Ray Simpson’s Aussie Tour

I met Ray Simpson on a pilgrimage of ‘holy’ places in the UK 18 months ago. Ray lives on a tiny tidal island called Lindisfarne (also known as Holy Island), off the east coast of England. Ray was in his mid sixties and me in my mid twenties, however I sensed a real connection with this intriguing introvert. I didn’t know much about Ray when I was at Holy Island; however I discovered that he is the founder and Guardian of a contemporary Celtic Christian community, the Community of Aidan and Hilda, which is a dispersed global network of people concerned about spirituality for modern society.

From ‘The Open Gate’ guest house on Holy Island he facilitates a fresh cradling of Christian spirituality, through retreats, soul friendship, workshops and the provision of resources. He is also interested in models of emerging church with a Celtic influence and is a prolific author.
When I returned home from the UK, I had a strange feeling. It was a feeling of being an ‘alien’ in my birth place and home land of Australia. As an Anglo, I had been and walked in the footsteps of my forebears. I prayed in the same places that they had prayed for a millennium… I felt a connection to the land. I later realised that this may be an insight in to what indigenous people feel for this land. Some authors have suggested for a while now that ‘Australians’ need to understand the indigenous spirituality of this land as a way forward for understanding an authentic Australian spirituality. David Tacey’s book ‘Re-Enchantment’ has some brilliant insights into this concept, however I was really interested in getting Ray’s perspective as an ‘outsider’ and invited to come to Australia for the first time.
The Celts are ‘indigenous’ to the UK and a number of the principles of this spirituality resonates with Australia. Ray did seminars at Wellspring as well as some of the Baptist New Missional Communities while he was in Victoria. He also stayed at the Breakwater community. His idea for emerging church is that we don’t throw out the inherited church, but inherited church needs to nurture ways of renewal. He spoke about a Celtic model ‘Village of God’ which can encompass places for hospitality, prayer, celebrations etc. He also talked about the new monasticism movement. This is a way for everyday people to have a rhythm of life that was able to sustain busy people in the fragmented and hectic lifestyles we live in the west. Ray spent some time ‘dreaming’ in Uluru and is hoping to pen some of his thoughts and insights into Australian spirituality.

The Community of Aidan and Hilda have a vision of
· Cradling a contemporary Christian Spirituality
· To raise up a renewed pilgrim people
· To resource emerging church
· To heal wounded communities and land.

For further information see http://www.aidan.org.uk/
My wife Belinda is a long term explorer with the Aidan and Hilda community and is taking the first vows of a voyager. If people are interested in learning about the Aidan and Hilda ‘way of life’ please contact us on brent.lyonslee@urbanseed.org

Brent Lyons- Lee
January 2005.