The wonderful display of artwork has now closed and the series of community events, concerts and workshops have now sadly finished – ‘Threads through Creation’ was a community celebration based around 12 amazing embroidered panels depicting creation stories by Jacqui Parkinson.

Organised by Priory Arts on behalf of Leominster Priory, the celebration sought to be inclusive, inviting those who visited to develop their own response to the art work and supporting activities.

The programme of diverse events was developed in collaboration with a wide variety of local community groups, institutions and schools from Leominster and the surrounding area.

The Priory Church continues to be open for services and visits

We are a welcoming and inclusive church in the rural market town of Leominster, in Hereford Diocese.

Whether you would like to come to a church service, are enquiring about a special event, such as a wedding or a christening or are a visitor; click here to visit the Priory Church website.

Leominster Priory is open to visitors daily from 10am-3pm.

Leominster Priory is part of Leominster Team Ministry which includes 23 churches: The Eastern Parishes of Stoke Prior, Kimbolton, Hamnish, Hatfield, Ford, Hope-under-Dinmore, Pudleston, Bockleton, Middleton-on-the-Hill, Leysters, Humber, and Docklow. The Western Parishes of Dilwyn, Orleton, Brimfield, Eyton, Eye,

Following are a selection of poems by local poet Maggie Crompton on the theme of creation and celebration for the gifts of the world around us.

ILLUMINATION

Creation waits in silence, in darkness,
yearning for a dawn to pierce the night,
scarcely daring to trust, to hope; breathless,
it’s deepest longing reaching t’ward the light

Slowly the darkling sky begins to shift
and hope stirs into being once again,
hints of light across the landscape drift
before the sunrise sets the sky aflame.

Every moment gifts a new beginning,
holds a golden thread, the light of life
which we can grasp, stitch into our living,
push back the darkness, restore inner sight.

Thanks be to those who weave their lives with light,
walk with us in the gloom and breathe new life.

ERUPTION

The universe exploded into existence
with heat and light and a crashing cloud of chaos.

Order spoke its name and chaos whirled into a circling and a system that brought forth the earth.

And the earth erupted into life that swam and soared, slithered, stood and sprang until it teemed in the oceans and on dry land.

Chaos still prowled the earth, but Order whispered to life and always and everywhere there arose those who offered themselves to watch and plan, care and share, to stem the tides of threatening chaos and create community.

EARTHLY RICHES

My gaze takes in the quickly greening garden
lit by the sun rising above the trees.
Just weeks before the earth seemed empty, barren, but now strong stems of green wave in the breeze. The waking garden lit by shafts of sunlight, the flowers open wide to greet the bees, tiny rainbows fill each water droplet clinging to the fresh green newborn leaves.

All this within a few minutes of waking to another day gifted to me, unearned, beyond my controlling, but not beyond my choice to look, to see. I stand beneath the huge and ancient oak tree that grew when one small acorn fell to earth. I watch as farmers sow the smallest seeds where soon I’ll walk beside a field of wheat.

A wondrous thing to live in such a garden, the earth’s lavish extravagance to know, the way to feed the world shown by its generosity if only we will choose to see, and grow.

WONDERING

Look where you’re going!
Good advice,
many a slip and trip
between one step and the next.

Look up, look where you came from!
Good advice,
step out into the darkness and look up
to the cratered silver moon,
to spinning giant planets
so distant they seem small sparkling specks of light.

Look up and wonder,
look up and ask how, when, why?
Seek out the guides to point us
towards answers and more questions.
Look up! Look where we came from,
look where we are going.

TAPESTRY OF LIFE

Consider the dolphins,
slipping through the seas
in their chattering pods,
leaping through the waves to
save a swimmer from attacking sharks.

Consider the songbirds,
serenading us into wakefulness,
woodpeckers drumming as the year turns,
assuring us that spring is coming,
vultures consuming remains,
removing the threat of disease.

Consider those who patrol the oceans, the skies,
delivering aid to those who weep
in the wastelands of want and war.
With each day’s waking,
take deep breaths of thanksgiving
that the cloth of this world
is woven with mutual dependence.

APPRECIATION

The touch of a hand
to steady, strengthen us.
The quiet voice to calm us,
the strong voice to rock us with laughter.
The smile on the face of a stranger,
their simple greeting, perhaps
the first you have seen or heard that day.
The deeply companionable silence
shared with your closest loved ones.

The gentle muzzle of a precious pet,
soft, warm fur or rhythmic purr.
The deep lowing of grazing cattle,
the bleating as lambs call to their mothers.
The diverse multitude of those,
mostly unseen, unknown,
whose lives and work
cleanse and clothe,
nourish and nurture,
house and heal us.