A Week to Read and Reflect

Time does move so quickly. Tomorrow I leave the convent to go to a guest house down town to prepare for Amy's arrival on Wednesday. We will have a full week of tourist activities, including two baseball games. The time at the convent has been refreshing. Just giving yourself time to sit and read with no other pressures is a great gift. And to do that in the midst of a regulated prayer life allows your body and soul to get into a pattern where time seems suspended and your chief aim is to worship and learn. I have just finished a fourth book, The Revelation of Divine Love, by Dame Julian of Norwich, a mystic from the 14th century. From her sixteen visions given to her during her sickness in 1373, she reflects on God's love for us. What stood out the most was her constant refrain that we are always held in God's love, whether we know it or know. Nothing can remove us from God's love and that the journey of life is to discover and allow our selves to know that we are one with God in that love. I am thinking it would be a great book for a study at the Good Shepherd. Today is a grace day at the convent, meaning no worship today. But I was asked to read the Hebrew Scriptures at the Sunday morning Eucharist. A great privilege. I will end my visit Tuesday with the Eucharist and lunch (or dinner as it is called here at the Convent and by many Newfoundlanders.)

Books

Neil Kellett gave me three books to read while away. All read. They are very interesting and very engaging books. They all struggle with trying to discover and be true to the real self and its interaction with the Divine. Very personal stories of three men and their struggles to find themselves and true living. One was an editor of a French fashion magazine, one a comedian, and one a monk and priest. I could see so much of myself in each one and their struggles. The search to discover our true spiritual self is a universal quest. I will comment on each one as time permits. Needless to say, the struggle for spirituality goes beyond any organized structure.

SSJD Worship

Life at the Convent has a regular pattern every day, worship and eating, and free time in between. My days have been - eat pray read pray eat read pray eat read pray bed. The real schedule is 7:45am Breakfast followed by Morning Prayer; 12 noon Eucharist followed by dinner; 5pm Evening Prayer followed by supper; 8:10pm Compline. In between I have been reading and enjoying the good weather. The chapel is a bright westward facing chapel with the chairs in typical monastic style, facing each other accross the aisle. One of the aspects of worship that I find very meaningful, comes at the end of worship. At entering the chapel, people venerate the altar with a bow, acknowledging God's presence. At the end of worship, instead of bowing to the altar, both sides bow to each other acknowledging the presence of God in each other. It would be interesting to try that back at the Good Shepherd. It is a powerful statement about the presence of God among us. This is the chapel at the Convent. Worship was certainly a big part of all of my sabbatical , both in Toronto and in Europe. It is one thing that can unite people of faith, to worship and share the Lord's Table together, despite the differences in theology. As long as we can share the table, there is hope. Unfortunately in our Anglcian community, some have chosen not to share the table with those of us who are more progressive or liberal in thinking.

Sisters of St. John the Divine

I arrived at the Convent in North York on Tuesday, July 1, Canada Day. A quiet and peaceful setting in the middle of the big city. I am starting to read the books that Neil Kellett recommended, and I am fitting into the rhythm of the prayer life here, with morning prayer, midday Eucharist and evening prayer. Meals are all in silence, but to celebrate Canada Day, we broke silence and chatted over the meal last night. Good to get to know some of the sisters that way. Also some women are here for a month of discernment, Women at the Crossroads. One is from Nfld, a former parishioner at both All Saints and Good Shepherd, Susan Haskell. There is a calming and renewing energy to live in a community with a structured prayer life and peace to read and reflect. I am here until July 8. Rev. Trudy Gosse, also from Nfld, will be there the weekend. It was also very heart warming for them to prayer for me this morning, as this is my birthday, and some how they knew.