The Revd Jacky Barr shares about the St Andrew’s School Pilgrimage in Chinnor led by Bishop Gavin.
The Bishop of Dorchester gallantly led the Key Stage 1 children from St Andrew’s School around Chinnor on a pilgrimage. It should be noted that the Bishop was fully clad in a heavy cloak (a cope) and his pointy hat (a mitre) despite the blazing midsummer sunshine and a temperature above 25 degrees Celsius!
The 120 children, plus teaching staff, parents and helpers from the church followed Bishop Gavin from the school to the Methodist Church. Here, Liz Thorpe explained to the children that the church building is celebrating its 150-year birthday this year.
We continued our pilgrimage past the noisy roadworks on Church Road, up into Donkey Lane, over the railway, and into the community orchard. Our time in the orchard was kindly hosted by Alan and Linda Brawn, who explained that people used to live in the orchard, and how much work and fun it has been reclaiming it and discovering the different trees that grow there. The children (and the Bishop!) had some time exploring and finding all sorts of interesting things, including bugs and the occasional stinging nettle.
Throughout the pilgrimage, at each of the place we stopped, Bishop Gavin prayed with us. As we began, we prayed for God’s blessing on us as we walked, as Jesus did around his community. When at the Methodist Church, we thanked God for the church, both as a building and as a people. In the orchard, we remembered God as the Creator of our beautiful world and how we should take good care of it. At St Andrew’s Church, we turned our thankfulness to God into praise and worship.
On our return to the school, the children explored a labyrinth that had been created in the playground as a symbol of the pilgrimage and our life’s journey with God.
It was truly a splendid time that we all spent together and a heartfelt thank you to Bishop Gavin, the helpers from church who gave up their morning to join us, all the staff of the school and most of the all the children themselves, who fully embraced the experience of pilgrimage!