Good morning, thank you for joining us for Start:Stop. My name is Phillip Dawson. Reverend Stephen will be back next week. This month we are exploring the themes in the method of prayer known by the acronym ACTS. Today we are thinking about thanksgiving. This reflection will last approximately ten minutes. We begin with a bible reading, which can be found at the top of page 86 in the New Testament section of the Bible.
Breathing, bruised, betrayed. Now bowing. Living Word; Sacred Heart. Each sense enlivened! O taste and see the colour, joy & infinite possibility. Draw near. Reach out; feel. A body which kneeled, ached, laughed, gasped, hungered, shivered and bled like mine.
Given.
Freely offered, unlocked, unchained.
For us to receive and discover.
A sacrifice. Forgiven.
The present of presence.
For you.
All; a multitude in One, called by name; each jarring atom, every peculiar heart loved. Saved by a still, small voice. The Mystery alive.
This is my body given for you.
I wrote these words after attending a service of Benediction tonight at St George’s Bloomsbury, which took place after the Eucharist on the Feast of Corpus Christi. The celebrant was Fr David Peebles and the preacher was Fr David Cherry.
As well as being the first service of Benediction that I remember attending, I found out afterwards that this was the first time this liturgy had taken place at the church for many years; so in many ways a first for everyone.
Fr David Cherry used his sermon to suggest ways in which we might engage with the liturgy - especially helpful for those of us, like me, participating for the first time. He suggested that rather than seeking to intellectualise or explain what is happening during Benediction, we should focus on the present moment and the presence of Christ. Perhaps in writing down my thoughts - no matter how incoherent - I am doing precisely what Fr David asked us not to do?!
It was a very physical service and we used our whole bodies at different times, to kneel and bow during the exposition, when the consecrated Host was placed in a monstrance on the altar. There were certainly no “stiff necked” people in the church tonight! We all followed the clergy in procession around the church, blessing all those within and without the building with the sacrament and remembering the path that Jesus trod for us.
This was a very special service and I am grateful to all who were involved in organising it.
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