Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:24 — 31.5MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More
Philip Roderick, a priest of the Church of England, is the founder and a patron of the Quiet Garden Movement, of Contemplative Fire and of Hidden Houses of Prayer. He delights in the radical presence of God in community, in nature – on hillside and by seashore; he rejoices in chant and harmony, syncopation and stillness. He is an author and a musician.
He has worked in Bangor University as Chaplain and Lecturer in Theology then in the Oxford Diocese as Principal of the Buckinghamshire Christian Training Scheme and as a parish priest in Amersham on the Hill. In 2015 he retired from being Bishop’s Adviser in Spirituality and Chaplain to Whirlow Grange in the Diocese of Sheffield.
Philip’s writings include the book Beloved: Henri Nouwen in Conversation, and articles that appear in the following books, all part of the “Ancient Faith, Future Mission” series published by Canterbury Press: New Monasticism as Fresh Expressions of Church, Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Tradition, and Doorways to the Sacred: Developing Sacramentality in Fresh Expressions of Church.
SIlence is a weaving, it’s like a tapestry or a pattern of presence; it recalls me; but it’s not like a block, it’s more like a river, a flow, a patterning… silence is for me a resource, an aperture, a journey… — Philip Roderick
Other resources featuring Philip include Sacred Posture, a teaching DVD on body prayer, and Sheer Sound, a music album featuring a musical instrument called “the Hang.”
Philip joined us via Skype from his home in England near the South Downs to discuss his various efforts, all of which unite creativity and/or community building to help foster contemplation and silence in people’s lives.
Sometimes the stillness is so evocative that the stillness becomes the call. — Philip Roderick
Some of the resources and authors we mention in this episode:
- Philip Roderick, Beloved: Henri Nouwen in Conversation
- Philip Roderick, Sacred Posture (DVD)
- Philip Roderick, Sheer Sound (available as CD or MP3)
- Mother Thecla, Great Feasts of the Church
- Bede Griffiths, Essential Writings
- Thomas Gray (et al.), Selected Poems
Silence and solitude are precursors to service. They can seem to be escapist, but in fact a true silence and a true solitude lead to a full expression of care and love; so the call to love and heal is integrally bound up with the call to be hidden and alone. — Philip Roderick
Episode 70: Encountering Silence in Quiet Gardens: A Conversation with Philip Roderick (Part One)
Hosted by: Carl McColman
With: Cassidy Hall, Kevin Johnson
Guest: Philip Roderick
Date Recorded: May 6, 2019