Pastoral Letter - June 2021

Dear Friends, 

The Yorkshire West District of the Methodist Church, of which Bradford North Circuit is a part, has launched an initiative for Pentecost and beyond called REAL LOVE. It is a challenge to all of us to ask how we, as individuals and Churches, can be real love to those around us, in our families, neighbourhoods, communities. In particular, to think about how we can visibly and tangibly express real love to those around us. 

The initiative began in the Aire and Calder Circuit, with lots and lots of hearts being knitted and given to people around St Valentine’s Day, as signs of the Church’s and more importantly God’s real love. 

At the District Synod last month all kinds of ideas were generated and shared of ways in which we might show real love. Some of those ideas were: 

• Put a message of thanks on your door for the post people, or give a thank you to other key workers;
• Organise a community event such as a litter pick; 
• Pop-up Sunday School, to give out symbols (doves, hearts etc); 
• Gathering prayers from local shops and businesses; 
• Offering something with no strings attached – a free gift; 
• Placing symbols/posters/images that are visible to the community e.g. on noticeboards;
• Giving gifts in shops or supermarket; 
• Celebrating those who are blood donors, stem cell and organ donors and raising the profile of this; 
• Baking scones & painting stones & placing them around the community; 
• Using a local tree to hang ‘Real Love’ hearts; 
• Offering practical support e.g. gardening; 
• Giving out and planting bulbs / packet of seeds; 
• Giving out hearts in pairs to nursing homes and vaccine clinics when church volunteers are helping;
• Balloons with a Real Love message put out outside of our churches for people to take; 
• Real Love postcards; 
• Knitted hearts, made by folk beyond church, sent on behalf of church with letter to bereaved folk post funeral; 
• Taking something out to people who are isolated (e.g. cream teas etc); 
• Looking wider - use what is already in the planning stage and incorporate Real Love into that; 
• Real Love sewn & knitted hearts to all children & staff of a local school with Real Love message.

Each Circuit’s Synod Reps were asked to think about what our Circuit might do. The Bradford North reps came up with: ‘looking at existing ways of serving community (e.g .litter-picking, neighbour-shopping) enhanced by leaving gift / message with invite / contact and seeking involvement of wider than usual suspects in producing those gifts (hearts, seed bombs, cards)’.

What might you and your Church do in response to REAL LOVE? What are you already doing that you could build on? 

Blessings 

Nick 

P.S. Each circuit has also been given a REAL LOVE bear – as yet unnamed - as a symbol of the initiative. If you think you know his or her (difficult to tell which with a yellow bear) name, especially if it’s a name with a reason, do let me know! (The picture shows our bear at Allerton on election day.)