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As her theme for our Pentecost sermon Shona chose Making Memories. For Stephanie Whyte (centre in the picture below) one can be sure that the memories of this particular day will stay with her for ever.Following an emotional testimony in which Steph, who recently completed an MBC Alpha Course gave some powerful examples of God’s goodness and grace it was time for her to step in the baptistery. With Shona Shaw on one arm and Janet Walker on the other Steph rose from the water to greet the packed church with a joyful Alleluia!

Sharing Steph’s special day was her mother Sandra, sister Melanie and nephew Jordan.

Another highlight of the service was the return of our “pop up” choir. Under the watchful eye of their leader, Abi Tilley, and after just three weeks rehearsal the singers were brilliant. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next Sunday, that’s the 11th of June there will be no morning service here at MBC owing to road closures and us being slap-bang in  the middle of the ITU World Triathlon Series course.

For the elite athletes, and following a 1,500 meter swim in Roundhay Park’s Waterloo Lake there’s a quick change from wetsuit to lycra for their 40 km bike ride into and around town. After that it’s just a small matter of a 10k run: then the rest of the day’s their own!

As an amateur Gareth Davies, however, will be undertaking a slightly less arduous schedule. For him and his fellow athletes taking part in what’s called the Sprint Triathlon involves a mere 750 meter swim, a 20km bike ride and a 7.5km run. “I’m pretty fit” says Gareth “as I do a fair amount of running but swimming that sort of distance in a lake that I’m told years ago was once used as an armaments dump is a bit scary.”

So in readiness for the challenge, Gareth has been honing his aquatic skills by training in a flooded gravel pit alongside students at a diving school near Castleford. Another of his clever tactics is to borrow a bike from Graham and Margaret’s son Aodhan (in 2016 Aodhan rode this particular bike when he took part in the insanely tough Iron Man challenge).

So next Sunday, if you decide to sneak an extra hour in bed, or maybe opt for a drive out in the Dales spare a thought for Gareth. In fact, more than that – go online and visit  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Gareth-Davies96 and sponsor him, because every stroke, every revolution and every step he takes will be counting towards his goal of raising £1,000 for The Bone Cancer Research Trust.

  

 

We want to recognize the changes and challenges this year has held for each young person. We also celebrate their growth and for some the exciting opportunities which await them as they head of to University. On the night there will be a live band, a silent disco, a scalextrics racing track and a whole lot more!

Tickets cost £10 for all this including food! Please RSVP by the 11th June. Or alternatively ring or text 07852388530 to let the youth team know you are coming.

After what must seem like an endless drag up Stonegate Road I can only imagine the relief that the near on 9,000 runners in this year’s Half Marathon dwhen they saw that once again MBC was stepping in with a much needed sustenance.

Okay, so maybe jelly babies and popcorn aren’t the top of every athletes dietary plan but I can assure you that for many they were exactly what the doctor ordered.

Below is a gallery of images captured as the runners streamed past us.  

After two years worshipping and ministering here at MBC Caroline Brown said her farewells on Sunday when she told the church that she was “returning to her roots.” In other words, returning to the Church of England, but this time with the intention of becoming a priest.

Revd Caroline began her final Sunday standing on the roundabout watching out for her sister who was competing in the Leeds Half Marathon. It was then a quick sprint in to church to announce her news.

Surrounded by members of her Home Group and also by regulars at our Monday Morning Café Caroline was thanked for all the work she has done here at MBC and wished God speed as she takes her next steps in ministry.  

Once again MBC’s Plant Sale has proved a great success. With only a few specimens left unsold and with a very healthy contribution coming from the donations for coffee and cake Jenny Dixon and her green fingered team are well on the way to sending more than £1,000 to this year’s chosen charities.  

From the word go there was a steady stream of visitors each of whom left us carrying considerably more than they had brought.

Simon on the Streets and The British Heart Foundation are this year’s beneficiaries so very soon a cheque will be heading their way.

Alongside Jenny’s adult helpers there was this year a new member of the team… 10 year old Nikou Mohammadai who when not helping arrange the cakes was our assistant photographer. In fact, so good were her pictures that almost half of the images in the gallery below are hers.

So all in all a good day, once again many thanks to Jenny and all the team… see you all next year.

 

 

I don’t know about you but sometimes life just gets on top of me.  I know it’s happening when I shout at the kids and can’t focus on a task at hand, when I am talking to someone but my mind is wandering even though I really want to be present in the moment.

At times like these I realise that I have lost my focus.  For when I retreat into my ‘cave’ and try and find some time to listen to God all I can hear are the earthquakes, wind and fire around me.  I am doing most of the talking and God, well I expect he is listening and trying to say something.  It isn’t until all that noise around me stills that I can hear the voice in the silence.  The Hebrew word for ‘still’ is only used three times in the whole New Testament, it alludes to a calmness that comes after activity that could be seen to be frightening.  It is a word that exudes peace and a definite presence.

The peace and calm, the stillness that is experienced in the prescence of God Almighty is overwhelming but not in the same way as the things going on around us.  In fact his presence puts everything back in its place and reminds us that God is in control.  We are not alone, everything doesn’t depend on us, God is our strength and our provider, and He never allows us to take on more than we can bear.

So this Friday, I invite you all to come along to Messy Church and find out more about this God who brings calm and stills the storm.  Our God who is able to do immesurably more than we could ever hope or imagine.

Cas.

Just over a year ago a campaign to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College in Oxford (above) was in the headlines, as it tackled the apparent honoured prominence given to an architect of apartheid. In the past week European athletics has proposed striking off records set before 2005, because drugs tests at that time weren’t up to today’s standards.

Apartheid and drug cheating cannot be condoned but it seems to be a bit of a gesture to assume that such actions will change a great deal. Indeed, it is easy to be wise after the event.

It seems that the greater value and yet the harder task is to reshape our current attitudes and future priorities.

It strikes me that Jesus was repeatedly pressed to apportion retrospective blame when faced with the injustices of his day. He refused to fall into this trap. Instead he focused upon attitudes, what can be done now, hopes and the future. “This happened so that God’s work might be revealed…” “Blessed are the poor, for yours in the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied”

In speaking in this way Jesus turned us to what is happening in the present, and what can be hoped for. He also directly confronted those who were oppressing in the present rather than those who had got away with it in the past. This turns us away from gestures and towards ongoing behaviour and what we seek to build for ourselves and future generations.

Now Christians can fall into a similar trap when reviewing our difficult past, as individuals and church, and when facing disconcerting passages in the Bible. Once again, their uncomfortableness should not be cheaply expunged but rather help us to be real about the past and better able to engage in the present.

Graham Brownlee, May 2017