A parish in Leeds is using the multi-award winning film 'The King’s Speech' as the basis of its Lent course this year.
The story of King George VI’s battle to control his stammer will be a springboard for Adel and Ireland Wood to explore what holds us back from talking to others about our faith.
Vicar, the Revd Ian White, says, “While the Bible tells us to ‘proclaim the good news afresh in every generation’, many, if not all of us, find that difficult to do. In our Lent course we’ll be asking what ‘voice’ do we have? How do we need to express ourselves in a way that people will listen?
“It’s an adapted version of Hilary Brand’s Lent Course, ‘Finding a Voice’ which explores how we might overcome our fears to enable us to speak to those around us. In the words of the King’s speech therapist, its purpose is ‘To give them faith in their voice and let them know a friend is listening’.
“There are plenty of biblical examples of people doubting God’s wisdom in calling them - the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, for example, who resisted God’s call by complaining that he was only a child and didn’t know how to speak.
“And giving people confidence to talk about their faith fits in very well with the vision for this new diocese – ‘to equip confident clergy to enable confident Christians to live and tell the good news of Jesus Christ in West Yorkshire & the Dales’. So this is an opportunity to find our own voice; to prepare and strengthen ourselves for what we are called to do.
“In each of the two churches - which are in very different contexts - there'll be a mixture of film clips, Bible passages, group discussions and meditations on our own particular situations.”