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Seeing with New Eyes: Experiencing Musical Theatre with Brad.
Written by Samantha Cavanagh, Live-in assistant at the Ruah House.
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If you've ever been to a junior high school musical you can imagine the atmosphere: a packed house filled with the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of the "stars in waiting" who are giving the performance of their lives in sometimes screechy pubescent voices.
I normally avoid such musicals. I find them irritating and hard to sit through. But when Brad invited me to attend a junior high production of Cinderella, the prospect of sitting with Brad during the performance swayed me into attending. He is a truly unique person with an extraordinary way of being part of an audience.
In order to enjoy a piece of theatre completely, we must willingly enter into the land of the imagined. We must engage in the suspension of disbelief. Brad is the only man or woman I've met who can do this wholeheartedly. He enters the story. Even if it is a story he is familiar with, he is on the edge of his seat the entire time.
We watched Cinderella together and he sat there as if it were a new story to him. He was happy and nervous at all of the appropriate times. He whispered anxiously to me at one point, "Is he going to find out that it was Cinderella with the slipper?" I told him that he would have to wait and find out.
Every director should have an audience member like Brad. He feels things immediately as he allows himself to enter the story absolutely. He seems to image himself and his friends in the situations depicted. All of this creates a unique experience for Brad and the people around him. In fact, Brad seems to fill the role of what an audience member is supposed to be like in its essence, but very rarely actually is.
Brad made me like Cinderella more. In his excitement, he made me see and feel what I hadn't seen and felt for a long time. My feelings and ideas about musical theater may have been redeemed through this experience!
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"Tis a Gift to be Simple, 'tis a Gift to be Free..."
Written by Wyndham Thiessen
Community Coordinator and future founding community leader for L'Arche Saskatoon.
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Saint Augustine once said that he knew what time was, so long as no one asked him to define it. I don't know exactly how to define "freedom", but I know what it feels like to be free.
I feel especially free when I spend time at the Chinook House. The core Members (those individuals with a developmental disability) in particular give me the freedom just to be myself. They welcome me, and they tell me, with or without words, that it is good for me to be there with them.
Thanks Chinook House for giving me the freedom to be myself! Thanks for letting me cook with you, margaret! Thanks for the horseplay, Doug! Thanks for painting with me, Virginia! Thanks for holding my hand, Jayne!
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Rae Owens
After 16 years in Lethbridge, and 5 years in L'Arche Association of Lethbridge, Rae Owens and her husband John have responded to the call to assume leadership for the L'Arche community of Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. We wish them God's blessings in their faithful witness to the love of God in their new home, role, and community.
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Spring is such a wonderful time of year. As I sit this peaceful evening I see that the robins have returned. Our birdbath has been found again and there is great excitement in the yard as each awaits for their turn for a bath. I have marvelled at each of the 16 years I have lived here how they know that there is water for them in our yard.
I think about my life with L'Arche Association of Lethbridge. Like the robin standing on the rim of the bath, I was on the rim of L'Arche for many years. I had heard about it, read books by Jean Vanier, and followed it from a distance. At the time, however, I was very involved with activities in the parish. But I dropped those activities when my husband John and I went to Israel/Palestine for a year. When we returned, I needed some space before getting involved again. Just sitting on the rim with the robin looking around was fine for the moment.
But eventually the robin decides it is safe and jumps into the water. I did much the same when there was an opportunity to become involved with L'Arche as a board member. What welcoming people! Before long I was much in much deeper when I accepted the role of community coordinator. Sometimes it felt more like I was drowning than splashing, but the building of relationships with others in the community continued to give me the strength and support I needed. This was such a gift! I was growing in so many ways, refreshed and renewed by each core member and assistant I spent time with.
Then I needed time for pain management with my arthritis. But I wanted to stay in touch as a member. So I had Mondays at Ruah House, community prayer on Tuesday nights, and my participation in the community council, spiritual life committee, and the accompaniment of assistants. I had time to pause and just be present with people in a very different way that I will always treasure.
Now I am about to fly from the fence and head west to L'Arche Comox Valley to assume the role of community leader there. This is a journey John and I are excited about. I still have much to learn and am not sure my wings are strong enough. But I believe God has called us to go. My "yes" is possible because I have seen and heard the "yes" of those around me.
My time with L'Arche Association of Lethbridge has been so rich. I was accepted and loved for the unique person I am. I was welcomed into the community and knew I belonged. I know that I have left a part of me behind, but I am taking a part of each experience and each relationship with me to Comox Valley.
My birdbath will also come along. I'm not sure about robins, but I hear they have lots of hummingbirds. Hmmm...that may be another story!
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Stephen M. Gacheru
After 18 months with L'Arche Lethbridge, Stephen has decided to spend a year in L'Arche Winnipeg. The're getting an exceptional assistant and a fine man!
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A soft voice kept lingering in my mind telling me, "Stephen, you have to be there." Far, far away I could hear sounds of people celebrating, praising, singing and praying. I heard the melody of the song "taste and see the goodness of the lord...." I would sometimes wake up at night asking myself what this was all about. I thought it was just a dream on November 18, 2002 when I left Kenya and came to Canada to be united with a welcoming and cheerful family at Chinook House.
I never thought that one day my life would be like this. Working with people with disabilities opened my heart and my mind. Having worked in Kenya at Hope Community Center as a caretaker for orphaned and poor children, I thought that this is all I had to do with my life. But God wanted me to come to Canada to be associated with L'Arche. Now my life has been transformed with the joy of the other members who are with me all the time.
When I arrived it was night and everybody was sleeping except Virginia and Shella who showed me around the house as well as my room. I had an impression that I would have a lonely life in Canada. But then I saw a big poster on top of the door to my room written. "Welcome to Chinook". It was full of comments from all the people in the community. Then it was much more amazing how the core members and assistants welcomed me the following day. Everyone was giving me a hug, a smile, and asking me how I was feeling. That night I prayed to God, "Thank you for giving me people who can welcome me and heal my homesickness."
Working in L'Arche I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge from social life to spiritual life. People have space to be themselves and to have a spiritual life. I know I can be myself here too. There is a joy of living shared in simple ways. Living together in one house for 24 hours takes away my mask and illusion of being "good or nice." I see inspiring behavior around me. I have a greater sense of my gifts and appreciate that I have been pushed to use them to their fullest. At the same time, I am now more aware of my weaknesses and ways of reacting. The deep relationships I have formed with the people I have been living with has been a powerful experience in my life.
Sometimes tears roll down my cheeks when Jayne holds my hand wanting to go for a walk. Without words she tells me "Stephen, we walk together in this journey." Singing, praying and celebrating together has been of more value than gold or silver. I feel touched when Doug or Margaret comfort me when I am down, when Pat, Doug and me work together to renovate Doug's room, when I am with Virginia on the computer. Deep in each of them I can see the image of brotherhood and a voice from above telling me "Stephen, you are my son too."
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Matthias Forster
Summer Assistant from Germany
Ruah House
May to August, 2003
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My relationship to Jesus and God has changed. I have given him my life. It was a very long way to understand what he wants from me. But it was a good feeling and is still a good one. Very slowly I understand what nearly every contact with Christians in L'Arche Lethbridge, in my parish in Dresden, and in the Park Meadows Baptist Church was guided by the Lord. Thank you for this connection.
Every morning my first thought is "Yes, he loves me." It is a great feeling to understand that I have Jesus beside me. I know that I'm too weak to pass the exam at the end of my life. I can do what ever I want, I can never make it alone. The point is that it is not useful to think about your sins and feel bad about it and think, "I will never be with God because I am too bad." It's not useful for your soul, and not useful for your relationship with God.
It has taken me 26 years to realize this, 26 years until I was able to think, "He has already paid my dues." It's a very good feeling to have this important difference in my heart. L'Arche was a step on the stairs to this place, an important step. Thank you all for the time in L'Arche. My thoughts are in Lethbridge often and I remember the good times in the community.
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