Readings
Intercessionary prayer
Having gathered in this Oasis of Peace: having come from many places and with many differing thoughts: we pause in the quiet to reflect on our lives, and to offer to that which we find most holy our worship and our prayers – our hopes and our dreams – our confessions – our thanks for the blessings we have received.
We
Harvest
We gather at this time of harvest, to give thanks for the many blessings we receive, and to acknowledge the work which has made them possible. So much of our lives is disconnected from the earth which sustains us, and we pause now to remember its bounty.
Along with the bounty, life on earth meets much hardship. At this time of
Grandparents
When it comes to love, Grandparents know best. They love their grandchildren without condition. They love them for who they are nothing more, nothing less. If the grandchildren aren’t doing very well at school or not happy in work or relationship, they are still loved unconditionally. Grandparents are proud of the triumphs and successes. They
A meditation on angels
Let us open the eye of imagination. Let us see the spirit within us as a pilgrim walking the path of life. We come into life unknowing and dependent on a love that will nurture and protect us, but the time comes when this love releases us to go our own way. There have been
Grace
Grace is a word I had some resistance to for a long time. I associated it with the line from the song, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” Saving, wretch, all that stuff does not compute with me. But some time ago I had an experience of grace, when
Sacred
I had my first spiritual experience at about ten years old, on a family holiday on Rousay in Orkney. There are few people on this wild island, but there is archaeological evidence of ancient human habitation in abundance. One evening I left the holiday cottage for the Neolithic burial chamber in the field nearby. I
Trust
‘Trust is something that must be earned’ is a common phrase, but if we expect others to earn our trust, we place the responsibility on them. We only take responsibility for ourselves when we give trust freely.
For me, trust is something that must be learned. This lesson has not been easy for me. My subconscious
Truth
I grew up in the Anglican Church, but the ‘sin and salvation’ side of Christianity never resonated with me. At school I became fascinated by the different approaches of world religions to ‘the big questions’ and decided to study Theology and Religious Studies at university. The more I studied world religions, the more I understood