THE PARISH CHURCH FOR LYTHAM

Last Updated 19/05/2008 22:34:12

Looking Up, Looking Down

The first couple of minutes were a little challenging. I was held in my seat by straps and I had checked the door was closed. So no problem there. I could see the dials in front of me and had every confidence in the person to my right. But the rate at which the ground fell away beneath us was quite alarming. Most worrying was the lack of visible means of support. I was in a small two seater Cessna and looking at its wings, I was more concerned that one might snap off if I so much as sneezed.

I was in the air because the staff at Church House, Blackburn had been so glad to see the back of me, they presented me with a free flying lesson at Blackpool airport. They knew I had an interest in aircraft and flying in general possibly because one night when no-one was around, my then PA and I mischievously decorated the Diocesan map that hangs in the office of the Diocesan Secretary with pictures of aircraft flying over Lancashire. The type of aircraft was chosen to fit the characteristics of the parish it was ‘flying over’. I cannot recall what I put over Lytham. I am sure it was something very stylish, and smart!

After a few moments, I was feeling a little more relaxed in the Cessna. We climbed to two thousand feet, levelled off and I took the controls. Previously I had told Rebekah that I would try and make sure we flew over the Vicarage but sadly this was not possible. The pilot of a light aircraft who happened to wander over Lytham at the same time therefore became the beneficiary of Rebekah’s enthusiastic waving and kisses borne aloft with much love and devotion. I am told that the pilot’s wife who was with him for the first time took a lot of convincing that this was a case of mistaken identity and that the two little children in the woman’s arms below who were calling out ‘Hello, Daddy,’ were also equally mistaken.

We flew off to Heysham, circled around a bit, changed the throttle setting once or twice, banked here and there and came back past Fleetwood and parallel to the front at Blackpool.

It was strange looking down on the Tower. Like most people, I am used to looking up at it and watching it tower over me. I don’t know whether you have been to the top of the Tower where you are invited to stand on a toughened glass panel and look down to the ground hundreds of feet below. There are no visible signs of support there, either. And here I was, flying way above the top of this great landmark of the Fylde peninsula. It looked different when seen from above. While I was due soon to return to earth with a bit of a bump, for a short while I had risen above normal every day life. No longer held down by the gravity of day to day concerns, I felt free, excited and exhilarated.

Faith can have the same effect on us. On occasions, it can make us feel almost light-headed in our delight in the reassuring presence of God who makes us look at life – and in particular ourselves – in a new way. But it can also remind us of the intensity and fragility of life. Faith helps you rise above your concerns but is often most valuable when it helps you to face your fears and lack of visible, physical support on earth. Faith is valuable in helping our hearts move heavenward while also keeping us grounded in reality. The cross, while embedded in the earth, also points to heaven. Sometimes we find Christ by looking within and at other times by looking up. So faith is not so much about believing the unbelievable but about engaging in life on earth in a heavenward kind of way. 

By the way, we landed without incident. On final approach, I managed to line us up on the runway, although I think I misjudged the attitude of the aircraft a little in relation to the runway. The pilot made a slight adjustment so we didn’t break the nose wheel. (Until then I hadn’t known that aircraft had attitudes. I suppose some comment I had made earlier had upset it. Next time I’ll apologise as I am climbing aboard, just in case. I usually find this works best.)

Looking back on the flight, I received the greatest praise for my ability to taxi the aircraft along the runway. Not very encouraging, I am afraid, for a budding pilot. But then again, I don’t think the instructor had flown with many priests dressed in their clerical suits and collars. Just as well Gail wasn’t around with her camera.

Keeping life in perspective involves the grace to look above and beyond our immediate concerns in a way that helps us re-engage with them more faithfully. The cross of Christ relates not only to one period in time some two thousand years ago but to times today when we have to look up and look down at the same time. These times of death and resurrection can constantly inform our lives of the way in which we can make the most sense of this sometimes exciting and at other times crazy gift of life we share, even and especially when visible means of support are absent.

Andrew Clitherow.