Month: May 2019

To launch a new series of services and sermons based on the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, Graham took a most novel approach.

Reading from Ezekiel Chapters 2 and 3, a passage of scripture which describes Ezekiel’s call to be a prophet he asked for a show of hands before picking out certain members of the congregation by trade and profession: teachers, doctors, internet technician, sales people etc.

He then gave them each an A4 certificate (aka a scroll) on which was written a list of the skills they needed to do their work and asked them to tear off a corner, share it with those around them and eat it.

Then, taking five reference points from the text, the headings of which spelled out the word GOALS, we were invited to discuss ways in which through faith the bitter, sweet experiences that happen to us all equip us to live out our beliefs. 

The scrolls of course were made of rice paper – although we’re not too sure about the ink. 

With occasional breaks the Ezekiel sermon theme runs right the way through Pentecost and ends on July 28th with a service with an equally enticing title “Two sticks”. 

Huge congratulations to Jenny Dixon (above left) and her brilliant team for once again organising and staging a superb plant sale.  With everything totted up the total raised was £1,218.97 which means that this year’s two chosen charities: Christian Aid and Pathways Counselling will benefit with over £600 each. 

As you will appreciate getting seedlings and cuttings etc. to their peak takes both planning, patience and skill – particularly as no one quite knows what the weather is going to be like one week to the next. So once again top marks to all our green fingered friends, and of course the bakers and kitchen helpers who between them brought in donations of just over £100. 

                      To see a larger version of any of our gallery pictures simply click on the image. 

 

Last Saturday, from 10am to 10pm the MBC sanctuary was open for prayer.  Through words, silence, art, music, movement, dance, food, song and more, all ages were encouraged to have a conversation with God.

The day was themed around ‘Abiding’ and there were 4 zones linked to different understandings of abiding.  One zone focused on abiding memories and God with us on the journey, another zone looked at what we cannot abide, a third zone encouraged us to simply ‘abide’ in God and a fourth looked at the theme of kingdom and who we abide by. People were encouraged to move around the zones at their own pace or indeed just ‘to be’ in the space.  A variety of chairs and cushions were dotted around the room as well as space to move. 

There was also testimony, mission stories, mindfulness, sung worship and movement/dance opportunities lead from the front throughout the day that people could choose to engage with on whatever level they wanted.  People prayed for those who were sick, they prayed for their city, the places where they lived and worked, they meditated on Jesus as the vine, they heard personal testimony from mission and prayed for persecuted Christians, they used globes to think about the wider world and they sang songs and picked up flags to declare God’s love and faithfulness. 

There was a welcome stream of drinks and snacks available, including a ‘banqueting table’ with fresh bread, fruit and cake under a canopy of vines. A book was left by the entrance/exit for people to write their thoughts in as they left and it will be a reminder of what God was saying throughout the day. 

Some people dropped in for a short time, others stayed for the full 12 hours, some came on their own and others came with friends and family members.  A number people have given feedback and words that came up quite a lot were space, peaceful, safe, freedom, grow, colour, unity, connected and ‘spring up’.

The whole day came out of discussions in a home group hosted by Abi and Sam Tillie around 24/7 prayer.  The group want to thank everyone who helped to plan, facilitate and take part in the day.

For more information about prayer days/nights see www.24-7prayer.co.uk

To view of a larger version any of our gallery pictures simply click on the image 

 

With Graham taking on the Eamonn Andrews role and a 10 inch Samsung tablet replacing the big red book MBC’s Lunch Club have paid a warm and fond This is Your Life style farewell to Chris Puckrin. 

Very soon Chris will be heading off to Scotland to live near daughter Lorraine and her family. However, quite literally no sooner will he have first footed the suburbs of Edinburgh than he will he will be heading back to Leeds for a knee op. Immediately following his discharge Chris’ other daughter, local lass Sarah, who most conveniently just happens to be a physiotherapist will then take charge of his recovery. 

Armed with a whole load of surreptitious obtained background information, and an equally impressive gallery of pictures Graham led us through Chris’ life story from the day in 1947 when he was born, through his childhood, his early working life with ICI, through his training for the Anglican priesthood and of course through the umpteen churches in which he and his late wife Doreen have subsequently served.

Before heading through for lunch Carole Smith, MBC’s Seniors’ Worker presented Chris with a number of gifts and cards. She also thanked him for all the love, guidance and support he has given her, her predecessor and also the many Lunch Club regulars who during his time here at Moortown have got to know and love him.

There’s a gallery of pictures here taken at Lunch Club’s special event, plus of course a couple taken recently when on behalf of the whole church Graham paid tribute to this lovely man. 

Chris, we know this move is far more than just a need to live nearer to Lorraine and Will, and we know that because when you recently preached at one of our 9.30am Services you told us so.  No, this move like so many others you have made is happening because once again you believe it’s what God wants. So as you leave Moortown and as you plan yet another fresh start all we can add is thank you, take care and God bless you.  

You can read the full text of Chris’ sermon, titled The Journeying God and based on Exodus Chapter 14, verses 13 to 29 by following this link. 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago and ahead of his forthcoming move to Scotland Chris Puckrin was invited to preach at one of our 9.30am Services. He took as his text Exodus Chapter 14, verses 13 to 29. You can read it here, it’s called…

The  Journeying God

If asked what’s the greatest moment of your life, how would you respond?  No doubt there’s been extraordinary moments. Birth, sucking first lungful of breath as the adventure called life began! First steps, first words. The joy of learning to read.

First job, first date, first kiss, first love, for parents the moment the children were born. Many things can be defined as greatest moment of life! I remember a time, if not a greatest moment, certainly ranks as most humorous!

Christmas, the College Ripon and York St. John. Nativity presentation complete with angel descending to announce the birth of the Saviour! Spellbinding, especially as the angel appeared. People gasped as this angel flew around, until disaster struck.

The motor driving the harness burnt out, the angel stopped dead! The momentum caused wires attached to the wings to get twisted and the angel began to spin round and round like a ceiling fan. I was there, I saw it, I still chuckle!

Think about it, someone spinning round and round, then consider that is a condition of some here today! We are all of us nice, good people, with our hearts in the right place. But some are spinning, going nowhere. Progress is halted. Life is stale and static.

The reading from Exodus tells about slaves wanting delivery from taskmasters. God rescued and redeemed them and a great journey began which was so much more than a great escape. Outcasts and fugitives became a chosen people called to travel to a promised land. Their route saw the supernatural and the miraculous happen.

The obedient Red Sea stood up, impossibly, only to crash down again on the army that chased them. God himself their navigation system. People followed the pillars of fire and cloud, discovered Yahweh was uniquely the dynamic, travelling king.

However, it didn’t end happily. They doubted, they grumbled, they rebelled and as they did so they got more and more off course. God was still with them, but they would never inherit the destiny he had prepared for them!

The journeying God allowed them to spin out their days in the wilderness, marching but going nowhere; a mystery tour anything but magical. An excursion ending in the sand. What of us? What of me? On the point of leaving Leeds to move to Scotland. Why?

Those who know my situation assume it’s because Lorraine, Will and the grandchildren now live in Scotland and I am going to be near them. I will be near them, five minutes away from them! But I’m not going to Scotland just to be near them!

Will’s job meant relocation, they asked me to go. I refused saying I believe God still has something for me to do here and wants me to stay in Leeds and it will only be when I feel him say differently that I will move!  Sounds so pious doesn’t it! True though! It would have been easy to go.

Then just 12 weeks ago God began speaking, saying “now it’s time!” At church in Scotland a guy came to say hello to me. His opening words, you’re not from Scotland, I watched you, I think God is saying you are to move here!

Four weeks later, a lady rang me. Lorraine had given my number. She’d had a dream, she said. I was in the dream, God said its time to go to Scotland! Talking with Lorraine I said I didn’t want to go unless I can be a blessing, not just to family (toe curling piety)!

Our house group meets on Mondays and the day I’d spoken with Lorraine, a Monday, was early March. At the end of the house group meeting we prayed together and agreed the need to develop the habit of not just talking but also of listening prayer.

Next day I got a text from John Whitehead who was at the house group; “praying for you in the early hours, didn’t know what to pray so listened, felt God say ‘he will be a blessing!’”

I’d not said anything to anyone in Leeds up to that point! The journeying God is calling me! So it’s onward and upward to something even now being prepared!

Now a question: what about you? You individually and your corporately, this fellowship here? Moortown? Is it to be progress or spinning? The journeying God invites us to decide! And I want to take us back to where we began, the greatest moment of our life!

The greatest moment of our life is right here, right now! Not because it’s pleasant or happy or easy, but because this moment is the only moment that is truly ours. It is the only one we’ve got. It’s the one time we have to hear God speak to us!

Past moments, however good they were or however deeply we may regret wasted or misspent are gone, never coming back, and if we live there we lose our life.  The future is always out there somewhere. We can spend an eternity waiting for or worrying about tomorrow. Again, if we live there we make no progress, we just spin.

This moment is God’s irreplaceable gift. This is the moment that matters, because this is where God is. If we are going to be with him, or hear him, we must be with him, now in this moment, so we can make progress, stop spinning and travel with the God who journeys.

For MBC it’s business as usual this Sunday but as normal the Leeds Half Marathon, which literally passes our front door, will bring with it it’s usual degree of traffic disruption. We could offer all sorts of advice as to how you might try to minimise the chaos but erring on the side of caution we’ll simply say that between just after 9am and 11ish the King Lane/Stonegate roundabout will be closed off as will Stonegate Road itself (from the Meanwood end) and King Lane from church down to the Ring Road. 

In theory, particularly for those coming to our 9.30am Service it should be possible to get into the MBC car park via the normal entrance. Getting away, however, could be very different story.  

For those of you who do get through there’s an invitation to join us on the roundabout as we hand out sugar boosting jelly babies to those who have just slogged their way up from Meanwood. 

 

 

Last Sunday we said thank you to Laura King for co-ordinating Life Improv. We ran two Life Improv workshops on wellbeing for young adults.  A ten week course in the autumn/winter last year and a six week course in the Spring of this year. 

There were various topics covered over the weeks including: Mindfulness and Self-awareness, living with expectations, coping strategies when things get too much, finding your calling, searching for significance, playful living in and adult world and self care for the overwhelmed

The courses were well attended and there has been some very positive feedback.”