Street Art

It simply isn’t possible to walk around Leeds without coming across Art. Comms boxes covered in Leeds United chants, player names or Bielsa on his bucket; grafitti on partitions, walls or abandoned buildings; the mosaic at the bottom of Kirkgate Market; the heron at the canal by the Dock; our list could go on and …

Prayer

Prayer is perhaps the most accessible element of life as a Christian, as it can be done any time, any where, without any thing! In the Methodist Church, Prayer forms an important part of the Methodist Way of Life, and is about making space in the day to remember that we are always in God’s …

Flourishing

This week, Anna discusses Flourishing – a holistic, God-centred understanding of wellbeing… Flourishing is the final value of Leeds Sanctuary. This value was developed during Lockdown. We were seeing so many people struggling with their wellbeing that I started to explore wellbeing resources that might help people see themselves as a full, whole, complicated human …

Sanctuary

This week, David discusses “Sanctuary”… Sanctuary offers us both our name and one of our values at Leeds Sanctuary. Like so many words it can mean different things to different people. What then does Sanctuary mean to us as the Methodist Church in Leeds City Centre? The Rock Chapel at St Bueno’s Church, North Wales …

Always Angry?

This meditation was written and recorded for us by our friend Tim from The Blackbird Project, who runs our Monday Mindfulness sessions. The meditation is an opportunity for you to examine emotions that may feel like they are always with you, with a short focus at the start on anger as an example. It is …

In Conclusion

“Remember that all things which happenTo you are raw materialsEndlessly fertileEndlessly yielding of thought that could changeYour life and go on doing so forever.” – Ben Okri The Anastasis Icon Is-o- lat-ed by Andreas Anastasis Take a look at the first image: it may be familiar to you as I have used it twice already. …

Stillness

This meditation was kindly provided for us by Tim at Blackbird Mindfulness, who runs our weekly Monday Mindfulness sessions. This meditation was written and recorded to give you the opportunity to discover Stillness. Stillness can be found all the time, and this practice encourages you to still your mind and your heart, finding a comfortable …

Labelling

This meditation was kindly provided for us by Tim at Blackbird Mindfulness, who runs our Monday Mindfulness sessions. Sometimes our minds can be very busy; our thoughts darting and pulling our attention in different directions. This recording is an introduction to the practice of labelling your thoughts, empowering you to defuse them and take control. …

Home

This month we have been thinking a lot about “home”… What is your relationship with home? Many of us find ourselves starting to spend more time at home and indoors at this time of year; there’s less daylight, and the weather is becoming increasingly cold and more unpredictable. This can present genuine challenges to our …

Make Do and Mend

“Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.” Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Both pictures this month show patchworks. The first was made by Mary Lee Bendolph and the second is anonymous, made by Amish women. Patchwork of its nature is a make do and mend, originating …