10 Days Pilgrimage around LAMP churches
The clergy of Lecale Area Mission Partnership have been marking this season of 10 Days of Prayer in our Diocese with a pilgrimage around the 14 Churches of LAMP.
The Rector of LAMP, the Very Revd Henry Hull (who is also the Dean of Down) along with his Team Vicars the Revd Capt Scott McDonald and the Revd Adrian Dorrian, set off from Down Cathedral on the Ascension Day. Between Ascension and Pentecost, they will walk around 50 miles between the 14 Churches of LAMP, stopping at each one to pray through the Thy Kingdom Come Daily Offices. Thy Kingdom Come is a global movement of prayer which was initiated by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
Dean Hull explained the background to the pilgrimage, as well as the significance of some of the places it passes through:
“LAMP is a relatively new grouping of churches. A few years ago, Canon Cecil Wilson had the idea of walking to and praying in each church during the 10 Days between Ascension and Pentecost as a symbolic ‘beating of the bounds’. The following year, we actively connected our prayers in these ten days with Thy Kingdom Come. In previous years we’ve had several hundred people join in across the various legs of the pilgrimage. Obviously, that was impossible this year but we decided as a team, practising social distancing, that we would walk the route together. As well as praying in each of our parish churches, we take time to bless the towns and villages through which we travel, and stop at every church we pass to pray blessings upon our ecumenical neighbours as well.
“Indeed, we felt our journey of pilgrimage was particularly significant this year. The last major act of public worship in the Diocese before lockdown was to mark St Patrick’s Day on 17 March in Down Cathedral. It is through Patrick that God gave to Ireland ‘the benediction of [His] Holy Church’ when the saint landed at Saul nearly 1600 years ago.
“We’ve been praying each weekday, and of course every Sunday, in Down Cathedral since lockdown began; it is a privilege to be able to broadcast worship through the Cathedral’s webcam, but it is a great sadness that only two or three of us are able to be present in the Cathedral.
“These ten days have been a time for us to continue the work of prayer in all of our churches here in LAMP. We are also looking forward to making space in the Cathedral available for private prayer from 1 June.”