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Hi I'm Jude.
If you're here tonight, you'll probably know that I've been licensed as the Pioneer Team
Vicar - but we didn't want to do a conventional licensing service, so in what follows you're
gonna see some highlights from a day where we have licensed me across the team in all
kinds of different places.
So, we're two hours. There have been actions; we've just done an assembly at St. Stephen's
in Kirkstall. We're now gonna head back onto the Hawksworthwood Estate to meet some folks
in the community where they are, so I'll join you I think at the community centre.
So in a slight change of plan, we find ourselves at St. Andrew's where we're gonna just walk
through and meet some of the guys from Steps, before heading down to the community centre
in Hawksworthwood.
Right.
You alright?
So we've been to St. Andrew's, we're now down on the Hawksworthwood Estate where we're about
to go over to the community association to be welcomed officially there.
Join with us as we seek to serve our community.
Peace be to the whole community and love with faith from God the father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Hold us to the vision of a church, which exists not to serve its own interests but to seek
the welfare of the community in which it is placed.
The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve - to give up his life as a ransom
for many.
So having been welcomed at the community association, having done a little bit of local shopping,
we're gonna make our way down to the Gatehouse tea rooms at Kirkstall where there's an opportunity
for me to meet some other members of the community.
Join with us as we seek to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
These things are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the
Son of God and that through believing, you may have life in his name.
We invite you to help us enter more fully into the mission of God. Encourage us to show
and tell the Good News of Jesus to those around us.
Jesus said you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses
until the end of the Earth.
So refreshed by our own lunch, we're gonna make our way up to Cragside Close, where there
are a group from HOPS, who are meeting for their own lunch club.
My support network. I shall be there tonight.
We're hoping that you're gonna bring a new lease of life and a bit of va-va voom to our
church 'cause it needs a little bit of loving, and I'm happy to help in any way 'cause it
needs a bit of a lift, bit of community in there, bit of spirit revivalling, bit of new
blood...
Regenerate, regenerate, regenerate.
Brilliant! Right, we need to crack on. Really good to meet you. I wanna stay for lunch.
Now the angel of the lord rise and go towards the south
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
Now man angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road
that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And
there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning,
seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to
Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah
the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can
I, unless someone sguides me?" And the invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the
passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the
slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his
humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken
away from the earth." And the eunuch said to Philip, "About whom, I ask you, does the
prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning
with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along
the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents
me from being baptised?" And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down
into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him. And when they came up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more,
and went on his way rejoicing.
This is the word of the Lord.
Members of the congregation, join with us as we seek to offer worship worthy of God.
Be still and know that I am God and I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be
exalted in the Earth. Through your ministry of word and sacrament help us to offer praise
acceptable to God, to grow in faith and to deepen the fellowship of our church.
Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples.
We're here in the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey, from which the Abbeylands team takes their
name. Kirkstall Abbey, which has been at the heart of the Christian presence in Leeds since
the Cistercian monks first came here in 1152.
The monks who came here in order to be a part of this community and to serve this community.
They came in order to develop the industrial life of Leeds, partly that was with the sheep
that they brought with them and there aren't many sheep left now in Kirkstall Abbey park.
But they also came with their developing skills in ironwork, and this was part of the origin
of the industrial life of the city of Leeds.
And so the church today serves the whole city. Serves each one of us in our own jobs, in
our own lives, as we continue to seek to carry out God's will for us here in this part of
Leeds.
The monks came to Kirkstall in order to work, and to encourage others in their work. They
came too to provide hospitality and we stand here in the guest house of the Abbey, where
they received visitors and strangers, just as the church today is committed to receiving
visitors, strangers- all those who seek the love of God.
One thing that the monks came to do was to pray for the city, and the church now continues
to pray for the city. Jude comes from the other side of the city, from Cottingley, in
order to join with Nigel and Stephen and with the people of this part of the city in praying
for these communities here. One of the things that always intrigues children when they go
round Kirkstall Abbey is that the monks got up at 02:00 in the morning in order to pray.
Got up at 02:00 in order to demonstrate that God's love is there for 24 hours a day- is
there all for all time - is there in order to embrace and envelop us in his love.
Jude comes from Cottingley in order to join in the care and the worship and the witness
of the church in this place. She comes with her own skills and with her own gifts as she
joins with the church here.
In the Bible reading which we've just heard, Philip comes and meets with the Ethiopian
official there in his chariot. And he comes to share with this stranger; it's the first
time that they've met, comes to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. And as he shares
that Good News, the official responds to Jesus and Philip baptises him. And so the church
here, comes with the Good News of Jesus, to share that with all the people of these communities
here in Horsforth, Kirkstall, Hawksworth Wood, Moor Grange. Grange; itself a Grange of Kirkstall
Abbey in origin.
The church is here with its life of prayer, with its work, and its support of people in
their work, with its hospitality, here to share the love of God, which he has shown
to us with all of those here in these communities.