We can’t shy away from the fact that this may be the most unusual Easter weekend we will have experienced in our lifetimes. So, as a little Easter treat from us, we are shining a spotlight on one of our services making wonderful efforts this weekend (and always) and offering you a reflection of hope.
This week residents have been busy with crafty hands, with support from Lee, creating this magnificent Easter art display – including Michelle and Ben here.
The art project has been a great inclusive, and indoor, activity which has encouraged a few individuals who historically don’t take part to get involved, which is great to see.
The Easter fun doesn’t stop there … over the weekend the residents at Livability Treetops will be making chocolate eggs, planting some spring bulbs in the garden and watching Easter-themed films together.
On Easter Sunday morning, residents will be tuning in to an online live sermon broadcast from the local church, set up for those at Livability Treetops that want to celebrate. This certainly will be a new experience of church for many, but we are excited by the opportunities to join in worship.
With the usual visitors remaining at home, support workers will be facilitating video chats with residents’ family and friends to ensure they are connected to those they love on this special holiday.
Video chats are now pretty much a daily occurrence at Livability Treetops and are a great way to connect. Lee, activity assistant, says: ‘The value of doing this for the residents is immeasurable, and the shock on their faces when they see their loved ones talking to them on a phone screen is priceless, especially for those without prior familiarity with this kind of technology.’
This is just one example of our many care services across the UK that are doing similar activities and enabling connections for people we support. None of this would be possible without our dedicated key workers and frontline staff, so please join us in taking a moment to thank them.
We’d like to share with you a reflection from Corin Pilling, who leads our work with churches: Drawing on Hope in the Darkest Moments – Learning from Easter.
I hope you that all around you are safe and well at this time
As we make our way through Holy Week, I’m struck by the truth that there are times in our life where certain elements of the Easter story echo our experience, Jesus’ journey to the cross and beyond it.
At Livability we have shared the challenges we’re facing on the frontline, alongside the reality that for many of those we support- there are some hugely positive experiences in the mix. Who would have thought dancing and online karaoke would mark this time together?
Yet as we continue to move on through this season, new losses will come too. We might wonder if anything normal might come back. We might feel out of control. We might experience days when we lose hope.
In the Easter week, there’s a key part of the story that that is sometimes skipped over that can still speak to us. It’s the day after Jesus’s crucifixion, before the resurrection, which is called Holy Saturday.
If we look to the story, where we see Jesus laid in a stone tomb, and number of things were at play. His lifeless body lay in that tomb. All around him was chaos and the uncertainty that came with it. Many of his followers were struggling with dashed hopes and expectations. No-one knew the resurrection was coming.
When we think about Easter most of us will be rightly drawn to the happiest of endings- the resurrection. For which of us, given the choice, wants to dwell in uncertainty and suffering? Yet the very idea of Christ, lifeless in the tomb points to those times around us when we can only see the darkness. What then, is possible in this time? A chance for us to trust deeply, perhaps?
A friend said to me once, in the depth of a despairing time. ‘The thing is- you can’t make a resurrection happen to you.’ I had to trust and draw from the hope of others and what I knew to be true. Holy Saturday, in our lives, is that time of waiting for the resurrection whilst being truly present to the difficulty. There is pain to be acknowledged whilst we hope for healing, and for things to come right in their own time.
We need to look out for those who are despairing and also be gentle with our selves when we feel the spectre of hopelessness looming. Draw close to those who bring it, and ensure we encourage others to do the same, as much as we must choose to celebrate the gifts that come our way in the midst of such challenge.
As He said to us “Behold, I am with you until the end of the age.’’
Let’s remember that as we step into what lies before us.
Blessings,
Corin
Livability, 6 Mitre Passage, London SE10 0ER.
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