This morning started off with a run through drizzle. Wasn't bad - just the whole time I was hoping it wouldn't start actually raining because my phone is not so much water proof... Now we move onto the pilgrimage portion!
Morning Eucharist followed by breakfast, then we loaded up on the coach where we spent close to half our day on as we headed north to Swanwick in Derbyshire. On the way we stopped at Francis Asbury's cottage - just a small place with 4 rooms. We had the fortune of having a very knowledgeable and humorous man telling us all about the history of Francis Asbury, though. Also, I saw my bishop's business card in a bowl on the table of the front room that he had left, maybe last year when he did his own Wesleyan Pilgrimage.
We got back in the coach and headed the rest of the way to Swanwick at the Hayes Conference Center. While here, we had Dr. Phil Meadows share with us an awful lot, particularly on bands and the importance of small groups, even in contemporary Christianity. Also, he shared a whole lot about the importance of putting faith into action - something that he referred to as Mission Spirituality. There was very little that he shared with us that was new to me, however it was presented in such a way that it started to shed some new light on the potential and importance of this subject matter. Effectively, the illustration that I've used of God's love overflowing within us, like too much water overflowing a cup, can't help but to spill out and influence others. Out of the outflowing of God's love for us, we are so motivated to go out and share that love with those around us through all sorts of missions. It's out of a heart for the love of God - a zeal for God - that the pulse of a church can remain steady and the life of that church can grow. Needless to say, there's some ideas that I'm toying with in my head to take back to Sullivan with me - some ideas that hopefully will help to foster and grow the Discipleship at Sullivan First UMC.
After compline (evening prayer), we stepped outside and noticed that the conference center had hired musicians to help entertain the guests - there is an orchestra camp for youth and another conference happening here as well (this is a huge conference center...). I spent some time listening to the music with my fellow pilgrims. After the music was over, I spent some time with some of my fellow travelers, getting to know them better and having some laughs.
Now, I'm back in my room, wishing that I could connect my iPad to the wifi network to upload this blog post, so that is why this post is a day late getting to you - I had to wait until I had wifi, and since we are headed to Epworth tomorrow which is even further north east from Sarum, it's going to be quite a while before I'll be able to post this unfortunately. Thank you for your patience!
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