I’ve put a notice on the church wall explaining the current situation and stressing that it’s the building which is currently closed, not the church.
It’s true that now, more than ever, we need to understand that the ‘church’ is the ‘living stones’ (1 Pet 2:5), the people of God, and not the building which is very convenient to us under normal circumstances! We may not be able to gather together in the building right now, but many of us can still gather together from our homes thanks to the Internet and technology.
Tonight (Thursday 2nd April 2020) we will be meeting together at 7 p.m. via Zoom and Facebook Live for our Bible study, when we are looking at Acts 12 and how God works in mysterious and miraculous ways to help His people. The link for this service is:
Meeting ID: 436 833 313
We will also be hosting 15 minutes of prayer as part of the Dearne Churches Together Day of Prayer tomorrow (Friday 3rd April) at 10.45 a.m. on Facebook Live. To access that, go to the Dearne Churches Together Facebook Page and we should be able to connect at that time. We will be looking at 2 Chronicles 7:14 and praying for our nation at this time of pandemic.
This Sunday is Palm Sunday. We’ll be having meetings at 10.30 a.m. and at 6.00 p.m. and it would be great if many of us could make our own palm leaves (out of paper or card?) to wave during the services. I will be reading Dave’s sermon at the morning service (when we will again share Holy Communion, so make sure you’ve got your bread and wine ready!) and JP & Herlen will be doing ‘Little Big Church‘ in the evening, complete with a homemade birthday hat so we can still sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Herlen! (Some traditions are worth keeping!)
One of the things worth stressing is that we are coming soon into Holy Week when we will be remembering the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Good Friday is on 10th April and we are looking at having an online service that day as well as our usual services on Easter Sunday (12th April). Easter is the central focus of our faith and at these times of death and devastation, more than ever we need to rest our whole weight on the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and on the hope we have through His death and resurrection. We are not without hope!
