Marking Significant Moments

Many years ago, I spent a year living in a community called the Larche community. It was a community in which adults with learning disabilities invited others to come alongside them in a residential setting and to live a simple life together based on gospel values.

It was one of the years I think I learned most from. It was certainly challenging and exhausting, as well as exhilarating and filled with wonderful experiences and friendships that have stayed with me until the present day.

One of the big learnings for me from that year was the importance of marking special or significant moments in a meaningful way. It might have been someone’s birthday or the anniversary of when they came to live in Larche. It might have been the observance of special liturgical seasons like Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and Easter, but we would all gather as a community for food and celebrations. There would be opportunities to share stories or memories about why people were important or significant, or what these occasions or times of the year meant to us all. It might sound simple, but it never ceased to amaze me just how powerful it could be to gather in a circle and share a few reasons about why the person who we were celebrating was special in all our lives. It might be for the joy of their presence with us as we cooked dinner together if they were non verbal, it might be for the way they made us a cup of tea after a busy day, it might be for the times they listened to us when we were going through a difficult time. You would see people somehow rise up or glow with happiness as they heard all these wonderful things about themselves from other people. Sometimes, too, someone else would just pray for them and give thanks to God for all this person brought to our life together.

We don’t always have to do big or expensive things to mark the significant moments in our lives, but it’s good to sometimes do something extra special, if we get that opportunity.

This Wednesday night will mark a special spiritual landmark in the lives of six young people and one adult as they are confirmed by Bishop David in our church at 7.30pm. During the spring, the clergy had the privilege of preparing with them as we did the Alpha course for youth. We watched videos together and learned about important Christian teaching, like the Lord’s prayer, the Apostles’ Creed and the Ten Commandments. We had discussions together, did some Bible studies together and enjoyed snacks and drinks as we came together in this way.

There’s something very special about the bonds people form as they share that time of preparation over 12 weeks. We, as the clergy, loved working with this group and appreciated the way they engaged with the materials and had a lot of fun together. There was no shortage of brilliant questions and thoughtful contributions, and we were thrilled to present all the candidates with a Bible to mark this special process.

Wednesday night will be a special night in their spiritual lives. They will publicly declare their wish to follow Jesus and his teaching and, we, as a congregation, will gather around them to support them. Like all good celebrations, after the service there will be desserts and refreshments in the hall and we thank the members of the Mothers’ Union for assisting to serve these refreshments for everyone.

We would love to see as many as possible come to mark this special moment with our candidates. If you can’t come in person, maybe you would tune in online for the moving and powerful service, or simply pray for our candidates. Let’s pray for Grace and Katherine, for Lewis and Harry, for Patrick senior and for Patrick junior, and for Conor. May each one of them be aware of the Lord’s presence and His guiding in their lives as they move forward from this service. May God’s Holy Spirit fill them and equip them to live for Him and serve Him in all that they do.  Let’s not forget to pray for His protection upon them as we mark this special moment in their lives and in the life of our church.

Can I remind people that during the months of July and August we will be stopping our Wednesday celebrations of Holy Communion, but on Tuesday nights in the coffee bar there will be the opportunity to come together to watch the videos from the recent Grow services and to reflect together upon them.

Look forward to speaking again soon.

Much love to everyone,

Jono.

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