I am in the middle of house renovations, a process that is deeply disrupting, and I am discovering the importance of preparation to any job. Before the builders came in, we had to clear the house of many of its possessions (stored kindly for us by family and friends) and prepare surfaces, covering all our remaining belongings with tarpaulins, curtains and sheets to protect them from dust and plaster. Builders arrived and had to prepare before they could progress – this process seemed essentially destructive, tearing out old kitchen cupboards, ripping off plaster, getting back to the brickwork and so on. A painter has just decorated a bedroom, and we had to strip wallpaper off the walls and paint over new plaster with PVA glue before she could start work. All these preparations take time and, of course, are then unseen once the work is finished!
In the same way, as the church prepares to be involved in outreach to our community, we have to be involved with preparations. The Good Friday Church Crawl (Friday 30th March, 10.30 a.m. until 5 p.m.) is an event unlike any I’ve ever participated in as all the local churches join together to explore our Christian traditions about Good Friday and try to explain to others why this day is so crucially important to Christians. In preparation for this event, we have arranged two sessions to make the yellow sashes we will all wear on the March of Hope from church to church:
- Thursday 8th February, 5-7 p.m. at the Renaissance Centre on Priory Road in Bolton-on-Dearne where we will be cutting the material into strips and ironing the hems in readiness for sewing (no sewing experience required for this session)
- Saturday 10th February, 10 a.m. until 12 noon at the Renaissance Centre on Priory Road in Bolton-on-Dearne, where experienced sewers are required to hem the sashes and prepare them
If you can help with either (or both!) of these things, please let us know as soon as possible. Our thanks go to Janet and Marria from Our Shed Dearne and the Pins & Needles Sewing Class who are facilitating this preparation.
The second area of preparation is providing us with small wrapped Easter eggs to give out during the March of Hope. Please bring these in to church over the coming weeks so that we can give these out, along with daffodils and Christian literature, as we proclaim the truth that Jesus died for our sins and is now alive forevermore! We believe we have great opportunities to share our faith in the days to come, but as Zig Ziglar remarks, ‘success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.’ Let’s be prepared!
