We enjoyed another family fun day working with other local churches for the half-term holiday, with 89 people coming to join us to look at two miracles of healing which Jesus did. We used stories by Andrew McDonagh and learned about four friends who brought a crippled man to Jesus to be healed… only to find they had to climb to the roof and lower him down that way because of the crowds! Needless to say, Jesus not only healed the man but forgave his sins too! Our second story was about a man with leprosy whom Jesus healed.

We did lots of building based on the first story, with children enjoying building out of cardboard boxes, Lego, Duplo and Megabloks. We also celebrated friendship by making friendship bracelets and decorated biscuits to look like wounds that were bandaged (strawberry jam and icing to the rescue!) Our final craft celebrated doctors and nurses whom God also uses to heal us.

As always, there was lots of delicious food and we are grateful to Gregg’s for supplying sandwiches, pasties, pizza slices, sausage rolls and desserts and to others who provided sandwiches, cupcakes and hot dogs!

This morning we learned about our identity as people invited to share in God’s nature (see 2 Pet 1:1-9). To partake in the divine nature seems fanciful and impossible, but Peter is adamant that God’s divine power enables us to do this. Human nature outside of Christ is doomed to sin and failure (see Eph 2:1-3). We are cut off from God (Eph 2:12) and we are slaves to sin (Rom 7:14), but Christ is the second Adam, the one who brings righteousness to us (see Rom 5:15-17). God has done all that is necessary for us to be reconciled to Him and our part is to receive the free gifts He offers us.

To receive God’s promises, we must believe in the One He sent and accept all He offers us, just as Mephibosheth (Saul’s son) was welcomed into the king’s palace to share in David’s wealth (see 2 Samuel 9.) Our new identity means we are being shaped to be like God (which Peter expands on in 2 Pet 1:5-8). God’s Spirit, living in us, produces the fruit of the Spirit, characteristics which reflect God’s own nature. (Gal 5:22-23)

Peter’s challenge for us all is to live with a true appreciation of all God has done for us and a forward-looking attitude which does not forget what we used to be but also understands who we are now by God’s grace. We have full access to God’s promises, power and potential; we do not have to remain nearsighted and blind, forgetting that we have been cleansed from our past sins. God has given us everything we need to live a godly life as we dwell in Him.

Our Parent & Toddler group meets twice a week in term-time on Wednesday and Friday mornings between 9 and 11 a.m. We are very grateful to Coalfields Regeneration Trust for their ongoing financial support of the group, giving us £2000 this year towards the running costs of the group (energy bills, refreshments etc.)

It’s an opportunity for children to learn through play, with role play equipment, dressing up costumes, ride-on vehicles and much more available. We have a craft activity every week for the older toddlers which helps them to learn the basics of making marks on paper, using stickers and glue and so on. There is a special area for babies to learn to explore their environment and we provide drinks and toast for all. For parents and carers, the group provides a safe place and the chance to chat with others who are also in the same position of caregivers, one of the loneliest jobs in the world. Eachj session ends with percussion instruments and singing nursery rhymes, thus developing children’s understanding and language skills.

Thanks to funding from the Snap Tin Community Hub, we have some planters outside and have been planting seeds to grow carrots, tomatoes, basil, cress, strawberries and sunflowers, teaching children about the provenance of food and the importance of caring for what we grow. When the weather’s sunny, we love to play outside.

It’s just £1 per family (no matter how many children!) per session, with drinks and toast included, so do pop in today!

David, restored as king of Israel, is growing older, and whilst the battles against the Philistines continue, his strength is not what it used to be. In 2 Sam 21:15 we read that he became ‘exhausted’, and as a result, his men begged him not to be actively involved in battle anymore, for fear that he might be killed.

This must have been a difficult decision, but Israel’s victories were not dependent on David, as the rest of the chapter makes clear. Other men (Sibbekai the Hushathite, Elhanan son of Jair and Jonathan, David’s brother) are named as killing Philistine opponents. The chapter reminds us not only of our human frailty but of the fact that victory is dependent on God. He will raise up leaders and ensure His work continues.

Some themes which are found in this chapter include:

• the absolute importance of covenant in God’s eyes (regardless of time spans)
• the necessity of atonement through sacrifice (foreshadowing Jesus’s sacrifice for us on the cross)
• the ongoing nature of battles in life (the Philistines are still there, causing trouble!)
• how to deal with exhaustion
• how victory comes through God and not through any one individual
• how God raises up people to bring about the victory He has planned
• how the ‘next generation’ has a part to play in the work of God.

In 2 Samuel 21 we see the importance of covenants to God. Famine comes upon the land of Israel because of Saul’s decision to annihilate the Gibeonites, and atonement for this sin is required. The back story to this is found in Joshua 9 and 10 when Israel first entered the promised land. The people of Gibeon saw Israel’s success in defeating Jericho and Ai, and decided to make peace through deception, pretending they had come from far away. God’s people did not inquire of the Lord and made a covenant not to harm them; centuries later, this covenant still applied.

Saul, presumably, did not feel that a covenant made hundreds of years before had any relevance to him, but God does not forget promises made, and blessings and curses are the result of how we respond to these. He is a covenant-keeping God and expects the same of His people. David, seeking God as to the reason for the famine on the land, is told that this is because of Saul’s actions against the Gibeonites and he asks them what they want. He hands over seven of Saul’s descendants to be killed as atonement, sparing Mephibosheth because of his own covenant to Jonathan.

The story may seem harsh to us, but it reminds us very clearly of the importance of making promises and keeping them, and the binding nature of covenant. We do well to understand this before making vows (see Eccl 5:4, Matt 5:37, Mal 2:13-16). We cannot live as though the past has no impact on the present. ‘Old sins have long shadows’, as the proverb goes, and we do well to seek God for guidance in these matters.