View from a Windmill.

The coal fire spits and splutters and the room is filled with a warm flickering light. After our long walk our exercise has left us feeling satisfyingly tired and as we sit with our faces glowing warm around the fire hugging a warm cup of hot chocolate, we recount the wonders of all we have seen and experienced during the day.

No, it’s not Christmas Eve but the middle of October. Diane and I have come up to Lindisfarne (Holy island) on the Northumbrian coast to draw aside from the fevered activity of the Parish and to be still before God. The past year has been a very busy one, as it has been for all of us at Eaton Socon as we have seen many changes and continuing growth, and so we felt we needed a time and a place to recharge our spiritual batteries.

Holy Island is unusual in that it is cut off from the mainland twice a day by the sea, access being by a mile long causeway that floods for 6 hours in every twelve. The island is known as “the cradle of Christianity”, in the 6th Century Aidan, Cuthbert and others took the Good news of Jesus Christ from Lindisfarne to the North East of England. It therefore has a great spiritual heritage, and the cycle of connection and disconnection with the mainland that the tides bring, creates a perfect rhythm for daily prayer.

Our days began with personal devotions in our snug little cottage and then we would go for a long walk on one of the island paths. Perhaps we would stroll to the harbour to watch the fishing boats, or to the countryside to enjoy the rolling fields complete with flocks of sheep with black faces watching our every move. Sometimes we would go to the shoreline to look out for seals who would play “hide and seek” with us as they bobbed beneath the waves and then popped up to see if we were still watching, or maybe a short climb up to the imposing Lindisfarne castle that overlooks the island. The island has a beauty and serenity which I cannot describe in words but just echoes the Psalmist “Be still and know that I am God”.

The Ancient priory, now in ruins, gives testimony to its Christian heritage, and it stands cheek by jowl with the parish church of St Marys in which the church of today meets. It is there that we met for a service of evening prayer each day at 5:30pm then at 9pm we joined the local Open Gate Christian Community for a service of night prayer, influenced greatly by the Celtic tradition which reflects in its prayers and spirituality the harmony between God and the rhythms of creation. It brought each day to a peaceful conclusion.

Why am I telling you this as we prepare to celebrate once again the Christmas story? The reason is that during our stay we were once again reminded through the beauty of the Island that behind our world and our universe is a God of order and unity, a God that is so far above and beyond us that we can never truly know him (His transcendence). And yet the wonder of the Christmas story is that this God has stepped down into history to be born as a little baby, to die upon a cross, and to be raised to life again so that he might come and live among us (His immanence).

On the island, in a remote coastal location called Emmanuel Head is a navigational beacon, a large white painted concrete pyramid located to indicate safe passage to passing ships. As we sat in its shadow and gazed out over the sea we felt very much that God was with us (Emmanuel) in the stillness and the solitude and that he is always with us by his Spirit to give us direction and purpose to our lives.

May I encourage you to take time out this Christmas, to put aside all the celebrating and the feasting for a few moments and to find a place of solitude and silence away from fevered activity and noise and once again reconnect with the holy? We have found it to be a thoroughly worthwhile experience. To quote Bill Hybels “Most of us are far too busy for our spiritual health.”

Wishing you all a very blessed and holy Christmas. Love in Jesus, David