Close to the end - Home...

 There may be a couple more posts, but most of the travelling part of the Sabbatical is over. I've visited places where I've served, places where I've lived; I've visited other places known for different types of Pilgrimage; I've met with friends and strangers. 

So it was that it felt appropriate, the other day, to go somewhere closer to home.

It's not a long walk to Captain Cook's Monument from Gribdale Gate, but it is a little more challenging than your mind tends to remember; nevertheless, it didn't take very long for me to climb above the tree line, and discover that it was somewhat cooler as I followed the well-defined path to the top of Easby Moor.

As part of the Cleveland Way, there's often people around up here; there's also a fair bit of space though, and through walkers don't necessarily linger as they've got a good number of miles to go yet.

One time, I went up there with Fiona, and there were people with Paragliders up there - launching them, and then floating out across the plain, silently, effortlessly it seemed, before returning to make use of the air current to gain height again - or to make a landing that always seems much less graceful. Roseberry Topping gets much of the attention round here - it is THE local landmark, and you get views right across the Tees, out to the coast, and beyond. But there's something about the view from Easby Moor - you look out towards the Moors, towards Stokesley, out beyond towards Ingleby Greenhow and Kildale, 

You really need a Panoramic Camera to make a proper picture of it. I didn't have one, so I stood, turned myself around, and just used my eyes. Across that vista, much of the Circuit was visible; many of the places where the people I Minister with now live, work, and call home. It felt appropriate in a way for this to be the end of my journey; to be the final stop on my Pilgrimage as I take some time away with family and prepare to return to the work that defines my life - the work of a Methodist Presbyter. Here in front of me was my Mission Field; here is the place that is now home; here are the people that are my fellow travellers. 

Some people may feel that they need to go on a journey to "find themselves"; that was never my thinking. I've never really felt lost and needed to be found. I've known for a long time that God found me, and has been with me wherever I have gone. Some may look to pilgrimage as penitential; I have known the grace of God, and I believe it is sufficient for me without needing me to physically show my contrition. Some go just to see the sights; I've done a little of that, but the meaning has always been deeper. The places have sparked memories, conversations, opportunities to reflect and pray; the people I have remembered, and those I have met on the way, have been blessings to me. As I get ready to return to people who have been and continue to be a blessing to me and my family in the Stokesley Circuit, I pray that I will also be a blessing to them - to you.