Dear All,
Tomorrow we reach the time of year that movement towards unity amongst Christians is prayed for and celebrated in a special way. (See information below). Our reflections relate to this unity in different forms and contexts. But we need patience in this challenge – people have been involved in the cause of unity and not just unity within faith groups for a very long time and it can be disheartening to make such slow progress & often it is two steps forward & then several steps back. We need to rejoice in the steps that have been taken.
The blessing this week is from Sacred Pathways – ‘Deep Peace’. And we wish that for each of you within yourself and your family, but also for a spirit of peace to grow between the different faith communities.
With love, Margaret & Moira
Information:
Wed 21 Jan: there won’t be Evening Prayer in Blessed Sacrament church BECAUSE
At 5.15PM: In Chelmsford Cathedral there is a special Evensong for Christian Unity week & Moira has been invited to preach. All are welcome
AND
At 7.00 for 7.30 start at New Hall Liam Hayes is leading a session excitingly titled ‘Becoming beacons of hope in a crazy, confusing world’.
6th Form Students from New Hall and St John Payne have helped with the preparation and we will show videos they put together about what hope means to them.
Patient Trust in Ourselves and in the Slow Work of God
Above all trust in the slow to work of God,
we are, quite naturally,
impatient in everything to reach the end
without delay.
We should like to skip
the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being
on the way to something unknown,
something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability……
And that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually, let them grow,
let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today
what time (that is to say, grace and
circumstance acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
And accept the anxiety of
feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Sensing a Vast Unity (Joyce Rupp)
As I stand in my own small space of the planet
revelling in the power and beauty of the heavens,
I feel a great unity with all beings.
I know that somewhere there is a herdsman
in the Sahara Desert who is also gazing
at the stars of our common universe.
I know there is a lamb in New Zealand
romping in sunlight that also bathes my skin.
I know there is a woman in India
who is going to sleep under the same moon I am.
I know there is a cactus blooming in Mexico
under the same sky as mine.
I know that all of us are drinking in the wind
and living under the beauty of the heavens.
I know that all of this is a dance of oneness
amid the bounty of the skies, and I am grateful.
We are sent into this world to be people of reconciliation. We are sent to teach and heal, to break down walls that divide people into different categories of value. Young, old, black, white, gay, straight – whatever divisions you can come up with – Serb, Croat, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist – beyond all those distinctions that separate us, there is a greater unity. Out of that essential unity you can live and proclaim that truth that every human being belongs to God’s heart, which beats from eternity to eternity. The mystery of God’s love is that when you know in your heart that you are chosen and blessed, you also know that others are chosen and blessed, and you cannot do other than embrace all humanity as God’s beloved.
Jesus Christ, you have brought us together in all our diversity as your family. We do not speak of different groups but of one group – the global group. In the face of so many situations on earth where hope has given way to despair and wounded hearts, renew our hope in the Holy Spirit’s work of changing the world and bringing us closer to each other across our world. Move us to spread this hope to everyone everywhere. You are the true Light, who casts out the darkness of sin, and shines into our hearts the joy and hope of your eternal love. Your love is so great that it includes everyone. Amen.