We welcome you.
“Maybe what they say is what they actually are going to do” – how a banner with the words, “We welcome you”, brought the Revd Sonia Hicks and her family back to Church.
From 1 September 2021, All We Can began a formal partnership with Y Care International – the relief and development agency of the YMCAs in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Together, All We Can and Y Care International will combine efforts to tackle poverty, inequality and injustice in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
God is good.
“Your image of God creates you. This is why it is important that we see God as loving and benevolent and why good theology still matters. One mistaken image of God that keeps us from receiving grace is the idea that God is a cruel tyrant. People who have been raised in an atmosphere of threats of punishment and promises of reward are programmed to operate with this cheap image of a punitive God. It usually becomes their entire view of the universe.”
Read this reflection by Richard Rohr by clicking on the image below.
Jesus, generous giver.
Jesus, guest and host,
may our tables be safe spaces where everyone feels at home.
Jesus, who washed the feet of the disciples, teach us afresh the sacrament of service.
Jesus, generous giver, show us the abundance of love where we see only scarcity.
Jesus, in whose name is found salvation, help us rejoice in the kingdom banquet prepared for all.
Change of Season.
“The inexorable shift from summer to autumn can feel so mixed, so tinged, like a turning leaf. Yet it’s so rich, too, isn’t it? Especially if we can meet autumn’s imminent arrival with the kind of love we might show an old friend; or with the kindness we’d offer a stranger; or with the reverence we’d reserve for God. After all, how evocative, this season of ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’, of the Creator’s slow, patient, ripening work within us all.”
Read Brian Draper’s reflections on the change of season by clicking on the image below.
Child Protection.
The URC has welcomed the publication and findings of the report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse following its investigation into Child Protection in Religious Organisations and Settings. The United Church follows the URC Safeguarding Guidelines. Read more by
clicking on the image below.
Following Closely In The Way Of Your Son.
Click on the image below to find resources in Creationtide form JPIT.
Give us grace we pray, to follow closely in the way of your Son by offering a place of belonging at your table to immigrants, to people who are homeless, to people seeking asylum and to all who find themselves on the margins of our society. Help us, Lord, to offer all who need it a new and safe place in which to be. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Jongikaya Zihle, London Methodist District Chair
Having Enough.
Join an inspiring service from the Greenbelt Festival amount having “enough” by clicking on the image below.
Steadfast Love.
Eternal God, your steadfast love is as high as the heavens are above the earth and your everlasting arms are underneath us. In Jesus you made your home among us,
and you long for us to find our home in you – safe and free from fear.
Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, the one holding all things together, give us liberating confidence to renew our trust in you, seek your will, and choose your paths. Amen.
Leslie Newton, Yorkshire North and East Methodist District Chair
A World of Beauty and Bounty.
Gracious God, the world you have made is one of beauty and bounty, a plethora of colours and textures and sights and sounds, all reminding us of your generous and creative nature. We rejoice that we are part of your glorious creation but confess that we have not always treated it with the love and care it requires.
Forgive us and help us to live in ways that enable us and all your people to care for your world, enjoy its wonders and share its resources wisely. In the name of Christ, Amen.
Gill Newton, Sheffield Methodist District Chair
As agreed by the Methodist Conference, a letter from the President and Vice-President has been sent to the Rt Hon Alok Sharma, M.P, President of COP26 Read it here.
A Poem for Palestine.
“Envisioning a future
offers protection from a cruel past
from pessimism
and stops you from falling into a pit with your enemy.”
Read an inspiring poem on forgiveness in Palestine …and beyond by clicking on the image below.
Grace through photographs.
“Photographing in this way can become an act of revelation. One of the gifts of art in general, and photography in particular, is that the artist can offer others this vision of the graced ordinary moment.”
Read a fascinating view on “taking” photos by clicking on the image below.
