Priest, painter, poet and photographer the Revd Ian Dyble loves north Norfolk.
For the past five years he has been Rector of the Weybourne Group and walking in his coastal parishes meets God in the wind-and-water landscapes and seascapes of creek, saltmarsh, strand and sky.
“As I walk out along this beautiful coast, in this corner of creation that is home for me, it really does feel like time has slowed down. It gives me the space to breathe and to simply be. And in this moment of grace a Voice speaks,” says Ian, in a book of his pictures and poems.
One Ian’s paintings features on the cover of the latest issue of the diocesan Prayer Diary.
Ian and his wife Jo arrived in north Norfolk as newlyweds, with a new job each, in 1986. Ian trained and worked as a solicitor in and around Cromer, and then as a barrister, but alongside his legal career there was another strong sense of vocation.
“I came to faith in Jesus in 1990 and very soon after that felt a call to full time ministry, but I also knew I had to be patient, that it wasn’t to be immediate,” said Ian.
He got involved in church leadership, planting and growth. Twenty years later he was ordained.
He served as a curate in London and then knew he was being called back to Norfolk, where he became Vicar of the Mitre benefice in Norwich, before he and Jo, who are now grandparents, returned to north Norfolk.
He began responding to the wonder of the scenery and wildlife all around him in paintings, photographs and poems – which were this year collected in his book A Moment Held.
In the introduction he says: “I often stop to take it all in, to be really present in the ‘now.’ I might take a photo and write down some lines of poetry and this seems to hold these precious moments for longer. I find that there is something very special, almost a sense of touching the eternal, in pausing like this and I realise that in these moments I have more by simple gift than I could ever possess by effort. How easy it would be to miss out on all of this in the busyness of life.”
Our cover picture is by Ian Dyble, from his book, A Moment Held, which is available from him (ian@weybourne.church) See more of his poetry and pictures on Instagram @idyble.
