Coincidences seem to pop up quite at random. Some, I don’t believe, are random at all.

Late yesterday afternoon I walked into the village of Sourton, Devon, UK on a rail trail called “the Granite Way.” I first headed toward the church, which was easy because the back of their property borders this old rail line now paved .

I saw a man talking on the cemetery but went right to the church building to see it was open. (The open churches usually get locked around 4:00 or so it seems.) The woman inside was married to the raking man; she was preparing things for the Sunday service. We got talking about the old, old church and the congregation of people who worship there.

There have been Christians worshipping in that spot since the 900s. The building is much newer: or only dates to the 1400s. I was awed that I would have the privilege of praying Morning Prayer with them this morning … IF I could find a campsite nearby.

As we talked we both agreed that we preferred quiet meditative worship to what she called “the happy clappy” loud style thatvappeals to others. Then for some reason she mentioned her sister in the north who had been to several retreats with the Northumbria Community. *And there’s the coincidence.*

Ann belongs to Northumbria. So of course  I mentioned that connection. And in this morning’s worship they used a blessing that came from the Community, one that Ann has shared with me when I set off on long hikes.

The ‘coincidence’ of that connection led me to ask if it was okay for me to tent that night up towards the Granite Way. And that was just fine with them. I told them about sleeping on a church porch earlier in the week. They told me they’d had people coming off the rail trail in rainy weather seeking shelter at the church. One of those people later sent them a nice blanket “to share with other pilgrims in need.” So I was given the night’s use of a warm blanket. From a fellow pilgrim.

When I got into Sticklepath, Devon this afternoon I stopped at the Church of St Mary which was close to where I came into the village. There has been “over 900 years” of worship in this place, though the current church was only built in 1875 to replace a really worn down earlier one. The time I took there made me too late to get in on the last tour at the Museum in the center of town. But after looking around outside I asked the desk attendant if there was a shred of possibility that I could camp on the flat garden lawn out back. She checked. No. But I could camp in their small field “over there” behind their car park.

Very convenient for me. And coincidentally puts me near the village shop across the street where I can get coffee in the morning.