Brother Lawrence…

Hi folks, I hope you have enjoyed the summer! This week we meet back at the Crescent Club, meeting in the upstairs lounge overlooking the bay.

Karen and I have just returned from what has become our annual pilgrimage to Greenbelt. It’s one of the highlights of our year and this year the weather was incredible! Although it does remind me of the climate crisis that is facing us. But that is for another time! This week we get back to our reflections on significant people of faith… we are thinking about Brother Lawrence.

His original name was Nicolas Herman and his story starts after being injured in a war. While he was recovering he found himself staring at a tree in winter… no leaves, it looked like it was dead…although in reality it was dormant. He recounts that that was what he felt like… stripped bare… and as he thought about it, he realised that in due course it would burst forth in to life.

This lead him to join a Carmelite Monastery and this is where he changed his name. He was known for being a worshiper at every opportunity… he did this by experiencing the whole of life as an opportunity to worship… in what we now call ‘practicing the presence of God’. He talks about his mind wandering to other things and how he taught himself to come back to God. He says “is it not quicker and easier… just to do our common business wholly for the love of him… for even the smallest remembrance will always please him”.

Some questions

What was your summer highlight?

How do tough times help us to focus on God? Or can these times make it harder?

Is there a difference between being appreciative of all that is around us and worship?

How is appreciating all that is around us a form of worship?

What experience of this do you have?

Peace, Rob