Stillness & Turning

This first Sunday of Lent, 22nd February, at 8a.m. we will be gathering again at 

St. Mary's Church, Sullington, RH20 4AE

for 

A Service of Silence & Beholding

an unhurried time of silence and stillness, in which to dwell at the heart of the Eucharist

In this Lenten season the invitation is one of 'metanoia' - of turning -     

to seek the face of God in the Beloved.

To be still before God in silence is to turn.

The more we practice stillness, the more the turning happens,

and in the turning stillness,

all else but the Oneness of Love falls away. 

Turn 

‘Metanoia’ 

Turn around 

Seek the face of the Holy 

Attend 

Give yourself to this one thing 

Again and again

'Have one intention,

to remember the One.

Practice turning from the many to the One.

Practice seeing the many in the One and the One in the many.

Live in union with the One which unifies through the One.'

Priest-Monk Silouan

Wisdom Songs - adapted

Peace be with you

Awaken into Stillness ...

Over the last week, with others as a 'community of practice' in Still Waters and Quiet Garden, we have been exploring the relationship between movement and stillness. We walked together in the prayer loft on Saturday morning, slowly in a circle, sat in stillness, walked again and sat, allowing the movement to ease us into a deeper attentiveness.   On Wednesday, slowly pacing the garden's spiral prayer walk on my own, I was left with a clear internal invitation to 'awaken into stillness'. This has been accompanying me through each day, at home and elsewhere, in quiet and in the hubbub of life, rooting and grounding me deeper into being present to the present moment.

'Awaken into Stillness ...'

It sounds and feels invitational and at the same time contradictory ... my mind questions 'isn't awakening about being active and stillness associated with being passive'? 

I am laughing gently at my efforts to write about this ... putting the mind aside, my felt-sense is more about falling into stillness, or maybe unfolding into something that is beyond any movement and yet is full of life and growth. Language is never enough. Yet it is all I have ... especially on a blog!  

I am reminded again of T S Eliot in his poem 'Burnt Norton' ... 'Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance ...' 

Again ... an echo ... a whisper ...  'stillness awakens into Life & Love ... so give yourself to the stillness!'

So may it be!

Peace be with you.

February Stillness ...

Whilst the garden here at Wild Fortune beckons for attention, with the soil being too hard and the temperature somewhat off-putting, it has been left just to be as it is over the winter. This morning after the bitter wind of the weekend, looking out over the garden, all was once again very still and for me, stilling ...

I have been pondering about stillness and its place not only in prayer and meditation, but in the whole of life really. For me it's enjoyable and something to be entered into in all sorts of ways - joyfully or wearily. Stillness connects me with my body, my inner being and my surroundings. Stillness and my being still enables a deeper opening up within and between and connects me with the other. 

I am also struck by how, from its depths, stillness might inform movement ...

So through February, and the gatherings for Still Waters, Quiet Garden and Silence & Beholding, there will be an invitation to explore and reflect on the dynamic between our practice of stillness and our practice of movement ... 

Still Waters: a time to enter silence, still the mind and encounter the present moment in quiet. Saturday 7th February, Wild Fortune Prayer Loft. 8.30 - 9.30a.m. with arrivals from 8. For further details and to let us know that you intend to come, please contact us via email. 

The Wild Fortune Quiet Garden: Jesus said, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Wednesday 11th February 10am -12.30pm. The morning is currently fully booked.

A Service of Silence & Beholding: an unhurried time in which to dwell at the heart of the Eucharist. Sunday 22nd February 8am, St. Mary's Church, Sullington, West Sussex. All are welcome.  

'Stillness is the tree of life in the midst of the garden. Its fruit is peace.'

Priest-monk Silouan

Peace be with you.