Monday 26 June 2017

For Chantal and Nick

                           
Prayers for marriage from a Quiet Garden
 For Chantal and Nick – 24th June 2017   


As brother Oak grows deep within the earth,
may your marriage be deeply rooted in
the Creative Source of all Life;
As the oak is strong and long-lived,
may your young love grow into the maturity
of Belovedness, which endures all things.

As Rosemary is for remembrance
may your home be a place
of welcome and friendship,
where good memories of times past
are cherished and where new ones are created.

As Earth is for humility, may you be blessed
with the grace to admit wrongs;
And as Herbs are for healing, may you know
the gift of forgiveness for one another.

As sister Beech, dressed in green, reaches high for the heavens, 
may your life together flow over 
with the goodness and beauty of God;

 As Silver Birch dances in the breeze,
may you know laughter and joy
in the years ahead.

As Rose is for Love, perfumed and thorned,
May your vows to one another
in this sacred place,
be a fragrant offering of hope and faith,
where Love pierces to the deepest place
of the hardest times and guides you together
in ways of peace.
 
And may the friendship of the God
who creates all, Loves all, sustains all,
Strengthen and enliven the ties
of friendship and family gathered here,
as you begin your married life together,
on this your wedding day.

Tessa Holland


Friday 26 May 2017

if my people ...

If my people
who are called by my name
humble themselves,
pray,
seek my face,
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin
and heal their land....

2 Chronicles 7:14

  Choose life  
Choose love

Tuesday 2 May 2017

For everything ...

... there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven ...

Ecclesiastes 3:1

For me, the spiritual life in Christ is very organic; the hidden work of rootedness, the slow growth, the need for nurture, the living tradition at its best supportive and resourcing one another in community and solitude, the unfurling edge of insight, creativity and mystery. 

Our practice of contemplative presence is deepening, holding within it the ebb and flow of the journey; monthly Quiet Garden days and a still new - for us - shared practice of Lectio Divina continue as previously and there is a shift, which has presented itself in the need of the local parish. As my friend and colleague continues to recover from serious illness, the fourth Sunday 8am service at Sullington church will be, for the foreseeable future, an Iona Communion, using liturgy from the Iona community. Whilst this will be instead of A Service of Silence and Beholding, it will continue to be a contemplative space and time - with a more traditional format and a few more words than usual! 

Forthcoming dates are :
Saturday 6th May, 8.30 - 10. Lectio Divina: a time of listening to and reflecting together on the Word of God. The prayer loft will be open from 8.30 for stillness and silence and we begin the session at 9am. If you would like to come, please let us know by Friday morning.  

The Wild Fortune Quiet Garden on May 10th is fully booked, but at the moment there are spaces for Wednesday 14th June, 10-12.30. Please phone or email to book.   

Sunday 28th May, St. Mary's Sullington, 8am. An Iona Communion.  All are welcome. 

 Peace be with you. 

Thursday 23 March 2017

Equinox: As far as the East is from the West ...

A Service of Silence & Beholding:

an unhurried time in which to dwell at the heart of the Eucharist 
Sunday 26th March 
8am
St. Mary's Church, Sullington RH20 4AE
All are welcome

Lectio-Visio Divina

Saturday 1st April 
8.30-10am
The Wild Fortune Prayer Loft
please let us know you are coming
wildfortune @btinternet.com


The Wild Fortune Quiet Garden

Wednesday 12th April
10am -12.30pm
to book a space please email
wildfortune@btinternet.com


As far as the east is from the west,
so far does God remove 
our transgressions from us
Psalm 103:12

Peace be with you

Tuesday 28 February 2017

for the first Sunday in Lent ...



Lectio Divina for the First Sunday in Lent  

Saturday 4th March 2017

The Wild Fortune Prayer Loft

8.30 am stillness and silence

9 - 10am - Lectio Divina 

Lectio Divina is an ancient practice of reading and reflecting on the Word of God, which many have found to be a deeply enriching and creative process of contemplative listening. It has been called a communion beyond words, a time of becoming one with the Word. There will be a time of stillness and silence from 8.30 and then from 9am the process of reading the chosen passage (lectio), reflecting (meditatio), responding (oratio) and resting (contemplatio), finishing by 10am. If you would like to join us, please let us know via email - wildfortune@btinternet.com; no expertise necessary, it is a very gentle and prayerful guided process.

Peace be with you.

Friday 3 February 2017

When the time came ...

Lectio Divina 

Saturday 4th February 2017

The Wild Fortune Prayer Loft

8.30 am stillness and silence

9 - 10am - Lectio  Divina 
for the Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Lectio Divina is an ancient practice of reading and reflecting on the Word of God, which many have found to be a deeply enriching and creative process of contemplative listening. It has been called a communion beyond words, a time of becoming one with the Word. There will be a time of stillness and silence from 8.30 and then from 9am the process of reading the chosen passage (lectio), reflecting (meditatio), responding (oratio) and resting (contemplatio), finishing by 10am. If you would like to join us, please let us know via email - wildfortune@btinternet.com; no expertise necessary, it is a very gentle and prayerful guided process.

Peace be with you.


Friday 20 January 2017

Walk with me ...

A Service of Silence & Beholding: 
an unhurried time in which to dwell at the heart of the Eucharist

22nd January 2017
8am
St. Mary's Church, Sullington RH20 4AE


I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
exalted for you, or brought low for you;
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessèd God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. 
Amen.
The Methodist Covenant Prayer

Peace be with you




Saturday 7 January 2017

Lectio Divina - an interpretation of the process

Epiphany 2017 - this process and the text following may be used in a group or on one's own. It is a deeply contemplative and creative practice which informs all of life - a process of transformation by which we come to be known ... 

Lectio (Reading):  
This is a practice of reflective reading and listening to a text as the Word of God; of listening with an open heart and mind, rather than an analytical reading where the text is examined, sifted and assessed. Give yourself an hour, allowing a good amount of time for each step. Begin in attentive silence, open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Then read the text aloud, listening to the reading as the Word of God for you for this moment today. Reading aloud helps me to listen with all of myself. Allow the spoken words to flow over and through you. Try not to grasp or select; allow yourself to listen gently for a word or phrase that stands out for you in this moment. It is helpful to read the text 3 times – reading more slowly with each repetition. When something stands out for you, allow everything else to fall away and stay with that one word or short phrase – this is God’s gift for you today.

Meditatio (Meditation):
You are invited to name aloud the word or phrase that has stayed with you, followed by a time of silence where this one word or phrase becomes your meditation, quietly repeated in the silence of your heart.

Oratio (Response):
A time in which to respond to God – does your response want to be written, drawn, be a movement, posture, or spoken, silent, a song, a sound?

What challenge or invitation arises from this Lectio for you today?

Contemplatio (Contemplation):
A time to rest silently within the Presence ...  


A suggested text - a slow repeated reading aloud of Matthew 2: 1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
   who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’
 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Peace be with you



Tuesday 3 January 2017

The Word spoken in silence

As Christmastide becomes the season of Epiphany, as days begin to lengthen and we embrace the new year with all its opportunities and challenges, we invite you to continue to journey with us here at Wild Fortune, a threshold place of contemplative stillness, creativity and welcome.  

Our next Quiet Garden morning is Wednesday 11th January, 10am – 12.30pm. This is now fully booked, but there are a couple of spaces on March 8th; please let us know if you would like to come as booking is essential. Our focus through the year will be creation as ‘God’s big book’ drawing on celtic spirituality, words from the Christian mystical tradition and the practice of stillness and silence. As previously, along with the garden and woods, the house, prayer loft and ‘shed’ will be available for quiet space and there will be refreshments in the kitchen. Please bring soft shoes or slippers for indoors and stout shoes or wellies for outside.

This Saturday, 7th January, is Still Waters, in the prayer loft from 8.30-10am. On the basis of numbers and on what we feel able to offer, we do wonder if the current format has run its course? So, in response to a suggestion, we propose a shift in focus to ‘Lectio Divina’, the ancient practice of reading and reflecting on the Word of God, which many have found to be a deeply enriching and creative process of contemplative listening. It has been called a communion beyond words, a time of becoming one with the Word. The format would be something like – 8.30 gathering in quiet and then from 9am the process of reading the chosen passage (lectio), reflecting (meditatio), responding (oratio) and resting (contemplatio), finishing by 10am.  Would you like to join us? Do please let us know; no expertise necessary, it is a very gentle and prayerful guided process.  

The season of Epiphany will be our inspiration for A Service of Silence & Beholding on January 22nd at 8am at St. Mary’s Sullington. For further details, please select the relevant page on the right hand side. 

The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son,
and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence,
and in silence it must be heard by the soul.
St John of the Cross


Peace be with you