there is how we practice that tradition – which will change each time we pray because we pray as embodied creatures whose bodies and lives and environments are changing moment by moment.

I have always prayed creatively but if I am honest I have often felt slightly guilty for doing so. Am I praying ‘properly?’ I have asked myself and even, ‘is this allowed?’ 

Now, I have spent 15 years singing about the Spirit of God incarnate in Sister Sun and Brother Water, Mother Earth and our Grandmother God. I have spent 15 years letting the words of the Canticle sink into my bones with each step as I have run, walked or cycled on our Mother Earth.

And after 15 years I am learning to let go of the guilt and to enjoy my God-given creativity. I am learning to accept that I really am a woman made in image of our creative Mother or Father or Grandmother God – and to be thankful.

Questions for reflection

How are you creative?

Is there an activity in your life you don’t currently see as prayer that you could see as prayer? How might that activity change if you did?

Can you learn by heart – and play with – a part of the Canticle?

A version of this article first appeared in Issue 26 of Little Portion, The Magazine of the Third Order, Society of St Francis, Spring 2025.

My book, Embodying Prayer (2024) is published by Christian Alternative Books

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Safer places

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

In the wake of the Makin Report and the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury I want, as an ordained representative of the Church of England, to express both my sorrow, my shame and my anger – that people have been so profoundly hurt by my church and that that hurt has been covered up and minimised.

There is no place for violence, or violent theology, in our church. No place for racism or sexism or misogyny, classism, ableism or elitism – no place for any ideology that diminishes or wounds human beings.

If you have been hurt in any way by the church or its members please speak up.

SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION 

NSPCC

Support to children: Telephone 0800 1111

Adults concerned about a child: Telephone 0808 800 5000

The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPC) 

Adult Survivors: Telephone 0808 801 0331 

Safe Spaces: a free independent support service for anyone who has been abused

Telephone: 0300 303 1056 (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, Saturdays 9am-1pm, Sundays 1pm-5pm)

Chester Safeguarding Team

For all reporting and enquiries, please email safeguarding@chester.anglican.org (monitored Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm). For general safeguarding enquiries, call 01928 718834 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm).

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A woman of peace

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

This has been a week when the world has felt full of angry voices and violent actions. It is a week when those of us who work for peace and kindness and care in our world and in our church have been shocked anew by stories of violence and abuse.

It was a week when, bruised and bewildered by the news of my church’s shame, I wondered what on earth I could say to an assembly full of beautiful children and their equally beautiful hard working teachers.

And as I knelt, early on Wednesday morning, in front of an icon of St Clare, it shone in the light of my candle and I knew what I wanted to say. I knew how I wanted to be. So let me tell you her story……

“Clare was a woman of love, a person of prayer and a person of peace. And she always remembered that she followed Christ, the Prince of Peace.

But the times she lived in were not peaceful times. Men of war, men of violence, meant that life was often dangerous for ordinary women and children and men.

And a story is told about St Clare of how, one day, an army of violent men came to attack the little town of Assisi where Clare lived.

And instead of running away and instead of fighting back, St Clare remembered that she followed Christ, the Prince of Peace. And she went into her little church and brought out a  box. And in that box there was a small piece of the bread and a tiny drop of the wine that Christians eat and drink when they remember Christ, the Prince of Peace.

And Clare held that little box and she just stood – and remembered. She remembered all the women and men and children in the town of Assisi. And she remembered Christ, the Prince of Peace. And she remembered that the men of war she could see before her were also children of God.

And on that day, for some reason, the men of war turned back. Some people say they were scared of this little godly woman. I’m not so sure. I think that on that day they, too, remembered peace and remembered that they were children of God. And I think they chose – and it is always a choice, to stand and remember peace and love for themselves.”

So today, sisters and brothers, (and everyone, of any faith, who is reading this IS my sister and my brother) in the face of the violence and injustice and sheer nastiness that can happen in our world I invite you to stand – not to flee and not to fight – but simply to stand for peace, to stand for justice and love and kindness and compassion. And please remember that you – and everyone you meet today – is an infinitely precious child of God.

May She bless you and may She keep you and may She give you Peace.

pilgrimage, Reflections on Previous Groups, Well-being and the Alexander Technique

Walking on Sunshine together

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

On Saturday, 16 people turned up at St Peter’s Church, Macclesfield to explore the simple, yet complex movement of walking. We all know how to walk. What we don’t always know is how WE walk and how we might walk with more ease, more enjoyment. And that is what we explored together.

And it was immense fun – a really good workshop. And people learned a great deal. And we metaphorically covered a great deal of ground though we physically didn’t walk any great distances.

And looking back on any workshop or group session I COULD pat myself on the back, as the person running the workshop and say ‘well-done, I ran a good workshop’. Or, alternatively, ‘that didn’t work, I must not be a very good teacher’. And in these days of an education system that measures teachers on how well their students do, that is certainly a tendency. But that view, it seems to me, puts TOO much emphasis on the role of the teacher and not enough on the role of everyone else in the room.

It’s not that the teacher has NO role or responsibility. Of course they do. It was my job, yesterday, to ensure that the physical and emotional environment was as safe as possible – that people knew they weren’t going to be judged or criticized. I try to make sure the physical environment is as beautiful as possible too – that tells participants I value them. As does the fruit and treacle flap jack at break time. And it’s my job to be as skillful a teacher as I can be, to keep studying and learning myself and to teach as clearly as I know how. I am responsible for the pace of the workshop, the content of the workshop.

On this particular afternoon I was also lucky enough to have two other Alexander technique teachers to help me, the lovely Janey Goodearl and the wonderful Su Harrison.

But – and it is an important but – the other people in the room play an absolutely essential role in the success of any workshop. Their openness to learning, their generosity to one another, their courage in being willing to change and look at new ways of doing things are things the teacher or workshop leader can encourage but not actually give. Only the participants can do that.

So, as I look back on Saturday’s workshop and reflect on it, I have to pay tribute to the open-hearted, warm, friendly and open-minded participants for the learning that took place. To Janey and to Su, for their invaluable help and to all the lovely people who came together to form a community of learning the Alexander technique together.

If we learn, we change. And at the end of four hours, people had changed. They said,

‘I feel safe and more stable and more appreciative of the ground’ 

‘I learned how strong my lower body is’

‘when I went for a walk I thought more about the process of walking instead of being in my head’ 

‘I felt more grounded, more connected with the ground’

‘I felt a lot more stable, I looked up, I enjoyed going for a walk!’

‘I’m taking away a sense of freedom and stability’ 

‘I’m taking away the need to slow down’

‘I’m going to be a bit gentler with myself about change’ 

‘I learned that holding yourself rigid is a silly waste of effort’ 

Well done, those students of the Alexander work. And thank you for a good afternoon’s learning.

man walking near body of water
Photo by Yogendra Singh on Pexels.com

 

Character Strengths, Joy in education, pilgrimage, Storytelling, Well-being in education

A Saintly Request!!!

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

A special request! In the past I have written stories for school assemblies, simple versions to tell aloud. Quite a few of those stories figure saints – St Werberga (One of my geese is missing!) St Bridget, St Columba. These feature together with traditional folk stories and other faith stories in a book I published with TTS called Character Strength Assemblies https://www.tts-group.co.uk/assemblies-for-cha…/1009310.html

I would LOVE to write a similar book that collects together saints from different traditions and, for that matter, secular saints. Saints have BIG characters and are great for children to know about and think about. Could anybody, especially those from other faith traditions, help me out here with ideas for who to include and some stories???

Character Strengths, pilgrimage, Well-being in education

Character Strengths in the classroom

Dr. Jennifer Fox Eades

A discussion of practical ways to build character strengths and virtues into classroom practice Character strengths and virtues in the classroom – practical suggestions