Welcome to your April Livability Community Engagement E-Newsletter. This month:
Reflect on growing friendships during Lent
Road to Emmaus: download resources
Look back at Easter celebrations in our services
Pray together and share the Prayer Diary
Please note the frequency of this newsletter has changed to every six weeks.
Reflection
Building friendships through Zoom calls
During Lent, the Chaplaincy group have been meeting together on Zoom, for an hour each week. We’ve been studying wisdom literature in the Bible, drawing out Proverbs about reconciliation, friendship, humility and using our words wisely. Even in a large group who haven’t been able to meet face to face, caring friendships are being built up. I’ve reflected on how we’re starting to do this.
Leaving time for tangents
As we’ve studied the Proverbs, it’s become clear that each of us is wise in our own way. Housemates have talked about how they resolve conflicts. Young adults have shared who they would turn to for wise counsel. Older adults have described how they have sustained friendships for decades. But to unearth this wisdom, we’ve told our unpolished stories. Tangents that take us meandering off topic and back again, where we learn to see the world from each other's viewpoints and to really listen.
Drawing out gifts to share
In a group where everyone is disabled, we really value each other's gifts. One person reads aloud confidently, a few of us have strong singing voices, some are drawing from a lifetime of faith and can testify in ways that build us all up. In hosting, I’ve learnt to be willing to receive as well as give, to be prayed for, and to be humble.
But to draw out the best from everyone, we’ve made the meetings as inclusive as possible, adapting with each new member. Conversation topics are sent in advance to members using communication equipment, we make text large and legible, and use images to bring stories to life. We use music and silence, as well as words and speech. We’ve grown in patience and in our understanding of each other.
Making space to care for each other
Each week we take time to share our prayer requests, and, as group members grow in confidence, they’re more often praying for each other's needs as well as their own. A winter of praying for our dear friends and family is slowly yielding to a spring of thanksgiving for first visits from siblings and parents.
Some group members are gifted as welcomers and will take time to ask after people one by one. They’ll remember to speak to people who they haven’t seen in a while, and sessions will be seemingly “interrupted” by these interactions marked by care and concern. I’ve learned to accept and welcome these spontaneous exchanges, and to view them as central to our time together. We perhaps get less bible study done than we might, but in a group where very few have met
face to face, we’re building strong relationships.
Resources
The Road to Emmaus
Readers who follow the lectionary may be interested to download the Ability Sunday resource from September 2020, about the Pilgrim Journey, with reflections and prayers based on this reading.
Please continue to pray with us for Livability’s work. This season’s prayer diary is on the theme of hope, and contains prayers written by people with disabilities and Livability staff. By downloading the digital version, you can watch video prayers recorded by the people we support and staff (and you're helping Livability by using less paper and reducing our environmental footprint).
Livability services across the UK have been celebrating Easter. In Chaplaincy meetings, we have followed a Lent course on the wisdom of Proverbs, celebrated Palm Sunday by making palm crosses, and have enjoyed learning Easter hymns in sign language.
Join our virtual Prayer Circle, held online every Wednesday at 12.30pm for 30 minutes of reflection and prayer. This is a small group, created with you in mind, which can help us navigate through this challenging and unprecedented time. We’d love our supporters to be part of our Virtual Prayer Circle.
To join – please email [email protected] and you will be sent a link to join.
Livability is the charity that supports people with disabilities to live a life that adds up for them. Through community engagement news, we bring you resources, stories and inspiration for how to connect with your community.
For information about the broader services of our charity - visit our website. You can also read more about our approach to privacy here.
