“English” language resources
By many different paths
O God,
the Ultimate, the One,
we, who came here by many different paths,
greet you and bow before you.
We were not just placed here on this planet.
We grew with it, out of it,
yet always in its web of life.
We were many things before we were human.
We were many humans before we
This is the place
Great Hucklow, Derbyshire
There’s a place where I can go
when I feel low, when I feel blue…
(The Beatles, ‘There’s a Place’, 1963)
There’s a place I came to
so often in those days.
It was a very special place
for me back then.
To come here now stirs memories
of friends and lovers lost,
of hopes and
A prayer
Eternal God, we seek through prayer to uplift our minds and hearts and refresh our spirits.
Spirit of love be with us.
We are grateful to share fellowship with each other but we come with haunting images in our minds images of people in distress, people looking for sanctuary – children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, people from across
The same stars shine: Christmas 2020
The same stars shine on us
as shone on Bethlehem
when Jesus was born.
They shone on the same world
with light that even then was
ancient beyond comprehension.
It was a world of misery and unrest,
beset by war and pestilence,
oppression and bitterness,
cruelty, grief, and pain.
It was a world not so very unlike
our
These are the times – a meditation on truth
` Beauty is truth, truth beauty,- that is is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.`
John Keats (1820) from Ode on a Grecian Urn
Truth is unblemished and clean,
like a snowdrop piercing the hard earth,
or a slender branch or leaf,
or a curlew`s call across the dark moor.
Truth arrests
A prayer for Lent – beauty for ashes
Here in this meeting place where many others have been before us,
we surrender ourselves to a stillness of Spirit – a stillness of mind and body
that connects us to the Eternal Spirit of God.
Even though it is beyond our complete understanding, there are many things which speak to us:
In times of stillness
Eternal Spirit
Tune: St Agnes, Durham (Spirit Divine! Attend our Prayer)
Eternal spirit, holy one
we praise your many names.
May every hand and heart and soul
nurture your sacred flame.
May we have all we need to eat
and then enough to share;
forgive those who have done us wrong
and help all in our care.
May we be
Late autumn meditation
Autumn falls into winter,
its beauty drifting down
to be a carpet for the drowsy earth.
It is a time of remembrance –
for all saints and all souls,
for all the dead of war,
and for all the dead of peace.
It is a time to remember those once close to us
who have lived their