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Over the last 6 years, St Peter & St Paul Church in Abington have hosted art installations in their churchyard that are interactive with gospel messages. These successful projects include their ‘Ribbons of Prayer’ which saw more than 25,000 ribbons tied to the churchyard railings carrying prayers and messages from the public and their Butterflies Project where community groups created and offered more than 1200 butterflies to mark the church’s 800th anniversary. The butterflies stood for the transformation and new life in Christ.
For 2025 St Peter & St Paul’s have worked in collaboration with Hope Centre Nottingham and with the help of an outdoor installation artist Bob Keal of Bob's Barn Creations to create a 10ft wooden tree in front of the churchyard titled ‘The Tree of Hope’. Since Mothering Sunday in March, local groups have been creating handcrafted leaves that can be picked up by the public who are then invited to write a prayer or message of hope which can then be hung on the tree. The response has been wonderful with the branches filling up fast. Revd Byung Jun Kim, Rector of St Peter & St Paul Church said:
"We are amazed at how much a simple invitation to pray together can mean to the community. All we have done is offer an opportunity and send out an invitation, letting people know that they can pray here, that they are welcome to share good news and messages of hope with others. The responses have been simply amazing."
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The Tree of Hope will stay in place until the first Sunday of October where there will be celebrations for the conclusion of the project.