Theme “Rest”
Winter solstice meditation
We pause as the path of the sun reverses, seemingly holding its place for a moment of turning. Let us delve into the gifts of darkness at the winter solstice. We follow curiosity and contemplation down into the cold earth, taking a journey to the world below the surface. Here we find acorns, cached by
This day is warm
This day is warm
The air is still
Gone is the threat
Of thunder
And rain.
This day requires
A slowing down
A letting go
Of musts and
Shoulds and
Oughts.
This day
Is a day
Simply
To Be.
Today is a day
To open
Her good god
She lay
Exhausted,
Her good God
Abandoned,
Ravaged by
Her grief
The fragile cloth of her life
Torn and tattered
The tender flesh of her soul
Ripped and bleeding.
And the voice of the abandoned God
Spoke gently
Dropping still dews of quietness*
Into her fevered mind,
And
She
Rested
In the arms
Of her
Many paths one welcome*
Welcome,
Welcome to this table,
Whatever path has brought you here,
Whatever load you carry,
Let us rest a while together.
May our hearts be open to accept what comes to us as a stranger,
May our minds be open to wonder at what we do not understand,
And may our spirits be nourished by our
The midst of a busy city
In the midst of the busy city we find:
a sanctuary
a place of quiet
a place for reflection
So let us pray:
Into the stillness and the quietness of this place come the noises of the city:
A train rumbles through the railway tunnels below, reminds us that people like us are born travellers – but along
Heavy Baggage
Words of the Muslim Sufi Mystic Jelaluddin Rumi
“We worship devoutly when we’re with others . . . as minerals in the ground rise inside trees and become a tree, as a plant faces an animal and enters the animal, so a human can put down the heavy body baggage and be light”
Let us pray
In these