Golf Fundraising Day
Following our last successful Golf Day in 2014, we’ll be holding another fundraising day of fairway fun on Friday 22nd July. Come along, support the work of TTR, and enjoy the day’s activities, including an 18-Hole Stableford Competition, Blindfolded Putting Competition, and Wheelchair-seated Longest Drive.
The whole day begins with registration at 8am, and costs £65 a head, including coffee and bacon roll on arrival and a two course lunch.
It's at Tyrrells Wood Golf Club, The Drive, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8QP. To find out more, and book your place, please follow this link to email Margaret Bale.
Wheels in Kenya 2016
A Wheels for the World team are hard at work in Kenya from the 17th to the 27th February, distributing chairs, walking aids, vital training, and physiotherapy to disabled people in rural Eldoret.
Good news...
After travelling all day to get to our team, on the back of several motorbikes one man received a wheelchair, accepted a Bible, and voluntarily gave his life to the Lord. Praise God. Keep up with daily events, and stories of the lives changed during the trip, by following the team's blog (connectivity allowing), follow this link to find out more. Thank you for all of your support and prayer!
“Though he is dead, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11.4) (Ros' Blog)
Every now and then I like to research disabled people from the past. I find it fascinating to see how, in an age when there was little understanding of disabled people’s strengths and abilities, and little teaching within the church of a Biblical theology of disability, some people still managed to triumph in circumstances that might defeat some of us modern Christians, and to shine a ray of hope down the centuries to us.
One such person was Hermann of Reichenau. Hermann was born into a noble family in 1013. He was born with severe disabilities which it is hard to diagnose all these centuries later, but which almost certainly included cerebral palsy and a cleft palate. He could not walk and a special chair was made for him to be carried around in.
Despite his physical limitations, Hermann was highly gifted intellectually. At the age of 7 he was sent for schooling and care to the monastery at Reichenau and studied under Abbot Berno. This in itself was quite remarkable, as it is really only in the modern era that education has begun to be made fully available to disabled people. He took full advantage of the opportunity and excelled academically, growing up to write scholarly works on mathematics, astronomy, history and music. Hermann was familiar with much Islamic scholarship in the field of science, and made it available to the Latin-speaking world.
Despite his severe physical limitations – he was never able to walk, and spoke only with great difficulty – Herman’s rich spiritual life was evident to all. He became a monk and eventually succeeded Berno as Abbott of the monastery at Reichenau. He became famous for his patience and joy even when he was in great pain, and people travelled from far to learn from his example. He wrote several hymns, some of which are still sung or said as prayers by Roman Catholic Christians today, including a number in praise of the Holy Spirit.
Another of my heroes from the past, and one who has affected my life not only by his example, but by the writings and spiritual exercises he left, is Ignatius of Loyola. He was the youngest of 13 children, born in 1491 into a noble Spanish family, and lost his mother in early infancy. Unlike Hermann of Reichenau, he was not born with a disability. He was gripped by the tales of chivalrous knights and determined to make a great name for himself like the most famous among them.
At the age of 17 he joined the army and gained a reputation as a fearless fighter. He excelled and rose through the ranks until, at the age of 30, a French cannonball broke one of his legs and wounded the other. It was the end of his military career. He was returned, badly wounded, to his parents’ castle, and underwent several painful operations (in the days before anaesthetics!)
As he lay in bed recovering, he read a number of books on the life of Christ, which had a profound impact on him and led him into a life-changing encounter with and vision of the One about whom he read. Ignatius went on to found a religious order, the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits. He is valued today by Catholics and Protestants alike for his spiritual exercises and his method of Bible meditation which have helped many Christians deepen their relationship with God, myself included.
Ignatius taught people to read the Bible imaginatively, putting themselves into the shoes of one of the characters in the passage and many have found this has opened them up for God to speak to them through His word. He taught people to take note of the world around them and also of their own emotions and mood, and to use these to enable open and honest communication with God in prayer.
While he was a powerful and well-respected soldier, Ignatius was largely deaf to God’s call on his life, and concerned mainly with enhancing his own reputation. It took a devastating injury which put paid to his military career for him to come into a place of weakness and dependence in which God could use him powerfully.
These men, though long-dead, still speak to us today, both by the example of their lives and by the teaching they left. They show that no physical impairment can impair the spirit that is devoted to God, and that the joy of the Lord is not overcome by pain or physical infirmity. My prayer is that we all learn to lean on God in whatever circumstances we face, and find in Him the kind of joy that will carry us through whatever life throws at us.
Wheels in Ghana 2016
Read on for highlights of Wheels in Ghana from blogging team-member, Phil Cutland Green, and check out his superb photographs of the trip on our Facebook page and in the gallery at the bottom of this post...
DAY 10 - Final Day
So it's our final day and we headed off to the warehouse where the chairs had been kept. We fitted about 10 wheelchairs to some people that hadn’t been able to make it to previous days. I think we managed another 10 or so in a few hours whilst we were there. The team spent time sorting out the tools, paperwork etc and generally packing up for our flight home later that evening, and after some lunch we then headed off to Tema Market to buy local gifts for loved ones at home. They sell all sorts of things from food to fabrics and beads.
We then headed to the airport for an uneventful overnight flight home. As the team have shared so much over the past 10 days I found it hard to say goodbye. We are hoping to have a reunion though and I am sure we will keep in touch. We said our tearful goodbyes and headed our separate ways back to “normal” life.
The culture shock still hits me and I guess it will be different for each member of the team but part of me wants to go straight back and help those in need. Yet life goes on in the UK and it's back to work tomorrow and generally life is very comfortable here. Whilst it's far from perfect, we are very blessed in the UK to have the NHS as well as other facilities for those living with disabilities. I am also missing the camaraderie and fellowship of the team. It’s been a pretty full on trip this time with long and challenging days. I thank God for the team and I pray for them as they head of back to families and friends. It has always made me more grateful for what I have and for what I don’t and it spurs me on to give more where I can. Over the next week as I go through photos and video I took I know I will reflect more. I pray for those we managed to give a wheelchair or mobility aid to. I pray that it blesses them and helps them on a day to day basis. I pray also for those we weren’t able to help and really need a chair but I hope that at some point they would get one.
I hope most of all we showed them love.
Till next time…
Phil Cutland Green
DAY 9
I didn't hear my alarm going off again so missed breakfast! I had a granola bar in the mini bus on the way back to Sogokope. We had our now regular devotion time in the minibus lead by Fred and a few hours later we were back at the same venue as the previous day.
We discussed how well the team works together, despite only meeting each other once before at our team day! Today was no exception and as before it was really busy. I remember some of those we met today like Atul, John, Victor, Mary and Comfort, for example. Of course the day to day reality of Ghana is very different than life in the UK, especially if you have a disability. I pray for those again that we have been able to give the gift of a wheelchair or mobility aid to. For those we haven’t been able to help, in most cases, we have still had the opportunity to pray for them and minister to via our pastor Fred. The need is very great here, and there is no simple way to solve the challenges that people with disabilities here face. I am again left feeling a little hopeless, but I know God’s way bigger than me so I’ll trust he’s got it all under control. Tomorrow we have to pack and then do a mini distribution before we head to the airport.
DAY 8
Like the rest of the team I am pretty exhausted - this has been my most challenging Wheels trip so far.
We start our days with devotional times in the back of the minibus with worship lead by Nathan and his trusty guitar, followed by some spiritual input from our Pastoral champion – Fred, who is originally from Ghana but now lives in the UK. On our Wheels trips we usually have a Pastor and Fred is fulfilling this role admirably.
Although the gift of mobility is one of our aims, salvation is the ultimate goal and once people have been given a wheelchair they have the chance to pray with Fred (along with Joel from the local partners affiliated to Joni and Friends). Several people have become Christians during this trip.
We also keep reminding ourselves that we should be showing love and not just fitting people in a chair. That's sometimes hard to do when it's really busy and you're really tired, but in my view the team are really delivering here. It’s not always possible for them to have a long conversation but the team do try and learn more about the person they are trying to help. They are often on their knees assessing and fitting wheel chairs, and in Africa, it's hot, dusty and sweaty! If someone did that to me I’d suggest it was love.
Today we were in Sogakope, a few hours drive from base. We had been planning for the worst today and yet when we arrived there was real active calm. There were a small number of people there and we were told others would come in batches. In the end we saw about 60 people and had to tell some people to come back tomorrow since we wouldn’t have time to see them. Even still it was 7pm when we started to pack up.
There was a lady called Naomi (22) with severe deformities. When she arrived Martin did an assessment, and the reality was that we couldn’t really do much. She wouldn't fit in a chair due to her deformities. That said Martin came up with the idea of effectively putting her on a wooden platform on top of a wheelchair shaped with foam. This took a long time unfortunately but even though the sun had gone down we were able to give her a customised chair so her family could take her out and push her around to see some of the outside world.
At one level what we do is a drop in the ocean but if we can just help in the salvation of one person or help transform someone's life with a mobility aid then it's worth it.
Please pray for Naomi and the plans God has for her. I pray that we have somehow been able to improve her way of life.
DAY 7
It was another early start.. I can’t quite remember what time but we head off on the long journey to Akatsi.
There have been some organization challenges, and today we ended up with a 2 hour delay before we could even get set up. We had to relocate to a local Catholic Church, where the power was only on briefly during the day, so couldn’t use any mains-powered tools, so the foam cutter was out of action and meant more time cutting and shaping foam. There was no air-con or fans so within 30 mins the team were dripping with sweat!
We saw over 60 people today! The previous day we had seen around 80 people. They all were vying for a place at the front of the church near our reception desk as they believed it would help them get a wheelchair faster. The signs of potential desperation but also frustration were evident. One challenge was just keeping people far enough away so that the team could get on with the distribution. The language here is different so that also meant an additional challenge. Near the end of the day we had to start telling people there were no more chairs available which was really tough. The team would have loved to have helped them all, but it just wasn’t possible. There was disappointment from many who came and went away with nothing.
It was another late finish only leaving Akatsi around 8pm, so dinner at 11pm again. My prayers are with those who didn’t get chairs. For those that did I pray God blesses them and it really has an impact on their lives in a positive way. Please pray for them too.
DAY 6
About an hour and a half’s drive took us to Akropong. Today there were so many memorable faces: Solomon, John, Anan and Isaac were just a few of the children we saw. There were a couple of children who were deaf, blind, or deaf and blind. It was heart-wrenching seeing how well Anj interacts with the children, especially with one of the girls today. She reminded me of what I have to be thankful for and how blessed I am. We couldn’t provide anything for her unfortunately, and I just pray for a miracle in her life, it was really heart breaking. It’s pretty hard to take pictures when you're in tears behind the camera! The team were absolutely fantastic today, still working until just after 9pm, then some went on to help Joel load the container for the morning.
Like everyone else I am exhausted, but the team is still in good spirits despite the challenging day. Please continue to pray for them. Pray for those today who didn’t get a wheelchair or mobility aid, we just didn’t have the equipment appropriate for their needs at times.
DAY 5
First distribution day - finally! We headed to KPONG, about 40 minutes north of where we are staying. A large hall held people with a whole range of disabilities and several children, which is always heart-wrenching. We saw 60 people today, and gave away about 40 wheelchairs, the others were judged better off with other aids such as crutches. In each case the OTs and Physios determined the most appropriate aid, based also on what we have available with us. From time to time it got really chaotic - lots of people moving around, some wanting to be seen before others, but the team are just that... a team. Collaboration flowed, advice was given as well as sought, and I felt proud of them all. We ended up working till about 19:30 with our last two clients, a boy of 13 and a lady of 44 (who looked like she could have been 13 or less). Both came in crawling on the floor and both left in wheelchairs.
I am always hit emotionally by the youngsters - often the happiest there! It’s really great to see the transformation a chair makes to them. Whilst we don’t often get to see what happens afterwards and how their chair does alter things, we can only pray that it does. Personally I struggle with my emotions, I feel sad but at the same time get to share in their joy and excitement.
Please continue to pray for the team, and for those who received the gift of mobility today. Pray that it will be a real blessing to their lives. Thank you God for watching over us.
DAY 4
We headed off to a local church at around 9:40 and ended up in Sunday school when we got there, having a lesson on when/if ever there is a time when lying is acceptable. Then after Sunday school the main service started...
It’s very interesting to compare cultures and how church operates in different countries. Church here goes on longer than at home, and they have more collections and loud preaching.
With church finished we headed off to Shekinah. Ellen, our host, showed us the embodiment of her vision of some years ago: a building that was home to 25+ children of all ages who were originally left out on the street, and survived by living hand to mouth. This may have been because their parents had died, couldn’t cope or just didn’t care. We met with lots of smiling and excited faces when we arrived. We had brought some gifts and helped to organise the library where the toys, books, and games etc would all be stored. With no government funding, Ellen has to rely on donations and handouts. She takes the children through school (and has to pay for books etc) and then hopes that with an education they can go on to get jobs and hopefully never be back on the streets.
On the way home my heart was breaking thinking of the children, from birth upwards, who were left out on the street and not as fortunate as those in Shekinah. Please pray for those without families and for those whose families just don’t care or can’t cope. I know God knows every single one of them and I pray he’s looking out for them all tonight. Please pray too that we will be a blessing for those we see tomorrow and for all the logistics as the distributions get underway.
DAY 3
Saturday started out with breakfast followed by our devotional time. The plan was to head off to the market and then get to the beach to possibly see a Ghanaian sunset. However, like many Wheels trips things don’t always go as planned and today was no different. We drove for a few hours to the east of Tema, - and somehow ended up at a funeral! Whilst one could imagine this being a sad event, in Ghana it is essentially a party, from what we could gather. Whilst we didn’t fully understand what was going on, I was hoping that the friends and family were celebrating the life of the lady who had died and that after this world I’ll meet her and explain how I came to be at her funeral.
Back home for dinner: fish, rice and some vegetables. Tomorrow it's Church, and then we will be heading off to Shekinah to see the work Ellen does with homeless children. Some of the team are suffering a little, and not feeling 100%. Nothing too serious, but please pray for the team for health and strength for the rest of the trip, especially next week when the distributions begin.
DAY 2
Another small miracle... there were more chairs than we were expecting, this not only gives us potentially more flexibility but also allows us to hopefully help more people. The team are blessed with so many different skills and helped get wheelchairs ready for distribution.
DAY 1
Good news about the container, which had not only docked but had been unloaded and the chairs were at the storage depot by the team arrived. We didn’t expect this to happen until Saturday at least. Now for those who have experienced African ports and customs in the past this is a miracle!
Please keep praying for the team and we'll update you with their news...
Banishing the New Year Blues
As 2016 dawns, the situation looks bleak in many parts of the world. We look with helplessness at the terrible political situations in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Latin America. Persecution of the Church is on the rise all over the world, including communist China. People in Europe and America live in dread of a random attack, a fear which is fuelled and nurtured by the unwise pronouncements of some politicians. In the meantime, the refugees from these conflicts turn up on Europe’s borders only to have the door slammed in their faces.
Some sectors of the Christian church seem to welcome this, believing that apocalypse in the Middle East is a necessary precursor to the Second Coming of Christ, while others see the call to be peacemakers as an absolute command of the Gospel, and believe that we should be doing everything within our power to end war and shelter those who flee from it.
On a personal level, many face an uncertain year. I know of at least two disabled children starting the year without having an appropriate school place that can meet their complex needs. I know of other people starting the year with diagnoses that, humanly speaking, seem to be terminal unless God intervenes. Then there are the many disabled people in the Work Related Activity Group of Employment and Support Allowance claimants who are threatened with a £30 a week cut in a benefit that is already barely adequate, something that is bound to cause extreme hardship while at the same time being exceedingly unlikely to achieve its aim of motivating them to get a job (as though someone who is too disabled to work will recover enough to get a job if you add starvation to their other problems).
In a world of so much anxiety and uncertainty, a glorious opportunity is handed to us to bring the Kingdom of God to bear on the little part of the world where we are. We serve a God who never fails us, and on whom we can rely without fear or doubt. As David wrote in Psalm 37, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”
I can personally testify to a time, a few years ago, when I lived for a year with, on paper, nowhere near enough income to cover even the most basic needs of myself and my family, and yet every time the finance ran out, God provided again and again in miraculous ways that I would never have expected.
Jesus had some specific instruction for his disciples about living in a time of fear and worry. Here is what He said: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you – you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” (Luke 12. 22-31)
As we get hold of this truth and throw ourselves in calm trust upon the goodness of God, not only do we receive a supernatural peace that is the perfect antidote to the anxiety in the world around us; but also, our very peace and serenity becomes a beacon of light in a dark world, showing people that there is another way to live, and there is a God who loves them and cares about the things that matter to them. Let’s let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
Happy New Year (Ros' Blog)
Some years ago, I read an article by Miles Kington about New Years’ resolutions. He said he only made ones he knew he could keep. I can’t remember all the examples he gave, but I do recall that one of them was never to speak fluent Norwegian in public (easy, as he didn’t know a single word of Norwegian). I thought this was an excellent idea, and decided to adopt his method myself. This year I have kept all my resolutions – I never lapsed into speaking German at work, I always wore clothes to church and I didn’t swim the English Channel. I’m currently thinking about some impossible-to-break resolutions for the coming year!
The thing that makes the Gospel message unique among all the world’s religions is that it doesn’t involve keeping certain resolutions or observing certain standards of behaviour in order to achieve salvation. You can break every one of your resolutions, and never pick up your Bible, and God will still love you just as much and be just as committed to your salvation. That’s why it’s good news. In fact, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great preacher of the early twentieth century, once said, “If your preaching of the gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ does not provoke the charge from some of antinomianism (complete lawlessness), you're not preaching the gospel of the free grace of God in Jesus Christ.” He went on to say that Paul was exposed to the charge of lawlessness or antinomianism, and that to be so accused is a good test of evangelical preaching.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones wasn’t advocating that we should be able to behave as we like unchecked – he quotes Paul in Romans 6 to counter that idea: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! We who have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” But what he was saying was that our salvation does not depend on us – on our achieving certain standards of goodness. Our salvation is achieved by Jesus, independently of anything we have ever done or ever could do, and so nothing we do can make us any less or more saved.
I wonder if disabled people struggle with this concept more than others? After all, in every other walk of life they seem to have to go beyond what others have to do, just to prove that they are equally capable. For example, one study found that disabled employees are more loyal, harder working, take less sick leave and are up to 110% more productive than their able bodied colleagues; yet in the same year, a study by Civil Service unions found that disabled staff members are much less likely to be given pay rises for good performance than their non-disabled colleagues.
It’s good to be reminded that this kind of inequality, and the need to out-perform non-disabled people, does not extend to our relationship with God. Each of us stands helpless and incapable of influencing our own salvation by anything we do. All we can do is appeal to God for mercy, and rest in the knowledge that Jesus promised never to cast out anyone who turned to Him. No matter how many resolutions we fail to keep, the grace of God is great enough to redeem all our shortcomings. What changes our behaviour and transforms us into the likeness of Christ is not our efforts but His Spirit at work within us.
So, make New Years’ resolutions if it helps you to focus on changes you want to make in the coming year, but don’t set them impossibly high, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t keep them, and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your relationship with God is dependent on your behaviour or performance.
In the meantime, I think my resolutions for 2016 will be to avoid auditioning for The X Factor, not to set fire to the Through the Roof offices and not to train for the 2016 Olympics. I’m pretty sure I should be able to keep those ones.
Good Christians All, Rejoice! (Ros' Blog)
Last Wednesday I was invited to take my daughter to a different kind of carol service at a church in a town half an hour from home. Never one to miss out on a good carol sing, Ellen was enthusiastic about going. For those who don’t know her, Ellen, who is now 32, was born a little over 3 months prematurely and has cerebral palsy, a learning disability and autism.
The church – Kerith Community Church in Bracknell – might have been giving a textbook demonstration of how these things should be done. As we entered the car park, a man in a high-viz jacket spotted our blue badge and directed us round towards the main entrance to the building. We drove down there and another high-viz man showed us into a blue badge parking space and held a torch so I could see to undo all the belts and karabiners to get Ellen in her chair onto the tail lift and down out of the vehicle. We mounted the pavement via a lowered kerb and had no problem entering the front of the church and the auditorium, all of which was completely level with smooth floors over which the wheelchair glided with ease.
Ellen has a bit of a thing about hand dryers and wanted full reassurance that she would be allowed to find one to use and record on her Dictaphone at the end of the service. She was just a tad worried that the hand dryer might be too hot, and all this was uppermost in her mind as we took our seats at the end of a row in view of the door where my eldest daughter could easily spot us and come to join us when she arrived from work. A lady came over to greet us and chat. Ellen grabbed her by the arm and earnestly asked, “What does high to low mean?”
The lady did some rapid thinking and then said, “Well it means from up there” (showing height by a hand gesture) “to down there” (pointing at the floor). Ellen realised she hadn’t conveyed her meaning, so she tried again. “What does high to low temperature mean? What does turn it down from high to low mean?”
Patiently, the lady responded to her new understanding of Ellen’s meaning. “Well, it means make it a bit cooler, make it not so hot.”
Now we were getting somewhere. Ellen nodded. “What does hand dryer’s too hot mean?” (still clutching the lady by the arm). At this point I thought I ought to help interpret a bit, so I explained that Ellen loves hand dryers and was looking forward to using one at the end of the service, and was hoping it wouldn’t be too hot. The lady was able to reassure her that there was indeed a hand dryer in the accessible loo that she would be able to use.
Ellen persisted. “What does hand dryer’s too hot mean?”
“Well,” replied the lady, “it means it might burn your hands. But ours won’t burn you, it’s not too hot.” Ellen seized on this and said, “What does just right mean?”
“It means it won’t burn you.”
Satisfied with this response, Ellen let go of the lady, who smiled a few words of welcome to me and then moved on to talk to someone else. I was so grateful to her for her patience in making the effort to understand Ellen and respond appropriately, and for not making me feel awkward or embarrassed.
Moments later, the minister of the church, Simon Benham, came up to greet us. Ellen grabbed his arm. “What does high to low mean?” she asked. He hesitated and glanced at me, unsure of what response to make. I braced myself for the hand dryer conversation again. But this time Ellen continued, “What does turn the chicken nuggets down from high to low mean?”
I realised we had moved on from hand dryers, and explained to the minister that I had promised we would go home via McDonalds, and Ellen was worrying that the chicken nuggets might be too hot. Once he understood this, he had a brief chat with Ellen about McDonalds, chicken nuggets and oven temperatures. He carefully released his arm from her grasp, gently held her hand while he talked to her, and extended a warm welcome to me before moving on to welcome other people. It’s so rare to meet not one but two strangers with the patience to try to understand and respond to Ellen’s mode of communication, I began to relax and look forward to the service.
It was a wonderful service. My daughter Elise joined us, and Ellen wanted to sit next to her, so I moved up and was able to sit back and enjoy the worship while Ellen held onto Elise’s hand throughout.
This was not simply a service, but a service by and for people with learning disabilities. Most of the prayers and Bible readings and all of the Nativity tableau were done by members of the 3 disability groups for whom the service had been arranged. People were given whatever level of help they needed to be able to participate. Some of the actors carried out their parts very ably with no help. One shepherd in a wheelchair was pushed by a fellow shepherd.
People’s ability varied greatly, but they were enabled to play a full part to the fullest of their ability. Some people were able to write and read their own prayers – prayers full of sincere worship and gratitude to God. Others were able to give unaided Bible readings, some very fluently, others more hesitatingly. One lady gave a reading but couldn’t actually read, so another lady stood with her telling her what the words said, and she repeated them after her, thus being enabled to participate fully, her inability to read not being allowed to stand in her way. All the songs were accompanied by a ukulele orchestra from another local church, which gave an air of real fun to the proceedings.
The whole service was signed in Makaton by two ladies, one of whom was disabled and the other was one of the leaders of the group. All the Bible readings were projected onto a screen at the front, and a man in the row in front of me found, to his delight, that he could read all the words. He read along with the person on the platform, as loudly as he could, and at the end of every reading, turned to the people around him and said, “I read all of them words, did you hear me? I read them all, all them words.” His joy was infectious, I couldn’t help but share in his pride at his achievement. No one shushed him or looked as if they found his contribution out of place.
The leader of the service announced that it was time for the minister, Simon Benham, to give a talk, and made way for him at the lectern. I wondered how he would preach at a level appropriate to his audience. In fact, what he did was tell a story. (I often think that some of Jesus’ stories must have had their origin in those quiet early mornings He spent with His Father. Jesus knew that stories get under our radar and smuggle truths into our hearts that we might otherwise resist. And this minister seemed to have taken a leaf from His book.)
The story* was about 3 young trees dreaming of what they would like to be when they grew up. One dreamed of being turned into a treasure box, containing untold riches of gold, silver and jewellery. The second dreamed of being part of a large ship, sailing the oceans and carrying kings from one place to another. The third dreamed of being left to grow into a tall tree on top of a hill, with branches giving shelter to the birds, a source of life for the creatures around it.
Sadly, the first one found itself cut down and fashioned into a lowly feeding trough. The second one was just made part of a very small rowing boat. And the third one was cut into planks and left piled up. But one day, Mary laid her baby in the feeding trough, and its dream came true – it was holding the most priceless treasure in the universe. Some years later Jesus, needing to speak to a large crowd on the shore, stepped into the rowing boat to preach, and after that the disciples rowed him to the other side of the lake – now the second tree’s dream came true as it carried the King of Kings from one place to another. Finally, there came a day when the planks were nailed together into a cross and erected on top of a hill, where Jesus died to save us from our sins and the tree indeed became a source of life – eternal life – for everyone. The minister finished by emphasising how all these incidents from Jesus’ life show us how much God loves us and what lengths He went to so we can be His friends. And there it was - the Gospel presented in a way that was accessible to everyone present.
We stayed for coffee and mince pies (Ellen doesn’t like either of these but biscuits and Ribena were on offer too so she was happy). Then we got to use the hand dryer in the large accessible loo and record it on the Dictaphone before heading off via McDonalds. Once again high-viz-man-with-torch lighted our way as I raised Ellen via the tail lift into her vehicle and fastened all the belts and karabiners. Ellen had thoroughly enjoyed her evening, had been welcomed and accepted just as she was, and had heard the Gospel of how much God loves her. And I decided to blog about it so that others can discover a great example of how church can be blessed when people with learning disabilities lead and are involved in a service designed around their strengths and abilities.
(* - Taken from The Tale of Three Trees : A Traditional Folktale by Angela Elwell Hunt, Lion Children's Books; Lion Publishing; Abridged edition January 2001)