Sunday 11 January 2009

Focolare Epiphany Party ... and ice skating again

On Saturday afternoon, Zero and I went to this:





This proved a very enjoyable occasion, reflecting Focolare's spirituality of unity. It was quite interesting to see how the songs, readings and little play by the children confidently presented the Scriptural accounts of the Epiphany. We have a "Word of Life" meeting here in Romford - I host it every second month - and this party gave us the chance to meet another group who meet in Forest Gate.


During the meeting we had read to us the text of an e-mail from the Focolare community in Jerusalem, made up of Muslims, Jews and Christians. They had come together to pray for peace during the current conflict in Jerusalem. We also heard of a similar gathering taking place in Haifa. This reminded me of accounts from the Focolare house in Lebanon which, during the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, had taken in families from the south of the country who had fled their homes to escape the fighting. We were particularly encouraged to take part in the daily "Time out" for peace that the young adults of Focolare have promoted since the first Gulf War in 1990. The idea is that, at any one time, part of the world is spending a a minute in prayer or silence for peace. It is intended that this "time out" occurs at 12 noon in each time zone.


There was time before the Epiphany Party for .... ice skating at the rink at Canary Wharf.




These boots are made for skating, and that's just what they'll do ...






It was very cold, especially for the one of us who fell over (twice):




And to finish:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

zero says
This skating lark is great fun but my knees haven't been as black and blue after my 2 falls since i was a child!
Also. i wonder who bought this mug for Joe it wasn't me!

Joe said...

There is another mug in the series, with words along the lines of: "I am always right. End of story".

Anonymous said...

That reminds me of a card i once saw which said something like "The only thing that prevents you from having the last word is an echo!