Karl say: We come together today call us to the cradle of the dawning. dew of the grass show winters morning, we come to the call of the sparrow.
Sung response: We come to the call of the morning sparrow
Karl say: We meet out of the darkness of night.
dew of the grass show winters morning, we come to the call of the sparrow.
Sung response: We come to the call of the morning sparrow
Karl say: We explore all that is faith and community together.
dew of the grass show winters morning, we come to the call of the sparrow.
Sung response: We come to the call of the morning sparrow
Welcome and opening words
As we light this chalice flame, we pray it will light the centre of our being together, may it light the wick of all the combined souls of all who are here and those who can’t be here. May the heat of this flame take all that we wish to them. This is the new light that cradles the dawning, for all that rises today. Amen.
Candles of joy and concern
Karl: May all these flames kit be those that console all that needs light and our compassion, may these flames lit with the light of joy, be those that brighten all our ways, as we journey together. As these flames live on in our hearts and minds, past their living today. Amen.
Opening hymn G280 Morning has Broken
Contribution 1. Susan.
Exodus Chapter 10 – The Plague of Locusts
A four line extract from Don Quixote byCervantes
Contribution 2. Christine
Second Hymn. In this day dawning
Contribution 3. John
Contribution 4. Mark followed by TS Eliot Poem and silence followed by first page of Clare de lune
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Prayers – Karl . To the bidding: Divine being of day and darkness hear our prayer. Please respond as you feel able. With love hear our prayer.
In this time of prayer we call to mind those who care. Loving God of the spirits light, brighten the darkness, and share your light as those who care need your cradling in the small hours. give them the strength for the new day. Divine being of day and darkness hear our prayer. Please respond as you feel able. With love hear our prayer.
For those in leadership, its difficult may we remember they to are only human, fallible as we are, all are trying to do their best. Divine being of day and darkness hear our prayer. Please respond as you feel able. With love hear our prayer.
For those who are struggling against many factors. Those in limited work, poor accommodation, those who are with out money and shelter. May with our care pray blessing. Divine being of day and darkness hear our prayer. Please respond as you feel able. With love hear our prayer.
For all those who are estranged and disenfranchised from friends and family, for those who battle addiction.
For those who mourn as with the loss of loved ones, we think of those who have battled with the pandemic. For those who will come through, those who will see family and friends again. Be there loving hand and lead with your divine steps. Divine being of day and darkness hear our prayer. Please respond as you feel able. With love hear our prayer.
Blessed are those who have answered the call to help in the community, those who are helping in the many ways. As they strengthen the voluntary services. Blessed are they for their unconditional giving. Divine being of day and darkness hear our prayer. Please respond as you feel able. With love hear our prayer.
Allow us this moment as we pray for ourselves. Divine being of day and darkness hear our prayer. With love hear our prayer.
Hymn 3 Purple 204. when I’m frightened
Andrea contribution
The Dawning of the Light ..
3 weeks after my 18th birthday there I was ,just starting my 3 year teacher training far away in Nottingham. School hadn't been a great academic success I was always in trouble !! ..and I was wondering how I would cope and hopefully get by on my music Athletics and hockey!! I had left all my friends from school and friends from chapel and the culture shock of being in Nottingham was tough & poor.
My Family life had been debilitating but I was lost without any familiarity and Id left my parents in the middle of an acrimonious divorce when one party had to be the guilty party and the other one got off with all the money .. I was in my first major lecture on education and psychology and I listening to stories of sad warring families and what happened to them . it was an introduction to the characteristics of dysfunctional families and how the children tended to repeat What they had learnt from their parents with their own children and so on into the future; the cycle of abuse !! This awareness hit me like a ton of bricks ...they were talking about my family!!! Shock horror!!! Thank goodness no one else knew me there!! By the end of the lecture I was hooked on the vital importance of positive psychology .. a strikingly new approach in the 1960's . And mentally I mapped out for my future that I would use all the dark times I'd experienced ,to learn how NOT to follow likewise ..to break the cycle and In the future ,learn everything I could about building positive relationships ...and once I'd qualified ...if I qualified !! . I would be the sort of teacher that helped children believe in themselves ,to enjoy school and love learning. My life suddenly took on a sense of purpose and linked in with my Christian faith and the life of Jesus and my chapel teaching of being an Ambassador for Christ .
Address. Karl.
What is there that is we look to cradle or have cradled for us, what is so joyful in the dark? As we all wake from the shadows, the shadows of all that is the spirit, and the spirits light. Here we are all drawn together in the awe and wonder of all the grace and riches as they shine through, and the rays of grace that light all our ways.
We are called on as the holy or divine spirit draws us to the call of all that is human need, are we to ask ourselves how we respond to this? are we to put people first? I believe so with this I’d like to look a little at the beatitudes, just a few which I have chosen. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted, blessed are those who make peace for they shall be given eternal peace, blessed are the hungry for they shall be filled with good things. There are just a few examples.
I’d like to ask now for just perhaps a few moments thought, can you take one or all of those examples and ask within yourself which of them best sits with you, or if all do which is the one that needs the most attention? which is the one that speaks the most? as if it were, a poverty.
Just now allow these moments of silence to greet you. Lets take few moments now, just to pause for thought. I invite us just to sit and be. (20 seconds)
Welcome back to the light of this time, at this the present moment. Having given that some thought there are I’m sure for us all some little hidden bit in there waiting to be dusted off and cradled, nurtured, and used as a piece of currency to be given in charity. The hope I have is that we can carry our own beatitude, for this community, this circle of hands that hold us together with each other. So very simply to say. Blessed are we in all our strength and weakness, for we shall bless each other.
Can you imagine that, if it was written into our quest, just the knowing the joy, the wealth the splendour, as if we had a little note that says this is us, the family in congregation; those we meet those who come to us, and if we were to give that little note. There saying blessed are we in all our strength and weakness, for we shall bless each other.
And as we do we pass it on and on and on again, give the blessing, its the blessing, we are the blessed.
Here are some questions to ponder. What is the most treasured to cradle now? Where is the place in you to make clean? What can you share again? Who are you aside of the religious self? What is the best of riches to share in light? Can you enrich your own poverties to be held to the light of the spirit? Can this journey be walked in grace with welcome to those you meet in hospitality?
As we cradle our ways and all we hope for, as we continue to venture in the path of all we have to discover, may we do it with an open and honest heart. May we unearth the weight of what we can from darkness, even if we bring our pains to this circle. As we serve each other, and welcome a new seeker. May we find and share all that is light, love, care, compassion and understanding.
We carry this quest together, and be as an example of the living divine to each other and those we love. And all those that challenge our love. May we hope to carry with us this beatitude all our days and know its ours to savour and share, and to give unconditionally.
Blessed are we in all our strength and weakness, for we shall bless each other.
May it be so. Amen.
Hymn 4 G 114 Let there be light
Closing words - Karl
May the flame of this chalice be the light it is, may we take it in the memory of heart, mind and soul. As we take it with ourselves. May we share its light, and know its there to be lit again, so all may see it in the chapel window, to welcome us from the miles away we are and those who we welcome as they come seek with us. Blessed are we in all our strength and weakness, for we shall bless each other.
Amen.
Exploring spirituality in community, searching for meaning together...
