January 10th
Our first meeting of 2023 started off with a very ‘buzzy’ feeling as we had new people and many old friends who came. There was even a queue for refreshments (many thanks to Pam and Carolyn) before we started.
The life and work of
Gladys Aylward
in China
Following our theme of ‘heroes of faith’, we reflected on the life of Gladys Aylward, the British missionary who went to China. Jan K. gave us a lively overview of her life and pointed out some of the discrepancies between it and as depicted in the film of her life ‘The Inn of the 6th Happiness’.
As she helped to stop the practice of binding the feet of little girls in China we used shoes as our prayer focus and imagined what it would be like to walk in the shoes of others. It was a ‘pass the shoe’ prayer time which gave us an opportunity to reflect on the lives of others through footwear.
We had a wonderful choice of Chinese themed activities to participate in including ‘willow’ art with Karen,
making Chinese lanterns and concertinaed dragons with Alison,
Chinese characters and cutting out
Chinese symbols organised by Sue.
When we gathered together we shared what we’d done and heard some wonderful creative writing inspired by our reflection on Gladys.
Shafali shared memories of hearing Gladys speak when she was at school and how hearing about her had inspired her in later life.
The soup, as usual, was delicious. An old favourite, leek and potato, and tomato and basil. It was very welcome and warming. We also had some delicious cakes to finish off.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 14th February starting from 10.00am with coffee from 9.30. A warm Kingdom Arts welcome awaits you all. We look forward to seeing you then.
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