Alpha Course - Week 1

Last night was the first night of the Alpha Course.

Adrian dropped me off at the house in which the course was being held, at around 7.30 pm. I was welcomed by the man of the house, who was incredibly friendly. I was shown into the living room, where the rest of the course members were sitting, and we had a quick chat while dinner was finishing being prepped.

We then ate together (soup, jacket potatoes with salad and various fillings, and trifle, and they were all delicious!) and chatted together, finding out odds and ends about each other. I resisted mentioning CF etc., for as long as possible, and so at this point, all people knew was that I have two kids, a boy and a girl, aged 5 and 7 yrs old.

After we'd all finished our lovely meal, we went back into the living room to get to know each other better. We all had to give each other nicknames, after getting to know each other a little. We all had to introduce ourselves, one at a time, and then we picked names for each other. My introduction went something like this ...

"I'm Rebecca, I'm 29 years old, and I have two kids, Seren and Dylan, who both have cystic fibrosis and asthma, and Seren has hypermobility syndrome, and Dylan is autistic. I also recently joined a folk band, which I sing with, and am going to be playing the tin whistle and clarinet with them too. I love writing, music, and reading, and hate wheat (or rather, what it does to me) and having to go out in the rain."

Everyone introduced themselves, and then the other course members had to choose a nickname for me, one which started with R and they chose Rhythmic Rebecca, because of me being musical. :o) I like it! I don't feel comfortable mentioning the other course members names, but their nickname part of their names are Jeany J, Crafty C, Rehabilitated R, Joyful J, Catty C (a cat lover), Divine D (the course leader) and Bouncing B. :o)

Once we all had our nicknames, we were given this book to use while we work through the Alpha Course ...

The Alpha Course book

And then we watched a DVD of the first Alpha Course session, and afterwards had a chat about how we felt about what we'd seen, and what stage of our Christian journey we're at.

Some said that they had been going to Church for years, but wanted to move forward in their journey with God, others had been through rehab and so had a relationship with God through the step programme (I can't remember if they said 10 or 12 steps, but you know what I mean) but wanted to understand how Jesus fits into that relationship, and to explore Christianity further.

When it came to my turn, I explained that I'd grown up in the Baptist Church, and had LOVED it, but then once the kids came along and were diagnosed with CF, and then I lost my grandfather to cancer, and then my father was diagnosed with cancer that they didn't think they'd be able to cure, my anger obscured my faith.

And when I admitted that my anger at God had escalated to the point where I could still believe in His existence, but couldn't bring myself to be praising him, I burst into tears and couldn't speak any more. I couldn't believe that just speaking about it was affecting me so strongly, and I felt like a bit of an idiot, sitting there with tears literally pouring down my face, but everyone was fine about it.

I recovered a bit, and went on to explain about how Seren and I came to visit the local Baptist Church, and how everything had changed again at that point.

Once we'd told our own stories of what stage we are all at, we were given some more reading material ...

A copy of the New Testament and Psalms, and a booklet called 'Why Jesus?' which covers what was said on the DVD last night

We agreed on the same time next week for Week 2 of the course, when we'll be looking at Jesus again, and we all had another chat over coffee, just getting to know each other.

The family holding the course at their house were kind enough to drop me and one other course member home, which was lovely of them. I got home feeling rather overwhelmed and a little drained after my surprise outpouring of emotion, but I am very much looking forward to going back next week. :o) And of course, going to Church again on Sunday!

God bless.