My Desk in Sarum College, photo/Rachael Eliz
After a yummy breakfast I went to the Eucharist service in the Cathedral, and particularly enjoyed singing Jan Struther’s hymn “Lord of all hopefulness”. I smiled again as I read more words of peace…
Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm, whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm, be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray, your peace in our hearts, Lord at the end of the day.
Linda (the duty manager for the day in Sarum College where I stayed) kindly invited me to dine with her and the new visiting choir (the Ravenscroft Singers) as I had no food and was enquiring on the whereabouts of night open supermarkets. That was great! 🙂
An early night after my long walk through the Queen Elizabeth Gardens (where I somehow managed to get lost and walk a mile and a half in the wrong direction). Some more reading too, today mostly from “When God was a Rabbit” by Sarah Winman…
‘Do you believe in God, Arthur?’ I said, eating the last piece of sponge.
‘Do I believe in an old man in the clouds with a white beard judging us mortals with a moral code from one to ten? Good Lord no, my sweet Elly, I do not! I would have been cast out from this life years ago with my tatty history. Do I believe in a mystery; the unexplained phenomenon that is life itself? The greater something that illuminates inconsequence in our lives; that gives us something to strive for as well as the humility to brush ourselves down and start all over again? Then yes, I do. It is the source of art, of beauty, of love, and proffers the ultimate goodness to mankind. That to me is God. That to me is life. That is what I believe in.’
I love the hymn you sang. Thank you that it is now stuck in my head. So comforting.