Monday, June 25, 2007

Cross on Lindisfarne



Click pic to enlarge - This picture I received today from Erica Kramer - one of my colleagues at Ark Boeken (the Christian publishing house in Amsterdam where I work). Erica visited Lindisfarne a couple of years ago and now I invite her to leave a comment and share some of her Lindisfarne experiences with us! Maybe she can also tell us why she took a picture of this cross. Erica?
By the way, I still need to get in touch with a Christian community living on this island - Mike gave me a link and some questions that I can ask them by e-mail. If anybody else has some questions or wants to share his or her own personal Lindinsfarne memories with us: please feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line abspoel at gmail dot com!

These are Mike's questions:
- How closely to the islanders interact with each other? Do they all know each other well?
- Describe what it is like to be on the island in a storm.

My own questions:
- What is left of the ancient Christian spirituality on Lindisfarne? Is it now a mixture of New Age beliefs or is it still grounded in the orthodox Christian faith?
- Do you hope / believe that the ancient wells of Christian spirituality (like Lindisfarn, Iona and Glastonbury) can be re-opened to give us living water again? If so, what does it take to make this happen?
- Do you have any insights you would like to share with us, like a thought-provoking quote or a personal testimony?

If you have a personal connection with Lindisfarne, because you visited this island as a pilgrim for instance, or if you just want to share your opinion about this - please do so by leaving a comment here! You can click on the virtual island hopping or Lindisfarne labels to read all related posts.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul,
This picture is great. thanks for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

I have alsoed tagged this from my blog. Hopefully we will have some good stories.

Anonymous said...

Lindisfarne - it must be one of the most wonderful places I've ever visited. I was there on two retreats, one in October 1996 and one in February 1997 - I was an exchange student in nearby Newcastle at the time. The retreats combined warm hospitality and fellowship with time for solitude and prayer. For me, prayer and walking around had never coincided as much as they did on that trip to Lindisfarne - and this photo shows one of the places that I think inspires prayer.
The monastery there was founded in 635 AD, my group was told. We heard about the sober lifestyles of the Lindisfarne monks and about their passion for the gospels. These monks started one of the first schools in England right on this island. It was a centre of Christian spirituality and of learning - and instrumental in the conversion of this part of England.

If you ever get the chance to visit Lindisfarne, I highly recommend it. It's a very inspiring place.

Anonymous said...

Visit to the Community of Aidan and Hilda on Lindisfarne, December 2007, impressions of a new Way - I have done a retreate with CAH on Lindisdfarne in December 2007 and decided to become an Explorer with the Community. To be an Explorer means to write a Way of Life for oneself with guidance of a Soul Friend. This are two basic, elements of the Celtic spirituality as practised at CAH: pilgrimage and Soulfriendship. This brought a great challenge to my life, and which resulted already in a better balance, and that is bringing out the full richness of life much more. Basically it comes down to Contemplation-in-Action, which is all about living a contemplative life in the midst of our own sometimes turbulent daily lifes. We don't need monastries for doing just that, do we?

I am looking for like-minded people that are interested in this kind of spirituality. If you are interested don't hesitate to get in touch and contact me at my email (jcborger@cs.com) or by leaving a comment here. Lets bring Lindisfarne just a bit closer to the continent! Johannes Borger in The Hague

Hope Paul you're fine with this kind of invitation on your blog...?