In today’s worship, Ulrike focuses on the role of the cross in the life of the church, and why it’s so important even though uncomfortable to consider. How can the bottom of the cross ever be a place of hope?
Today Ulrike reflects on how the season of Lent can be helpful to us spiritually, by contemplating the part we play in the sin of humans on this planet (climate change and what we can do about it) and by thinking of the damaging 'devil's' voice in our own heads which wants to tempt us into unhelpful thinking. With meditations and songs.
This year, Valentine’s Day coincides with Racial Justice Sunday - so the focus today is on God’s love to each human being, no matter what ethnicity or gender, skin colour or sexuality, social class or educational background.
The murder of George Floyd on 20 May last year showed that also in British society and in our churches there is still a mountain to climb, and we are called to do so today, intentionally, living out a quest for justice and love. In today’s worship, Ulrike explores how we need to live out the special gifts and talents God gave to each one of us, and how in the church we need to encourage each other to do so as well. With breaking of bread and lovely hymn meditations.
This service, marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, celebrates the diversity within the unity of Christ. Ulrike takes the image of the vine, which Jesus used to explain how his church was never meant to be one monolithic bloc, but diverse. We may be gay or straight or other, black, white or mixed, children, women, men, Protestants or Catholics, Anglicans or Methodists or Pentecostals – all fruits on the vine which is Jesus Christ. With lovely hymns from around the globe and prayers written by the sisters of the ecumenical community in Grandchamps, Switzerland. Today’s worship explores our own prejudices, even about religion, and how thinking that you know everything and having your mind made up actually prevents us from discovering a whole world. With reflective meditation. We are delighted to be running a free online Lent course. This will run for five weeks from Thursday 25 February 2021, with sessions starting at 4pm and ending at 5:30pm. The Mystery of Everything is a new and original Lent course by Hilary Brand, which takes the multi-awarding winning film about Stephen Hawking, The Theory of Everything, as its starting point. The course explores ways in which the mysteries of the universe and of everyday life - and the acceptance that we have more questions than answers - can reinvigorate our faith and spiritual journey. The course is based around five weekly group sessions entitled:
Each session includes an extract from the film, group discussion questions and a meditation. There are also short introductory and follow up chapters for individual reading each week, and a chapter of Bible passages for further daily reading. Rev Ulrike Bell will be running this course via Zoom. There will also be an advanced screening of the whole movie via Zoom on Saturday 20 February at 7pm. The sessions will not be recorded or streamed live, and you can switch off your camera if that makes you feel more comfortable. These sessions are free. Advance purchase of the course book by Hilary Brand is recommended but not necessary. For more information and to obtain the Zoom link, please contact ulrike.bell@btinternet.com. We are thrilled to have Solomon Aryee-Brown, a placement student for Ministry of Word and Sacrament, in our midst. Please come and meet him at our services or study courses - everything is on Zoom at the moment! Solomon, a Christian with a Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist background, is a fifth year student training for the URC ministry at the Northern College in Manchester as a stipendiary minister. He and his wife Paulina have four children: Michelle, Bridget, Rachel and Nathanael. Solomon was commissioned as an assembly accredited lay preacher of the URC in 2007/8, became a local church leader at Ray Lodge URC and was thereafter with the East London Group of churches in 2012. He is very passionate about pastoral care and evangelism. He considers himself to be an enabler who strives to encourage God’s people to put their faith into action. He is open to exploring God’s love with people of different faith backgrounds and talking to people about spiritual sustenance and wellbeing. He looks for ways of opening platforms where experiences, knowledge and skills are shared to improve and build relationships. We are delighted to be running a free online Prayer Course
This will run for eight weeks from Monday 19th April, with sessions starting at 8pm and ending at 9pm. This course is open to everyone and may be of particular interest if:
Rev Ulrike Bell will be running this course via Zoom. There will be video clips, group chat and personal reflection. The sessions will not be recorded or streamed live, and you can switch off your camera if that makes you feel more comfortable. These sessions are free. For more information and to obtain the Zoom link, please contact ulrike.bell@btinternet.com. In today’s worship, Ulrike uses pictures of her recent interfaith pilgrimage to the Holy Land to tell the story of Jesus’ baptism in the river Jordan, and to think about the meaning of baptism in Christian tradition, compared to ritual washings in Judaism and Islam. She explains why some Christians sign themselves with the sign of the cross (using water) and encourages you to try it out as well! |
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