On Saturday several of our group met up at Karlie and Kevin’s house for lunch together. The main aim was to get to know some of those who are beginning the RCIA with a view to joining the Roman Catholic Church via the Ordinariate. It also gave them the opportunity to get to know us better.

After the main course and while the children played, we shared a little of our own journey so far and heard from others. There was much to reflect on and that will come later. In the meantime here is a thought provoking prayer that Karlie wrote this week which picks up many of the themes we talked about.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit
One circular self giving love
Beyond us and with us and in us
We pray within your beautiful name

We are sorry for the times
Without the lens of faith
We did not see
How you have been present
Healing us, restoring us
And helping us re-member
What was fractured and broken

When we tell our story
We hear it revealed by our own words
And now we see

How you have heard our prayers

And will hear this prayer

We thank you for life and fullness
Once only imagined
Becoming real, tangible and visible

We are so grateful

When we searched within the boundaries of grace
Life was given and revealed
Love was found in places we would not have looked
Hope came through channels we did not expect
Peace was built with fragments unexpectedly fit

When we moved beyond those boundaries
Then returned
Called back within the sound of love
At the border we exchanged
Naivety for wisdom
And cynicism for a deeper hope
And we were amazed
As even our foolishness was not wasted by grace

Now as our stories are changing
From tales of loss to poems of grace
We will sing our laments and protests
Alongside new psalms of healing

Now as some of our wounds turn to scars
As we reach for an old beginning

We think we know how the next chapter should be written
We think we are sure you have given us the words
We think it is time to write them…

But we ask only for what you want to give
From within the boundaries of the embrace
Of a grace we no longer resist
Let what comes next be beautiful
More than the best
We can ask
Or imagine

Amen