Today is the Seventh Sunday of Easter, the Sunday after Ascension Day, in the Church of England’s Common Worship lectionary; and, I think, in the Revised Common lectionary that many Churches use around the world.
I was fortunate enough to experience a real sense of God’s peace filling me while I was in Walsingham recently. And in a very real way, that peace has stayed with me. I have felt much more at peace with God, with myself, and with the world, since my return.
A lot of that could well be because I’ve been feeling considerably better with my health since my return too. That begs the question, do I feel better as a result of that experience in Walsingham, or do I feel more at peace because I feel so much better? To confuse the issue, there has been a small change in medication too.
The nature of the health condition I have does mean it is cyclical. I do experience good patches in amongst all of the bad patches; but it has been quite a while since my last good patch. I’m not pain free, not by any means, I still get some pain every day. And there have been a few days when I’ve thought this good patch was coming to an end already. But, on the whole, I’m happy to be still in one of the best patches with my health that I’ve had for years. And hoping it will continue for a lot longer, while accepting that it could end at any time. The story I posted yesterday has helped with that acceptance.
I do find being in a Church on my own is usually a very peaceful experience. And I’m fortunate enough to be able to go into Godmanchester Church at any time, and just sit for a while. But that isn’t possible for many people because so many of our Churches are locked; which is really sad. I do, though, understand why: Godmanchester Church always used to be kept open until we experienced an upsetting act of vandalism. It would be really good if we could find a way for more Churches to be kept open, so more people could experience God’s peace in those places of prayer.
Another place I can experience a real sense of God’s presence and peace being with me is by water of any kind — rivers, lakes, gravel pits, or the sea. That’s somewhere that is much more accessible for most people.
Where do you go to be most at peace, with God, yourself, and the world? Do you have a special place? Are you able to find peace anywhere, and everywhere?
I pray that all may experience God’s peace, the peace that passes all understanding, today.
Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the father. Amen.Additional Collect for The Seventh Sunday of Easter
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council
About Paul Sibley
Andrew Gosden (now 18) has been missing from his Doncaster home since 14 September 2007. The search continues.
Elizabeth Jackson on 
St Mary’s at Godmanchester is one of the most tranquil churches that I have visited, I know what you mean about feeling closer to God in such a place. St Mary’s also is home to those wonderful treasures – its twenty, 15th century misericords, so many examples are, to use a phrase, “over egging the pudding.” The simplicity of St Mary’s misericords is wonderful, yet they lack nothing.
Hi Dominic, a warm welcome to the blog, thanks for stopping by.
I feel so fortunate every time I go into the Church to be able to just “be” in that magnificent place, especially so often on my own. The Chancel, where the misericords are, is, I think, especially tranquil. It’s all too easy to forget what you’re sitting on when attending a service held in the Chancel, as I do most weeks with Evensong; and that must be even more so for the choristers who are there in the main services too.
You have some wonderful pictures of the misericords, thanks for linking your name to your web page. I have never been successful with trying to photograph them (must try with my new camera). I imagine it needs a good wide angle lens to manage in the lack of space.
Thanks for the warm welcome!
More than anything, I rely on macro tubes, to shorten the minimum focus, but yes, the wide angle is the first stop. The other problem tends to be the flash – more often than not I use a ringflash, otherwise the flash leaves nasty shadows, either that or two separate flashgun on tripods either side of the lens.
When I had my old 35mm kit, long gone now, I used to have a set of macro tubes. The ringflash was something I always wanted, but never got around to buying. The little digital camera I use now does have quite a reasonable macro setting, and I’ve been very pleased with some of the pictures I’ve managed to capture outside. But the flash is a problem inside — either washes everything out, or, as you say, gives nasty shadows. I’ll have to check in the book to see if there are any settings I can use to better effect.
I always find it interesting to find out how people capture some of the wonderful images they do; thanks for the explanation Dominic.
I’m old fashioned – I still use my Manual focus Canon T90′s – big and bulky, but I’ve never found anything as good.
You may find that using a flash with an optical slave (you can get some cheap and nasty ones from ebay) that you can place to reduce the shadow. then put a bit of masking tape over the internal flash to reduce it’s output (you still need to to give some light to trigger the slave). Even better, you can use 2 slaves, but that get’s a bit pricey just for the odd picture.
Old fashioned is good sometimes; the number of times I’ve wished I still had my old kit is incredible. But, to be honest, in my case it’s only wishing for something I no longer have: the reality is I’d stopped taking photographs because I couldn’t keep taking all the kit I had with me. Having a camera I can just slip into a pocket has got me taking photographs again; and for that I’m grateful.
An optical slave flash is a good idea for macro, and a great trick with the masking tape — something I wouldn’t have thought of in a million years.