Entering a New Garden
Sunday 28th June 2025, led by Diane Pacitti
The St James’s Grow Box, now in St Pancras Church garden. Photo by Audrey da Costa
Gathering
We let the noise of the traffic recede. We focus on the feel of our bodies sitting on these seats, our feet connecting with the ground. This garden is full of living beings, whom we are approaching for the first time with our liturgy of contemplation. Their presences invite us to be sensitive and courteous. We take a few moments to still ourselves and quieten our minds. As we slow our breathing, we begin to be in tune with the plants, who each breathe in their own rhythm.
Readings
We cannot burst
like commandos into this quiet space:
possess and know in one.
Here every green being, each stone
is on their own journey, and briefly
our journeys meet:
this fountain
hides more than a century’s life of
quenching
parched throats nearby;
spring’s daffodils
are hidden underground in shrivelled
bulbs;
These green hard fruits will swell to plum;
just beyond midsummer height, the
garden
Is slowly beginning to contract
into autumn, winter.
Every plant
gives and withholds in their own rhythm.
If we are attentive
we encounter
future companions, knowing that each
is a mystery far beyond us.
This space embraces
every presence from pink intricate rose
to the white spots of bird droppings.
If we let our eyes be accosted
by bold shapes
by strong-pulsing colours
we might miss
a leaf that bounces under a fly;
the fine formation of a shed feather.
Diane Pacitti
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
‘The Bright Field’ R.S. Thomas
Let us proceed
Slowly, and first circumambulate
this place of pilgimage
letting our feet
feel contact with the textures of our path:
diagonal mosaic, knobbed tiny stones
grass that rears wild
through paced paving slats that point a way
accompanied by ferns.
Let us circle slowly
like the calming moon, with the sun
whose fire-energy daily wakes this place.
Let us walk
as pilgrims who know that every step
Is destination
and arrival.
Diane Pacitti
Individual contemplative time (15 minutes)
We have 15 minutes to contemplate the garden, or the place where we are. In St. Pancras garden, the path invites us to circumambulate this garden slowly, as is the custom with a place of pilgrimage. On the way, you might stop to encounter a plant, a stone or any other being.
Regathering
We take time to share something of our experience, if we wish. Silence is equally welcome
Concluding reading
We are momentary miracles,
divinely delivered
like October dew drops
held in a web,
glistening in the morning light.
We exist within a gossamer fabric
of life fulfilling itself,
each of us connected
by shimmering golden strands
trembling with the frequency of love.
‘Entanglement’ by Leaf Pettit
Closing Prayer
Creating spirit, we thank you for our opportunity to encounter this garden and its many inhabitants. As we go out into the busy streets of Euston, may we carry the spirit of attentiveness and courtesy to every being we meet. May we recognise each one as kin, and also as a profound mystery.
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