Archive for thelinksclan.myfastforum.org This forum is so the healers in The Linksclan International Healers Association can leave general informations/post healing requests ect if they wish
My dear old trouble'n'strife and me took a small excursion at the weekend.
It was a fantastic day on Saturday, hot, dry, a good breaze off the sea, clear skies. She was moved for us to make for Malden, a port on the east coast for some 1500 years so far.
We were advised whilst in Malden to make our way to the small village of Bradwell (ignoring the nuclear power station - it is a small village with a very active community). We drove along narrow, dusty English lanes and parked. Then a a short ten minute walk through fields of barly and wheat flanked by a classic English hedgerow that had been restored to its proper glory.
Birds and wildlife abounded. Many species seen for the first time. Wldflowers of every colour shape and size. Showing off the magnificent beauty invested in them by God under a seamless sky of azure blue.
Swallows and Sand Martins swooped and trillicked all around and there in the distance; a tall, (some 40ft high) stood the chapel of St Peter-On-The-Wall; a Cathedral built by St Cedd in 645AD. Bar a few modifications down the years - the knave has gone - the roof timbers have been replaced to the original specification, virtualy in its original condition with the original sones and rocks from the Roman Fort from the nearby where the orginal materials were obtained.
It is a simple statement of faith of stone. No fancy windows (In fact no windows at all - sorry there is one - above the door), no artistic carvings, no gold leaf, no sumptuous carvings, simple oak timber benches (from old English sailing ships it is rumoured).
The Altar is four simple blocks of stone all donated from places of signicance on the journeys of St Cedd.
The visitor is left to his own conscience to pay for any booklets or brochures they wish to keep.
If any of the deacons, sidemen or the vicar is there you are guaranteed a cup of tea and a friendly chat.
It has not been a place of worship for the last 1,361 years , but a greater part of that time. For about 300 years it was a barn.
The point I am making ... at one of the bleakest places on the East Anglian coast facing square onto the North Sea - an inhospitable place on a good day .... stands a place of worship built a mere 650 odd years beyond the time when Jesus Christ strode this earthly domain. We did not know it existed untill a few days ago. And it is only an hours drive from our home.
The passing of such time places upon our minds a muse of some contemplation. As we touched the stone walls, ran our hands across the timbers and strolled across what once was the cemetry and trod the dusty stone ridden path - trodden by so many Saints, how many dignatories of Saxon realms, how many postulates, had passed this way? How many pilgrims had made the journey before the recent innovation of motor transport? How many with their hand carts had stood before this very oak door, that we also stood before on Saturday? On days not so balmy as that one but with an arctic wind howling off the North Sea.
And what were their thoughts. Not the ones I was trying to get to grips with
I'll wager. In 645 we were in (I believe what the indigenous races refered to as the 3rd age of man - but that may be incorrect)
There is great talk of the new global consciousness - a new awakening - or re-awakening as it should be described - but then Christianity was still a new idea and some were even newer.
Imagine 640 years ago - the year 1366 and news of this prophet and radical extremist (Jesus) with a new wave thinking had just reached the shores of England (and let us presume the USA and Oz and New Zealand at the same time) - what would we be thinking???
In 1366 Europe was in the midst of a religious holocaust.
Currently we are in the midst of a religious vacuum. We are driven to
succeed. The cultures of the USA, much of Eurpoe, China the Far East and Australasia preach success at any price - no cost is high enough that it is not worth paying.
How many are deserting or being actively dissuaded from following the right paths? How many choose to be intolerant of anothers faith. How many set out to pursuade a point of faith with a gun, a bullet and a bomb ... still - we have learnt nothing in the last 1300 years - man is still the lowest form of life on the planet by dint of his intolerance to his race and preparedness to kill just about anything for the sake of it - and to kill fellow humans for the sake of a contrary ideal is the easiest form of all. Many would think twice about hurting a cat but would think nothing of killing another human.
As I leant against the stone and flint walls - materials formed millions of years ago during the fundamental construction of this planet - I wondered what stories had they to tell - what sites had they witnessed on this remote edge of Essex, proud against the Arctic winds. This simple place still stands for simple faith - all are welcome - the door is literally always open (except at night to keep out the elements and the animals) regardless of faith or homeland ..... oh to tear down the walls of terror and arrogance that now stand yet again as a symbol of humanities intolerance - symbols that millions of men and women gave their lives to defy and allow others to be. Now it is thrown back in our faces and the memories of our dead and our sacrifice are insulted.
How do we carry the name of love and goodness into the world when we are surrounded by such indifference?
Web sites are full of organisations, chapters, groups all saying buy me - here is what I have to sell .... but few are willing to participate, few come when they are called .. so, are we part of the problem or part of the solution.... If there were no problems there would be no need for a solution .. some would disagree - for every solution begets its own alternative - that may be contrary to a fixed idea .... so are we forever resolving problems or creating solutions to prevent further problems - or are there no real problems only the intransigence of the human condition that requires solutions to problems that realy do not exist - only a dismissal of right thinking and right actions????
If that is so then what is the purpose of travelling this plane. If we are approaching the 5th age of man - why?
Was it ever thus ordained to be so - do we therefore have no real free will?? Are we just puppets in some vast alien game, toys of the cosmos??
The only thing I know is that unlike our forefathers of 645AD we are are too sophisticated. In those days people lived to live - they grew food - they they led simple lives based on a simple concept - bread on the table, clothes on your back - a roof over your head - a simple prayer of salvation and a good deed and a friendly smile for one's neighbour... now ... can I afford the Gucci bag?- Who cares - has it got a hole in the bottom - no then it works -- do I need a £40,000 vehicle or would a £10,000 do as well - do I need a car at all?? How many meals can I eat at one time, How many beds can I sleep in at one time - do the incredibly expensive and extravagant surroundings of some temples of prayer make my thoughts and prayers in that 1300 year old simple place of worship; any the less valid???
J.C was not wrong - he simply miscalculated how corrupt man would become - or did he - maybe that was the point - but a heck of a lot has been lost in translation and there are reports that significant secrets are still buried and privy to but a select few - how dishonest is that - and by men of the cloth to boot - so much for our religious leaders - we are still supposed to be half blind sheep going where we are told and chanting the age old wisdoms - without question.
My point - eventualy - choices and values. The choice to be a part and be humble with our part or the choice to stand apart and condem with our arrogance. Are we solution providers or problem instigators - and how do we determine the difference??
Do we believe we can make a difference - as individuals - as local groups or as aprt of an international community - if so what type of difference do we wish to create?
Can we think outside the box - do we want think outside the box or do we wish to remain parochial -- unlike St Cedd who sailed 700 miles ocross the North Sea and down the East Coast of England in a small sailing boat to establish a sanctuary of prayer that even now 1,361 years later is still attracting pilgrims.
We found it - not quite a pilgrimage - but it raised a host of questions!!!!
It was a wonderful place on a perfect day and we met wonderful people - how often does that happen and when it does; do we take it for granted or do we give praise and ask ourselves a lot of pertinent questions? And then, are we prepared to bare it all on a piece of paper for others to critique and question further - but then maybe that was the whole point ..........of following a whim on a beautiful summers day?
Pat
Re: St Peters Chapel oof Bradwell England.
I found your article very interesting Bluestar.
I did a search and found a website and found this
bit of info:
[quote]So in 653 Cedd sailed down the east coast of England from Lindisfarne and landed at Bradwell. Here he found the ruins of an old deserted Roman fort. He probably first built a small wooden church but as there was so much stone from the fort he soon realised that would provide a much more permanent building, so he replaced it the next year with the chapel we see today! Cedd modelled his church on the style of churches in Egypt and Syria. The Celtic Christians were greatly influenced by the churches in that part of the world and we know that St Antony of Egypt had built his church from the ruins of a fort on the banks of a river, just as Cedd did on the banks of the River Blackwater in Essex (then known as the River Pant).
[url]http://www.bradwellchapel.org/sppeople.htm
