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December 2016 Prayer Column

Asking in faith A thing that has bothered me for many years is why Jesus didn’t explain his parables to the crowds when he spoke, but only later to his disciples (when they asked: Mt 13:36; 15:15; Lk 8:8). Was he leaving the stories to do their own work with most people in some way? Did they have to ponder them to get the full meaning? Or perhaps, as I heard a story teller once say, even if people don’t ponder them, or actually forget them, the stories they hear can be exploded into life at the right moment by the Holy Spirit, the meaning and application suddenly made clear, and all the more powerfully for the wait. But without denying either of those reasons, I wonder if there was another possible thread as well: the disciples were ready for the explanations. They had committed themselves to follow Jesus in faith, and so they were prepared to accept his teaching – and that made all the difference, because obviously not everyone was in that relationship with him. So commitmen

The Story of Light Advent Candles & Christingle

The Story of Light Advent Candles & Christingle – Bradford Methodist Circuits, North and South. This year during December we'd like to invite you to pray for a little light in our city.  During our services through advent some of our churches are handing out candles (well, battery powered LED tea lights to be more precise), to each person present as a sign of God’s light, for them and their community.     As we give them out to people in our congregations or at our Christmas fairs or Carol services we invite people to pray for the City of Bradford. We are also inviting people to bring their tea light into a special Story of Light Christingle service at 3pm on Christmas Eve in The Wild Woods (the former M&S building on Darley Street). After a 30 minute service we can either make our way down to the mirror pool and stretch out our lights around its perimeter, adding our lights to the lights of the city, or head back to add our lights to the Christingles

Wilsden Trinity Somme Tribute – souvenir

I suppose it started with the Tower of London poppies. Somewhere in the dim recesses of my mind, I lodged a thought; “You could do that on a small scale with knitted poppies”. It surfaced again at the beginning of this year in which we would see the Somme centenary. The first day of the Battle of the Somme was a critical event in Bradford’s history. In 1916 everybody knew someone who was there. An estimated 2,000 Bradford men, mainly in the ‘Bradford Pals’, were thrown into the big push that day. 1,770 of them were killed or wounded, that was nine out of every ten men. “1,770 poppies” I thought, “that’s achievable”. So I went to the Stewards and Elders and said “I’ve been thinking”. This tended to make them roll their eyes a bit, but they agreed we could go ahead. The first call for poppy knitters went out to Wilsden residents in the Easter edition of “Village Voice” magazine. Not much happened. I needed help, someone as organised as I am disorganised. Sharon! Thankfull

Celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday

St Andrew’s Luncheon Club received an invitation from Peel Park Primary School to attend their celebrations for the Queen’s 90 th birthday. We were advised that Steve would come to collect and return all who wished to attend. There was to be tea and cakes, followed by entertainment from the children, and then flag-waving and cheers for the Queen, outside in the playground, weather permitting! We accepted the kind invitation and so had a slightly earlier lunch. We were collected by Steve at 1.00 pm and driven down the hill to school, where we were received by our very courteous designated staff. They were really caring and helpful. We were treated like royalty! The school hall was decorated with an abundance of red, white and blue. The student ‘king’ and ‘queen’, complete with crown, robes and throne, sat at the head of the top table, alongside the Lord Mayor, Cllr Rev Geoff Reid and the Lady Mayoress, the headteacher and other dignitaries. We were

Christian Aid at Thornton Methodist Church

On Sunday 15 th May, our service was an own arrangement conducted by Geoff B. His service was about Christian Aid and he gave a very interesting talk about the work that they carry out, which gave us all an insight into the work of Christian Aid. This was followed by a delicious lunch organised by Patricia Francis and Margaret Allan with the proceeds going to Christian Aid. Elaine B, Thornton

Wilsden Somme Commemoration

On the weekend of 1 – 3 July, Wilsden Trinity Church presented a wonderful display to commemorate the 100 th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. All the churches in the circuit were invited to knit 1,770 poppies, equivalent to the number of Bradford Pals who died on the first day of battle. There was a marvellous response, and more than the required number of poppies were produced. Members of Trinity, guided by instigator Jane C, got up early on 1 July (before 6.00 am!) and planted the poppies in the church grounds. They stopped at 7.30 am, for two minutes silence to coincide with the exact time the battle started. Inside the church, an amazing exhibition of mementos, artefacts, books, articles and pictures had been assembled, which brought home the horrors of that awful event, in many cases bearing testimony to the experiences of local men, from letters and personal accounts. On the Friday evening, Gordon B read extracts from the memoirs

Holiday at Home 2016

July the 4 th is Independence Day in the USA. It was also Independence day for the people of Bradford North Circuit. Holiday at Home descended once again on St. Andrew’s Church. This year, we had more guests than ever before. We had new guests from Baildon, Saltaire and St. Andrew’s. Monday 4 th July The day began with everyone getting to know one another. The Agape area was soon buzzing with conversation. Vast amounts of cakes, buns etc. along with gallons of tea were consumed. Shortly after we moved into the church for lunch. Once again our food providers at St Christopher's did us proud. The word DIET was banned for these three days. The fresh cream trifle was to die for. We also care for our helpers! After Lunch we enjoyed games. Believe it or not, Snakes & Ladders was popula