Life in Bristol as a post-grad
Dad has often said to me in the past few years that we are living in special times, because the current Archbishop of Canterbury is an absolute corker. Last month I was lucky enough to start a Masters course focused on Archbishop Rowan’s theology, and I can echo Dad’s thoughts with great enthusiasm. Many of us know that Rowan Williams is a complicated thinker with a voice like a mansion and the eyebrows of an eccentric, but we can also give thanks for a leader whose greatness lies in his humble, God-focused integrity. Long may that kind of leadership continue.
This year is my fourth in Bristol, and I am feeling more and more at home here. My housemate Mike (also from Winchester originally) works for Christian Aid and recently spent a few weeks in Sierra Leone with some of his co-workers. Mike is a remarkable tea expert, and has around seventy different kinds of tea in a box under his bed. A few weeks ago I got him to sniff randomly selected teas with his eyes closed, and he identified them correctly nine out of ten times. I was fairly stunned. He also has an impressive collection of whiskeys, but I have not yet subjected Mike to a whiskey smell test. All in all, I am feeling settled and at home.
Because my course of study this year is ‘self-directed’, I will not be receiving any formal teaching. It is just me, an idea, a library, and twelve months. Help! Fortunately I will be receiving guidance from a brilliant theologian called Gavin D’Costa. I had not quite twigged until recently how important our intellectual development is in shaping our faith, and I think this year will be important for my heart as well as for my head. Having read a book about the Nicene Creed, for example, I now feel my mind full of fresh understanding about why we say what we say on Sunday mornings: ‘We believe in one God...’.
Over the past few years the practice of contemplative prayer has become an important part of my life. Moving so often between Winchester and Bristol has made the practice all the more necessary. It is one of the few things in my life that does not change. I have been encouraged by different teachers to commit myself to a discipline of prayer, and I find that time spent in the morning and evening sitting in the presence of God helps me to root myself. Often we think of prayer as talking to God (or even talking at God) so it has been a huge help for me to realise that prayer can also be about listening, or just being in the presence of a divine, loving gaze. I sit up straight, close my eyes, and try to still my mind by silently repeating a prayer word – some people use ‘Abba’, some use ‘Maranatha’, some use ‘Jesus’. Often nothing much happens, but that’s not the point. I heard a story recently about a woman saying, ‘Nothing ever happens during my prayer, but it has changed my whole life.’
We live in dramatic times – economically, technologically, and spiritually. I often find myself wondering what good spending time each day in prayer actually does. But then I realise that prayer is a stable, God-centred foundation on which everything else in life can be built.
Philip Seal