Carnival 25

Ladies and Gentlemen, Radcliffe Methodist Church has left the building…. and are visiting the carnival to painting pictures of Jesus at the seaside! This month our theme for the Methodist Way of Life is to ‘share’ faith and a few intrepid volunteers did just that through the medium of art.

Throughout the carnival, people of all ages were invited to share in painting murals together. In the week before the Carnival, Rev’d Naomi prayed whilst sketching out large panels with pictures of ‘Jesus stilling the storm’ (Mark 4:35-41) and ‘Jesus barbeque at the beach’ (John 21:1-14). On the day, children and adults chose the picture which most appealed to them, decided which part they wished to paint and chose the colours they needed. Some guests painted silently and with deep concentration for quite a length of time. Others popped in, wanting a chat for a couple minutes and sloshed paint onto the sea or sky. Many needed reassurance that talent wasn’t required but rather that participation was what mattered. With encouragement, toddlers painted alongside childless professionals, teenagers with senior citizens. Some came having not wielded a paint brush for decades. Others were studying art at university, or it had been a life long hobby. All enjoyed having a go at painting and one extract a promise of a googly eye for their fish! Stories of Jesus were shared and invites to Little Angels, Messy Church and the Community Art Group were offered. What a picture of the kingdom of God in action!

What a lovely day! The sun shone, the crowds turned out, and the Methodist Church had a great time.

Thank you to everybody who helped to make Carnival day so special. Thank you Pete for carrying the gazebo and putting it up so that Naomi, with her able assistants, was able to have the fabulous Community Art Project on the go all day. Thank you to every one who delivered and collected equipment to the Grange.

Thank you to everybody who took part in creating the float and to those people who dressed up and walked with it. Finally thank you to all those people who stood by the roadside cheering and clapping as I said What a lovely day.

Gwyn Farmer

A prayer of thanks

Thank you, God, for everyone who donated painting overalls, helped with the logistics, organised the advertising, prayed for us, and especially to the volunteers who manned (women-ed?) the stall. May people remember your invitation and welcome to your kingdom of love.

Amen.

Rev Naomi