10 November 2011
Young Methodists to offer service of Remembrance on Twitter
Young Methodists will be holding two special services of
Remembrance on social networking website Twitter at 10.15am GMT on
Friday 11 and Sunday 13 November.
Thought to be the first Remembrance service of its kind in Britain,
Twitter Remembrance (www.twitter.com/Poppy_Tweet)
will feature prayers and readings as well as hymns and music linked
from YouTube. There will also be a two-minute Twitter silence to
remember those who have fallen in battle. The elements of the
service will be live-tweeted by @Poppy_Tweet and will include
contributions from a variety of people, including the President of
the Methodist Conference, the Revd Leo Osborn.
James Thomas, from Cardiff, came up with the idea. "I started the
project on Wednesday night when I realised that no one had done a
Twitter-based Remembrance service before, so I decided to start
one," he said. "We hope to engage young people and other people who
wouldn't otherwise engage with Remembrance, whilst raising
awareness for the Royal British Legion, Peace Pledge Union and
other related charities."
Revd Joanne Cox, Evangelism in Contemporary Culture Officer for the
Methodist Church in Britain, has written a special Twitter sermon,
designed to be delivered in a number of short tweets. She said:
"Remembrance is a powerful opportunity for us all to stop in the
midst of life. As we stop, and as we remember people who have
fought for peace in so many different ways, we are also responding
to the invitation to be people of peace and courage
ourselves."
The group aims to bring a traditional Remembrance service
experience to those who are unable to attend a formal act of
remembrance for any reason. It is run entirely by volunteers and,
although it is not formally affiliated with the Royal British
Legion and the Peace Pledge Union, the group hopes to raise
awareness for these, and similar, organisations.