The walking guide that we followed assiduously said, ‘when you reach here you have crossed Foxtor Mire and are alive to tell the tale’. It was probably irresponsible for two people of broadly sound mind to cross a notoriously dangerous Dartmoor bog when there was no compulsion to do so. But what is compulsion when it comes to an itch that needs to be scratched?
I was given Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ to read as a set book when I was still at prep school. Aged about eleven I was gripped by the descriptive writing that took me to Dartmoor and that, far more than the tale of the hound itself, made its lasting mark. I later watched the various film versions and again and again I have been fascinated by the fictional Grimpen mire which, it turns out, is based on the very real Foxtor Mire. Now, having stood there too, I completely understand why Conan Doyle’s imagination was provoked by the mire and the surrounding bleakness, the isolated houses and the occasional tree, granite memorials to victims of horrible deaths, and the empty skyline.
I have always wanted to go to that place, to scratch the itch of understanding, and I feel better for having done so.
The whole of life can seem like that mire. It is full of hazards and dangerous moments, it is littered with the memories to those who got things wrong but there are places of sanctuary too, as well as safe paths. As the nations of the world move inexorably to more dangerous times if we have found faith in Christ we have found a guide to keep us on a path that will not drop away to nothing; our church fellowships provide safe places of refuge from the mists and rain when it is too risky to move at all.
John Bunyan used not dissimilar imagery in his ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’. In that tale there are hazards as well, but there the final crossing is to a place even safer than the higher ground beyond the bog; it is to the Celestial City.
We may not want to scratch the itch of experiencing more dangerous times but there are many hazards that cannot be avoided, even if we close our eyes and hope for sunshine.
A Prayer
Lord, we are living in bewildering and more risky times, or so it seems. Help us to keep close to you so that we stay safe and do not stumble in the mire. Give us a sense of the blessing of fellowship with like minded people as we shelter from the rain, and together let us step safely into the mist. Bring us eventually to the Celestial City and your hearth and home, for the sake of Jesus through whom we are alive to tell the tale. Amen.