7 Days ETD

I was pretty overwhelmed by the warmth of the farewell from my congregation on my last Sunday in church in Warsash today. I'll be signing off from my usual vicar duties this week. I was surprised how, in marking my sailing voyage, my colleague commissioned a wooden yacht sculpture with its mast being a stainless steel cross and wrote a poem duly waterproofed! The model will stay on the communion table whilst I am away; out of sight, but not out of mind! - I am grateful to them. I was moved too to be presented with a small waterproof box containing 40 reflective cards written or drawn upon by members of the youth group. Brilliant inspirations for my sailing which, in church, were followed by so many people coming out to pray for me and my wife as we shall be apart for the 40 days. With 50 odd cards and notes of support plus sponsorship - wow! I'm moved and grateful to the congregation for letting me go for this period and for such a sending off. I know I leave a good team behind so ideally I should not be missed; but I don't mind being missed just a bit! I also appreciated a waterproof box full of survival chocolate, marmalade, peanuts and a bottle glass of wine from friends yesterday. If I could sail on such a tide of goodwill and friendship then I should soon be home.

It is Easter as I leave here, the end of 40 days of Lent as I begin the 40 days of sailing. I'll later reflect on the physical and emotional challenges ahead, but first one of the objectives for my bosses (Archdeacon of Meon and Bishop of Portsmouth) is to reckon on the spiritual and self-awareness challenges of the voyage. Periods of 40 can be significant in our lives: change, renewal, envisioning, empowerment, priorities, devotion.

With those profound objectives I couldn't go without some apps ready to help me; a Bible of course, but also one called 'myCofE' which has the prayers and resources my colleagues will be using at home.

I've met many people who, having taken extended voyages (especially ocean sailing) speak of the spiritual inspiration they encounter. I can relate to that from the few times I've been out of sight of land. So I look forward to this journey. We'll be passing some of the famous celtic sites where the likes of Saints Mungo, Ninian, Columba and Brendan landed from their voyages in coracles; trusting as they drifted to a new shore. It's even said that St.Brendan reached Canada in his 30ft leather coracle!

'The Brendan Voyage' describing Tomothy Severin's coracle voyage in Brendan's trail is amazing reading as they're tracked by whales and bounce off ice flows in their sheep skin boat! And just imagine, the celts did all that without a PLB, GPS, SAR, RYA, MCA, RNLI, CG, VHF, ROTR, SOLAS, COLREGS or any other TLA, FLA or even SLA! I guess their courage was that they simply trusted GOD to see them safely to those new shores! It makes me question: in what TLA do I trust?

Well, as I enter a forty day wilderness of the beautiful sea and coast around Britain, said to be the finest cruising ground in Europe, I hope to discover new shores as I take with me the 40 days of reflective cards, the prayers of the congregation focussed around the yacht sculpture, and also the waterproof poem from my curate colleague reflecting on Bible periods of 40 in the words:

re-creation through water
innovation at Ararat
encounter at Sinai
stillness at Horeb
grace in Ninevah
faith in the wilderness
bread at Emmaus
renewal at Pentecost
Christ's protection over all.

Amen to that.