Although we have been back in the church for morning services for some time now, it wasn’t until the start of September the we have got back into a new routine for evenings. Every last Sunday in the month we are now holding a Taizé style service at 6.30pm. Wonderful to be singing and listening to the beautiful chants again and spending time in silence alongside prayers and readings and the chance to light a candle.

Delighted that we’ve just been award a Silver Eco Church Award, as we work to be a more sustainable community. Timely too, as our Eco Fair is on Saturday, where there will be opportunities to learn and share more about living sustainably and activism in our afternoon of talks featuring Tree Aid , WEAll – Wellbeing Economy Alliance , Cllr Carla Denyer, Christian Climate Action Bristol and Glasgow Blue Rebels. Free tickets via Eventbrite.

Suddenly the Church is full of artwork! We are giving a safe home to two large paintings from our neighbours, the RWA, whilst they refurbish the building, and until 29 May 2021 the Clifton Art Club are exhibiting work by members produced during the Pandemic.

Lovely to meet up with other Junior Church members today during the holidays to make some bug hotels as part of our Eco Church projects. The children had a lot of fun and the first residents have moved in! Now the grass is being mowed in preparation for sowing some wildflowers to attract lots of insects and pollinators.

Over the past year Junior Church has continued to meet each week over Zoom, and very occasionally, when it was allowed over the summer, even in person in a garden. Alongside our stories from the Bible we have done lots of fun actives including, craft activities, scavenger hunts, pictionary and even making our own play dough. Today, for Palm Sunday, we made Rice Crispy Cakes. Had we been at church we would have handed them out to members of the congregation to remember how people freely laid their valuable clothes on the ground before Jesus and even lent the colt for him to ride into Jerusalem on. Thank you, Helen, for your continued energy and creativity in leading Junior Church during this difficult time!

An exhibition of Gloucestershire’s Inside Out artists in the sanctuary opened back in March for Lent. The exhibition was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the art has remained in the church all this time. We are delighted that we are now able to open up the church for people to view these amazing works of art once more from 7-19 September Mon-Sat, 12.30-2.30pm. Admission Free.

The Bristol Methodist Centre is aware that many churches choose to celebrate God’s goodness at Harvest-time with a display of donations of food. These are often collected for local charities, including The Bristol Methodist Centre – which relies on such donations to feed those who are homeless throughout the year. This year is different. Due to the current Coronavirus Pandemic many churches continue to worship on-line or at home. Food collection for Harvest will be more difficult and risks exposing shoppers, volunteers and cooks to Coronavirus.

Therefore, we would like to ask our churches to donate to The Bristol Methodist Centre on-line. This will help us buy food we need and continue to share God’s blessing with those who are vulnerable in our city as we provide them with hot nutritious meals. Individuals can give through our Just Giving Campaign, follow the link below to donate

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/harvestfestival2020

Our repository of online hymns and chants on our Multimedia Victoria Methodist Bristol YouTube Channel continues to grow. These have all been recorded and produced by members (and a few friends) of our congregation. Mainly the musicians do the recordings in their own homes – with the occasional trip to church by our pianist for an organ recording. The music includes old and new hymns, as well as chants and even some new compositions.
Other churches are welcome to use these videos for their own worship, provided they have the relevant copyright permissions for the hymns in place.