This Sunday (27th November) is the first Sunday of Advent. Join us for services at 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. as we begin our preparations for Christmas.

We have a number of additional meetings in December. Please note that there will be no evening meeting on Christmas Day and no midweek meeting on Thursday 22nd December.

We have our ‘Take Back The Streets’ prayer walk (and will be distributing flyers for our carol service on that occasion) on Saturday 3rd December at 10 a.m. and will also have our coffee morning between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Saturday 3rd December.

On Sunday 11th December between 1 and 3 p.m. we will be joining with other churches and community groups to host ‘Christmas At The Embankment’, a time of carols, Christmas crafts and trails at Goldthorpe Railway Embankment. Hot drinks and mince pies will be served at this event.

We are very pleased to welcome 4FrontTheatre back in person on Monday 12th December. They will be performing their Christmas pantomime ‘Jilly Rogers’ Christmas Adventure’ at Lacewood Primary School and for pupils of Sacred Heart Primary School during the day and will be giving a performance for the community at GPCC at 6 p.m.

We’re also looking forward to Christmas parties with our Parent & Toddler groups on Wednesday 14th and Friday 16th December between 9 and 11 a.m.

Our carol service will be on Sunday 18th December at 6 p.m., featuring our Sunday school children performing songs from ‘Boogie Woogie Nativity’ by Niki Davies and traditional carols. Refreshments will be served after the service.

We have a service on Christmas Day at 10.30 a.m.

Don’t forget also our New Year’s Day service at 10.30 a.m. and our party at 4 p.m. There will be no evening service that Sunday.

I never knew the benefits (or disadvantages!) of growing up in a large family. Although my mother had three siblings, my father was (because of bereavement) an only child and I too had no siblings. I was still grateful for my family, but family gatherings at Christmas and other special occasions were never like those seen on TV ads, with people crammed around the table laden with food. My two aunts were unmarried when I was a child, and my uncle and his wife had no children. Life was singularly undramatic as far as I was concerned! There was little sense of belonging to a ‘clan’ (rather like the Shelby clan in the series ‘Peaky Blinders’); there was little sense of community in our small family, even though we were close-knit.

I don’t remember feeling particularly lonely as a child, but it was something of a shock to realise when I became a Christian in my late teens that now I was part of the biggest family in the world! Peter tells us that each of us is a ‘chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.’ (1 Pet 2:9) We are no longer merely individuals; those in Christ have a wider identity, being chosen by God. There is a specific purpose for each of us: ‘that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.’ (1 Pet 2:9) Our identity is firmly rooted in what God says about us; likewise, the purpose of our lives is defined by Him and what He has done for us.

‘Chosen’. ‘Holy’. ‘Royal’. ‘Special.’ These are all adjectives which apply to every single believer. None are adjectives I would ever have thought to apply to myself. Yet this is how God sees each of us, much to our astonishment. As a popular meme says, ‘straighten your crown and remember whose child you are.’ We who believe in Jesus have an identity and purpose far greater than we often recognise.

Garry spoke tonight from Hebrews 10:22-25 about the importance of Christian fellowship and the role of the church of God. It can be easy to be half-hearted in our approach to church (and indeed to God), but these verses urge us to draw near to God with a sincere heart, so that we are not just ‘going through the motions’ and attending services because it is routine or what is expected of us. The word ‘sincere’ is derived from a word meaning ‘not concealed‘; a sincere heart has nothing to hide and does not have mixed motives. Is 29:13 reminds us that we can come near to God with our mouths but our hearts can still be far frm Him; God wants us to be real and to come to Him, no matter what. We can’t afford to wait until everything is ‘sorted’; we need to come as we are, warts and all!

These verses also urge us to ‘spur one another on toward love and good deeds.’ We need to stir each other up, to egg each other on, to push people further rather like a sports coach does with an athlete. Great sports people often have great coaches who know how to motivate, criticise and encourage, and we have the Holy Spirit to urge us on, but we do also need other people. We need people to encourage us, get alongside us, motivate us and believe in us. All of us need this encouragement; all of us can give this encouragement.

These verses remind us not to give up meeting together. We need each other and must work together We are called to carry each other’s burdens, problems and difficulties, to open our lives and share with each other. As we do this. we reflect God’s caring nature and become empowered to do His will.

We said this morning that Nehemiah’s knowledge of God informed his prayer life and gave him hope, even when the news from Jerusalem was not good. (Neh 1:2-3) Throughout the book, we see that it was his knowledge of who God is which inspired his prayers:

• ‘Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments…’ (Neh 1:5)
• ‘You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.’ (Neh 9:6)
• ‘you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf.’ (Neh 9:17-18)

Prayer needs to start with who God is; as Jesus taught us to pray. (‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.’ Matt 6:9) Prayer is our response to God and not simply a list of our requests, though these are welcome. (Phil 4:6-7)

It is clear also that he knew God’s word and often used this as the springboard for prayer: ‘Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.”’ (Neh 1:8-9) Often, we feel helpless or that we do not know what to pray, but Nehemiah gives us a framework for prayer, starting with God’s character and using His word when we do not know what to say.

This morning we looked at the book of Nehemiah and saw how this man, an official to a foreign king in Susa, demonstrates what James calls ‘the seamless unity of believing and doing.’ (James 2:25, The Message) The book is written at the end of the Babylonian exile and shows us Nehemiah’s very practical role in rebuilding the walls in Jerusalem as the Jewish people return there after seventy years. Much of what he does seems very mundane: organising teams to build, persuading the king to give him safe passage and materials to use, ensuring the safety of people and the project when opposition occurs. But at the same time, we see how everything he does is soaked in prayer and based on a sure knowledge of God’s character. He is a great example of seeing how the miraculous and the mundane are woven together and how our lives should display faith and works going hand in hand.

Nehemiah was concerned about what was happening in Jerusalem, even though he had never lived there. (Neh 1) He brought his concerns and sorrow to God instead of simply being overwhelmed by them and he had hope because of who God was (Neh 9:6, 17-18). Despite natural fear, he prayed and had specific requests for the king (Neh 2:2-5); when opposition came, he combined practical action with prayer (Neh 4:9-18). Everything we do needs to be soaked in prayer, rather like when we marinate a meat to make it more tender. But the meat will still not be edible unless we then cook it! In the same way, Nehemiah shows us the value of hard work for God as well as the need to pray. He teaches us that there is no division between the sacred and the secular, that praying and working are both absolutely essential in the kingdom of God. He shows us that we need faith and prayer: ‘Our God will fight for us!’ he declared. (Neh 4:20) But we read also that they continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. (Neh 4:21) He was wholly committed to this work, saying that neither he nor his brothers nor his men nor the guards with him took off their clothes at night; each person had his weapon, even when he went for water. (Neh 4:23) Nehemiah’s commitment, faith and capacity for practical work can be inspirations to us as we serve God in our society.

We have just received a new photo of Bedline, the Compassion child we sponsor each month who lives in Haiti. Incredibly, Bedline is now 12 years old and looks very grown-up in this latest photo.

Thank you to all who support us; we have a jar at church to give loose change for the 3 children we sponsor. Apart from Bedline, we also support 15 year old Innocent in Uganda and Amshika in India.