Day 2 of the 'Thinking Differently About God: Neurodiversity, Faith and Church' weekend at St Martin-in-the-Fields in partnership with Inclusive Church began with a Eucharist. This service continued the reflections begun on Day 1 with input from conference participants, including Krysia Waldock and Ann Memmott, plus a liturgy, parts of which were written by the Disability Advisory Group at St Martin's.
I said that we are able to think differently about God because the Trinity is diverse, as is the world that God created, and because the Bible contains a huge variety of different images of and names for God. These create the space in which those who are neurodiverse share their perceptions of God to the benefit of us all. Krysia Waldock's introduction to neurodiversity and the experience of neurodiverse people in church can be read here, while Ann Memmott's excellent address can be heard here.
Our afternoon programme used insights from the creative Arts to explore the weekend's themes. Phillip Hickman said that as a “Visual Theologian”, his aim is to minster to the effectiveness of the Christian Contemplative practice of photography and thus come to understand a deeper realisation of the divine nature of God. His work as a photographer helps him question his own identity and its implication to the wider world.
We also watched Me, My Mouth and I, a film which follows Jess Thom as she stages a neuro-diverse version of Samuel Beckett’s short play Not I. Jess is co-founder of Touretteshero and may or may not lead a secret double life as a superhero. Artist, playworker, and expert fundraiser, Jess currently helps coordinate a large play project in South London. Jess has had tics since she was a child but wasn’t diagnosed with Tourettes until she was in her twenties. With some encouragement from her friends, Jess decided to turn her tics into a source of imaginative creativity and the Touretteshero project was born.
Fiona MacMillan then discussed the themes of the film with Jess exploring what the arts have to teach the church regarding diversity, acceptance and belonging. In particular, Touretteshero are pioneering work creating relaxed spaces where all can belong. Relaxed performances offer a warm welcome to people who find it difficult to follow the usual conventions of theatre behaviour.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cranberries - Linger.
No comments:
Post a Comment