Love in Thin Places

Confessions of a Cathedral Chaplain

David Grieve

• Publisher: Sacristy Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781789590142
• eBook ISBN: 9781789590166
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

In Love in Thin Places, David Grieve, a chaplain at Durham Cathedral, invites us to join him as he walks around the greatest of the Northern cathedrals. In this building that has offered sanctuary, silence and space for prayer to many over the centuries, we meet not only saints like Cuthbert, Bede and Godric but are also confronted with the questions and concerns of today's pilgrims and visitors and not least the chaplain himself.

The poems have been written over a period of thirty years, in some cases as a direct result of personal experiences or impressions received while at the Cathedral. The Cathedral is a Thin Place, where the distance between the close presence of God and the realities of life on earth seems to shorten. This is building with its many functions as a house of worship, music, art and other exhibitions, university graduations and all manner of events is itself a medium through which we can draw closer to God, speaking as it does of him.

Preface

I first saw Durham as a small child back in the 1950s, out of a window on the London-to-Newcastle night sleeper train, a real engine, coal-fired and steaming. We spent the night in a siding somewhere near York. Mum made sure we boys were awake in time to see Durham, and then we arrived at Newcastle in time for breakfast. We were travelling up to stay with family. Once, at least, we drove up from our home in Kent; we have photos of Palace Green with our car and hardly another parked outside lecture rooms, which I would later attend myself. And we once went to a Son et Lumière in the Cathedral. I still remember 60 years later the awe and mystery that I felt on that visit. I didn’t know then the phrase “Thin Place”, but Durham Cathedral was thin to me from then on.

Durham was where I went to university, at St John’s College, where I studied theology and grew in faith; where I met my wife. County Durham was where, after two curacies, we returned for my call to be Vicar of Pelton in the 1980s. It’s the county in which we’ve lived ever since.

During an illness which led to my early retirement and changed my life entirely, I began to write poetry. In 1989 we moved to a Durham suburb called Pity Me, and I did pity myself quite frequently, but writing and learning how to write became part of that sense of vocation which never left me. I was so blessed to be mentored by Dr Ruth Etchells, who rubbed off many of my poetic rough edges, opened my eyes to poetry making, and was a friend praying for my family.

A colleague mentioned the possibility of being a volunteer Cathedral Chaplain at Durham every so often. I got in touch with the Cathedral and soon was shadowing a seasoned chaplain. I’ve been doing it ever since, astounded and blessed by this God-breathed building. I still find surprises and delights almost each time I allow the building to speak to me, and have often found myself having to be still and write down. I’ve included many of these in this collection, which is my Confessions (Confessions of faith rather than misdemeanours, as we moderns often assume). This Cathedral and so many sacred spaces have ways of speaking for themselves and pointing towards God who is love. I hope to be there often in years to come, and that it will be visible somewhere in the City of God at Kingdom Come.

I am very glad to have been published again by Sacristy Press, and give my heartfelt thanks to Richard Hilton, Thomas Ball, Erik Sharman, Natalie Watson and all the team for their friendly, efficient and kind help.

David Grieve
Castle Eden, Co. Durham, November 2018

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Lindisfarne, Durham and the Journey Between

In Durham

In the Nave in the Way

Further In

The Dying of the Saint

Holy Island to Durham

Glory and Heartache

Word in Our Hearing

Jesus Baptised

Faith

Nine Altars Prayer

At the Water’s Edge

Prayer in a Thin Place

Ash Wednesday

So it is Lent

When It Comes Down to It

At the North Quire Aisle Crucifix

On Being Drawn In

On St Hild’s Day

Be In No Hurry to Pray

Drawing Closer, Please

Prayer after the Venerable Bede

Prayer on a Dark Day

The Chapel of the Holy Cross

On This Particular Day

Meri Dies

Congregation

The Durham Light Infantry Chapel

My National Poetry Day Poem

Cuthbert’s Day

Glory on the Mountain

Now You Know. You Heard It from Me

On Being Inquisitive, Acquisitive, Agnostic and Faithful

I Think

Psalm for Today

God

Oned

Glad to Be Here

An Active Memory

Relics

One Day It Will Cover the Mountains

Back Here Again

Lego Cathedral

Coming and Going With God

Saying It Again

Peace and Justice

In a While

Ascension Day

Come, Holy Spirit

Trinity Sunday

At the Gregory Chapel

Holy City

The Thin Place

Each Visit a Pilgrimage

...

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• Lindisfarne, Durham and the Journey Between
• In Durham
• In the Nave in the Way
• Further In
• The Dying of the Saint
• Holy Island to Durham
• Glory and Heartache
• Word in Our Hearing
• Jesus Baptised
• Faith
• Nine Altars Prayer
• At the Water’s Edge
• Prayer in a Thin Place
• Ash Wednesday
• So it is Lent
• When It Comes Down to It
• At the North Quire Aisle Crucifix
• On Being Drawn In
• On St Hild’s Day
• Be In No Hurry to Pray
• Drawing Closer, Please
• Prayer after the Venerable Bede
• Prayer on a Dark Day
• The Chapel of the Holy Cross
• On This Particular Day
• Meri Dies
• Congregation
• The Durham Light Infantry Chapel
• My National Poetry Day Poem
• Cuthbert’s Day
• Glory on the Mountain
• Now You Know. You Heard It from Me
• On Being Inquisitive, Acquisitive, Agnostic and Faithful
• I Think
• Psalm for Today
• God
• Oned
• Glad to Be Here
• An Active Memory
• Relics
• One Day It Will Cover the Mountains
• Back Here Again
• Lego Cathedral
• Coming and Going With God
• Saying It Again
• Peace and Justice
• In a While
• Ascension Day
• Come, Holy Spirit
• Trinity Sunday
• At the Gregory Chapel
• Holy City
• The Thin Place
• Each Visit a Pilgrimage