BBC Children in Need - Bounce Higher

[gallery]Life is never too boring when your a minister of the Gospel, especially serving here in Bo'ness St Andrew's. We are truly blessed in this congregation by having a number of quite outstanding people on the staff who are working to deliver our Social Outreach Programme with a heart that truly seeks to serve Christ. Yesterday I was working with Dianne Collins who heads up our Bounce Higher Programme. Our task was to make a start on our next grant application to Children In Need. We are so grateful for the support we've been given by the BBC Children In Need. Over the past two and half years the grant we received has allowed us to begin to develop and grow a child centred programme called Bounce Higher. At the heart of this programme is a desire to help children learn how to be resilient. I think this is such a key word to explain to children especially those who have all the added strain that comes from marital breakdown, bullying, illness, and learning difficulties. The great thing about Bounce Higher is that it is a programme open to all children. It means that no one is singled out as being different. Every child has the potential to bounce higher regardless of their circumstances. As Dianne began to speak about the importance of resilience I was reminded of the work of the clinical psychologist Frank Lake who created the idea of the 'Cycle of Grace." Lake suggested that by looking at the life of Jesus we can begin to see a pattern of living and a confidence that comes from resilience. However he suggests that the wqy to bring about resilience is to learn what it means to live in the Cycle of Grace as Jesus did. If we look at the story of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke in chapter four, we see it follows on from Jesus being baptised. Here in this narrative the Spirit rests on him and the Father speaks, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased" Lake suggests that Jesus knew what it was to be loved and in doing so this truth sustained him and from that he understood the significance of his life, which took him to the place of achievement and completion, when he cried from the cross "It is accomplished". However, Jesus' achievemnet was not viewed as success by the world. He was seen as a failure. The cross and crucifiction can hardly be seen as success. However out of supposed failure we see resurrection. Lake suggested that it is only as we accept people with an unconditional love that this love begins to sustain and strengthen them. It is this sutaining strength which brings about an awareness of the individual's significance and it is this understanding of significance that brings a person to understand achievement from an alternative perspective. Lake went on to describe the Cycle of Works. In this cycle everything we have said is in reverse. You have to achieve to gain significance and this significance sustains you and finally you feel accepted. The latter cycle is the model that is too often operated in our families, in our educational establishments, and in our workplaces, and even among our friendships. For me it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can truly accept and love unconditionally. this is the true gift of God and something we must continually receive from God.. Anyway , Dianne was explaining that resilience was at the heart if the "Bounce Higher Programme and through the discussion I was able to give a theological framework for her methodology. ( I do hope I didn't end up boring her. I was looking to see if the glazed look was there in her eyes. If it was, she hid it well. Its amazing the conversation you can have filling out a grant form. If you'd like to see the video of our Bounce Higher programme click here

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