A Service of Silence & Beholding

A time of unhurried silence in which to dwell 

at the heart of the Eucharist

8 a.m.

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

Dates for 2014:

January 26th, February 23rd, March 23rd, April 27th, 

May 25th, June 22nd, August 24th, 

September 28th, October 26th, November 23rd, December 28th

We gather in silence, coming just as we are, to seek the face of God and to wait upon the Divine presence. In our stillness, in our attentiveness, in our yearning, breathing, gazing, listening and receiving, the silence deepens, so we also depart quietly, taking the silence with us into the day.  There are no announcements; the reading and prayers are offered as stepping stones in the quiet, taking us deeper into silence. 

All is Eucharist.

 ‘A Service of Silence & Beholding’ began in January 2013. It arose from an inner longing for a shared collective silence to be the major part of the liturgy of Eucharist. Drawing on the pattern of the Anglican rite, the Christian contemplative tradition and the work of the solitary Maggie Ross, this liturgy is offered to encourage and nurture the ongoing work and prayer of all those in this place who, despite the scorn of the world, seek to be witnesses through the gift of silence to the mystery, glory and beauty of the Beloved.   

Peace be with you.
Epiphany 2014

Epiphany Silence & Stillness

You are warmly welcome to join us for

Still Waters:

a time to enter silence, still the mind and encounter the present moment in quiet.

Saturday 4^th January

St. Mary’ Church, Sullington, RH20 4AE

8 – 10am.

‘The Light Within’ -

Insight and practice for the season of Epiphany

You are welcome to come for an hour at either 8 or 9am, 

or to stay for the whole time.

Please dress warm; whilst the heating will be on it can only do so much!

Peace be with you

Tessa & Mark Holland

Returning to the Heart of our Being

A Eucharist for Christmas Morning

25th December 2013

8am

St. Mary's Church

Sullington

RH20 4AE

I too will proclaim the greatness of this day:

the immaterial becomes incarnate,

the Word is made flesh,

the invisible makes itself seen,

the intangible can be touched,

the timeless has a beginning,

the Son of God becomes the Son of all people,

Jesus Christ,

always the same, yesterday, today and forever.

This is the solemnity we are celebrating today:

the arrival of God among us,

so that we might go to God,

unhindered and free,

returning to the heart of our being,

becoming one with God.

Gregory Nazianzen Oration 38, For Christmas (adapted)

Peace be with you

Being, Beholding, Bearing

A Service of Silence & Beholding

an unhurried time in which to dwell at the heart of the Eucharist

8a.m.

Sunday 22nd December

St. Mary's Church

Sullington

West Sussex

RH20 4AE

What good is it to me

if this eternal birth of the divine Son

takes place unceasingly

but does not take place 

within myself?

And,

what good is it to me

if Mary is full of grace

and if I am not also full of grace?

What good is it to me

for the Creator to give birth to his/her Son

if I do not also give birth to him

in my time

and my culture?

This, then,

is the fullness of time:

when the Son of God is begotten

in us.

from Meditations with Meister Eckhart

 by Matthew Fox

Peace be with you

Waiting for the Dawn

Still Waters

a time to enter silence, still the mind 

and encounter the present moment in quiet

Waiting for the Dawn - the now and not-yet of beholding

Saturday 7th December 

8 - 10am 

St. Mary's Church 

Sullington, West Sussex RH20 4AE 

You are welcome to come at either 8 or 9am for an hour, 

or to stay for the whole time. 

Please dress warm and comfortably as the heating can only do so much! 

Peace be with you

The Living Flame of Love

O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest centre! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life
and pays every debt!
in killing you changed death to life.

O lamps of fire!
in whose splendours 
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.

How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.

John of the Cross

Fire in the Earth

A Service of Silence & Beholding -

an unhurried time in which to dwell at the heart of the Eucharist

8a.m.

Sunday 24^th November

St. Mary’s Church

Sullington

West Sussex

RH20 4AE

It is done.

Once again the Fire has penetrated the earth.

Without earthquake, or thunderclap: 

the flame has lit up the whole world from within.

All things individually and collectively are penetrated and flooded by it, from the inmost core of the tiniest atom to the mighty sweep of the most universal laws of being: so naturally has it flooded every element, every energy, every connecting-link in the unity of our cosmos; that one might suppose the cosmos to have burst spontaneously into flame.

Teilhard de Chardin

Peace be with you