Buildings & Quiet Spaces

Most of us at various times in our days need a bit of peace and quiet. We also need opportunities to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life as well; to find a bit of space, space in which we can reflect, meditate, pray or just ‘sit and be’.

The Diocese of Edinburgh is blessed with many places in which this ‘quiet space’ can be found. Our church buildings and our gardens offer sanctuary and an oasis of calm to anyone who may seek it.

Many of our buildings are open during the day and there are often ‘wayside chapels’ in porches and benches in the gardens where you can find sanctuary in the midst of a busy day. This becomes a ‘sacred space’, re-energising for both the body and the soul.

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Murrayfield, has a prayer porch (pictured below), containing Bibles and other resources, and a board where you can pin prayer requests. The porch and the church’s garden have become a peaceful sanctuary for members of the local community. This was especially appreciated during Covid.

St Columba’s-by-the-Castle’s registered ‘Quiet Garden’ is open during the summer months, offering a place of nurture and stillness in the middle of Edinburgh.

Why not try exploring the ‘sacred space’ offered by your local church?

Or try the simple Celtic approach of drawing a circle around yourself, in the air, with the intention of making your immediate space sacred, then relax into that sanctuary and spend some quality time with God and yourself.

Create around me God,
a place of stillness and of peace;
a place where I might find the time
to reflect and relax;
a place where I might hear your
still small voice;
a place where I might be renewed.
Amen.

(Adapted from the Scottish Episcopal Church website.)