Faith & Light

Update August 2006 - (Inset Pictures of Minster Abbey)
I am writing in between times. Our last July meeting was on 19th July and then we meet again on September 13th. The summer break has given me a chance to think of the special-ness of Faith and Light. We are a community of people on an equal footing All are valued and listened to. We don’t divide people into categories of “learning disabled” and helpers. Each member has something unique to contribute to the group. If I wet your appetite come along and join us if you can! We are indeed part of the emerging church! All the year our overall theme ,chosen by the Faith and Light organisation, has been peace . So we have been given ,or chosen ourselves Bible stories which emphasize peace. Miming the story is always part of our programme as it helps to bring the stories alive. In September we start a new theme “friends of Jesus” . In the spring we had a special meeting evaluating what we all like about Faith and Light and what we thought we could do better. None of our handicapped members could think of any criticism My personal moan was people not coming on time so we couldn’t properly start the meeting activities. When we thought of what we liked doing I was surprised to find that prayer was mentioned several times. We always end the meeting sitting in a circle and after lighting our candle and listening to some quiet music we go round the circle each of us offering an asking or thanking prayer and all of us joining in AMEN! Of course our outings were also favourite times. This year we have been able to hire the mencap minibus and Colin, one of our members, has driven us to Guildford to join other groups there for a special service in February, We made our yearly visit to Aylesford friary to perform the mime at their disability day mass and we visited Minister Abbey to have a special time with the Benedictine sisters. We also joined the Prospects group at Walderslade Baptist church for a special Sunday service. We decided this year to make one meeting every term into a craft meeting as we are no longer have the quarterly Afternoon Delight. In July all the disabled members made a banner as a sponsored activity which they took home. We are hoping to raise money for our future travel. Although Afternoon Delight has finished we are joining with the Prospects group to try out an evening celebration for learning disabled people in care homes and of course for our two groups. Our first venture was in Green Street Baptist church and our next will be on Saturday 25th November at Walderslade Baptist church 6.30-8.30. pm. There is always more to learn!. Three of us went again to Kintbury after Easter and once again were able to share ideas with the leadership of other groups and hopefully contribute some of our insights to them. New members are always welcome in our group. Please come along if you can or if you know of any learning disabled folk who would like to come let us know about them. Every other Wednesday 7-9pm in St Mark’s Vicarage Hall.
Sponsor Evening


Faith and Light Rachel Littlewood for more information. Tel: +44 (0) 1634 570309