In case you didn’t know, we have changed the format a bit for this year. We have pared Lacuna down to its basics, sitting in a circle in the dark with the candles in the middle. It’s a bit like sitting round a camp fire and feels really nice. This makes it quieter and more personal and removes the necessity for words on a screen so that we can all (including the musicians) be unobstructed in our communion with God. We might try variations on this theme as the year progresses.

Anyway, still the same God, still the same Lacuna team so hope you can make it this Sunday night.

- The Lacuna Team

‘Response’ is primarily an open, communal worship space. While ‘Response’ is unashamedly Christian in nature, the open and seeking context in which it is set provides a space in which anyone, regardless of their religious convictions (or lack of) can find an avenue to explore their spirituality.

8pm 26 April 2008
157 Risdon Rd, Lutana.

Click here for more information

Today I am grateful

For knowing
I am supported in everything I do.

God will always give me
the things I need
the Friends I need
the Faith and Will I need
to lighten my burden.

I pray this child will find the same.

Photo by Gregory J Smith from CARF

Look at his body:
It carried the cross to this place
And the ones who will carry it from here to the tomb,
Include the woman, who years ago, carried the child in her womb.
This body lived with family and friends
Was down to earth, needed food, drink, grew tired, felt anger, joy, surprise
And now feels only pain, despair – and pain,
It is tortured by the cross:
It cannot see further than the cross:
It becomes one with the cross
It is pain.
My God, why?

Photo by Gregory J Smith from CARF

Hoping

Seeking

Times of Reflection and Alternative Worship
7:30pm
29th November
6th, 13th and 20th December

Clarence Uniting Church
Cnr Cambridge Rd & York St
Bellerive

10am Saturday 1st December
Meeting at the Springs carpark

A three hour walk on varying tracks
including ascents and descents.

Moderate fitness and good walking shoes necessary.

An Earth Pilgrimage activity
Enquiries: Paul Chalson 0409 473 081

Crisp early morning
It’s cold
Very cold
The morning air is so clear, you can see it
As the day starts to unfold
The colours of the sky are the first thing I see

In the pre-dawn light
Rocks appear
Large rocks
Stacked on one another
Sprawled across the landscape

Walking amongst the rocks
You get the feeling this is a special place

Ancient place
Sacred place

Sitting here for tens of thousands of years or more
If these rocks could talk
Imagine the stories they could tell

Locked away in the fissures and cracks of time
Imagine the wisdom they could impart

It makes my own life seem like a speck of sand in a vast desert
So insignificant
All the worries, concerns and seemingly important aspects of our lives
melt away in the vastness of time.
Let it all go and just take in the simple beauty of this place.

In this simple state of awareness
You can feel a presence

Calling us to rest
Calling us to talk about what’s on our mind
Calling us to let go in the deepest way
Calling us to change
With the faith that it will all be Okay

This place is peaceful
Quiet
Safe
Ancient
Sacred

Now fully present and at peace in this place,
Allow God to hold you in the palm of his hand and bless you.

___________________________________________________________________

Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come to save you.”

they will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.

Isaiah 35

___________________________________________________________________

We head north on our journey
and walk towards a gorge we’ve been told about.

From the dry landscape,
we emerge over a hill and see the water.
A series of pools separated by small waterfalls.

Flowing strong yet almost silent,
it affects everything around.

Green plants emerge
and carry on into the distance
along the meandering river.

As we descend into the gorge,
a welcome coolness greets us.

Water slides over the rocks
revealing colourful reds and ochre’s.
The water is so clear and inviting.

Without hesitation
we dive into the water to escape the heat
and find our own space to experience its soothing balm.

I lay back into the water and float
With my head partly submerged and eyes closed,
a silence surrounds me.

Almost weightless
Suspended as if held
The body relaxes
Again, the sense of letting go
I allow myself to be carried
by the slow, gentle current

Late afternoon emerges as time passes
we drift without any sense of time.

With thoughts of having to leave,
we’re brought in to the present
with a realisation that something has changed.

A burden has been lifted and carried for us

The past matters less
The present is filled with grace and love
The future is filled with hope

___________________________________________________________________

A place to encounter the sacred

Taize Service
Led by Bronwyn Morton

7.30pm ~ Thursday 4th Oct 2007
Clarence Uniting Church
Cnr Cambridge Rd & York St
Bellerive