June 2025

City of Culture – Bradford 2025

Our city is in the middle of its year of celebration with all kinds of events which have already happened or are still to come!

The Methodist Church is also making its own contribution. The focus will be on the display of works from the Methodist Modern Art Collection which will be connected by an arts trail around the Bradford area. During September, the paintings will be on display at Bradford Cathedral, Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Bridge, Ben Rhydding Methodist Church and at the South Square Gallery and St James Church in Thornton.

Faith communities are a significant part of life in Bradford, adding to the richness of its heritage and the diversity of its landscape. Art can be an expression of faith, but also a means of engaging others in an exploration of faith, as it is viewed and as conversations take place around it.

More information, as well as some of the paintings, can be found at https://ywmethodist.org.uk/bradford2025/

Other events with involvement of the Methodist Church will be advertised in due course at https://bradfordnorth.org.uk/bradford-city-of-culture-2025/

March 2025

St David’s Day and the season of Lent

St David’s Day is celebrated on March 1st each year, a special day for all Welsh people! We are also nearing the start of the season of Lent, a time in the Christian calendar associated with self-denial. Some choose to challenge themselves by going without a luxury – chocolate or biscuits, for example, as part of their Lenten discipline. St. David led a very austere life along with his fellow monks in the monastery – his austere practices included immersing himself in a bath of cold water! Now that’s giving up life’s luxuries!

St David’s Day is commemorated on the first day of March because that was the day of his death. In his last words to his followers he said, 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.'

‘Doing the little things’ has become a common saying for Welsh people – it is about doing those little things that can make a difference.

As a challenge for the season of Lent, instead of giving something up, how about taking on a little bit extra: going out of your way to take on that extra task which may be a kindness to others, offering a helping hand to someone in need?

November 2023

Pray for peace in the Middle East - for people who are hurting on both sides of the conflict; for those trying to help others; for those waiting for news of loved ones; and for those in mourning.

Jesus taught that we are all one, and we need each other. The Apostle Paul gave us a picture of being a body, and when one part hurts, the others suffer with it.  So let's feel the pain of the situation, and allow that pain to take us into prayer for those who hurt, whether in the midst of things or from a distance.  

We do not know what the outcome will be, but we trust in God who holds us all in his hands.

September 2023

Happy New Year!  The new Methodist year begins on 1st September, and so we pray for ministers settling into new Circuits and for the congregations who welcome them.

We pray also for children starting school, and their teachers, especially where the school building has been affected by the presence of RAAC and has been deemed unsafe.  We pray for all those making arrangements for classes while this is remedied.

We pray for young people preparing to go to university, and for those beginning new jobs and apprenticeships.

And we pray for you reading this, whoever you are, that God might bless you and continue to reveal himself to you.