Encountering the Sacred

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

Taking RS Thomas’ poem “The Bright Field” as their starting point each of our speakers will be speaking about their own encounter with the sacred.

The Church of England and BBC’s Richard Coles chairs the evening and is joined by Neil MacGregor, Nicola Green and Ben Okri