Author: Ian Trimnell

The Guest House By Jellaludin Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of...

CONTEMPLATING DEATH By SJ Holland Many things can take away The hope we have on earth. The losing of a job, a home, Disease, sickness, worse. To live a life of poverty. To stumble into drugs. To victimize a younger child. To search and search for love. But there is not a hopelessness That equals that...

OH, HOW I LOVE YOU By SJ Holland We search each other’s eyes For depth of thought. We find feelings, real feelings Of deep, warm love, Never dying, But always trying to break free, To come forth And be the dream Of me and you come true. Oh, how I love you. Good evening and welcome...

AWARNESS By Sandi Holland Oh, let us savor this beginning So sublime, And rush not As excitement weighs heavily Upon our minds. Yet, we must not hesitate To answer the soft And gentle awareness, Of intense and increasing closeness. For to surrender is to Keep desire alive. And if I should die before we kiss, Happy...

This Breathless Earth By Malcolm Guite We bolted every door but even so We couldn’t catch our breath for very fear: Fear of their knocking at the gate below, Fear that they’d find and kill us even here. Though Mary’s tale had quickened all our hearts Each fleeting hope just deepens your despair: The panic grips...

When this is over, may we never again take for granted A handshake with a stranger Full shelves at the store Conversations with neighbours A crowded theatre Friday night out Receiving communion A routine check-up The school rush each morning Coffee with a friend The stadium roaring Each deep breath A boring day Life itself. When...

God’s Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with...

The following prayers are courtesy of the dailyprayer.us website The day is done, The sun has set, Yet light still tints the sky; My heart stands still In reverence, For God is passing by. Lord’s Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as...

Ride on, ride on in majesty! by Henry Hart Milman Ride on, ride on in majesty! Hark! all the tribes hosanna cry; O Savior meek, pursue your road with palms and scattered garments strowed. Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die: O Christ, your triumphs now begin o’er captive death...

We close the evening by reciting the Lord’s Prayer Our Father in heaven Hallowed be Your name Your kingdom come Your will be done on earth As it is in heaven Give us today our daily bread Forgive us our trepasses As we forgive those who trespass against us Lead us not into temptation Deliver us...

Good evening Living Stones. Janet and I first met when we were students in Coventry and she gave me a book of Helen Steiner Rice poems. I used one of those poems last night and here’s another one, suggested by Janet, which seems to fit in well with today’s anniversary of the announcement of the first...