Helen Webb-Prosser Shares Her Wonder Story at Maine Church

Editor's Note: I just loved this Wonder Wednesday story shared with us by Amy Webb-Prosser of Maine. She writes about her wife, Helen, presenting at their local church, West Scarborough United Methodist Church. Amy shares about the pride in her committed, Methodist congregation that is truly living the Methodist slogan of open hearts, open minds, open doors in everything they do. So without further ado...here is Amy's reflection about Helen's "Wonder" presentation. 

The event was held at West Scarborough United Methodist Church on Route 1 in Scarborough, Maine (where I am music director.) It evolved from a conversation Helen had at coffee hour with a group of women from the church about her experiences and the book "Wonder." A few of the women then ordered the book and read it, and suggested that she share her story with the church. So the Worship and Arts committee sponsored a showing of the movie Wonder last Saturday, January 12th, at 1PM in the sanctuary of the church, followed by a presentation by Helen, with questions afterwards. Helen had done the same presentation for the middle school where she works in coordination with their Wonder unit. 

There were about twenty people in attendance. Helen’s presentation was called My Wonder Story—talking about what it was like growing up with Pfeiffer Syndrome, and how it was similar to Auggie’s story. She also talked about how people with physical differences prefer to be approached, which fits in with West Scarborough UMC’s mission to become a more welcoming congregation.

It was very well received, and I actually had someone come up to me and tell me that they thought the congregation would be more comfortable asking Helen about her differences and experiences thanks to the presentation.