A poem by local poet Faith Ford after a Pentecost service in Hereford cathedral

From Stephen Winwood
I thought the attached was pertinent as we struggle to be a congregation without a church!

It was hugely powerful
To leave the building – the Cathedral –
and to come into the garden.
Suddenly we were the Church,
together, together in that place.
A straggling, untidy group – just a rag and tag,
stripped of the beautiful medieval structure,
the stone and carvings , the artefacts, icons, stained-glass pictures,
candles, tapestries; and now out on our own?
No, not alone.
Blessed still by the beauty and hush of a perfect Spring evening,
bathed in warmth and evening sunlight,
mature trees and spring blossoms to colour, adorn,
and the solitary song of a blackbird –
more heavenly than all the rest – calling us to worship and be blessed

Faith Ford