Then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And with that Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit". There is a deep relationship between wind and breath, life and the Spirit. We went to St Abbs Head where wind and life abounds. It was a day of great variety: of banks of clover, or sheer cliffs peppered with clinging seabirds, of lochan and lilies and of simple and genial chat with the odd boiled egg and tree climb thrown in too. Adam Tomkins reflects further on the outing...
Openness and shared wonder
It is fair to say the sky was louring and the air was fresh enough for us to need our jackets all day, but Andrew and Kirsty had prepared for us a poignant distraction in the form of a meditation to carry with us on the theme of Breathing. We gathered briefly in the adventure playground and shared scripture in a circle of fellowship. Maximus the Confessor stayed with me along the cliffs as far as the lighthouse if not further: 'God is breath, For the breath of the wind is shared by all...' Amidst the calm and unravelling landscape, we witnessed walls adorned with ochre lichen, meadows stocked up with early sea-pinks, woodlands of pine and sycamore and willow, majestic (sometimes terrifying) cliffs and an idyllic lily-strewn loch with the remnants of bygone boating days and a single floating nest. Nothing was outside our collective experience, indeed the sense of openness and shared wonder was apparent. Our breathing was united, communal, and we didn't need to hear it clearly to sense that we were and shall continue to be all part of something rich and alive and full of promise and freshly breathed Spirit. Here are some photographs from a memorable day.