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Strangers and Pilgrims
I was born, although I didn't realise it at the time, being so young, within sight of the North York Moors. In the days of my youth, when cars were few and ubiquitous off-road drivers with their incontinent dogs were a pestilence as yet undreamed of, I wandered, carefree, through knee-high heather. My knees were nearer to the ground in those days.
Even when I sojourned among the streets of Middlesbrough I could gaze longingly to the south and see Roseberry Topping and so find solace in the fact that familiar territory was not far away. Being sent to the Scarborough area did not fill me with dread because I looked at a map and saw that the southern sweep of the same moors came up to the boundaries of the town. It was like a home posting, or so I thought.
I had the kind of shock that I received when I arrived here once before. Turning up on the proper day, at the correct time but in the wrong place, for a meeting, I found myself with a party of strangers, who though pleasant enough, were an unexpected crowd of people, none of whom I knew. Somehow, I had imagined that all the people in my new parish would be North Riding folk, like the ones that I had just left but from a bit further south. They were, and still are, nice enough, but many of them are immigrants from another part of Yorkshire altogether and they support a football team which doesn't wear red shirts, not even when playing away.
This is exactly how we Christians feel about the celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord. We are strangers and pilgrims in a land full of foreigners. All around are interlopers lauding chocolate eggs and praising fluffy bunnies, who shop on Good Friday and think that Easter is a Bank Holiday Monday. We suppose that they will be like us, overjoyed at the news of the empty tomb and the message that it conveys. We delude ourselves. Maundy Thursday and Easter Eve are times when they sit at home and watch soaps on the television and the solemnity of Holy Week and the exuberance of Easter Week completely passes them by. We can change this. The people in this parish are now well known to me, neighbours and friends. By our influence we can make the message of Easter well known to them so that they can share in our joy.
May God bless you all, Fr Allan
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