There are cathedrals with great soaring roofs
windows that seem to gather all the light from heaven
stones that hold stories so ancient
we will never know how old

In such places
the centuries of prayer
lay an enfolding of peace upon the place

the air is different
the sound draws from a more ancient source
the language changes
and your soul notices

Yet
in all the aeons of faith
nothing changes a moment more
than the expectation of those present in that moment
who gather
and expect
there is something greater there
that all of time cannot hold

It is why cathedrals are built
to recognise such moments

We gather tonight
in a place far from being as grand
without the stories in glass of passing saints
without the hushed tones of a sanctuary’s constructed beauty
but simply
the greater sanctuary
made not of those bricks
but of God’s People

whose expectations alone
invest a place
with the greatest
of holy encounter

It is what we bring
and what we wonder at
that sets this place apart

and it is all focused
and held
here
in the least of beauties
bread
and wine

crumbs
and splashes

So let us shape here
a trysting place
of saint and sinner
at the gateway of heaven