Dearne Community Arts’ Festival (2)
This year’s Dearne Community Arts’ Festival’s community art project has been to create 16 selfie boards which celebrate local community groups and key locations. Some of these were on show at the arts’ festival last week and others are now in situ (some outdoors and some indoors.) We hope to have a selfie board trail launch soon when the last board is installed in the new ‘Heart of Goldthorpe’ Town Square.
This project has been a collaboration with artist Lydia Caprani (who worked with us on the Railway Embankment mural and elephant sculptures) and storyteller Rebecca Dye, who recorded the stories of people from each group or location. Thanks to the wonders of QR codes, each selfie board links to these audio files where you can hear about the groups, what they do and what these locations mean to local people. Check out the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival website for further details of this project.
Here are some photos of the selfie boards on display last week and the selfie boards children made to take home with them:
Dearne Community Arts’ Festival (1)
Last Saturday (30 September) was the annual Dearne Community Arts’ Festival at Astrea Academy Dearne, championing creativity and celebrating community as usual!
There were some lovely exhibitions from a wide range of talented local artists.
We had the chance to learn about 3D printing, wood-turning and have a go at table shaft loom weaving with Ruth Waterworth.
There were loads of workshops where you could have a go at something new.
We had 7 performances on stage.
It was wonderful to see so many people there (551 attended) and to be part of the something so positive and wholesome. More photos can be seen online (search Dearne Community Arts Festival).
Key Lessons
There are a number of key lessons we looked at tonight from 1 Samuel 16:1-3:
- There is never an “easy time” to live for God. David lived at a time when spirituality was not high and there were many enemies of Israel. Faith is required no matter when we live. Living by faith is not for the faint-hearted!
- God knows us by name. He spoke to Samuel about a particular family and David is named at the end of this passage. God knows us by name and has purpose for our lives (see Is 43:1).
- God has a purpose for each one of us, as this anointing shows us. We too are anointed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22, 1 John 2:20) and have good works to do, prepared in advance for us by God. (Eph 2:10)
- God looks at the inside. His ways and thoughts are not ours (Prov 3:5-6, Is 55:8-9)
- God’s timing is crucial. David had a long time to wait until he actually became king. What God says will come to pass, but we must learn to wait patiently and with hope (see Ps 130, Ps 40:1). What God says will come to pass; what happens spiritually is the truth, but may not be fulfilled immediately in our understanding. We need to understand that we possess these things by faith; we believe in order to see.
The Anointing of David
In our Bible study tonight we looked at 1 Samuel 16:1-13, the account of David’s anointing to be king by the prophet Samuel and a vivid reminder that God ‘does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ (1 Samuel 16:7) The story involves many people: the prophet Samuel, the king Saul and Jesse and his family, a reminder to us that God chooses to work with and through ordinary people! He does not have to do this, but the fact that He chooses to work in partnership with us is one of the great miracles of a life of faith.
The fact that Israel had begged for a king instead of living under God’s rule was a source of sorrow to Samuel, and the fact that Saul (the first king) had proved so unfit to rule because of his disobedience and impatience had deeply grieved Samuel, as the opening verse in this chapter indicates. But God was ready to move on; sometimes, we need His word to us to move us from the place of grief and lament. God had another job for Samuel, to anoint a new king, and Samuel faced this with not inconsiderable fear. Faith is not an absence of fear, but choosing to be obedient even when we are afraid. The key to Samuel’s success is found in 1 Samuel 16:4: ‘Samuel did what the Lord had said.’
God did not tell Samuel everything at once; He directed him to Jesse’s family, but there was a period of uncertainty after each of his sons was presented to Samuel and no further direction was heard. It was only when the youngest son was brought in that Samuel heard God’s voice: ‘Rise and anoint him; this is the one.’ (1 Samuel 16:12) It can be hard to wait for the word of the Lord, but it is this word which transforms situations. David was to become Israel’s greatest king: how much do we owe to Samuel for his faithful obedience to God?!