View from the pulpit

The Rev Rosie Frew highlights the influence of pilgrimage and walking outdoors on mission.

I FIRST visited Melrose in 2013 when my husband and I walked St Cuthbert’s Way.

Not that I saw much of the town…the bus dropped us at the Abbey, the starting point, and there was just time for a cuppa and some photos before we had to get going. Climbing up to the saddle of the Eildon Hills we enjoyed spectacular views of Melrose on the one side and Bowden, the next stop on our journey, on the other.…little knowing that four years later I would be called to the united charge of Bowden and Melrose. Each year, early on Easter Sunday morning, locals and visitors, old and young, along with many dogs, gather for worship on the saddle and celebrate resurrection joy and hope.

This is my third charge. Each one has been very different and my ministry in each place has been shaped by locality, challenge and opportunity. The parish covers a large rural area. Melrose serves as shorthand for all the adjoining villages, each with its own individual identity and strong sense of community – Newstead, Gattonside, Darnick and Tweedbank.

Melrose is very busy all year round with many visitors enjoying the history, the shopping, the beautiful location, outdoor activities and the numerous big events that take place – the Melrose Sevens, the Borders Book Festival, the Melrose Music Festival to name but a few. Melrose Festival Week begins in the parish church with the Kirkin’ of the Melrosian and ends in the Abbey grounds with a short time of worship. Church is still very much part of the community and church folk are involved in all aspects of community life.

By contrast Bowden is a quiet village with no facilities apart from a well-used hall. Bowden Kirk sits just below in the valley of the Bowden Burn, a place of worship for almost 900 years. Lady Grissell Baillie, the first Deaconess of the Church of Scotland was appointed here and there is a memorial to her in the church. The Kirk is always open and is well visited. Those I meet always comment on feeling at peace in a holy place where people have gathered to worship over many centuries. A place where you can feel the stillness of God, interrupted only by birdsong.

We have fairly traditional Sunday morning worship in both buildings. Along with the Episcopal Church in Melrose we have been running Messy Church for almost six years now, gradually building up this new worshipping community, trying hard to find ways of bringing old and new together, trying to discern next steps as our ‘Messy kids’ get older.

It was walking that first brought me here and St Cuthbert’s Way has opened up interesting opportunities for outreach. St Cuthbert’s Way Churches Together was formed in recent years, representatives of all the churches along the Way from Melrose to Lindisfarne coming together to look at ways of enhancing what was set up by the local councils as a long-distance walk and making it more intentional, more of a pilgrimage. We are ecumenical and cross border and when we get together we have so many ideas! It has been a joy to be a part of.

Within our new Presbytery of Lothian and Borders we are learning from each other about the opportunities for worship and mission that come through pilgrimage, walking and being in the outdoors. 

The Rev Rosie Frew is minister of Bowden and Melrose Church.