Tonight I stepped out of the door into a dark night of wind & rain. It was quiet - not a soul moving about. Doors & windows shut, curtains drawn with light shining through cracks & thin fabrics. On the road were slugs & snails & a few frogs/toads and I thought to myself "I've stepped into another world". Tove Jansson captured that feeling of different-ness in some of her books - especially the "Moominland Midwinter". The warm cosy world of family & friends, are contrasted with coldness of the weather & the emptiness left by the sleeping family. Of course comfortable order is returned, just as it is when I walked back through the front door into light & the wagging tail of the small dog.
Familiarity can equal reassurance. Matters relating to our "great church project" have been very very fraught over the last few weeks. I fully expect the turmoil to spill over into the next few months. What was comfortably familiar is all set to change & we are meeting resistance. The church was once linked to the Cistercian Abbey Dore (Holy Trinity & St Mary) which I gather from various articles has had a chequered history. From it's creation in 1147 to it's dissolution by Henry VIIIth in 1537, it's decline to a roofless ruins (just like our church) in 1630 to it's restoration & reconsecration in 1634 & then various repairs & restorations - then threatened again with closure in 1993 but saved again and is now a much used & loved Grade 1 listed parish church. The history of this mother church make the history of our ruins seems positively tranquil. According the list of services St Mary (the church patron) is celebrated on 12th September - I wonder if that will be a date for us to remember?
Picture - wikipedia
