Every year everything I have ever learned in my lifetime leads back to this: the fires and the black river of loss whose other side is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know. Mary Oliver: In Blackwater Woods I was listening to Radio 3 over breakfast on Wednesday. Bryn Terfel was interviewed and … Continue reading Lass auch Dir die Brust bewegen, Liebchen, höre mich!
Category: Present
Retreat Day: last call
There a just a few tickets left on the Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown. I am offering it on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th February. Please contact me if you would like to come. Here are a few more details. The shape of the day 0930 Arrival, housekeeping, and introduction1000 Prayer 1: Home1200 Prayer 2: … Continue reading Retreat Day: last call
Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown
If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent If the unheard, unspoken Word is unspoken, unheard; Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard, The Word without a word, the Word within The world and for the world; And the light shone in darkness and Against the Word the unstilled world … Continue reading Retreat Day: Lent in lockdown
Praying together
a review and an invitation Since lockdown, I have been hosting prayer together using Zoom on Mondays for silent prayer and Wednesdays for prayer that I lead in what I hope is an open, meditative, and contemplative atmosphere. My aim is to help people become present to God who is always Present. Breakup In September … Continue reading Praying together
Thoughts in a time of plague
This time of plague is a desolation for many: loss of work, loss of income, loss of health, loss of life; traumatic, dangerous front-line work; and decimated support services. Those of us not so endangered still suffer desolation. There is overwhelming uncertainty: where will we be next year, or next week!? How are we to live now? What is God’s call now? … Continue reading
Audio Prayer: Presence, Gratitude, and Kindness
Christ is risen. Alleluia. This is my third offering of recorded prayer. It is a version from the post, “The only 3 prayers you need,” in which I suggested that presence, gratitude, and kindness comprise the three important prayers. This audio file is longer than the others. Here it is one complete recording. Presence - … Continue reading Audio Prayer: Presence, Gratitude, and Kindness
Audio Prayer: Simple opening to God’s presence
I have decided to start making some audio recordings of prayers, meditations, and reflective exercises. Sometimes, when I wake in the night, I wish there were some guided prayers I could listen to, to settle me, to connect me with God, to remind me that, beneath it all, all is well and I am safe. … Continue reading Audio Prayer: Simple opening to God’s presence
What shall we do?
This year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, “What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?” It is clear that this is what Jesus was doing all day every day. But it is not … Continue reading What shall we do?
Finding depth
I was lost – tired, overwhelmed, and angry. A wise woman once said to me that underneath anger is hurt or fear. I felt hurt. And frightened. I s(k)ulk through the night. In the early morning I leave resentment on the other side of the door. I find a way back to myself. I become my … Continue reading Finding depth
Beautiful and surprising
Winning and losing doesn’t matter. It’s about making something beautiful and surprising. So says the character, Kimi Muroyama, in the Australian film, Paper Planes, which I have watched a couple of times with my younger daughter, Esther. The film is about an international competition to see who can make a paper plane fly the furthest. … Continue reading Beautiful and surprising