Have you heard that this week is Dementia Prayer Week, spearheaded by Birmingham’s Pastoral Care Project?
Bishop David McGough, Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham says: “Prayer is one very powerful way of connecting with all concerned. Let us pray for and with those whose lives have been touched by dementia. In this way we unite ourselves with them, forging a link with the Lord that words alone cannot express.”
Libby Wattis in The Cleverest Thief
It is my experience that people with dementia have a lot to teach about the joys and challenges of paying attention to where I am, moment by moment. Last week, I saw a play called “The Cleverest Thief” http://thecleverestthief.co.uk/ a powerful one-woman show about the journey of dementia. The play did touch on the potentially transformative effect of a momentary encounter and how ‘the moment’ is vital in maintaining a relationship with people living with dementia.
Dear God, I spend so much time reliving yesterday
or anticipating tomorrow
that I lose sight of the only time that is really mine,
the present moment.
You give today one moment at a time.
That’s all I have,
all I ever will have. Amen.