[Magdalen] Pilgrimage

[Roger Stokes]

I was on the annual pilgrimage to Little Gidding today. I understand 
that the committee were getting increasingly concerned over recent week 
at the expected attendance, perhaps five times the normal number.  The 
identity of the pilgrimahe leader probably had something to do with it - 
the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.  Others know him as Lord 
Williams of Oystermouth and still more in his former role as Archbishop 
of Canterbury.

He spoke about George Herbert's poems, drawing out the meaning of six of 
them in a way that showed his deep understanding not only of poetry but 
also the Bible. Totally absent were complex sentences and obscure 
reasoning as he almost chatted about them without a text (apart from the 
poems themselves) in his sermons at the Eucharist and Evensong as well 
as the reflections at the other four stations. It was a privilege to be 
there and thge weather was kind to us - which was just as well as the 
numbers meant there was not room enough for us in all the churches we 
visited.

As I took my seat for the opening Eucharist I didn't notice who was sat 
behind me, Rowan's house-guest and another retired Primate I have only 
seen once before - and that at a distance at a consecration in Rome.  
Yes, +Frank Griswold was there and walked with us.  He seems fit and 
well and I managed a few words with him in which he said he was enjoying 
doing what he wants and steering clear of the politics.  Earlier I had 
overheard him saying that when asked about an issue "That's up to 
Katharine" and that he had learnt from George Carey what not to do.

Roger