Sunday 12 February 2023 - This morning Toby and Josh led us in our worship and Pauline led us in reflecting on whether we should worry or not - does Jesus tell us not to worry and Paul tell us that we should?
Read MoreSunday Service 5 February 2023
This morning we had a visit from the Reverend Hannah Lievesley of St Chad’s Church in Headingley. She shared with us about being the salt of the Earth and being a light to the world.
Sunday Service 29 January 2023
Today Heston delivered a dramatic explanation of how we can understand the Atonement in the context of Old Testament Jewish tradition. This was his and Lydia’s last Sunday with us before they leave on Sabbatical for three months. Catch up on the service below:
Sunday Service 22 January 2023
This Sunday Richard spoke about the Church of England’s recent announcement of an £100M reparation fund designated for communities historically ravaged by the Atlantic Slave trade, from which the Church benefitted financially. How do we view atonement in this context? Then Adriaan, via Heston, led us in prayers for affirmation, justice and inclusion in the wake of the recent announcement about the Church’s decision to deny equal marriage, while accepting the blessing of same sex partnerships.
Here is the text of our prayers this morning:
Dear God,
Your blessing is wherever there is love.
Yet, this week the Church of England decided not to marry two people of the same-sex in love for one another.
We pray for your forgiveness for a church that fails to recognise your most important command.
We pray for your comfort for each and everyone who has been hurt by this decision, who feel to be rejected, again.
We thank you for the small step forward that the church is making, offering prayers to same-sex couples,
and we pray for those who feel that this step is already one too far – that they may find peace;
and we pray for those who keep campaigning for further progress to be made – that they may find strength and resilience.
Dear God,
Your blessing is wherever there is love.
And today, we thank you for the gift of love in all its diversity.
We thank you for the blessing that same-sex loving people have been, and continue to be, for the church and our society,
their many gifts and talents, their manyfold contributions.
We pray for your church to recognise and celebrate the diversity of your creation;
to recognise and celebrate the value and virtue present in every human being.
We pray for the mission of the church to make visible in the world your love and justice in all its fullness – let our actions reflect those words.
We thank you for this church of All Hallows, that is such a special place where love can dwell,
And we pray that everyone who is part of our community will continue to grow in faith, in hope, and in love.
Dear God,
We thank you for the gift of your dear Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He has lived your love among us, abundantly.
He has lived your forgiveness among us, generously.
He has brought reconciliation among us, radically.
Help us to shape our lives after his example,
and to grow our faith out of the new beginning that he has made possible.
Through him, each and every one of us is a child of you, dear God.
Help us to be one Family in your name,
transcending our differences, everything that divides us,
and transforming your world through your love.
Amen
Here is the text of our prayers this morning:
Dear God,
Your blessing is wherever there is love.
Yet, this week the Church of England decided not to marry two people of the same-sex in love for one another.
We pray for your forgiveness for a church that fails to recognise your most important command.
We pray for your comfort for each and everyone who has been hurt by this decision, who feel to be rejected, again.
We thank you for the small step forward that the church is making, offering prayers to same-sex couples,
and we pray for those who feel that this step is already one too far – that they may find peace;
and we pray for those who keep campaigning for further progress to be made – that they may find strength and resilience.
Dear God,
Your blessing is wherever there is love.
And today, we thank you for the gift of love in all its diversity.
We thank you for the blessing that same-sex loving people have been, and continue to be, for the church and our society,
their many gifts and talents, their manyfold contributions.
We pray for your church to recognise and celebrate the diversity of your creation;
to recognise and celebrate the value and virtue present in every human being.
We pray for the mission of the church to make visible in the world your love and justice in all its fullness – let our actions reflect those words.
We thank you for this church of All Hallows, that is such a special place where love can dwell,
And we pray that everyone who is part of our community will continue to grow in faith, in hope, and in love.
Dear God,
We thank you for the gift of your dear Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He has lived your love among us, abundantly.
He has lived your forgiveness among us, generously.
He has brought reconciliation among us, radically.
Help us to shape our lives after his example,
and to grow our faith out of the new beginning that he has made possible.
Through him, each and every one of us is a child of you, dear God.
Help us to be one Family in your name,
transcending our differences, everything that divides us,
and transforming your world through your love.
Amen
Read the Full Text of Emily's Powerful Message to a City Council Meeting
Yesterday our cafe/foodshare manager, Emily Carrigan, delivered a powerful message to a City Council meeting. She shared about Rainbow Junktion's work and our fears for the desperate plight of so many in our community during this cost of living crisis. Imam Qari Asim, Matthew Magnus Hall and our vicar, Heston Groenewald, joined her in representing the LS6 community. Heston extends our thanks to our ward councillors Jonathan David Pryor and Al Garthwaite for inviting them, and for keeping their eyes wide open to the pain and struggles in our city's life.
Here you can read the speech that Emily shared at the meeting:
Imam Qari, Rev Heston, Brother Magnus and I are a deputation from Rainbow Junktion, a community café and foodshare, based in LS6. Hyde Park is a dense, diverse mix of cultures, religions and socio-economic groups. We share food, company, advice services and a warm space with LS6 neighbours, and increasingly with people from across Leeds, as need grows for the food and support we offer.
Rainbow Junktion is a community café and foodshare, but food insecurity is just one of the many complex and connected struggles that our customers are facing on a daily basis. We are are on the frontline of poverty in the city and we are extremely worried for the year ahead.
The increased numbers of people needing food at the moment is scary, we have had record breaking attendance week after week at the foodshare and the desperation is palpable. We see all sorts of people at Rainbow Junktion, many of those using the foodshare are working and although they are doing everything they can to get themselves in a good financial position, rapidly rising costs mean their basic outgoings are now just more than what they have coming in. There is no way for them to budget themselves out of crisis. I have had multiple parents come to me saying they have nothing for their children and that they themselves haven’t eaten for several days. This is utterly unacceptable in 2023.
There is also a desperate need for more emergency housing in Leeds that is both available and suitable for vulnerable people, especially in the coldest weather. The waiting lists for council accommodation are unacceptably long and in an emergency there is very little on offer. We have paid for hotel accommodation for someone fleeing violence in the home, after they were told that they were ‘choosing to make themselves homeless and therefore could not be helped’.
We are also concerned about Adult Social Care services not being able to meet the demands of people in crisis. We are struggling to get referrals accepted for some of our most vulnerable customers. People who would be able to thrive with some support are languishing in crisis because they don’t meet the criteria or because the services are overwhelmed.
Fuel poverty is an immense issue, at the food bank we are more and more frequently asked about food that doesn't require cooking as so many people don't have fuel or are trying to use as little as possible. When delivering food parcels I have seen whole families living in one room to keep warm and know of many customers who have been without fuel for days/weeks at a time.
We are still worried about the gatekeeping and the way that people in crisis are sometimes spoken to on the lines they call for support such LWSS or emergency housing. We believe that the criteria for support needs to be reviewed and also that some training for those answering the phone around dealing with people in crisis would be beneficial.
We are incredibly worried about the lack of available mental health help; many people in immediate crisis have to wait several hours for a call back from the crisis team. And many customers complain of not being able to get any mental health support at all. We desperately need a variety of well resourced and free mental health services in Leeds.
The cumulative impact of 12 long years of austerity, covid, brexit and now the (so called) cost of living crisis means our community is suffering and we need your help. We understand that your resources are limited and that many of these are complicated problems which require systemic change. However we firmly believe in the power of working together to solve them. Our communities are also resilient, knowledgable and have creative solutions, the crisis we are facing requires us all to work together, from the grassroots to the very top. So thank you for the chance to share our perspective and worries with you today and we look forward to being part of the solution.
We find that generosity is the best weapon against austerity - and generosity takes a whole community. So we are also incredibly grateful to the people of Leeds who are sensationally generous, giving their time energy compassion love and money to help us continue and expand our work through these tough times. And we are grateful to our ward councillors in LS6 for their massive friendship and partnership and support. Thank you for listening.
Sunday 15 January 2023
This morning Tim led us in a game of consequences to highlight some of the things that are involved in our response to Jesus saying “Come, follow me”.
Sunday Service 8th January
On our second Sunday of 2023 Jonathan spoke to us about Matthew 3:13-17.
Sunday Service 1st January 2023
In our first morning worship of 2023 Toby shared his thoughts on the “massacre of the innocents” - a great topic for the new year!
Unfortunately we had an issue with the live stream so there is a short break in the video - our apologies.
Sunday Service 25 December 2022 - Christmas Day
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14a)
This Christmas morning our Bible reading was very short! Heston reflected on how Jesus came and walked in our shoes and what it might be like to walk in other people’s shoes.
Here are some questions he shared with us to reflect on:
What do you love about your life?
What do you most like about yourself
What would you do if you couldn’t fail?
When was the last time you felt truly inspired?
What brought you to life today or recently?
What is really working well in your life/career right now?
What are some of the big questions you're asking yourself?
What is one big change you've made in your life?
Who was the last person to make you smile?
When have you been most present to others?
What is the vision of the world you'd like to help create?
If things were working for you, what would be happening?
If you were working at your best, what would you be doing?
What legacy would you like to leave?
What kind of an ancestor would you like to be?
What is your version of a more liveable world?
What's the coolest thing you learned today or recently?
Who are you becoming?
Sunday Service 18 December 2022
Sunday Service 11 December 2022
Join us, through watching and worshipping, for our third Sunday of Advent in 2022.
Sunday Service 4 December 2022
This Sunday was World Aids Sunday and Adriaan shared his thoughts with us about how we respond to Aids and those suffering with it
Here are two poems and a picture that Adriaan shared with us:
Bearing the Stigmata
I sit in the dark pew
abandoned
they shrink from me
fearing the cup we will share
stained with my blood
my diseased black body
despised
quietly condemned
leper of this age
place of condemnation
my Holy Mother
denying me my
birthright
I am
stoned again
for adultery
stoned for my race
for the sins of my brothers and sisters
my cross of shame
uncleanness
You stand in the altar
bruised
head bent
light from the rose window
reflecting the anguish
in your eyes
taking the burden of the stigmata
stigmata in your palms
balm for my spirit
hurt
I hear your words resound through the nave
Those who are whole do not need the physician
You slowly alight
from the cross
and begin
writing with your finger
across the altar
chancel step
altar rails
and down
the
aisle
"Bearing the Stigmata", by Devarakshanam Betty Govinden
Published in Nobody Ever Said AIDS: Stories and Poems from Southern Africa, compiled and edited by Nobantu Rasebotsa, Meg Samuelson and Kylie Thomas (Cape Town: Kwela Books 2004), p. 142-143.
We turn to God
We turn to God when we are sorely pressed;
we pray for help, and ask for peace and bread;
we seek release from illness, guilt, and death:
all people do, in faith or unbelief.
We turn to God when he sorely pressed,
and find him poor, scorned, without roof and bread,
bowed under weight of weakness, sin, and death:
faith stands by God in his dark hour of grief.
God turns to us when we are sorely pressed,
and feeds our souls and bodies with his bread;
for one and all Christ gives himself in death:
through his forgiveness sin will find relief.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Man of Sorrows” by W. Maxwell Lawton
You can see this painting and the story that Adriaan referred to here
Advent and Christmas at All Hallows
Lots happening this month! We hope you can join us…
Sunday Service 27 November 2022
Sunday was an All-Ages service and we got creative! Catch up here if you missed it.
Roof news
Exciting news! The first area of zinc sheeting has been installed on our roof today! We are getting closer to having a more sustainable waterproof roof and a warmer, drier building!
National Tree Week
National Tree Week takes place from 26 November to 4 December. National Tree Week is the UK’s largest annual tree celebration. This time of year is a great time to plant trees and many people will be planting thousands of trees to mark the start of the tree planting season.
All Hallows is fortunate to have more green space around it than many other local buildings and we have been able to plant a number of trees. Most houses in our area do not have much garden space if they have a garden at all.
This National Tree Week, here are some things we can do:
celebrate trees! Trees are essential. They sustain wildlife, create oxygen using up carbon dioxide, purify our air, provide shade and regulate the temperature and they are beautiful. So why not find out more about trees, and perhaps even go and hug a few!
plant some trees. Join a local group to plant some trees or download the Tree Council tree planting guide and plant your own.
donate towards planting orchards in schools. We are fortunate to have a number of fruit trees at All Hallows and they are a fantastic resource. The Tree Council are fundraising to plant more orchards in schools so that children can experience the wonder of growing and eating their own fruit.
At All Hallows, once the roof is finished and the scaffolding is gone, we will be doing a survey of our grounds in order to identify all the trees that we are looking after and finding out more about them and the wildlife they support. If you would like to join in or find out more have a word with Paul Magnall, the Parish Environmental Officer.
Sunday Service 20 November 2022
Apologies again for the lack of a livestream last Sunday. If you were unable to be with us and want to know what we got up to, here’s a report from Magnus (thanks Magnus!):
Last Sunday, 20th of November, the congregation at All Hallows focussed on the feast of Christ the King, which is the ultimate week in the liturgical year. Some of the hymns and the collects were in a more gender-fixed language than we are used to, but Assistant Curate, the Revd Joshua Peckett explained why.
In an insightful sermon, Josh preached that this feast emphasised the true kingship of Christ and that it is a relatively recent addition to the liturgical calendar, starting in 1925 by Pope Pius XI - and with good reason. Josh highlighted this as an attempt to heal the mid-1920s polarisation of western society and to focus on the assurance that Christ the King shall reign forever while governments at the time crumbled.
Almost 100 years later, this is a perfect lesson for us all, hoping that we can focus less on our current political divisions and more on the hope of the coming Messiah as we enter Advent in 2022 and beyond.
Throughout the service, Alice was the lead cantor while her father played the clarinet, and both kept us beautifully in tune. Pippa led inclusive prayers with worshippers contributing their immediate intersessions from the congregation floor. At notable moments we were given times of silence to contemplate and pray in the presence of each other - something which resonates for me, especially as a Franciscan Friar, who is new to All Hallows life.
World Toilet Day
This Saturday 19th November is “World Toilet Day”. This is a day when we are encouraged to think about sanitation world wide. We are incredibly fortunate to have clean, functioning toilets. Many people around the world do not and this affects their health and pollutes the environment.
At All Hallows, our toilets are twinned with toilets belonging to families living in poverty around the world.
Here are some things we can do:
read about World Toilet Day on https://www.worldtoiletday.info/
read about Toilet Twinning on https://www.toilettwinning.org/
look at the Toilet Twinning certificates in the toilets in church and find out more about the countries where the toilets are twinned with.
talk to people who have lived or travelled in poorer countries about the state of the toilets in those countries and their experiences.
Are there more things that we can do as a church and as a community to help tackle this issue?
Sunday Service 13 November 2022
Today Jonathan led our reflections for Remembrance Sunday. The readings were from Matthew 5: 43-48 and Micah 6: 6-8.
Read MoreSunday Service 6 November 2022
On Sunday we gathered to discuss how we worship; how it works for us as a community and how we can make sure Sunday mornings are as inclusive and diverse as possible.