We gathered on Sunday 13th October 2019 in the Meeting House while the rain fell and the wind blew outside to reflect on The Harvest, of the land and of our lives. The sounds outside and the chill in the air brought something poignant to our first reading's meditation on a ploughed, storm-washed field, after the harvest had been gathered.
"The ridge and round and raise before the Winter rain left bare,
The slow sodden flow of life through all the furrows of the ploughman’s fare...
...
From this fallow field, this field so fair, we do partake the bread of life."
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"May their turning be the beauty
of my life’s accomplishment." (by Ceisiwr Serith)
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We took account of how, even in the midst of gratitude and celebration for the fruits of labour, there is a preparing for the next cycle of growth and change. The colourful leaves hanging onto the branches outside, or gusting into the corners, set the scene for the Pagan prayer we took as our second reading. With this, we thought of how our life choices colour our time of fading, and we also turned our minds to the awareness that we too shall come to know the gentle retreat of life in our own golden years.
Our candles of gratitude and our prayers for others were very much informed this week by these meditations. It was good to be together and look upon the fading light of the year with a shared openness to deeper truth.
Traditional Blessing from Carmina Gaedelica
May the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you,
may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you,
soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day;
and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly. Amen.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you,
may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you,
soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day;
and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly. Amen.