St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
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Well, notwithstanding the snow, we did get to Bruges. A group of us Area Deans stayed there for two nights, three days, and studied, prayed, and enjoyed fellowship together. The place we stayed was called the Beguinage; it was a nunnery built in the 18th century by the Minnewater, a beautiful range of white painted buildings and a church accessible only through gates locked at night.
The Beguinage nuns died out in the 1900s and were succeeded by a Benedictine Order who are there today and who look after their guesthouse and guests. We joined them for worship in their ornate baroque church for just one service of Vespers after which we worshipped in a small chapel. The service in the church was sung entirely in Latin and in a language that I would say was old Flemish, apart from the readings and intercessions. We could therefore only surmise the meaning of it all; but that did not matter, for the voices of the nuns in their black habits and white wimples soared around the church and sometimes it is nice just to let other people's worship carry you.
As always when I meet nuns, I was struck by the reality of their lives: to give up everything - everything that is soothing and comforting about life: nice clothes, DVDs, the freedom to sit around or go for a walk, read what you like, meet people, marry, have children, all given up for a life completely dictated by others; but for those who embrace it wholeheartedly, the only kind of life they really want, the only thing that makes them happy. The stark beauty of the convent made me feel both welcome and uncomfortable. Faith has its depths and its levels of conviction; we were there as people - Area Deans - whose lives were normally busy and demanding and sometimes difficult - but we did not have to face those difficulties all the time - we could take time out. There is no time out for nuns or monks, not really. We were also reminded of that by a film we watched about Archbishop Romero, murdered in 1980 San Salvador for taking a stand against the death squads. His death was violent and shocking and he knew it would come because his absolute commitment to his faith gave him no choice but to follow Jesus to the extent most of us hope not to be required of us.
The last few days reminded me of the reality St John seeks to express: if we embrace Jesus, we experience a new birth and are called to a new life. Sometimes it does us good to see just how absolute some people's calling to that new life in Jesus can be.
Amen
