December is always a busy month in church life. Here’s a rundown on what is happening here.

Saturday 2 December

Our monthly coffee morning and prayer walk will be on Saturday 2 December between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Sunday services

We will have morning services each Sunday in December, starting at 10.30 a.m. Evening services at 6 p.m. will be on 3, 10 and 17 December, but there will be no evening services on Sunday 24 or 31 December.

Midweek meetings

We will have midweek meetings on Thursday 7, 14 and 21 December at 7.30 p.m. with a fellowship evening on 28 December. See Julie for more details.

Churches Together Prayer Meeting – 6 December

This is on Wednesday 6 December at 1.45 p.m. at Furlong Road Methodist Church in Bolton-on-Dearne.

Christmas At The Embankment – 10 December

We will be joining the Dearne Area Team and other churches at Goldthorpe Railway Embankment on Sunday 10 December between 1 and 3 p.m. for carol singing and Christmas crafts. Wrap up warmly and come and join us! 

Parent & Toddler Parties – 15 & 20 December

Members of our Parent & Toddler group are invited to our annual Christmas parties on Friday 15 and Wednesday 20 December between 9 and 11 a.m. Join us for food, festive fun and great raffle prizes to be won!

Carol Service – 17 December

Our carol service featuring children from our Sunday school will be on Sunday 17 December at 6 p.m. Refreshments will be served after the meeting.

Christmas Afternoon Tea – 20 December

Join us for a festive afternoon tea on Wednesday 20 December between 1.00 and 2.30 p.m. to raise funds for GPCC. Adult price is £5, child price is £1.50. Contact Julie to book in.

Christmas Day Service – 25 December

‘Christmas Unwrapped’ will be on Christmas Day at 10.30 a.m. Join us to celebrate the reason for the season!

Fairy tales have their share of peril (big bad wolves, wicked stepmothers, plotting witches, perilous spinning wheels and so on), but they tend to end with the words ‘and they all lived happily ever after.’ As Aaron Shust reminds us, though,

‘There’s no such thing as Peter Pan,
No such place as Never Never Land,
I wish we all could have
Those tiny magic wings.

But we live in a world with wars;
It’s not like it was before.
We won’t find our happy ever after here:
There’s no such thing.’ (‘Ever After’, Aaron Shust)

Our ‘happily ever after’ does not come in this world or in this lifetime, and David is proof that living under God’s anointing and calling is no guarantee of a stress-free, problem-free life. In actual fact, trials and testings are part and parcel of life on earth because of sin, and 1 Samuel 19 reminds us that the myth of a perfect life without trouble is as much a fairy tale as those we read to our children – and about as real.

The Biblical story is rooted in reality, not myth. Troubles are real, and the Bible stories we read in the historical books are not fiction. They don’t gloss over sin or trouble or injustice or any of the things that make our world difficult to endure. But they also remind us that there is more going on in these stories than can be seen at first glance. When we take the long view of Scripture, we see God working for good in all things. (Rom 8:28) David faced murderous opposition from King Saul, even though he had done nothing to provoke this (see also Ps 59, written at this time.) David fleeing from Saul and hiding in Ramah cannot have seemed like a promising fulfilment of God’s plans for David’s life, but he learned through this difficult period to trust God as his fortress, refuge and deliverer. When we face opposition and difficult times in life, we must learn to do the same.

Having looked at Peter’s miraculous deliverance from prison last week (Acts 12:1-19), this morning we looked at how Paul and Silas were delivered from prison in Philipp in Acts 16:16-40 by means of an earthquake which caused the prison foundations to tremble and the chains on all prisoners to fall off.

Their imprisonment in the first place came about because of a miracle: Paul’s words to the slave woman whose fortune-telling abilities caused her to make much money for her owners but which left her under demonic oppression. Paul recognised the source of her apparently praising words (through the gift of discernment of spirits) and commanded the evil spirit to leave. Her owners were not impressed at the loss of revenue which happened as a result of this miracle and they incited the crowd and authorities to flog and imprison Paul for preaching the gospel. Some miracles might be unwelcome to us personally, but Paul and Silas, like all in the early church, were not put off by opposition and persecution. They remembered Jesus’s words (Matt 5:10-11) and understood that God’s purposes are worked out even in challenging situations. (Rom 8:28)

In actual fact, the miracle of their deliverance from prison was more for the benefit of the salvation of the Philippian jailer and his family than it was for Paul and Silas. Paul would later spend much time in prison, writing his letter to the Philippians from there. He knew that whatever circumstances he faced, God was with him for good (see Phil 1:12-18). Whether we see the miraculous deliverance of God as Paul did on this occasion or have to learn to find God in our suffering and pain, as was the case for Paul subsequently, God is able to bless us and help us. Every circumstance we face in life is meant to refine us and sharpen us so that we are more equipped to preach the gospel to others. God’s extravagant love meant He was prepared to go to miraculous lengths to save one man and his family. One man was worth a miracle – one man matters. We need to be bold and giving in our outreach, because we cannot outgive God (see 2 Cor 9:6-8). God is able to move in miraculous ways to bring people to a knowledge of HImself; we can, like Paul and SIlas, be privileged to answer the question ‘What must I do to be saved’ as they were: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31)

We live in a country where anxiety is one of the chief problems facing many people, causing real misery to families and spiralling costs in terms of days off work, medical costs and social disruption. Anxiety is that gnawing worry, not necessarily linked to specific issues or causes. It is like living in permanent fog, living without peace, being unable to relax even for a moment. Nervous energy keeps many people going, but it’s a fuel which comes at the price of mental health and inner peace.

What is the Christian to do about anxiety? How can we follow Paul’s instruction to not be anxious about anything (Phil 4:6) when the slightest decision can bring us out in a cold sweat?

The Bible has a lot to say about anxiety. One of the issues associated with anxiety is helplessness, which leads to lethargy and inertia. People feel helpless about their lives. The Bible reminds us that when we are helpless (which is frequently, if we are honest), God is not. In other words, a trust in God becomes the antidote to the helplessness of anxiety. It doesn’t matter if we can’t solve the problems. God can, and even if He doesn’t, He is there with us to help us through. We don’t have to run the universe (or even our own households) on our own. God is there to help. It’s His job.

Paul’s antidote to anxiety, the reason he can be so cheerfully confident even when in prison, is to bring all our requests to God in prayer. (Phil 4:6-7) Peter tells us to cast our anxiety on God because He cares for us. (1 Pet 5:7) We can live carefree before God because He most certainly cares for us.

Children don’t worry about where the next meal is coming from or how the frazzled parent will buy the Christmas presents they are confidently asking for (or at least, they shouldn’t have to.) That’s not their problem. We too don’t have to carry our problems with us. We can safely leave them with God and marvel then at the miraculous ways He sorts things out.

Anxiety is crippling, debilitating, sorrow-inducing and frankly too heavy a burden for us to bear. Let God daily bear your burdens (Ps 6819, Matt 11:28-30) so you don’t have to.