At This Time

 

AT THIS TIME (POEM) – edited on 29^th September 2020 during the Reimagining 2020 Conference

An opportunity to reflect and explore the shape of our communities. Such reflection on communal practices, recommitment to faithful presencing is essential but will look so different in each context. At This Time is a short poetic reflection that might frame an act of worship or begin a conversation.

 

At this time we commend each other to each other – but from a distance…

At this time we draw nearer to God – but from a distance?

At this time we seek God’s guidance – what now Lord, at this distance?

 

We are here together again, present as one community – though we know of many who cannot be with us

Yet still we are

Rooted in this place

A community of prayer, hope and justice

A community of conviviality

A community of calling

 

Before us lies an unknown future

Filled with fear and hope and grief and delight

 

Behind us lies a known past

Filled with fear and hope and grief and delight

 

And this moment  - this present ever-passing second is

Filled with fear and hope and grief and delight

 

What is behind is held in memory

What is now is now is now

What is to follows lies within our grasp and is waiting to be invoked

 

So let us take this time to reflect

Pour out ourselves at what has been

What has shaped us as people and as a community

 

Let us fish around in the murk of shadows

And bring out the treasures that have built us

Into what we are

What stories, practices and hopes from the past do we long to hold

Now and onwards into this new future?

 

What ways of working

Ways of speaking

What cadences

Ways of being

Are no longer fit for purpose?

No longer speak for us?

No longer reek of us?

No longer meet a need?

 

What must with due respect and thanks

Be placed back into the dusk of memory?

A point of reference and a story to be told

But not the story of our future

 

What have we learnt from these locked down days?

What learning has not just been for these times

But might by glimmer and chance

Be learning to hold to

In these days

And the days to come?

 

Where and when and how

Have we lived sacramentally in these locked-down days?

 

Where and when and how

Have we encountered the Creator in beautiful

And unexpected ways?

 

Where and when and how

Have we been blinded by the wonder and light

Of community in these days?

 

As we look onwards

From the vantage point we have

What might we need

For the days ahead?

 

What might the journey look like

In these uncertain and unexpected days?

 

What might an emerging mixed ecology

Look like for us?

What might that mean?

 

What can we bring with us?

What do we need to refresh?

And what might we need to build from nothing

But the clay we hold in our hands?

 

So let us pour ourselves out

Let us give each other space

Let us listen for the Spirit

Let us light the beacons

Let us together find our place

Let us hold this moment purposefully

And await the renewing of God’s grace

AMEN.

 

 

AT THIS TIME (POEM) – original version

 

An opportunity to reflect and explore the shape of our communities. Such reflection on communal practices, recommitment to faithful presencing is essential but will look so different in each context. At This Time is a short poetic reflection that might frame an act of worship or begin a conversation.

 

At this time we commend each other to each other – but from a distance…

At this time we draw nearer to God – but from a distance?

At this time we seek God’s guidance – what now Lord, at this distance?

 

We are here together again, present as one community – though we know of many who cannot be with us

Yet still we are

Rooted in this place

A community of prayer, hope and justice

A community of conviviality

A community of calling

 

Before us lies an unknown future

Filled with fear and hope and grief and delight

 

Behind us lies a known past

Filled with fear and hope and grief and delight

 

And this moment  - this present ever-passing second is

Filled with fear and hope and grief and delight

 

What is behind is held in memory

What is now is now is now

What is to follows lies within our grasp and is waiting to be invoked

 

So let us take this time to reflect

Pour out ourselves at what has been

What has shaped us as people and as a community

 

Let us fish around in the murk of shadows

And bring out the treasures that have built us

Into what we are

What stories, practices and hopes from the past do we long to hold

Now and onwards into this new future?

 

What ways of working

Ways of speaking

Ways of being

Are no longer fit for purpose?

No longer speak for us?

No longer reek of us?

No longer meet a need?

 

What must with due respect and thanks

Be placed back into the dusk of memory?

A point of reference and a story to be told

But not the story of our future

 

What have we learnt from these locked down days?

What learning has not just been for these times

But might by glimmer and chance

Be learning to hold to

In these days

And the days to come?

 

Where and when and how

Have we lived sacramentally in these locked-down days?

 

Where and when and how

Have we encountered the Creator in beautiful

And unexpected ways?

 

Where and when and how

Have we been blinded by the wonder and light

Of community in these days?

 

As we look onwards

From the vantage point we have

What might we need

For the days ahead?

 

What might the journey look like

In these uncertain and unexpected days?

 

What can we bring with us?

What do we need to refresh?

And what might we need to build from nothing

But the clay we hold in our hands?

 

So let us pour ourselves out

Let us give each other space

Let us listen for the Spirit

Let us together find our place

Let us hold this moment purposefully

And await the renewing of God’s grace

AMEN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original version of the piece was written as a contribution for the Church of England’s Fresh Expressions liturgies for the Opening the Doors project.