The Southampton Anna Chaplaincy team, through the charity Caraway, have been adapting over the last few months to not being able to meet in church for their customary Vintage Adventure sessions (a variation on Messy Vintage), by finding other ways of reaching out and reassuring their older people they are not forgotten…
Edward Lorenz was an American meteorologist and mathematician who came up with the term 'The Butterfly effect' to show how small changes can have a big effect on our weather, even to the extent – in theory – that a butterfly flapping its wings in one country could cause a tornado in another!
During this difficult season of largely needing to minister and offer support by phone or through closed doors due to periods of Covid lockdown, the Caraway team has sought God for new and creative ideas in order to engage with our older people.
We started putting our Vintage Adventure event into a pack which could be posted through a letter box. These have included: a Bible story, a worship sheet, a colouring sheet, something to make, bake or knit and a tea bag, so the recipient can look through the pack while enjoying a cuppa! There is a different theme each month. At Christmas we included a hand-written Christmas card and small gift to unwrap. At first we were unsure how these would be accepted and if the concept would work, but God was saying to us, as he did to Moses when he felt so inadequate for the task ahead of him, 'What is in your hand?' In our hands we held a resource which to us seemed quite insignificant – but in God’s hands, it has been quite a different story!
The little boy gave his small lunch and Jesus fed a multitude. David had a sling and five stones to bring down a giant of an enemy. The widow had one jar of oil. None of these things were enough to meet the need, but put in the hands of our mighty God, achieved great things.
We are blessed that the number of Vintage Adventure packs which go out every month has increased from an initial 35 to over 300! They are posted locally and as far as Nottingham. Our readers look forward to the pack arriving as they feel connected, supported and above all it brings them hope. The presence of God goes into the home too! The small and insignificant things we hold in our hands are still mighty and powerful when placed in the hands of our almighty God! We give him the glory for the way he is mightily impacting the lives of our older people through Vintage Adventure.