Sunday Worship – 28th June 2026

(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) numbers will be given where available)

We begin our worship in a contemplative manner with a collect for today:

Collect for today

Lord of all people, of sea and of sky, of farms and of mines, of those who exploit, and of those who protect, our world, its people and its wildlife;  we ask for understanding about people we meet, about places we go, and about our use of this earth;  so that we may become part of the solution to the problems that plague your creation.  Amen

Song – StF 20 – Be still for the presence of the Lord, the Holy one, is here. 

Read the book of Ruth, Chapter 1

The really important thing about this story, is that Naomi and Ruth, who were not born in the same family, or even in the same nation or culture, decided to stay together and to love each other.  When we consider how many people, born in other countries, who serve us in so many ways, driving our buses and trains, looking after our health, teaching in our schools, we must wonder what all the fuss is about immigration.  Like Naomi and Ruth, we can work together with people from different cultures to achieve great things.

Read from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians, 2:1-4:

Paul exhorts us to work together in humility to create the kingdom of God on earth. 

Song – StF 727 –  God in his love for us lent us this planet.

Conversations in space

Did you listen to the conversations during the recent Artemis II flight round the moon?  Unlike many broadcast conversations, dismissive, mistrusting, disrespectful and competitive, these conversations at the cutting edge of living, where one mistake might mean death, they were thoughtful, humorous, intelligent, trusting and kind. 

The Artemis II mission didn’t just show us space, it showed us our better selves.
Our Earth is on the edge of life right now.  As astronaut Christina Koch said
What struck me wasn’t necessarily just tiny Earth, it was all the blacknessaround it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging in the universe.
We need more considerate conversations & relationships; like the ones that Jesus cultivated with his disciples.  We can influence those conversations in Baildon. As St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:10;

I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common. 

Or Luke writing in Acts 4:32; 

The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, “That’s mine; you can’t have it.” They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.

Photos from Space

There is a picture that is known as ‘Earthrise’, and you can see it on the Internet.  The photograph, taken from moon orbit, shows the Earth rising in the dark vastness of space over a sun-lit lunar landscape.  It became an iconic reminder of our lonely planet’s splendid isolation and delicate fragility.  The image was captured during Christmas Eve 1968.  We saw for the first time, how isolated our world was in the vastness of space.

Yuri Gagarin, first human in space in 1961, looked at the Earth and said:
Looking at the earth from afar you realize it is too small for conflict and just big enough for co-operation
Yuri was later banned from entering the USA for issuing such subversive comments.
Valentina Tereshkova, the only woman to complete a solo space mission, and the youngest woman to fly in space at age 26, said:
Once you’ve been in space, you appreciate how small and fragile the Earth is
When we live and breathe, when we pollute the earth, when we travel by land and air, we do so within the pale blue line that surrounds our earth.  It is barely 50 miles thick.  Compared with the 8000 miles of the Earth’s diameter.  If the Earth was a football, the atmosphere would be less than a tenth of an inch thick.  Yuri Gagarin was the first to leave our atmosphere in 1961 to get a better look.  Valentina was the second in 1963. 

Every cosmonaut has noted – without exception – they cannot see national boundaries; No religious boundaries;   No language boundaries;  No racial boundaries.

Astronauts do not see a single one of the boundaries that we humans so furiously defend. Or attack. In fact, the idea of warfare over boundary disputes of any sort seemed out of place, ridiculous, self-indulgent. 

There is however, one boundary you can see from space at Earth night.  Again, nearly all astronauts have commented on it.  They could all see one human division and that is the division between wealth and poverty. Rich people can afford electricity.  Even poor rich people illuminate their houses at night.  At night, the northern hemisphere’s industrial world looks like swarming fireflies. America, Europe, Russia, and parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China shine like thousands of stars. The poorer world – Africa, South America – is dark, with only occasional sparks showing.

What else can photos from space tell us?

There are two photos taken of the Earth 54 years apart; Apollo 17 1972 and Artemis II in 2026
Jennifer Levasseur, curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Says
In the 54 years between; Apollo 17 1972 and Artemis II in 2026 years one of the most striking differences is the visible reduction in the size of the Antarctic ice sheet.  The Sahara Desert has also grown The dominant thing that you can see on the [new] image is deforestation and the loss of vegetation as the Earth’s land cover switches from greenery to desert.

Climate change has no boundaries either. There is no part of this orb of life that will not be affected one way or another, by global warming. The survival of our species demands that we learn to work together, to make sure this small blue marble remains habitable. 

Steve Connor, writing in the Independent, said: 
Astronauts went to the Moon but ended up discovering the Earth. The crew of Apollo 8 were the first people to leave Earth’s orbit and pass behind the far side of the Moon.  This was 1968.  They had been drilled and trained for just about every eventuality, save one―the awe-inspiring sight of seeing our own planet hanging over an empty lunar horizon

We live on a fragile, isolated, planet, there is no Planet B.  This is God’s earth.  I hope that we all recently used our votes for politicians who appreciated this.

Song – StF 681 – Community of Christ, who make the cross your own.

Some Bradford Stories

Angelo’s parents came from Naples in 1962. For a year they lived in Moorside, now known as a lost hamlet. All the cottages were pulled down by Baildon Health Committee and the families rehoused. He was born in the council house in Collier Lane because his mum spoke no English and Maternity Hospital was too difficult for her to cope with. His dad was a skilled cobbler who made surgical appliances for people with disabilities. When Angelo started school at 4, he wouldn’t eat school dinner because it wasn’t pasta. In the 1970s, there were only two Italian families in Baildon, and the local kids would pick on him when he got off the school bus. He kicked out at whoever was in his way and then ran home. He opened an Italian take-away in Saltaire in 1990 called Pacino’s. In 1995 in 2011 he opened San Angelo’s in Baildon, where some of you have had wonderful meals. He was born in Baildon, lived here all his life, and built a happy business.

Ali Akbar’s story

AKi’s grandfather migrated to the UK in the late 1950s to find work, later joined by his father and elder brother leaving behind grandmother and younger siblings. Life in Bradford was challenging, AKi’s father, who arrived aged 12, adapted to British culture but upheld traditional values. He had an arranged marriage with AKi’s uneducated mother, a common practice in Pakistan. Balancing his Muslim faith and Western upbringing was difficult. When AKi’s father lost his mill job, he became very depressed, was sectioned, and struggled to regain his purpose. AKi, whom some of you know, stepped up, leaving education to support his large family. Under family pressure, at 17 years old he entered two successive arranged marriages, which both ended in divorce. He later married the woman he loved, causing family rifts that persist. He remains proud of his identity as a Yorkshire man and British Muslim. His faith keeps him grounded, and he has broken the tradition of arranged marriages for his children. He worked in customer relations with Cellnet (now O2) but faced discrimination: “Your face doesn’t fit.” He left and bought Baildon Communications 17 years ago. The first two years were tough, but he built a loyal customer base including many Methodists. He says that running a small business in a competitive industry remains challenging, but it’s my passion.  He says “I’m proud of my journey, and grateful to this community”

Anthony Kassappian’s Story

Artin Kassapian, came to Yorkshire in 1888 from Constantinople, he imported wool, mohair, wheat, barley and opium. Through trading in these commodities, he became a member of the Bradford Wool Exchange and the Leeds Corn Exchange. Opium was supplied to Rimmington’s Chemists to make laudanum to pacify babies and to treat headaches. At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Ottomans allied with Germany. As a result, Artin’s supplies were cut off, and the business foundered. He died in 1917.

At that period over a million Armenians were murdered in state-organised genocide. Following the war, Artin’s brother Gregoire (Anthony Kassapian’s grandfather) came in 1919 with his father George and restarted the business, which prospered for many years in Bradford at 34, Leeds Road.  In 1968, the firm came to Baildon to Spring Mill House in Baildon Road and continued trading in Wool and Mohair until 2005. They were one of the last merchants to close their doors as the Yorkshire textile trade declined. The building was replaced by the present residential development. 

In October 1914, 220 Belgian refugees, including men, women and children, arrived in Bradford. Among them was a family with a six-week-old baby who found shelter at Bracken Hall on Shipley Glen A relief committee quickly formed for the welfare of these displaced families.  By January 1915, Belgian families had settled into private homes. A larger group was housed at Laurel Mount, a now-demolished property. To furnish the empty house, a group from Woodbottom organised an open day, inviting locals to donate furniture, pictures, and household essentials. The Bradford Committee provided five shillings per adult and two shillings per child towards upkeep, while coal was supplied free of charge. However, all other costs fell to the Baildon committee. In March, a cottage in Straits was prepared for additional refugees, and another forty were accommodated at Esholt Hall. They were given six to seven acres of land to cultivate vegetables. A “Pound Day,” was organised allowing townspeople to visit the Belgian families – provided they brought a pound of any household commodity. The response was overwhelming, with sixty locals contributing to the effort

At a time when Baildon itself faced hardship and poverty, its residents opened their hearts and homes to those in need. Many Belgian refugees found not just shelter, but a warm welcome – and some may have remained in Baildon long after the war.

John 13:35; 

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

Song – StF 499 – Great God, your love has called us here

Lord of our Universe, do you weep when you see how we use your precious Earth?

Let us Pray

Lord of our Universe
We repent for acting as though the wealth we enjoy is ours by right
We repent every unkind comment we have made about groups of people whom we do not understand. 
We repent that our love for our own comfort often exceeds our love for each other. 
We repent for believing that people like us are more important than people like them. 
We ask for your Holy Spirit to infect us with love for your Earth, for your People, and for the Beings with whom we share your creation
We thank you for the love that surrounds us here and for love that we give and receive in the rest of our lives.  We thank you for all the wonderful benefits of this life, often won for us by ancestors whom we never knew.  We thank you for the sacrifices made for our benefit and for all the contributions to our community here in Baildon; 
Contributions of money for the work of the church;  Contributions of time to support our people and activities; 
Contributions of social and political service. 
We pledge ourselves to become better Children of God and to leave a legacy of cooperation, and hospitality to strangers, for those who come after us.
Amen

The Lord’s prayer

Song – StF 690 – The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her lord.

Final Prayer

Come with us, Lord Jesus;
Fill us with your Spirit;
Shape us to your likeness;
Use us to enfold with love our needy world.