This week marks a huge moment in our church life in the quietest possible way.  We are open for private prayer again after the third lockdown!  From 11 am until midday on every weekday, St Mary’s Church will once again be offering a quiet space for people to come in and sit down.  Why might you want to enter?  Many people enjoy visiting churches because they are old and of historical interest.  Some people come in, not knowing what they expect to find.  And in the case of St Mary’s, they are often  completely awe-struck by the sheer scale and beauty of the interior – the pale blue ceilings with golden stars, the iconic wall-paintings of angels and saints which are designed to look like mosaics, the beautiful stained glass which illustrates the life and sayings of Jesus.

And many people come into church to look for inner peace.  There is something inexpressibly tranquil and calming about entering a holy place and just sitting in silence.  We yearn for inner happiness and contentment but we rarely know how to find it.  Perhaps this is what St Augustine of Hippo meant when he wrote “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you”.   We might have religious beliefs or none.  We might be unsure about what we believe in.  We might have had some religious faith in the past, but felt it slip away as life or circumstances seemed to overwhelm us with other priorities.  But most of us will wonder at some point in our lives whether there may be an external beneficent power which gives meaning to our existence.  Christians call this power ‘God’.

Places of prayer often exude a special atmosphere.  They are sometimes referred to as ‘thin places’ – a place where the distance between humans and heaven seems to be narrowed, and there is a sense that we are almost within touching distance of God.  You may have experienced such a thin place, and it may be a memory which you cherish and return to in your thoughts.  I certainly do.

As part of St Mary’s contribution to Mental Health Awareness Week (10^th to 16^th May), we have been filming short relaxation exercises based on a Contemplative Toolkit which has been produced by Oxford Diocese.  These fifteen minute sessions are designed to help us to slow down physically and emotionally so that we can allow our bodies to relax and our minds to clear, like a jar of muddy water where the mud settles to the bottom if left undisturbed.  These new calming films will be released over six Saturdays, and you can find the first contemplative exercise here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIJbWa9sMvw  or on St Mary’s Church Facebook page.

And when you come into St Mary’s Church, either for a Sunday service or for some quiet space during the week, you might like to jot down a thought onto a label to add to our prayer tree.   Perhaps you might recall a person or situation which has been weighing on your mind during the last year of pandemic, or express a hope for the future as you start to tread the road back to normality.  If you allow time and space for contemplation in the coming weeks, it can only be of great benefit to your well-being.

Sarah Bourne, Chaplain for the Arts – 19^th May 2021          sarahbourne@banburystmary.org.uk