A quick pop out and back again to Brooksby Melton College (Melton Campus) this afternoon, with some material and moral support for the events that the college will be holding during Inter Faith Week.
We're loaning the college the set of pictures we had produced for our Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition last year. They're not being used anywhere else during Inter Faith Week and it would be a pity for them to be left under wraps when they could be put to good use here. Well, not just "here": the collection will be split between the Melton and Brooksby campuses. These pictures were originally planned to be 16 in number - two for each of the member communities on Leicester Council of Faiths, one large, one small. I mentioned elsewhere on this blog (23 November 2011) that when these photos were digitally printed (direct onto thick mounting board) several of them were made too large to fit into the display spaces at Leicester People's Photographic Gallery. So the printer (John E. Wright) offered replacement copies at no extra cost and we were able to hold on to the originals too. We had no plans to use the pictures this year, so when Nicola Welbourne (photo above) of the college's Learner Services, asked if we had any visual material that could help beautify the room where their Interfaith Events Day is to be held next Wednesday (21 November) I jumped at the chance to offer these photos.
I'll be here for that day, with a display which will be "dual-badged" for Leicester Council of Faiths and Faith Awareness (the inter-faith programme of Christians Aware). It'll be a busy day for me: putting up the Council of Faiths table in the second Choice Unlimited at Leicester Tigers between 0630 and 0800; dashing out to the Melton campus for their Interfaith Events Day from 0930 till 1415; back to the Tigers, to front the display there till it closes at 1800; and keeping a watchful eye on the Highcross exhibition. I'm looking forward to it!
Even though the college is concentrating its Inter Faith Events Day into less than four hours on Wednesday, Nicola and her colleague Humera are already generating interest and enthusiasm around the college. They've prevailed upon staff in the Forestry and Arboriculture Department to provide an Interfaith Tree at both campuses on which students and staff are invited to hang heart-shaped labels bearing a wish, a prayer, a remembrance or something of that type. These will be collected for a blessing at the end of Inter Faith Week. You can see the Interfaith Tree to the right in the photo above. It's a big branch, spray-painted silver, stuck in an Oor Wullie style silver bucket; I'm going to see if we can get something like it for our exhibition in Highcross. And from Monday, prayers from different faiths will be circulated around the college, related to study, students or the theme of inter-faith dialogue and relations. I think they're doing a terrific job here.
We receive an email from the Wave Club, which Harry and Grace occasionally attend on Saturdays at Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre. There's going to be an outing apparently, though to where and for what is kept as a surprise. It's a Doctor Who weekend at the National Space Centre: my hopes are high.
But it's not only my hopes that are too high, it's also my expectations. The outing is to Town Hall Square (well at least it's easy to find and cheaper) to join in a session learning circus skills: no swinging on a trapeze or sticking your head in a lion's mouth, but plate-spinning, juggling, stilt-walking and the like. The kids enjoy it (though it wears off quicker for Harry). I pass some time in a dwam, lulled into a zen-like state by my speciality: the sound of one ball juggling. I'm reminded of one of my favourite Oor Wullie moments, where Wullie attend a variety show and one of the acts is called "Drapitaw the Juggler"! That's not as tenuous a link as you might think, faithful reader, if you'll only read on.
Across the square, there's another tent being set up in a quieter and less frenetic spot. I go over to have a look. It's staffed by members of the congregation at Leicester's Gospel Hall. I spend a few minutes chatting with two friendly fellows called Gordon and Matthew (left and right respectively in the photo below). I might even confess to hanging out at their tent a few moments longer than I intended, just to appreciate the peace and quiet. I introduce myself and the Council of Faiths and say a little about how we and Gospel Hall might do something of mutual benefit. Chatting about things spiritual, even briefly, is like a little oasis. I'm happy to give them - and Gospel Hall - some space here. Contributions to the soul of our city shouldn't go unnoticed or uncelebrated just because they're quiet and subtle.
When I ask Matthew's consent to take a few photos of the tent, he says I shouldn't miss what's on the back of it. Pointing away from the Square, but perfectly visible to pedestrians, motorists and bus passengers in Horsefair Street, is the Bible verse shown in the photo at the top of this entry. This is the one verse from the Gospels that I'm most likely to remember all my life. As a boy, growing up in Glasgow in the 1960s, I attended 260th Glasgow Boys Brigade (junior ones) which was based at Knightswood Congregational Church. Every boy had to memorise this verse and repeat it in front of the officers and whole company before he could receive his lanyard, the sign of full membership. So that verse has stuck in my mind since a very young age and it continues to have strong and positive associations for me.
The verse in question (for anyone unable to read it all from the photograph) is: "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). I get the impression that as long as people going about their business this Saturday afternoon get to see that, then those inside the tent are happy.
