We publish a Parish Magazine 4 times a year and in each Magazine there is a letter from a member of the ministry team. Here is the latest one:
"You are invited …" I love those words! I love to be invited to almost anything - dinner, a party, a coffee morning. I suppose I don't like to be invited to remove myself (that has happened only once!) or to be quiet or to do a rotten task... but in general, I am excited when invited to join in something which promises to be fun and social and entertaining. If there is an element of 'uplifting' so much the better - I mean the sort of moment when your spirit rises up and you feel refreshed and affirmed and happy as you go out the door.
Sadly, not all services at all churches are like that. But there is a place at church that is ALWAYS like that, and ... You Are Invited.
You are invited to the monthly meeting of Faith and Light, held at St. John's on the first Sunday of the month. Faith and Light is a gathering of people who have a physical or mental disability, their parents, carers and friends. The meetings are from 4pm to 6 pm in the church hall (occasionally we miss a month, like January or August, but otherwise we are there.) Each gathering is planned with a theme which runs through the activities of crafts, discussion, singing and drama, in which everyone takes a part. These are followed by a service in the Church with a lighted candle as the central symbol.
Some of my favourite 'Faith and Light Moments' from the past year:
Being present at the wedding of two of our members, Alison and Mark
Being laughed at when I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to make a pop up card - though several of the 'disabled' members patiently tried again and again to show me how
Seeing one member, whom I have never heard speak, name the stars (as in the covenant with Abraham) of the people he loves
Hearing a harried helper say at the end of a session, "That was just what I needed."
One rarely gets to laugh out loud in worship, but that often happens at Faith and Light. I laugh when services go on too long so someone just stands up and points to their watch. I laugh when our singing is so loud and so out of tune that we can only be described as 'making a joyful noise'. I laugh at myself when I find, yet again, that God is being revealed in an unexpected way, and that the Spirit has led me somewhere new.
One of our favourite songs is "Shine Jesus Shine". When we stand to sing and to play our instruments, and I look at the different faces of the people gathered to pray and praise God, and marvel at the truth of the words:
As we gaze on your kingly brightness
So our faces display your likeness,
Ever changing from glory to glory
Mirrored here, may our lives tell your story.
The lives of the people at Faith and Light - able, disabled, carers and parents - do tell the story. They tell the story of a God in whose image we are all made, a God in whose Kingdom all are welcome, a God of surprises who meets us in unexpected ways.
Many of the people who come to Faith and Light have been coming for years and years. We would love to have some new folks join us. You are invited to come to Faith and Light. Come and worship. Come and laugh. Come and meet God in a fresh and personal way at Faith and Light.
Yours in Christ,
Reader, and Chaplain to Faith and Light