There have been the ‘family weekly challenges’ where families can craft things daily together often recycling things they have already in the home. We have asked families to also share them on social media so we can see the fantastic work families are doing together which improves mental health and resilience to the lockdown situation.
We also have the #StCuthbertsRocks these are rocks painted up with messages of hope for people to find on their daily walks, we also take photos of them so that people on Facebook and Instagram can also share their work and hence share the hope we are creating in God’s love.
If I can be of any assistance do please let me know and I will get in touch or of course, get you a St Cuthberts buddy for either shopping, prescription pick-ups or even just a phone call.
At the end of May in the celebration of Pentecost we are having a St Cuthberts Pentecost Quiz! This will be held at 2:30 on 31st May on Facebook live and I hope many will join in the fun and through the comments we can share the experience together.
Via Zoom we are also holding prayer meetings twice a week, standing committees and of course PCC though APCM will still need to be held when we return to our church building.
All of this is brilliant and fantastic to work together with the community and to work with Croxteth Park residents too in the Mental health and Wellbeing ‘Whats app group’.
I also work on a Hardship Group with our councillors helping us to ensure those in need are cared for, but I still have concerns for those alone or mums and dads who may be at breaking point.
Hellinger wrote that war, natural disasters, and pandemics are ‘the greater forces that shape us’.
We are not used to this level of ‘not being in control.
It is a shock to our systems and I know after working years as a nurse and having had trauma training that our normal coping strategies may or may not work for us. We need time to process and understand where we are as individuals and name out loud what we can influence and what we can’t, and this in itself can be liberating.
In systemic work, this is described as agreeing to something exactly as it is. The world won’t be the same again is about naming the truth of what is. Patterns of belief and behaviour which may give rise to problems in daily life, here and now, they may also be tracked back through the generations. These patterns are strongly influential, the more so if they are unrecognised However they can also be a source of strength and resilience.
Inviting ourselves, or someone else, to say out loud I am feeling trapped/ I’m feeling like the walls are closing in,/ I feel like I am so alone in my own home, I’m’ feeling angry/scared/ fed up if that is what they are expressing, then we need to help them, and not to be just ‘reassuring’ them that lots of other people are, too, as this can diminish what they are feeling.
We need to help them to understand and process where they are at.
Reassurance minimises what they are feeling and is more helpful to us as people listening, however, agreeing to what they say -yes you are feeling very alone at this time how can we change how you feel? is vastly different from trying to make something OK.”
Just saying out loud" I am not ok "can begin the process of healing and awareness of the issues your having. Active listening and coaching can help in these situations to help people realise what they can change and what they cannot.
The World is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent and being able to care for not just the worldly response, but the spiritual too is essential. God is in all things and made all things and recognises our pain with us.
If you feel this way do please contact me and I am happy to listen.
I hope you continue to enjoy the services and we have bought new software that I hope makes the experience more inclusive of the way you join in.
We continue to broadcast live daily prayer and compline twice a day at 12 and 7pm. We also have a midweek communion at 9:30am on the Wednesday as well as the Holy communion service on the Sunday at 10:30am and sharing these with All Saints Stoneycroft in our deanery has helped up to work closely together and bring a different dimension to our worship.
So let me know if I can do anything to help you during this lockdown, it’s a privilege to work with you all.