Creating a Chapel in the Woods .......

When I first moved to Shotley Fields I was not entirely sure whether the woodland between the house and the road belonged to the house, or whether it belonged to someone else.

Consequently I was delighted when I was told yes, it is your Wood aka Spinney.

Within the woodland there is a particularly lovely tranquil space which I immediately thought of as a possible chapel.

The clearing consists of a space around which stand a number of trees in a half circle like columns with the 'walls' beyond being almost entirely filled with Holly and Ivy, glimpses of the sky through clerestory 'windows' in the ceilings, each feature brings the sense of a natural God given space where it is possible to reflect on the mystery of nature and the sheer wonder of creation.

Today I came one step nearer to achieving the possibility of the chapel's creation as I  cleared the ground and set the floor with wood chippings.

Googling Chapel in the Woods elicited a response about the chapel at Graceland. It is early days so I am not entirely sure whether it will be possible to market my woodland chapel as a wedding venue but I am sure that even if it is not Graceland, it will be a place of grace where it will be possible to sing the Te Deum amongst the natural environment by which we are surrounded.

Most Church floors have to be vacuumed but the Woodland Chapel at Snods Edge will have to be weeded! So the volunteers who have offered to assist will always have some work to do enabling nature to celebrate without celebrating so much that the chapel disappears under the weight of undergrowth masking it from view.

The Chapel will also be used on Sunday mornings as a 'Forest' Sunday School. Clearly wellington boots will be necessary on those Sundays when the Children gather to play games, have fun and learn a little about the Church and the Christian Faith.

Now that the Chapel is prepared it needs to be furnished with suitable rustic seating but I am looking forward to venturing out to say Mattins with the Birds, the Squirrels and the Woodpecker for company with the possibility of a Red Kite circling overhead.

One thing is for certain when I say the Versicle:

O Lord, open my lips

The response from Vincent the Cockerel will be resounding as he seeks to alert the whole neighbourhood to his magisterial presence.

Of course he is especially full of himself having ensured that one of his broody hens has hatched a chicken, named by Billy from the Sunday School, Fluffy, and even as I blog another broody hen, this time one of the rescue hens from the Hen Welfare Trust is sitting deep in the undergrowth below a Rhododendren Bush with at least six eggs, maybe more.

So doubtless Vincent will soon need to be telling the world all about the new Chickens.

But I suspect that the most appropriate Canticle will be The Song of Creation:

bless the lord all that / grows in the / ground:
sing his / praise and ex / alt him for / ever.

When I lived in Biddenham the great event of Christmas was the annual carol concert in the Churchyard, outside, in the open air, under the Cedars of Lebanon. Families slipping silently into the church yard to sing carols of praise and wonderment, celebrating the miraculous birth that was about to happen.

There is I am pleased to say some momentum for replicating this event in Shotley Fields. Carols in the Spinney, Carols under the boughs, and we do have Holly, lots of Holly and ivy too.

So I guess that this Christmas there will be the possibility of a crowd of festive carollers gathering in the chapel in the wood to Sing  The Holly and the Ivy








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