News from Darlington District
On Friday 20th October 2023 , ( a very wet day) 63 women and a few men met for the Darlington District MWiB Autumn Day at Elm Ridge Church . The women of the Darlington and Teesdale Circuit were the hosts .
The day started with refreshments and an opportunity for making new friends and catching up with old ones .
Our morning worship was led by the Reverend Julia Reid of the North Yorkshire Dales Circuit . It was the first time Rev Julia had been to meeting of MWiB .
The service opened with hymn number 394 from Singing the Faith – Spirit of God unseen as the Wind .We then sang the Ukrainian setting of Kyrie Eleison to the tune of Singing the Faith 750 –
Rev Julia’s thought provoking reflection was on Luke chapter 7 verses 36 to 50 .
Our next hymn was Singing the Faith 728 O God you search me and know me .
After sharing communion we sang two more hymns Singing the Faith 681-Community of Christ and 548 – Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine . All of the hymns are written by female writers and have some appropriate words for the times we find ourselves in .
Each year the District fund raise for a charity , because of Covid 19 we have had DKMS as our charity for the last two years . ( DKMS is a charity fighting blood cancer who are endeavouring to to get as many people as possible to join the blood stem cell register ).In that time the District MWiB have raised just over £8,025 (£4,000 was given last year )and just before the end of the service we were delighted to present the cheque to Peter McCleave . Peter who has connections with Stokesley and Yarm Methodist Churches has blood cancer himself and works tirelessly to raise awareness and funds . He is still waiting for a successful match .
We also marked the “retirement “of three District Officers , Win Aston ,Lesley Morland and Christine Ridgeway . We had remembered in prayer the recent death of Helen Weighell and treasured her memory as a hard working member of the District Co-ordinating group and past District President of Network .
After lunch we heard from our President Mrs Pam Stenson that our new charity is Bake for Ukraine , this is a non profit organisation that shares traditional Ukrainian bread recipes and collects donations to help Ukrainian bakeries contribute to the security of the local food supply during the war .Ukraine is a bread country and “Bread “for Ukrainians is a national heritage . They call it “God’s Gift’’, “breadwinner and “holy”. Bread is more than an everyday product . It symbolises life . ( Information taken from their web pages bakeforukraine.org)
To complete a busy day we were led in a Godly Play session by Mrs Lyn Cookson .
Lyn who has trained in Godly Play and Open the Box told us a number of stories , with open questions and discussions and after each story there was a time to discern a personal response. then gave us an opportunity to tell a story . We learned how this type of story telling appeals to all ages , not just children . Many of the women felt transported by Lyn’s story telling and some were hoping to go away and learn more about how Godly Play and Out of the Box could be used in worship and fellowship settings .
If this article has sparked your interest please join us at our next meeting on 1st December 2023 , when we travel to Zetland Park Methodist Church The
Cresent Redcar TS10 3AU for our Advent Service and afternoon tea from 1pm.
