Quiet Space Easter Sunday 2020
There is a small task for everyone before starting Quiet Space proper!
Before we begin, gather around you a small selection of items that you find especially life giving and enhancing - photos of friends and family, a favourite picture or artefact, a gift from a special person, a beautiful shell or stone ....
You now have before you some of your most significant possessions.
You are invited to light a candle if you find that helpful.
We say or read silently:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We share in this Quiet Space on Easter Sunday when we have joyfully celebrated Jesus' resurrection, his conquering of death and bringing new life.
As the evening draws in, let us bring ourselves to a time of cocooning (a much kinder term than isolation), of self-care and appreciation of God's love for us on this special day.
In this frame of mind, find a comfortable position and allow yourself to relax. As you inhale, breathe in God's love for you and all that is life-giving. Breathe out any tension or negative thoughts.
Let your body relax from head to toe, being mindfully aware of each part, feeling the tension go as you imagine the warmth of the love of God flowing over and through you.
It may help to say:
"Open to God" on the in breath
"Filled with peace and joy" on the out breath
Do this for as long as is helpful, after which we affirm:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here.
Turn your attention to the special things you have gathered together.
Spend a few minutes and as your gaze falls on each one, have a really close look.
Are there details you haven't noticed before?
What colours can you see? What textures?
Be thankful for the memories they hold and re-live them in gratitude and hope.
As you do this you are invited to sing a Taizé chant:
Bless the Lord my soul
And praise God's holy name.
Bless the Lord my soul,
Who leads me into life.
Either now, or perhaps later in the week, you may like to look closely at these pictures from David Hockney, who is self-isolating in Normandy and painting the arrival of spring.
Or reacquaint yourself with the Methodist art collection
As we draw to a close, we share the poem 'Because He is Risen' by Gerard Kelly from his book 'Spoken Worship - Living Words for Personal and Public Prayer' Pub: Zonderman
Because he is risen
spring is possible
in all the cold hard places
gripped by winter
and freedom jumps the queue
to take fear's place
as our focus.
And my future is an epic novel
where once it was a mere short story.
Because he is risen.
Because he is risen,
healing is on order and assured
and every disability will bow
before the endless dance of his ability
and my grave too will open
when my life is restored,
for this frail and fragile body
will not be the final word
on my condition.
Because he is risen.
Because he is risen,
hunger will go begging in the streets
for want of a home
and selfishness will have a shortened shelf-life
and we will throng to the funeral of famine
and dance on the callous grave of war
and poverty will be history
in our history.
Because he is risen.
And because he is risen,
a fire burns in my bones
and my eyes see possibilities
and my heart hears hope
like a whisper in the wind
and the song that rises in me
will not be silenced
as life disrupts
this shadowed place of death
like a butterfly under the skin
and death itself
runs terrified to hide.
Because he is risen.
Amen