Bradford North Circuit

Build on a strong foundation We scarcely need telling, for we see it every day, but all is not well on Planet Earth. It is warming more than it should, and we can move less than we would. I could mention also pollution, resource scarcity, waste mountains, desert creep, wildlife extinctions, and human bodily and mental ailments galore – each clamouring for attention. What to do? If God made the world, and these problems concern his world, then he ought to have views on all this. If so, then the Bible should be the place to look. Those were my thoughts which 45+ years ago led me to start Bible studies with environmental science students at Bradford University where I then worked. It has remained a focus of my interest ever since. What I have come to see with ever-deepening clarity and conviction is: (a) when God made the world is was very good; but (b) humans, created and appointed as his stewards on earth, chose to disobey him, thinking they knew better, thus causing creation to

Lent 2 Dare to be open Service sheet (pdf) Introduction Welcome to worship coming from Bradford North Circuit and Baildon Methodist church. We are glad that you can join us and whoever you are and wherever you are you are welcome.  Today is the 2nd Sunday in Lent and we focus on the relationship between Jesus and his Disciple Peter and from this we will think about our lives and how Jesus enables us to be open and honest without fear of rejection. Collect What is a collect? – A prayer that gathers our thoughts that we might have; relevant to a subject or theme; and offers them to God  Let us pray – loving God, we come from our busy lives and we often forget that you walk with us. As we share in worship help us to be more aware of who you are. Give us courage to admit when we don’t understand, give us patience to listen to you - help us to be open to learn from you so that we might grow to be more like you in all we do AMEN Song We sing together/ listen together or share the words toge

  Service Sheet (pdf) Call to worship Behold, I make all things new, Beginning with you, And starting from today. Behold, I make all things new, My promise is true, For I am Christ the way. Words and Music: John Bell Welcome Hello and welcome to our Sunday worship today. I’m Deacon Merry Evans one of the ministers working with Methodist churches, people and projects across the North of Bradford. This is the beginning of Lent. These days few of us engage in strict fasting, but still observe Lent as a time of denial and preparation for Easter. We still ask, and get asked, “What are you giving up for Lent?”. Some of us give up small luxuries during this time, or take on a discipline of prayer or spiritual reading and contemplation. Doing so connects us emotionally to the period when Jesus went into the wilderness to get closer to God. We shall be thinking about wilderness later on in our service. Reading Mark 1: 9-15 Reader: Margaret Parr – Howarth Road Methodist Church 9 In those d

The Christian Way - Hurt Service sheet (pdf) Today is the final Sunday of our series exploring the Christian Way. Learning lessons from the life, teaching and example of Jesus we have thought about hardship, stepping down and stepping up, parenting, fear, and last week, money. Today we look to Jesus as we reflect on the very human experience of hurt –both receiving it and causing it – and on what it means to be Jesus-shaped in response to hurt. There is a certain irony that this falls exactly on February 14th – St Valentine’s Day! As you remember your teenage self perhaps sending and receiving (or not receiving) Valentine cards, let’s note something important. Our need to be loved, and our experience of being loved, has consequences, and being hurt and causing hurt is one of them. Hurt is not optional. When the old Simeon tells the young mother Mary that, ‘a sword will pierce your own soul too’ or as the Message Bible has it, ‘the pain of a sword-thrust through you’, he is both a

  A journey through Lent for young people aged 7-25 Sunday evenings 21 February - 28 March 2021 6.00-7.00 pm - 07-11s session 7.00-8.00 pm - 11-16s session 8.00-9.00 pm - 17-25s session Games / Challenges / Time to Talk / Film Clips / Exploring Together Book your ticket .

The Christian Way - Disease of affluence Service sheet (pdf) Welcome Good morning and welcome to our Morning worship from the Bradford North Methodist circuit. I’m Ruth Kerr from Baildon and today our theme is: money. Our preacher will be the Rev. Kerry Tankard, our District Chairman. So, welcome to Kerry. Over the last 7 weeks we have been looking at various challenges in our lives as Christians and how the Bible helps us to cope with them. And all the while, we have this huge challenge of the pandemic to face. Here we are again worshipping in our own homes, separated from one another, confronted each day with the fragility and uncertainty of life. Thank God for Jesus in these dark times. He is always there for us to turn to. A few verses from Psalm 61: Hear my cry, o God, listen to my prayer, From the end of the earth, I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your

Do I pray as much as I think I should? Sometimes prayer requests come in so frequently and in such profusion that I begin to feel I can’t cope. There are prayer letters from worthy Christian charities. And our own district prayer handbook, with another for the Connexion, and that card listing presidential appointments. Add to all those the trickle of news of ailments and sometimes heart-rending problems faced by church members – or their friends, etc, etc... And of course I add to the burden myself, with my weekly Circuit prayer letters (and this column). Not to mention the general state of the world now, and looming threats to come. Where do I stop? Because I were to take them all on board, I don’t think I’d be doing anything else. I could of course give it all up, or just think of myself, but we are called to pray, and for each other (Lk 11:2). Or I could allocate a brief moment to each request, a nod rather than a kneel, but that isn’t perseverance (Lk 18:1). I could allow