Welcome to the official opening of Lifespring Stories at the Pavilion.
Most important are those of you whose stories we go to hear. You must not forget that you are an integral part of this place.
Whilst all we ever seem to hear about is those in power, struggling with decisions that affect us all, Lifespring is evidence of a fundamental contradiction to our pessimistic perception of the world: that kindness can be easy.
Lifespring Stories began as a way of documenting the personal impact this community has had on the Oxford Road. What it grew into is, for all of us, an affirming testament to the effects of friendship and empathy.
Those of you who have never been to Café 12, go down for a coffee once in a while, rediscover the lost art of small talk, realise for yourself what we are hoping to show with this project – that we are the best remedy to the hate, injustice and prejudice that are so easy to focus on in the world around us, and that more often than not, kindness is not only common, but simply unavoidable
Although there are many people responsible for the diligent hard work in organising and managing, safeguarding, timetabling, all that goes on here, what is most assuring is that Lifespring’s outreach programmes are not so much the source of good, as the lens through which good can be focused. Lifespring’s many moving parts merely serve to harness the human instinct to help others. In great ways and small.
Those who would say they just come in for the coffee and the food have no idea how much they drive normality and calmness into the hearts of those in need of it, whose upended world only needs someone to extend to them the simplest of respects – the wordless companionship of a room free from scrutiny.
Whilst benevolent kindness is considered only the behaviour of the naïve, the Lifespring Community, without realising it, focusses on our innate tendency for goodness and makes a difference every day. There will always, unfortunately, be those who we are incapable of helping, who may take advantage. But if Lifespring shows anything, it is that occasionally being taken advantage of is a small price to pay for a lifetime of friendship.
Visit Lifespring Church @ The Pavilion, 143-145 Oxford Rd, Reading, RG1 7UY for the full audio-visual exhibition now on permanent display.