Yesterday, as I arrived at our church community café, Liz was panicking. The chocolate cake that she’d made for desert had leaked everywhere and was a disaster. There was no alternative. Icing was applied. She made the best she could of a bad job.
A little later, customers were saying how good it tasted. One lady said, ‘My friend and I aren’t sure if we like it or not – so we’d better have a second slice to be sure!’
Liz’s disaster had turned into delight.
Yesterday the Bayeux Tapestry, that tells the story of the Norman conquest of England, went on public display in the UK for the first time since it was embroidered nearly 1,000 years ago in England. Having been kept for centuries in France it’s now being loaned to the British Museum while its Normandy home undergoes renovation.
From the British disaster of 1066 and the Battle of Hastings has come this beautiful seventy-metre-long 11th Century tapestry.
Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11. On 11 September 2001, hijackers seized four passenger jets. Two crashed into the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Centre, killing thousands of people.
I read an article by Joey Cooke, a senior interpretive guide at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Joey says: ‘When people ask me the biggest lesson I took away from 9/11, I say, ‘There’s so much good in this world’ …following the attacks people were kinder to each other.’
From the 9/11 disaster comes goodness and kindness.
Jesus spent his life turning disasters into delights… culminating in the disaster of crucifixion becoming the delight of resurrection. ‘Disaster to delight’ is a key dimension of Christian faith.
Rev Mark Wormall, writing on ‘How to Become a Dementia Inclusive Church’ concludes: ‘A dementia-inclusive church ultimately communicates: ‘You belong here, you are valued and your spiritual life remains important regardless of changes in memory or cognition.’ And for those who draw alongside people living with dementia the rewards are rich…’
The ‘disaster’ of dementia becomes delight.
malcolmsmusings.org 
As per usual your musings bring hope and understanding where possibly it was lacking.
However, “The ‘disaster’ of dementia becomes delight.”? Having lived with Jeannie’s, my mother-in-law’s, dementia I find that impossible as of yet.
I loved my mother-in-law as a mother. My own mother having died when I was fourteen. Jeannie would have hated what the disease made her become. Julie, her daughter, finds it hard to remember the good times as caring for her has virtually eradicated those memories.
I feel that the idea of a “dementia-inclusive church” is a bit of an, understandable, investment for peace-of-mind for the carers, possibly. But, the sufferer will probably still feel locked in their mental prison.
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