What is Contemplative Fire?
Contemplative Fire is a dispersed and diverse community of people journeying together as a community of Christ at the edge. The community emerged in 2004 through the work of our Founder Revd. Philip Roderick (1949 – 2025) as part of the Fresh Expressions movement. We are an ‘Acknowledged Community’ at the edge of the Church of England and belong to the network of Anglican Religious Communities in England (and are also a registered charity).
We have a simple rhythm of life, which each Companion on the Way adjusts to their own life pattern. We explore contemplative practices such as body prayer, chant and stillness, often outside, recognising our small place in the community of the natural world.
Our rhythm of life
Companions on the Way commit to following our shared ‘rhythm of life’, which balances being (Still waters: encountering the present moment in quietness), knowing (A learning journey: accompanying and being accompanied by others as we learn), and doing (Across the threshold: engaging with wisdom at the edge), symbolised by the trefoil. This rhythm of life nurtures contemplative, creative and compassionate practice. At the heart of the trefoil is a spacious, wordless place – the place of unknowing; of silence that draws us…
This ancient rhythm of prayer, study and action is how we commit to aligning ourselves with Christ’s way of love.
Why Contemplative Fire?
As our name suggests, we seek to integrate the opposites, the paradoxes that have been felt, lived, wrestled with and reflected upon since the time of the earliest Christian communities. The contemplative call is to make time in the everyday flurry of things for reflection and stillness. The fire is the energy and vitality of God’s Holy Spirit as we open ourselves to the creative and re-shaping power of God’s life in us.
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