Fifth Sunday After Trinity

[Tim Mansfield]

Fifth Sunday After Trinity

Focus for this week: The Divine as Peace

Prayer for the week:

Thou all sustainer and all transforming One, who art both the Lord of  
Hosts and the Prince of
Peace; give us, we pray, Thy peace which passeth understanding,  
subdue the raging storm of
this world so that we may safely pass to the other shore of Thy  
glorious Aeon of unending glory
and tranquility.
Amen.

One of the blessings of living in an age when conflict is so visible,  
is that it draws our attention to the activity of Peace. As Jamie,  
one of the members of St Uriel's, pointed out last night, peace isn't  
just the absence of turmoil, it's an active presence, something that  
requires work and focus and will. I've become very fond of the new  
idiom (often used in reference to the recent situation in Northern  
Ireland) that "peace has broken out" in part because it emphasises  
this dynamic quality of peace.

But peace is also stillness and quiet. We often say we've "found  
peace", which draws our attention to its eternal, ever-present  
quality. Peace is waiting for us.

I'd invite you this week to attend to how Peace shows up in your  
daily life. To notice this Divine quality both of stillness and of  
the activity of transcending difference that signals the Presence.

Events

Two proposed events that we'd like some feedback on so we can plan  
better:

+ Social Service Meeting

A few of us have expressed a desire to get involved in volunteering  
for some useful social aid organisation. We can just go and do this  
(and several members of this community already do), but we want to  
hold an afternoon or evening meeting to talk about what opportunities  
seem to be around the city for volunteering and service, how the  
community could assist you in getting involved, some planning.

If you feel the pull of community service, but you aren't sure how to  
start or you're involved and you'd like to share your experience with  
others, let me know and we'll pick a day and make it happen.

+ Study Retreat – An Afternoon With Philip

I'd like to organise a short (four-five hour), afternoon retreat to  
dip into the Gospel of Philip. It would involve some reading and  
discussion, some meditation and the old monastic practice of lectio  
divina (divine reading). Philip is one of the most poetic and most  
accessible of the books from the Nag Hammadi library.

If you feel an interest in more study of the core texts of Gnosticism  
and some simple spiritual practices, send me an email saying so and  
we'll work out when and where to hold it.

---

Weekly Service of the Logos continues in Redfern on Sunday evenings  
from 7pm. Join us for prayer and a short discussion followed by a cup  
of tea. It's a beautiful way to start your week.

You don't need to prepare anything for Logos Service. The readings  
are just the readings for the week from the Lectionary, so just come  
and be as present as you can be.

All welcome!

Rev Mr Tim Mansfield
Lay Leader
St Uriel the Archangel Gnostic Community
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