Ray Simpson
Ray Simpson is Founding Guardian of the international Community of Aidan and Hilda and the author of forty books on Celtic spirituality and other subjects.
Before that he was invited to plant a Fresh Expression at Bowthorpe, Norwich: 'One Family of Christians for one New Neighbourhood' sponsored by six denominations. He has linked early Celtic monastic villages with villages of God inspired by emerging new monastic churches.
He owns a house on UK's Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where the Community of Aidan and Hilda has its Retreat House, The Open Gate and Celtic Library, but is mainly based on the nearby mainland at Berwick-Upon-Tweed.
His big project is to make 'The Way' accessible to
all peoples through daily emails (enrol on www.waymarksoflife.com) and a year's app is being crowd funded.
“Contemplative prayer is natural, unprogrammed; it is perpetual openness to God, so that in the openness his concerns can flow in and out of our minds as he wills.”
“Many questing young people and stressed older people nowadays seek relaxation through meditation. They look for it in Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern religions. They are often surprised to learn that there is such a way within the Christian tradition, a way that is known as contemplation.”
“Frequently we do not leave the past behind. We clasp on to it. We dissect it, and let fears for the future, tempered by the past, unconsciously prevent us from taking up the task eternal.”