Recently, our chaplaincy team, spent a rare and precious ‘Quiet Day’ at
House, Little Gidding, a retreat centre based deep in Cambridgeshire countryside. We all came,seeking peace and God’s presence, away from the demands of work and an opportunity to spend time alone in stillness and time together. We were blessed by a day of glorious sunshine and the wonderful gardens of Ferrar House with trees for shade and a private space for each of us to reflect and just be. Little Gidding was made famous by T. S. Eliot in his Four Quartets of which Little Gidding is the final poem. The poem explores ‘themes of time, history, spiritual renewal and the intersection of the timeless with the present moment.’ Little Gidding can be described as a ‘thin place’, where the veil between earth and heaven, the physical and spiritual seems permeable.
I certainly found it to be so. At the end of the day, we reflected on what the stillness and the day itself meant to us all in the context of our work. As chaplains, we can be, in the words of T. S. Eliot, the ‘still centre of the turning world’ for those we encounter in all the settings in which we work. Amid noise and turbulence, we can provide a point of connection with something greater than ourselves. We can and do create the ‘thin place’ where people can find within themselves a centre of peace and spiritual connection.
We reflected too that to be that still centre for others we must first find our own centre of stillness, shutting out the noise around us and our own inner turmoil. That is not always easy in our work contexts. Away from the tranquillity of a retreat centre such as Ferrar House and the demands of work we need to find other sources of spiritual renewal. These will be different for each of us and can include meditation, prayer, journaling and being in nature to name just a few. Finding time to these things should not be seen as a luxury but as essential to our chaplaincy.
And most important of all, we need to create space to connect with one another. Cambridgeshire Workplace Chaplaincy provides a point of connection and support for all Chaplains.
Do stay in touch.
http://www.cambsworkplacechaplaincy.co.uk
http://www.ferrarhouse.co.uk
T. S. Eliot. The Four Quartets.
Mary Hanna
Trustee. CWC.