Essex – Mr G's Ponderings

Photo, The East Window in St Mary the Virgin, High Easter, Essex

Summer Evensong in St Mary the Vitgin, High Easter
gazing at the East Window.

We gather to open ourselves to God
in this House of Prayer,
where, alight with early evening sun,
Incarnation beckons through refracted glass.

Here, blessed Mary and humble Joseph
are transfixed in golden beams
streaming towards them from the Christ-child,
deeply alive in cradle strewn with straw.

Ox peeps adoringly over shoulder of Ass
as the shepherd and his boy look on,
crozier, an icon of pastoral love to come,
carried proudly.
Star above all, shining in majestic glory,
a portal through which heaven comes to earth.

I see the telling of this in the left window
as Angel Gabriel, deep in converse with God’s chosen One,
seeks to draw from her a ‘Yes’
that comes from the heart,
And challenges us too.

The triptych of God’s love
is completed in the third window ,
that of Presentation
where The child of God touches the waiting Simeon,
as the old man tenderly takes, holds, and blesses Him
in gentle and awesome thanksgiving,
which releases his own soul into God’s arms,
slipping into a peace his heart longs for.

Three God moments dance in coloured glass
opening our hearts, our souls, our vision,
Calling us to glorify, presenting ourselves
to receive the light of our Salvation
and the grace of God’s Incarnate love.

For this we came.

[Mr G. 23rd July 2026]

I visited High Easter Church on July 19th to take part in Choral Evensong.
I was fascinated by the East Window and above is my reflection.
Choral Evensong was sung beautifully using the Book of Common Prayer
and accompanied by a fine organist. The congregation welcome was kind
and warm, and the after service coffee was splendid!
Should you ever find yourself in that part of Essex, the postcode is CM1 4QW.
It’s a fine church with Saxon roots, roman brick and bits from almost every age.
Unusually it has a window dedicated to St. Valentine!

Sunrise from Lindisfarne over the Farne Islands, St Cedd’s day, October 26th 2025. Photo by Gill Henwood.

October 26th is St. Cedd’s Day:

The little that is known about Saint Cedd comes to us mainly from the writing of Saint Bede in his Ecclesiastical History Of The English People.
Cedd was born in the kingdom of Northumbria and brought up on the island of Lindisfarne by Saint Aidan. He was one of four brothers: Chad (originally Ceadda), Cynibil and Caelin being his siblings. The first datable reference to Cedd by Bede makes clear that he was a priest by the year 653. It is likely that Cedd was oldest of the brothers and was acknowledged the head of the family. While he was alive, he seems to have taken the lead, while Chad was his chosen successor.
Cedd was sent out from Lindisfarne to take the Gospel to Essex, landing after a sea journey at Bradwell where, today, there is still a Chapel built on the foundation of Cedd’s monastery.
As well as this mission, Cedd also established a monastery at Lastingham in the Cleveland Hills. From here he established a mission in North Yorkshire. When he died of the Plague, his brother Chad took over. Today, at Lastingham, the crypt chapel is said to date back to Cedd’s time.

Learning of God from Island Saints.

I come to this Holy place
where, when the tide turns,
silence and conversation
meld into stillness.
God is here.
His sanctuary, enclosed by the sea,
welcomes those who are seeking after meaning.

What am I looking for, here on Lindisfarne,
where the spirit of Aidan
gathered together those chosen by God,
on whom the Saint poured out his soul,
his faith, into their waiting hearts?

I sense and seek the company
of those who first prayed here
through the storms of the sea, the blowing of the winds
sweeping over the Headland Heugh,
in the strange light of pale day
and the fading shadows of eventide.
In silence and in prayer; through learning and in listening;
by becoming steeped in God’s word;
twelve young monks, were inspired to mission the good,
Gospel news, of Jesus Christ.

Cedd and Chad, Cynibil, Caelin and companions
allowed Jesus to be etched upon their hearts,
discovering a love which must be shared.
How else would others inhale God’s blessing
and love in their own lives
and cause a world’s darkness to be bathed and transformed
by the dazzling light of God’s Spirit?

And I, kneeling somewhere between the waves and shore
of my inner being, must hear anew this call
to open the Gospel pages illuminated by God within my soul,
that through me also
God may mission to others His amazing and saving Love.

Mr. G.
St Cedd’s Day 2025.

Dawn over Lindisfarne, taken from Bamburgh by Gill Henwood. St Cedd’ s Day 2025