20th July 2024 ALMOST TOO BUSY TO REST Read Mark 6: 30 – 34, 53 – 56 Reflection from the viewpoint of Deborah, an independent young follower of Jesus. It’s been non-stop since the disciples returned. Adventures and stories of their time on the road filled our time for a few days as they almost fell over each other in their eagerness to report to Jesus what they had seen, heard and done in the name of God. And now Jesus is busy again too. There never seems any opportunity to rest. Always people looking for him, seeking him out, asking for healing or simply wanting to be near him and listen to ..read more

Save the Date Saturday 28th September, 3pm at Wesley Methodist Church, Harrogate Commissioning Service for Leonora Wassell, our new CoChair North ‘God Sees, God Hears, God Cares’ All Welcome. Service will be livestreamed – more details to follow.   ..read more

Bradwell in Essex is the home of the annual Bradwell Pilgrimage. It first began to commemorate the arrival of St Cedd from Lindisfarne to establish a monastery there in 653. Today it is organised by CTEEL “ Churches Together in Essex and East London”. The pilgrimage is from the St Thomas church in the village to the ancient chapel of St Peter on the Wall .The pilgrimage walk is in the morning with a range of workshops, activities and guided walks in the afternoon followed by  closing outdoor  worship. The chapel was an Anglo- Celtic church for the East Saxons and its chapel sign stat ..read more

13th July 2024 SADNESS LEADS TO DETERMINATION Read Mark 6: 14 – 29 Reflection from the viewpoint of Deborah, an independent young follower of Jesus. News of the disciples travels and their success in not only spreading the Good News but miracles of healing too have been reaching those of us who have stayed alongside Jesus. I can see that he is satisfied that the work of God is being done. Other rumours are circulating too. King Herod seems to think that John the Baptist has come back to life because the healings and the miracles are reminding the people of what John said and did in his minist ..read more

The Mary Bosanquet Lecture 2024 given by Chine McDonald – Casting down the Mighty: Women and the mission of God is now available to view on our YouTube channel. Click here to view ..read more

6th July 2024 When I read the Bible, especially familiar stories from the Gospels about Jesus, I like to put myself on the edge of the action as someone who was there but isn’t named. Usually this means I take on a female character because without doubt they were there but centuries of translation by men has removed them from the picture. So the next 4 weeks will use the Gospel reading for the Sunday but the reflection will be from the viewpoint of Deborah, an independent young follower of Jesus. CHANGE OF PLANS AND A NEW DIRECTION Read Mark 6: 1 – 13 This has been an interesting week, a tale ..read more

Co-Chair North, Ruth’s Blog: 1st July 2024 Greetings! June was quite a busy month! It began with preparation for the talk I was to give on ‘Thursdays in Black’ at the WFMUCW European Seminar in Porto. Michael and I flew to Lisbon, where it happened to be their Festival of St Anthony and we were able to watch the parade as it passed our hotel. There were competitions between villages, lovely costumes and bands playing but the entry that struck me most, was of wedding couples who were on the way to the Cathedral of St Anthony to get married en bloc, at 9 o’clock in the evening! The following da ..read more

The latest news from the World Federation of Methodist & Uniting Church Women can be found here including reports from the European Seminar in Porto. TOL 2024 APRIL-JUNE   ..read more

Weekly Reflection MWiB June 29th 2024 Mark 5: 21-43 Jesus raises a dead girl and heals a sick woman   – vs 36 ‘ Don’t be afraid; just believe’. So here we are at the end of our five weeks of reflections in June and as I mentioned on week 1, how appropriate for me, as a nurse, that we opened with a healing and here we are with two healings in one day for our final reading. In this passage Jesus has first healed a woman who has bled for 12 years and was delayed from attending Jairus’ daughter. Because of this the people told Jairus not to bother him as she was already dead – Jesus’ res ..read more

Weekly Reflection MWiB June 22nd 2024 Mark 4:35-41 Jesus calms the storm. Be still, quiet – why are you so afraid? Jesus said ‘ Peace! Be Still!’  Jesus calming of the storm on the lake reveals a new dimension of his character to those with him in the boat and challenges us to remain open to new possibilities. Its difficult to imagine how it must have felt to be in that small fishing boat out in the middle of a storm that came from nowhere and the person you are looking at for guidance is sleeping! When I saw this reading I was confident I would get the opportunity to share a water – base ..read more