THE service at Crediton Methodist Church on Sunday, April 19 was planned by the Church for All team and led by Chris Mann.

Recently Dame Sara Mullally, before being enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury, went on a pilgrimage walking from St Paul’s cathedral to Canterbury cathedral.

Pilgrimages have shaped England’s social and religious landscape for 1,000 years and were popular all over Christian Europe.

They still are.

Hilary Everitt told us about a pilgrimage she had undertaken recently from Crediton Holy Cross Church to Exeter Cathedral.

Pam led an activity where we listened to three members of the congregation reading passages from Psalm 23 and we had to guess who was speaking.

We then heard a dramatised poem taken from Luke 24 where two travellers did not recognise Jesus’s voice when he joined them on their journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus.

Chris said the “Road to Emmaus” reading is important since it shows us the effect of the events of Holy Week and the Easter weekend on those further removed from the orbit of the Eleven disciples who remained in Jerusalem.

These people had been faithfully following Jesus as He progressed through the country towards the climatic events on Good Friday.

It is these events that had left them confused, disappointed and probably angry, feeling that the hope that had been building in them had been crushed.

What then passed between them and the “stranger” they met along the way helped them to unpack the events they had witnessed.

Through talking and reflecting on all that had happened on their journey of faith (pilgrimage), they were able to gain insights into the full meaning of all that they had experienced.

The “stranger” acted at times as an interested observer and at other times He was seen explaining and evaluating these experiences.

He played a pivotal role as He contextualised the events they had witnessed – the prophetic messages delivered in the Old Testament scriptures of Israel were laid out before them and the truth of Jesus’s messianic persona was painstakingly revealed.

It may seem strange to us now to think that these good Jewish believers needed to have these proofs interpreted, but how many of us, as Christians, would claim to completely understand all the nuances of our theology?

The travellers invited the “Stranger” to join them for a meal and the end of these discourses came in the moment of the breaking of the bread, when the Stranger’s identity was revealed and the reinvigorated disciples realised that they had, once again, been listening to the message of the Messiah.

As we re-enter the story of Easter, with its message of power and hope, is it not true that we need to be able to reflect on what those events have meant to us?

How the message of the risen Christ has affected our lives, our choices and our personalities?

How often have the storms of events overtaken us, driven from our consciousness the fact that we are living in the truth of the resurrection, that whatever we may be facing, we are facing it with God and that help is only ever a prayer away.

Grant us, O Lord, purity of heart and strength of purpose, that no passion may hinder us from knowing your will and no weakness from doing it.

In your light we may see light clearly and in your service find perfect freedom. (St Augustine of Hippo 354-430).

Bronwyn Nott

Crediton Methodist Church