Katryn Léclezio, Vicar of St Peter’s, Cradley explains how
Grave Talk has worked in her parish: “We gathered in
booths in a local club with fresh coffee and cake and a
pack of 52 cards in the centre of each table. Our first
question was ‘Can you remember a film death?’ Well, that got us going. The following
questions touched on death, dying, funerals, society, and grief in a light and sometimes
humorous way. When time was up, the group couldn’t believe it.
“Next time can we have a crèche?” a guest
asked. There were some mums she knew
who would have loved to come but who had
small children to look after. So, that’s what
we’ll do. “My whole home group should
come to this!” said another guest.
If we’d given up after the first one, when
only two people turned up, a mum and her adult daughter, we wouldn’t be slowly
growing. The excellent discussion with our two guests and host team convinced us that
it was worth persevering and letting word of mouth build the discussion groups. We
plan to hold two per year and see how it grows. Grave Talk is an excellent catalyst to
conversation about things that really matter in life.”
Pray for the Grave Talk sessions at St Peter’s, Cradley and for other parishes thinking
about thinking about using it as an evangelism tool.
Evesham Deanery – Rural Dean: Richard Thornily;
Lay Chair: Liz Booth
Diocese of Skara (Sweden): Bishop Åke Bonnier
Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales:
Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines with Bishops
Tony Robinson (Wakefield), James Bell (Ripon),
Toby Howarth (Bradford) and Jonathan Gibbs
(Huddersfield)
The Scottish Episcopal Church:
Archbishop David Chillingworth
