‘Meditation enables us to take a step back from ourselves, and put things in perspective.’
‘Meditation is seeing things as they really are, rather than as we think we want them to be.’
‘Above all, meditation belongs at the heart of life.’
(Nicholas Buxton, The Wilderness Within – Meditation and modern life)
Not many know about the new monthly event in the centre of our village, held at the church but designed for anyone of any faith or worldview who would value a time of silence. The Mid Month Meditation (MMM) is currently scheduled for the third Wednesday of each month and lasts for about 35 minutes, from 6.15pm. For those of us whose lives are generally fast, frantic and noisy, as well as for those whose inner life has some of the same characteristics, this can be a welcome period to sit quietly and still our minds.
The three quotations above illustrate what unites us. If you go along to a MMM, you’ll find on your way in a laminated introductory page of A4 which invites you to ‘join this period of quiet in whatever way suits you’. It goes on:
We may start with some sentences from a Christian or spiritual source but the substance is about meditation or contemplation and the words will hopefully either inspire us or just help us to learn from those with more experience.
Borrowing from the form of a Quaker meeting, anyone is welcome to break the silence in order to share thoughts or the inspiration of the moment.
Or you may just want to practise mindfulness or any other form of meditation which works for you.
Exploiting this beautiful old sacred building to the full, we tend to sit in the choir stalls in monastic or collegiate fashion. Very often, after the introductory words to mark the start of the meditation, there is a relaxing half-hour of silence broken only by birdsong from the churchyard or a passing train on the Cotswold line. There may only be a handful of us and it is very informal.
To know more you are welcome to contact David Soward – david dot soward at gmail dot com [please remove spaces and replace ‘at’ and ‘dot’ with the appropriate symbols]
Chase Benefice 