Pilgrim Church

Today I went on the Bradwell Pilgrimage. Sponsored by Churches Together in Essex and East London, the Bradwell Pilgrimage takes place on the first Saturday of July each year. The "pilgrims" (maybe 500 - at a very rough guess) met at St. Thomas's Parish Church in Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex for a brief act of opening worship. We then walked the two miles or so (about the last quarter mile in silece) to the ancient chapel of St. Peter-on-the-Wall. The chapel is on the site believed to be that where St. Cedd, who originally brought the Gospel to the Dengie Peninsula, built a church around 635. St. Cedd originally came from Lindisfarne in Northumbria, from where he sought to bring the Christian message. The theme of the 2008 Pilgrimage was Water - and we thought of the impact and use of water in a range of ways. There was a variety of activities around and near to the chapel, and the event finished with a wonderful act of worship. It was good to go for a purposeful walk and to use a day to reflect on God's wonderful creation and particularly the impact of water. It was also a good reminder that we are pilgrims, and called by God to walk for him through the world.