We had a wonderful First Gathering in Niagara on Sunday, Nov. 21st in the Great Hall in Burlington. There were 42 participants and the Title of the Gathering was "Light for the Journey." Picking up from the Lectionary for the day we meditated on the Canticle of Zechariah and the quote from that:
78 By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
We started, sitting in darkness in chairs arranged in a random order. With silence and guided meditation we thought about where we experience darkness in our lives and how light "breaks" upon us. We moved to the other side of the room, each lighting a candle and sitting in a circle around the table of friendship. We placed our candles around the table of friendship and named a person or a need for our prayers and then moved into the story of Jesus' last supper, and shared in the bread and wine together. Periods of silence, instrumental music and Leonard Cohen's "The Anthem" were featured during our time together.
Our next Gathering is Sunday, January 16th at 7 P.M. at St. Jude's Church, Oakville.
