As many of you know, in the last days of April and the first week of May, I was away with a dozen or so of you on pilgrimage in the UK. As the focus of our travels was on the Scottish Lowlands, the Border region and the English Lake District, we worked out of two bases: Edinburgh in Scotland and Carlisle in Northern England. It was truly a venture of a lifetime and did not disappoint!
I went with several subliminal questions: How did this region survive in the past? How do a people, in a region of high volatility and subsistence-based origins, with a history of political and sectarian violence and a colonial narrative both as colonized and colonizer, recollect their past? How does the landscape tell the stories of centuries of upheaval? And how do the people and the land survive now?
I suspect you’re wondering, how would you even begin to measure that, Josh? Well, inexactly… but the stones, the lands, the people, the institutions, tell the story. The layers of cities tell the story of peace and war; wealth and famine; the come-heres and the from-heres.
As with any ancient city, I love the juxtaposition of the new and the old. The 9th Century Chapel of St. Margaret of Scotland at the top of Edinburgh Castle is within a 10 minute walk to a Lululemon store, next to a Boba Tea shop, next to a 150 year old custom clothier. The layers and the stories are the things that excite me in my travels. I was always asking, how do people with such a complex history accept their past and learn to thrive in the present?
There are moments in life when it can be a lot like getting a pig to play bagpipes… it just does not compute! Pigs don’t have fingers! Life can certainly be quirky and baffling. But sometimes, just sometimes miracles can intervene… and even pigs can make beautiful music.
When seeing something we don’t recognize we can do one of two things: reject it or celebrate it. The Protestant reformation in England and Scotland were merciless to monastic establishments like Melrose Abbey; they were barely left standing. Venerated statues were knocked down and destroyed, others had body parts knocked off or defaced. But somehow the piping pig of Melrose remained, and is now cherished.
As we head into summer and go about and see the world, look for things around that don’t make sense, but on some level might offer a higher meaning. Hold loosely to objects and investigate what meaning they might have. And how might a cherished object that may not have great monetary worth be of great value to you for the meaning it brings to you.
Art, signs, symbols, music, gardens and natural landscapes offer countless ways to look at our present life from another angle or with a different interpretation. Being open, being willing to be surprised, being deliberate and holding onto life loosely allows life’s surprises to become miracles. Where a laugh can be the answer to the struggles of life, where something very old can be made new, and where we learn to know ourselves by getting to know the people and the places we find ourselves passing through, along our earthly pilgrimage.
May the simple surprises of life bring you joy and fill you with gratitude.
The Rev. Josh Walters
Rector
