Have you ever made a pilgrimage? Do you know someone who has? Many of you know that I walked the camino in 2010. That 980km from Irùn to Fisterra via Santiago de Compostela was much more than just a walk; for me it was a pilgrimage. Any journey can be a pilgrimage when an inward journey accompanies an outward journey, when we don't just seek to be somewhere else but to become someone else. All over Darwin, from all different backgrounds and traditions, there are people who have had such experience or would like to. And, of course, there are also many who have made an outward journey to Darwin—many backpackers and grey nomads—who may be seeking an inward journey. This feast day is an opportunity to gather such people together around the Scriptures and sacrament and share together in prayer and breaking of bread, to offer to walk with them and to invite them to the way of Jesus. So, for all pilgrims, hikers, backpackers, sojourners, nomads, wayfarers, refugees, bushwalkers, trekkers, trampers, migrants, alpinists, wanderers and others: bring your credencial, scallop, trekking poles, walking stick or backpack and join us at Christ Church Cathedral Darwin at 6pm on 25 July. Please contact me if you'd like to assist with the readings or liturgy at this ecumenical service. ¡ultreia! Cam.

[God] is a God of the Way. His sanctuary is the Mobile Ark, His house is a tent, His Altar a cairn of rough stones... He leads [the Israelites] out of Egypt... There He gives them their Solemn Feast, the Passover: a feast of roasted lamb and bitter herbs, of bread baked not in an oven but on a hot stone. And he commands them to eat "in haste," with shodden feet and sticks in hand, to remind them, forever that their vitality lies in movement. – Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines (New York, N.Y.: Penguin, 1987) pp 194-195

This Thursday evening at 6pm we join with our brothers and sisters at Darwin Memorial Uniting Church to celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, and the Dean will be preaching. As the week between Ascension Day and Pentecost is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this is an especially welcome invitation – if you're free to come, please join us!

Ascension Day proclaims that there is no sphere, however secular, in which Christ has no rights—and no sphere in which his followers are absolved from obedience to him. Instead of it being a fairy tale from the pre-space age, Christ’s ascension is the guarantee that he has triumphed over the principalities and powers, so that at his name “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10–11)

Bruce M. Metzger, “The Meaning of Christ’s Ascension,” in Search the Scriptures: New Testament Studies in Honor of Raymond T. Stamm (ed. J. M. Myers, O. Reimherr, and H. N. Bream; Leiden: Brill, 1969), 128; as quoted in Michael F. Bird, Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 459.

Palm Sunday 9 April 7.30 am & 9.00 am Eucharist Holy Tuesday 11 April 7.00 pm Tenebrae Holy Wednesday 12 April 7.30 am Chrism Mass Maundy Thursday 13 April 7.00 pm Institution of the Eucharist & Foot Washing Good Friday 14 April 9.00 am Liturgy 12 noon Stations of the Cross Holy Saturday 15 April 5.00 pm Evening Prayer Easter Sunday 16 April 6.00 am Service of the Light 9.00 am Eucharist & Confirmation

Knowledge is a good thing, and education and the gaining of wisdom something all in the Church should encourage. Therefore on Sunday 29th January we will mark the start of the new school year with a blessing of the backpacks. This is not just for school kids, but for everyone involved in education: teachers, parents, university lecturers and students. So come for this special service at 9 am, and remember to bring your backpacks!

Join us for Christmas at Christ Church Cathedral! Our celebrations start on Sunday 18 December at 6 pm with the traditional service of Nine Lessons. The on Christmas Eve we will hold our Children's Service where our younger parishioners set up the Nativity followed by Blessing of the Crib. This is then followed at 11.30 pm with Midnight Mass. This year at the start of this service we will also mark the 42nd Anniversary of Cyclone Tracy. The Celebrant and Preacher at Midnight Mass will be Bishop Greg. On Christmas morning, Sunday 25 December, there will be Communion Services at 7.30 and 9.00 am. The full schedule: Saturday 18 December at 6 pm - Nine Lessons and Carols Saturday 24 December at 5 pm - Children's Service and Blessing of the Crib Saturday 24 December at 11.30 pm - Midnight Mass Sunday 25 December at 7.30 am - Holy Communion Sunday 25 December at 9.00 am - Holy Communion