Graham B. Usher - The Way Under Our Feet: A Spirituality of Walking

I am particularly grateful to John Inge for enabling me to have a period of sabbatical study leave to write this book and to my former colleagues in the Diocese of Worcester for stepping in to cover many of my responsibilities, especially Stuart Currie, Nikki Groarke, Robert Jones and Robert Paterson.

The Gerald Palmer Charitable Trust, the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and the Church Commissioners for England were generous in providing sabbatical grants, together with the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group who gave a Ministry Bursary Award. These enabled me to spend time walking, thinking and praying on the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos, in the Troodos Mountains and Akamas Peninsula of Cyprus, and in the Judean Wilderness of the Palestinian Territories. I am grateful to the principal, staff and ordinands of The Queens Theological Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham who provided me with a room to work in, with library and online resources, as well as good conversations and encouragement during my research and writing.

I have been enriched by the work of many authors. Robert Macfarlane, whose tweets and books I enjoy, helped with referencing some of Nan Shepherds work; Michelle Painter of West Midlands Police pointed to information about the use of gait in forensic identification; and orthopaedic surgeon Charlie Docker taught me the mechanics of walking. The staff of the British Library, especially Melanie Johnson, were unfailingly helpful.

I am grateful to Yasser, Amer, Shiraz, Mary, Akbar, Ismaeel, Sumbul, Abdullah, and Baqaburinedi (some decided to use pseudonyms) for sharing their moving experiences of walking as refugees. I will long remember the experience of sitting and listening to them. Andrew Harwood, Anne West, Joy and Jeremy Parkes, and Jeremy Thompson were crucial in setting up these meetings and creating spaces for trusted listening.

Helen Shakespeare proofread early chapters of the book, as well as undertaking some background research, recording refugee stories, and making travel arrangements. Catrine Ball and Leonie Andrewes helped with the transcripts of the stories of refugees. Katharine Bartlett proofread the whole manuscript and offered helpful suggestions.

I am indebted to Helen-Ann Hartley, Jonathan Kimber, Rick Simpson and David Wilbourne for commenting on the draft manuscript. Their guidance has enriched the final text, though any remaining errors are entirely my own.

Alison Barr at SPCK has been gracious with her editing and has undoubtedly enhanced the quality of the finished book.

None of this writing would have been possible without the support of Rachel, Olivia and Chad, and the walks we have enjoyed/suffered/complained about (delete as appropriate) over the years.

Every effort has been made to seek permission to use copyright material reproduced in this book. The publisher apologizes for those cases where permission might not have been sought and, if notified, will formally seek permission at the earliest opportunity. The publisher and author acknowledge with thanks permission to reproduce extracts from the following:

Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

W. H. Auden, For the Time Being, in Collected Poems, London, Faber and Faber, 1945.

Thomas A. Clark, In Praise of Walking and A Walk by Moonlight, are used with permission.

T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding, is reproduced with permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, in Early Poems, London, Penguin Books, 1998.

Taiz Community, Let all who are thirsty come, is copyright Ateliers et Presses de Taiz, 71250 Taiz, France. Used with permission.

R. S. Thomas, The Absence, Somewhere and Pilgrimage, in Collected Poems 1945-1990, London, Phoenix Press, 2001.

Wild Goose Resource Group, Iona Community, Will you come and follow me text excerpt from The Summons, by John L. Bell, copyright 1987 WGRG, c/o Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland.. Reproduced with permission.

Rowan Williams, Rublev, is used with permission.