2010:365:242 Rainbows ...

The early morning sun produced a great set of "mini rainbows" as it shone through the glass door ... the camera doesn't really do justice to the intense colours.  Bank Holiday today and the sun was shining.
That meant that the light in Saint Nicholas' was beautiful during my stint there at lunch time.

Today was one of those occasions when lots of folk dropped in - eight altogether.  It seemed that, just as I was thinking of closing up, more visitors arrived!  I didn't mind at all.  Sometimes you meet the guests and have interesting conversations, others clearly want just to be alone to think or pray.

The person on duty usually sits at the west end so that the area around the entrance and side chapel are free for visitors.  One couple remarked on how good it is to have the background music - I'd chosen a Taizé CD today.

Apart from taking a few photographs (again) when there was no one in the building I had a good time reading.  A friend gave me "Paperboy - a memoir" by Tony Macaulay which is an entertaining account of living on the Shankill in the mid 1970s.  It's the sort of book you can pick up and put down without losing the thread.

Prayer is like watching for the
kingfisher.  All you can do is
be where he is likely to appear, and wait.
Often, nothing much happens;
there is space, silence and expectancy.
No visible sign, only the 
knowledge that he's been there
and may come again. 
Seeing or not seeing cease to matter,
you have been prepared.
But sometimes, when you've almost
stopped expecting it,
a flash of brightness
gives encouragement.  

Ann Lewis