Next month, a church in Nidderdale will, over 13 days, host an unusual world record attempt and fund raiser for deaf people.
The Rev Michael Sabell, a retired vicar who has been helping in the parish of Dacre with Hartwith & Darley with Thornthwaite, is doing a ‘signathon’ to raise deaf awareness and funds for a sign language translation of the Bible.
To claim the record, the vicar, who was born severely deaf, plans to do 13 hours of signing the Bible and is aiming to beat his own world record – set 33 years ago, when he signed non-stop for 12 hours.
The Rev Michael Sabell (photograph courtesy of the Church of England Diocese of Leeds)
However, his age will not permit that kind of marathon any more, so from Sunday, September 13, at Holy Trinity Church in Dacre, Rev Michael will do an hour of signing every day for 13 days – reading from the Old Testament.
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His record attempt is designed to raise awareness of the issues deaf people face, and help raise funds for the British Sign Language (BSL) Bible Translation Project.
The project aims to produce the first real translation of the Bible from the Greek and Hebrew texts to BSL using deaf presenters, Bible scholars and translation experts, to provide a video-based Bible in sign language for deaf people to have independent access to scripture.
The Rev Alastair Ferneley, Vicar of Dacre with Hartwith & Darley with Thornthwaite, said:
“I think it’s wonderful, and perhaps a move of the Holy Spirit, that Michael still feels fired up enough about this issue to want to do again what he did many years ago, to raise funds and awareness to support the deaf community.
“With his deafness and hesitant speech he has faced challenges many of us can only dimly understand, and yet he has done his best to serve Christ – sometimes ministering to the deaf community, sometimes in regular parish ministry.
“Unless you’re part of the deaf community you might not realise that there are a whole group of people, in our own country, in that community, who do not have a translation of the Bible in their first language.”
Anybody who would like if to support Rev Michael, is asked to contact Rev Alastair at irreverend@btinternet.com.