The ladies at Beacon Cast-offs have joined forces with Hookers and Clickers (do it for charity). We have one aim, to connect like-minded people in an attempt to make the world just a little bit better. We run short term, specific need projects across the UK and overseas for a variety of charities and are always open to suggestions for our next challenge.

So far we have supported Leeds Baby Bank in West Yorkshire, Moray Supports Refugees, Simon on the Streets, Sands, SSNAPS, Pilgrims Hospice, Four Fields care home, Wheatfields, Candlelighters & Outreach 4 Wolverhampton. Making the world a better place – one stitch at a time.”

Beacon Cast-offs is based at MBC. Hookers and Clickers began life at Armley Christchurch but both groups are spreading across Leeds and nationwide.

Our picture shows Kate Slater and Janis Armstrong handing over a whole load of knitted scarfs, gloves and socks to MBC’s Simon on the Streets link Alastair Bowie. 

By John Sturges…  “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.  Genesis, chapter 1, verse 31.

God was pleased with his creation, and He chose to share it with Mankind; Adam and Eve were installed in the Garden of Eden, showing us that God’s intention was that we should all enjoy the fruits of his creation since we are part of it. In Genesis chapters 2 and 3 we learn that we are disobedient, fallen and banished from the garden. Today, it is apparent to us that the natural world we live in is a beautiful place, but in truth it also contains ugliness and we must admit that this ugliness is of our doing. For thousands of years during the Holocene era, we managed to live in reasonable harmony with our world, in that the impacts of our activities, production of wastes etc. were able to be absorbed by the natural world, and our demands for resources of materials and energy did not place an excessive strain upon the Earth’s natural systems.

In the first two decades of the 18^th century however, men made two developments that changed the course of history. These were the discovery of how to smelt iron using coke (a non-renewable resource) instead of charcoal (a renewable material) in Coalbrookdale in the Severn gorge, and the harnessing of steam power to enable deeper mining for coal. This was the Newcomen engine installed in the Earl of Dudley’s coal mines in Worcestershire, and these two events took place close together in time and barely 20 miles apart, making possible the Industrial Revolution. Before this time, we relied on renewable forms of energy and materials, and our global impact was very much smaller, at a level with which the Earth’s natural systems could cope. These industrial developments gave us the power to greatly increase our demands for resources. In the early 18^th century, the world’s human population was under 1 billion souls, now it stands at more than 7.5 billion. By being created and placed in creation, God called us to be its stewards, but because we are weak and selfish, we have used the world for our own selfish ends and not cared for it with love.

Sir David Attenborough’s recent series of programmes, Blue Planet II, succeeded in raising public awareness of the serious problem posed by the accumulation of millions of tonnes of plastic waste in the world’s oceans, together with the horrible damage it does to fish, birds and sea-life generally. In the same episode ‘The Big Blue’, after showing the floating plastic, he showed the image of a floating, dead whale carcass. I believe he ‘missed a trick’ in that he could have contrasted the way that in about 3 decades, the 30 tonne whale carcass was completely cleared up and recycled by natural systems, i.e. animals and fish that were ultimately solar-powered. In other words, God’s creation is fully capable of sustaining itself naturally, whereas we humans create disorder which is not cleared up, but which despoils and harms our world. We consume the riches of this world for our own selfish ends, with no thought for the creator who gave it to us, and it is human actions that bring the ugliness into our world. Also, when we make serious mistakes, we fail to learn the lessons.

On 21 October 1966, the Aberfan disaster killed 116 children and 28 adults in the village school. A huge pile of colliery waste became liquefied in heavy rain, turning it into liquid slurry which engulfed the school. On 25 January of this year, the village of Brumadinho in Brazil was engulfed in liquid slurry from iron mining when the dam behind which it was held failed, causing 166 deaths. In both cases, the mining companies did not wish to spend some of their profits on the safe disposal of the waste they had created. These failures to properly dispose of the plastic and mining wastes are examples of ‘externalizing of costs’. It has ugly and lethal consequences. 

In truth, we behave as if we were the lords of creation; taking whatever resources of materials and energy that we need with no thought or understanding of the consequences. We dishonour God by our spoiling and wanton destruction of His world. People increasingly refer to ‘saving the planet’, but these words are misleading; our planet Earth is in no real danger, what we are doing is putting in danger our future existence on the Earth, by threatening its capacity to sustain us. We ultimately depend on all of the other life forms on Earth, both plant and animal. Even vegetarians could not survive without the bird, animal and insect life that acts to pollinate crops and other plants. As humans, we are just a part of the world-wide web of life, the Earth’s ecosystems, and we could not survive without them. We are only now learning of the extent of our dependence on all of created life. We must recognise the fact that we do not ‘own’ our world, rather it has been entrusted to our stewardship for the duration of our lives, and that others, including our descendants will inherit the world and its stewardship after us. In depleting the world’s resources we are depriving our descendants of their inheritance. Finally, I am aware this piece has a serious tone, but it addresses a very serious situation that concerns every one of us.

What can we do to help?

• Take an interest in how our world works, and take time to think of the impact that our choices place upon it,
• Take care to correctly dispose of our waste materials,
• Keep in mind that we should not so consume the Earth’s resources today that we deprive our descendants of the means to enjoy a good quality of life in their turn,  
• Avoid the mind-set that says ‘it’s someone else’s problem’, or ‘the government should do something’. We must all do what we can.do by taking individual responsibility for our care of creation.

           j.sturges@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

March 2019

With Rewind to Easter just a matter of days away here’s a gentle reminder to our team that this coming Sunday is “Set Up Sunday.” 

This year we have a total of 344 Year 5, that’s 9 and 10 year old children from 9 primary schools as our guests. Looking after them and sharing what we as Christians believe to be the true meaning of Easter will be our team of more than 20 wonderful volunteers.

We’d like to begin setting up immediately following our Sunday morning service and with with a team of 5 or 6 willing hands this has been known to take less than an hour. Then between 2.30pm and 4.30 we’re having our one and only drama rehearsal. 

Thank you to Joe Kapolyo for giving the Whitley Lecture here at MBC on Wednesday March 6th. Such was the response that it has got us thinking that we might  like to do something similar in the coming months. 

However, in the meantime if you would like a copy of the booklet that accompanies the lecture they are available from Whitley Productions c/o Regents Park College, Oxford, OX1 2LB or by going to www.rpc.ox.ac.uk 

This coming Sunday, March 17th, we are once again trying something new. By that we mean that whist we are continuing our programme of two morning services, with this being the third Sunday of the month i.e. our week for communion we thought that we would have just one communion service during the 10.45am gathering, and that the 9.30 early birds could come together for breakfast. 

Initially flagged up as a feast of croissants and the like I do now hear a very strong rumour that for those who prefer something a little more substantial our hosts, Phil and Suzanna Laws’ House Group, are laying on bacon buttys. 

So once again the choice is yours: 9.30am til 10.15 in the Music Room for breakfas, coffee and fellowship and/or 10.45 to 12.15 Communion Service. 

Oh and finally this coming Sunday also see our next Tea Service. This begins at 4pm and is of course followed by a light tea.  

A couple of weeks ago Graham told us a little bit of history about St David. Born somewhere around 500AD, David, the Patron Saint of Wales became bishop of Mynyw (now St Davids) during the 6th century. A renowned teacher and preacher we learned that St David’s most famous miracle took place when he was preaching in the middle of a large crowd at the Synod of Brefi when the ground on which he was standing is reputed to have risen up to form a small hill.

However, as interesting as all this was what Graham was leading us to was a story of an encounter he recently had with a welsh friend at a UK Citizen’s meeting. Seemingly it’s a known fact that as something like 99% of all zimmer frames are grey those who rely on them for mobility have great difficulty determining which is and which isn’t theirs. 

ANSWER – MAKE THEM ALL DIFFERENT!

In Wales personalising a zimmer is known as pimping, or in slightly more refined circles as shimmering, and as part of their agenda to address areas of need the particular branch of UK Citizens that Graham’s friend belongs to have taken up this challenge with a local engineering company. 

By coincidence our Senior’s Worker Carole Smith has just mounted a fabulous display in the MBC sports hall of pictures and comments taken and made about Seniors’ Lunch Club. 

If you get chance do pop into the sports hall and read some of the comments, each and every one underlining the value of this important part of our ministry which believe it or not began its weekly programme in March 1975, that’s exactly 44 years ago. 

We’ll keep you up date with any news we get as to if and when any of our seniors get their hands on some new super duper shimmered zimmers; in the meantime keep your wits about you and keep looking out for grey ones. 

Shelley Dring who starts her new job on April 15th comes to MBC with a wealth of experience. We asked her to introduce herself… 

After gaining a first in Psychology at Bangor University (the welsh one!) and a PGCE at Lancaster (with some office work in between) I became a primary teacher in Leeds. I followed this with a few years of self employment and worked as a dancer, fine artist and community practitioner. During this time I became the children and youth adviser to Bradford Diocese and supported church initiatives and conferences in teaching and participating in creative worship including Spring Harvest, New Wine, Boys and Girls Brigade, Edinburgh festival and Global Day of Prayer, London and Berlin. I love to dance and I am on the core team of Movement in Worship (Miw.org.uk) and recently enjoyed leading all age workshops at Big Church Day Out.

                                      Shelley, Nathan, Rowan and Daisy Dring

Along with my husband, Nathan, I’ve been on the leadership team of a church in Leeds for 13 years and have learnt a lot about accessible church and church growth in diverse all age communities. This was a busy time but it included becoming a lay reader in the Church of England and completing some theological training, pioneering a ‘fresh expression’ of church called Genr8 (along with a team) leading worship, playing clarinet, leading dance workshops, setting up a prayer room, developing accessible Sunday church programmes, co leading a parish CPAS growing leaders course with my Dad and planning a community fashion show to name a few. Oh I also had two children during that time.. who came after a long struggle and a lot of prayer! I was also grateful to co lead an enjoyable (mostly sunny!) week with MBC at your Moorlands church holiday along with Nathan d and a very Rowan.

I’ve spent the last 11 years working for Leeds Museums and Galleries as a Learning and Access Officer, based in a 500 year old Tudor Jacobean Mansion known as Temple Newsam House. The objective of my job was to bring the house and it’s collection ‘to life’ to as many people as possible. Temple Newsam was gifted to the people of Leeds back in the 1930’s, so it was important to make sure that all aspects of Leeds communities felt welcome there.

During this time I set up a learning programme for primary and secondary schools, university partnerships, school holiday activities, developed teacher training, joined with community organisations on creative well-being projects and helped create exhibitions. One of my favourites was working with a group of local people from Osmondthorpe, East Leeds and following one lady’s comment that “I didn’t think a place like this was for someone like me,” I was inspired to work with them over the following year to support language skills, new hobbies and to build confidence and parenting skills using the House and the objects inside.

All of my work over the years has relied on developing good relationships, encouragement, communication and creativity so I am really looking forward to getting to know people at MBC, partnering with them and with those communities who are or could be connected to us to see what we can do! I’m passionate about inter-generational communities, using creativity for well-being, inspiration, problem solving, purpose and identity in God and how we can support each other as Gods family to build a better world.

In my ‘spare’ time I like to dance, paint, do interesting gym classes, see live performances, try different foods, go out with friends and family and visit museums and galleries. I’m also part of a book club and even though I sometimes fail to finish the book I very much enjoy the discussions!

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those of you here at MBC who have made me and my family feel so welcome. I value your prayers at this time of new beginnings.