Solstice at Stonehenge

Wearing my Volunteer Police Chaplain’s hat I attended the Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge a couple of weeks back. (Actually, I don’t have a hat – though I have a very nice yellow fluorescent jacket with Police Chaplain on the back!) It was an interesting experience.

I spent most of the night being driven around the area in a police car. So I did not get up close to the stones themselves. We did drive past the site very closely (along the road that leads to the Stonehenge car park.) And we were close by at dawn on 21^st June – though by this time I had fallen asleep!

For many of the people their being at Stonehenge was nothing more than a bit of a party. Many were stopping at Stonehenge on their way to Glastonbury for the Festival. But for others marking the Solstice at Stonehenge is a religious experience (my words not theirs). These are of course the assorted druids, pagans and witches who believe that the sunrise on the longest day has some religious meaning.

I found on the Daily Mail website an interview with Gina Pratt, a 43-year-old housewife and a self-described witch. She said being inside the circle as the sun came up gave her 'a kind of a grounding feeling (of) being in touch with the earth again, and the air we breathe.' She added 'It makes you feel small and insignificant ... but it makes you feel like you're here for a reason,' she said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1288546/2010-summer-solstice-revellers-Stonehenge-mark-longest-day.html

In an odd sort of way I know what Gina Pratt means. Because I find that there some places I’ve visited that feel ‘special’. It’s hard to put your finger on what it is. But there is something about them. For me Avebury is one such place. On another occasion standing at the base of a giant redwood tree in Yosemite National Park in California.

So what is ‘it’? I think that what makes both of these places special for me is that at both of them I felt very close to God. Celtic Christianity described such places as “Thin places”. In other words places were the gap between God and people, between heaven and earth is so narrow that it is possible to have an encounter with God. "Thin Places" are the places in our lives where the divine and the natural worlds come so close together that we can catch a glimpse of God. For the Celtic Christians these places were very real - places within creation where we could physically go.

Or the Thin Places in our own lives are those moments where the space between us & the Kingdom of God is thin, when we are introduced to a greater glimpse of Who He is through our experiences and through the stories of others.

Maybe you have a “thin place”? A special place where you go to encounter God? Perhaps you’ve just never thought of it in those terms.

God of thin places, we are grateful that you invite us to come very near. We give you thanks for your choosing to come close to us in the whispering wind of the Holy Spirit, who passes gently through our days and emboldens us for courageous faith, and in the person of Jesus Christ in whom we catch a vision of your faith. We see you as creator of all that surrounds us and praise you for the beauty of special places, where we find our hearts at rest in you. We are grateful that you welcome us into your love and desire that we be your children seeking compassion and mercy for those in special need. When we fail, you pick us up and hold us close and teach us to walk again. Teach us to walk through these dangerous days as ambassadors of your peace in our communities and in this world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. (C) Rev Dr Agnes Northfleet.