This page is a ‘how to’ manual for the Struggling Saints Bible Reflections that happen on Twitter each week at 7.30pm. Hopefully this page will help you to interact with others as we look at next Sunday’s bible readings together and think about them through a simple process.
How do we reflect on the bible together?
Each week a set of slides will take us through our discussions. You are encouraged to respond to them however you like – with wisdom and knowledge, with insight from your perspective, with questions and with thoughts on how our experiences of disability might provide us collectively with a greater, wider and deeper understanding of God.
There is always one moderator for the discussion (currently me) who will put the slides and discussions starters up onto twitter. The moderator will always be a disabled Christian as this is part of the focus of this group, however we are open to anyone who wants to take part.
The slides we use are as follows :-
+ A prayer
+ The readings with links to an NRSV translation
People are of course welcome to use their own bibles too
+ A ‘wondering’ question about our first response to the readings
+ Some information about who the first readers/hearers would be
+ A thought and question about what principles and ideas the first hearers would have taken away
+ A question about how those principles might speak to us today (Especially as disabled people)
we experience God’s protection
+ A question to ask what we would like to share, through our joint experiences, with the church
+ A link to @DisabilityJ evening prayer for us to end with in our own time
How does this work in practice?
In practice there is an amount of chaos (which hopefully this page will help with) and a sharing of views and thoughts. As this project is in it’s infancy there is quite a lot of minor experiments (Last time I used images for the first time).
The tweets are not one single thread because if they were replies would go under the first tweet and would become confusing, very quickly. You should reply under the picture or the question you are responding to this will keep information together – even if occasionally discussions may happen at two places at the same time. Please chip in with your thoughts and if someone else says something helpful to you like it (by clicking on the heart)
If you are late or can’t make it on the Wednesday evening please come and look at the discussion when you can. I watch the feed closely on the next day and can respond if you say something, or just like people’s tweets to encourage them.
The ideas and information that is shared is public – To me, this is part of the beauty of using twitter. I have promised many disabled people on Twitter that I, and others, are trying to change the understanding of the church on issues relating to disability. People have been prayed for without asking, accused of being sinful or having a lack of faith which is not right and is abusive. This is our chance to replace bad, hurtful theology with loving, hopeful theology.
Struggling Saints – Biblical reflection, holds our conversation publicly to show to the world that disabled Christians have experience of God’s love in our disability and that God knows us and loves us and meets with us through our disability.
#LetTheDisabledLead
Me in Six Parts 