For Lent: Feast on simple pleasures, and fast from all that gets our bodies and souls out of balance. Feast on kindness, and fast from sarcasm. Feast on compassion, and fast from holding grudges. Feast on patience, and fast from anxiety. Feast on peace, and fast from stirring up needless conflict. Feast on acceptance, and […]
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A tool to use while walking through Lent: the Stations of the Cross, responding to 14 questions from Jesus Ideas for using this tool during Lent: Idea: engage with the questions by contemplating them as Stations of the Cross. Participants might be invited to write their reflections on papers and put them in baskets or […]
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To accompany the lectionary readings on the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A — Psalm 119:33-40 and Romans 13:8-14 Supplies: a cross, towel and basin, and a soft (stuffed) animal toy set out on a table or other central focal point one heavy hammer and 2-3 large nails mop and bucket photos of children facing […]
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Loving God Creator God Accepting God Forgiving God Guiding God Encouraging God Restoring God Transforming God Leading God Blessing God Inspired by a pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland
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Loving God, Draw everything of me Into the mystery of You Bending the barrenness Of winter’s weary wait Toward Your leading light Hinting at things to come. Let everything of me Be swayed toward You Resisting every wind Of the world’s uprooting Often blowing within Daring to break my resolve To follow Your Christ-love Wherever […]
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This might be used as a corporate prayer, substituting ‘we’ for I’. It might also be used at a service of affirmation — an induction, ordination, baptism, re-commitment or confirmation, substituting ‘you’ for ‘I’. May I…. Hands at third eye centre: May I see things as they really are, and not as how I want […]
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O Love, Thank-you for silence Rising, resting, holding Heart and mind In sacred submersion Of Spirit beyond my knowing But through which I am known. Gift descending or arising I know not how or why Only that eternity visits In the precious gift of now. Let me receive it Not trying to figure it out […]
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Originally written for Good Friday Jesus, man of sorrows, give me the courage to be a faithful witness to those who are suffering. Help me to overcome my awkwardness and fear to sit with them among the ashes, and to stay alongside. Help me to not recoil from sickness or death, but to be a […]
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This reflection might be read on Easter morning, or during a time of meditation, having distributed a hazelnut for each participant to hold. Text: Wee, wizened pod of latent life, dormant hope protecting, I hold your power entire within my hand and wonder […]
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O Love, Help me entrust Everything to you For I am at risk Of forgetting it is you Who gives me life And calls me to a work Seen and often unseen. Help me remember It is not mine to do alone But rather your work of love Awakened in me by you For whatever […]
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Karen writes, ‘This poem is in part autobiographical, speaking of my family, but also about the Church and world.’ Consider sharing this at a communion service. Mummy says ‘Come, for the feast is spread!’ She cracks the sweet between her teeth; A piece for you, a piece for me, No one on top, no one […]
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What are the Reparations? tune: Aurelia – The Church’s One Foundation It seems that God’s creation is not what was designed. So easy to accept things and then become resigned To never being different, wrongs ne’er to be repaired Will ever come the time when your bounty’s fairly shared? We see the world around us […]
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Before you know it, your kid’s childhood is over and she’s gone off to college. Before you know it, your vacation is over and it’s time to go back to work. Before you know it, the storm has passed and the sky is clear. Before you know it, way too much of your life has […]
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Living God, daily you create the world, remake it, and fill it with possibilities. When it comes to faith, help us to appreciate what we understand, to enquire about what we don’t understand, and to enjoy the journey in between… by John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford; from a Living Faith pamphlet entitled, ‘Christianity: a simple […]
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If the night sky wasn’t inky Could the stars shine so bright? And if there wasn’t darkness, Tell me, how could light be light? No dark depths of earth – How would the flora grow? Black is essential, don’t you know. You tell me black is no good – The shade of evil, shade of […]
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So how do I know what you intend for me? What can I draw on to find the strength that I need? What word can comfort, what arms can embrace So I hear your words calling and look at your face? So how do I go from where I find myself now? How do you […]
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