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Worship is...
The Pilgrim Shop
A-Z Walk
Bono
Training event for
Children's workers
Marrick Priory report
Footballers' prayer? |
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Nigel writes
about....Worship is...
Someone once wrote that "worship is... pointless, but still full of
meaning." I think I know what he means. What is the point of consciously
turning to God to talk to him or sing to him. It doesn't, of itself,
achieve anything. We could be doing something much more useful, like
washing the car, or cutting the grass, or doing the ironing, or...
But worshipping God is what we were designed to do. And the Lord God
almighty, great as he is, values the worship we offer. Worship is
pointless, but achieves much. The following thoughts about worship are
from Tom Wright, who has the knack of saying much with few words.
Worship is...
glimpsing the beauty of God and stopping to gaze in wonder.
believing in God's victory over evil and death and celebrating it thanking
God for sending Jesus.
sensing the love of God and opening up to it, like a flower in the
sunshine.
We worship together...
as an act of love, since my brothers and sisters need me as much as I
need them.
as an act of humility,
abandoning our arrogant isolation and self sufficiency.
Holy Communion has become a ritualised ceremony which has
accumulated a great deal of weighty baggage. At its heart, it is a looking
back to the last meal Jesus shared with his immediate followers in which
he invited them to remember for all time his sacrificial actions which
followed the meal - his suffering and death on the cross. The simple
symbols of remembering are bread and wine -bread to remember Jesus' body,
wine to remember his blood.
Great mystery and misunderstanding have clouded this celebration which
Jesus followers have practised down the centuries. At one time in the
early days of the church, Christians were accused of being cannibals -
eating flesh and drinking blood in strange and secretive rituals.
But communion is a an act of remembering with hope, as we are invited to
know in our heads and hearts and spirits that Jesus, through his death and
resurrection, brings us life with God. Some further thoughts of Tom
Wright.
Communion is...
where belief becomes taste.
where we gently close our fingers on to hope.
where God beyond us meets God within us.
God saying to us what he said to Jesus: "You are my beloved child, with
you I am well pleased"
God saying to us what he said through Jesus: "Go, and announce the
kingdom of God"
where we can celebrate without being silly, and grieve without being
depressed.
Worship is pointless, but full of meaning because it is about life with
God ... in all its fulness.
The Pilgrim Shop
Forthcoming Event
BBC 'Songs of Praise' presenter,Pam Rhodes
will be talking about
her new book -'Coming Through' - at 12 pm on the
25th June.
All welcome.
20 New Market Street
Leeds, LSI 6DG
(Opposite the Corn Exchange)
0113 2376480
A to Z Walk?
A-Z Prayer for Leeds has, over the past two years, been praying
for the city of Leeds and hopes to pray for every street in Leeds at least
once every year. Last year Derek and Jenny Thomas co-ordinated the praying
of Leeds 17, and with the help of friends from St. Barnabas and St.
Stephens all the streets within the Leeds boundary in Leeds 17 were prayed
for once. We are hoping to do the same this year, and this time we have
lots of volunteers to help. We shall be putting a map of Leeds 17 at the
back of the church in the near future and, as each street it prayed for,
we shall mark it off on the map. If you would like to be involved, or
would like to know more about why we prayer walk, do have a word with
either Derek or Jenny.
Watch out
on the news for:
Reports of Bono (rock singer) accompanying the American Secretary
of State for the Treasury on a fact-finding trip to Africa. Bono (& Bob
Geldof) are both now using their influence with world leaders to press for
action on 3rd World Debt. They know that many people - yourselves
included - have been campaigning for Debt Cancellation. It was hoped for
in 2000 as a Jubilee and although small steps have been taken in debt
re-structuring, nothing like full cancellation has occurred. Please pray
that American officials will be moved to action on 3rd World Debt.
For your information Leeds Jubilee 2000 has been re-named TIDAL that's
Trade Injustice and Debt Action Leeds, thus combining campaigning on both
issues of fair trade and debt cancellation.
Look out in the news also for a Trade Justice Mass Lobby of Parliament on
June 19th. Pray for a peaceful day and for those in power to use their
influence to improve fair trade.
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Training Event
St Barnabas is hosting a training event for people working in
church with children in the 3 - 11 year old age group. We would like to
extend an invitation to anyone for whom this would be appropriate.
The training event is on Saturday 6th July and will start with coffee at
9.45am and will run through until 1pm. The event will be run by Dave
Godfrey. Dave has extensive experience working with children of this
particular age group, including working in schools in York with a
charitable trust, hosting large scale "praise parties" for children, and
also planning and running the programme at events such as Spring Harvest.
Anyone coming to the event can expect an encouraging time of teaching,
learning new skills and lots of creative ideas which would be useful for a
local church situation. We do not have a limit for numbers of people who
can come to this training event, but it would be helpful to know who is
coming in advance. So, if anyone is interested, please contact Nigel Beer
by 21st June.
In addition, Dave Godfrey will be returning to St Barnabas' Church
on Sunday 7th July for our morning service as well as running our
alternative to Halloween event on 31st October 2002.
Activity Weekend at Marrick Priory
From April 26-28, a party of 28 young people from St. John's, St.
Stephen's and St. Barnabas spent an active weekend at the Outdoor
Education Centre at Marrick Priory in Swaledale. This was greatly assisted
by generous grants from the Inglefield Fund and Wade's Charity to whom our
thanks are due. The young people, age range 7-16, were accompanied by 6
adults who took full part in the activities.
The learning objectives for the weekend were the development of personal
and social skills, and the importance of team-working, interdependence and
cooperation was taught in each of the activities. In the final act of
worship, each participant was invited to pick up a stone from a pile and
say what they were taking away with them from Marrick; many mentioned new
friendships or some aspect of the co-operative nature of the activities.
For many of the children, the opportunity to get thoroughly wet and muddy
with full support from adults seems to have been a pleasure in itself
Competition to build a 'human dam' in Cobden Beck even inspired one
enthusiast to go for total immersion and start swimming. Another, unused
to the country, confided with delight that she had stroked a cow for the
first time. The activities afforded new challenges, whether it was
abseiling down a tower, constructing a raft and paddling it successfully
over a course, or standing up and jumping in a kayak. All offered fresh
air and strenuous exercise in spectacularly beautiful surroundings - and
the weather was kind to us; the few showers between the sunny spells did
not stop us doing anything. The instructors gave firm advice but lots of
encouragement and helped children to understand what they were learning
from working in pairs or teams, about trusting each other, mutual
co-operation and support for weaker members. And the food was excellent
and plentiful.
Although no formal evaluation was done with the participants, their
frequent use of "ace" and "wicked" to describe the activities may speak
for itself. New friendships were formed, and the following Sunday a
gathering of most of the participants expressed the wish to continue
meeting regularly - so the first event was a picnic and rounders game the
following day in Roundhay Park. A strong desire to go back to Marrick next
year has also been expressed.
It is planned that in the Family Service on May l2th some of the
participants' experiences will be shared with the congregation at St.
John's, and so those who attended from St. Barnabas and St. Stephen's have
also been invited to join in that service. A planning group of the young
people has already been established to put together a programme of social
events to cement the new friendships made, and to provide continuing links
between the church groups.
Jane Shaw
Lord's Prayer
for Footballers?
Our Manager, who is on the touchline
'The Guv'nor' be your name
Let the match be won and your game plan be done
On the pitch as it is in the dressing room
Give us today our pep-talks and physios
And forgive us our fouls
As we forgive those who foul against us
Lead us not into offside traps
and deliver us from own goals
For yours is the team,
the tactics and the trophies,
forever and ever
Amen
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