Here at GPCC, we are looking forward to a wedding in just under three weeks. Most people enjoy a wedding. Invitations have gone out and responses been received; preparations are being made, with more to come. People are getting ready and are both nervous and looking forward to the big day. Weddings are opportunities for celebration and joy, but they are also significant, not just for the day itself but for the new start they signify: the first day of two lives committed to each other for life, until death separates.

Nowadays, weddings are seen as something of a luxury: meals can cost £120 per person, which with 100 guests adds up to £12,000 for a meal alone! Weddings can be held in exotic (and expensive) locations. Some feel there’s no point in spending so much money on one day and therefore spurn marriage altogether. Others see weddings as a legality, used ‘for tax purposes’ or to make sure you’re eligible for pension rights. Others see weddings and marriage as an unnecessary tradition or something which restricts and is a duty only. God’s take on marriage is very different. He tells us it gives structure to society and is the training ground for individuals, teaching them to learn to put others first and live a life of sacrifcial love.

In Eph 5:25-32 we see that human marriage mirrors the divine relationship we have with Christ. That relationship is likened to marriage, with Christ as the bridegroom and the church as the bride (Rev 19:5-9, Rev 21:1-3) Human marriage and weddings foreshadow the relationship between God and the church and remind us that Jesus gave Himself for all – the invitiation to the wedding is there for everyone. Jesus will come again for His bride, for all who respond.

2 Pet 3:3-7 reminds us that Jesus will come again and we therefore have a duty and responsibility to share the good news of the gospel now, while we still have opportunity. We need to be serious about this task and pray for people, for conversations and for conversions.

Dave spoke from Acts 2;42-47 this morning, a challenging passage about the life of the early church which needs to be replicated in our churches if we are to see similar life and growth. The believers devoted themselves to four things:

1. the apostles’ teaching
2. the fellowship
3. the breaking of bread
4. prayer

If we do not devote ourselves to these things, then we will become people who are lifeless and lost. The father of lies tells us it doesn’t really matter what we believe and that we don’t need to bother with meeting with other Christians, that prayer and the breaking of bread are peripheral activities which don’t really matter, but he is a liar. The secret of every growing church is hearing the word of God and obeying it. This will involve praying together and meeting together or we lose our sense of direction and faith. It’s all too easy to be sucked into the belief that individual happiness is all that matters or that material things are the answer to all our needs, but we need to be rooted and built up in Christ.

Everyone knows that a coal, when separated from the fire, soon turns dull and grey and loses its fiery glow. Similarly, if we separate ourselves from Christian fellowship, our faith can often soon diminish. Devotion, dedication and commitment are always needed and these four things listed in this passage lead to multiplication and growth.

The phrase ‘cool as a cucumber’ (meaning metaphorically to remain calm and collected, even in difficult times) is actually true of a cucumber connected to the vine: it actually is cooler on the inside than on the outside when it is attached. We can only know calm and peace if we remain attached to the vine (see John 15:1-5). Jesus is the gate for the sheep and we need to listen to the Shepherd and follow HIm, being devoted to God and to each other.

Are we a coal that’s part of the fire, joining with other believers in these practices, or are we a coal that is separate and cooling down? Are we a cucumber that’s cool under pressure because of our attachment to the vine or are we detached and struggling on our own? God wants us to devote ourselves to these vital things and to flourish and be fruitful.

The second day of the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival was even busier than the first, with many live performances on stage.

The ukelele class which meets weekly at the Snap Tin Cafe gave their first public performance.

Pat & Andy Moore and the Grumpy Old Men gave performances of popular music:

We had a fashion show from the Pins & Needles sewing class which meets weekly on Fridays at the Snap Tin Cafe.

We also had an excellent concert from the Thurnscoe Harmonic Male Voice Choir and another piano recital from Natalia Ledger.

Exhibitions, workshops and demonstrations continued as on Friday, with the chance to make hedgehog books, take part in hot wax painting and clay modelling.

Many thanks to all who took part in the festival and all who attended.

The first day of the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival took place at Dearne ALC today and was an opportunity to champion the multi-faceted creativity of local residents and celebrate our community.

The Mayor, Cllr Steve Green, opened the arts’ festival and gave out prizes to several competition winners, including Herlen Schreuder:

Pat’s amazing craft work was on display again:

J-P’s photos were also stunning:

There were many other examples of creativity:

There was also the opportunity to listen to Natalia Ledger, a fantastic pianist:

People could also take part in different workshops, learning new skills, such as playing the ukelele:

… or learning about creative writing with Ian McMillan:

… or have a go at silk painting:

… or learn circus skills:

All in all, a great day helped by lots of wonderful volunteers, including Janet who managed to escape this photo!

Tomorrow will see the second day of the arts’ festival from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., with additional workshops (sand art, clay modelling, hot wax painting, felting, card making and paper crafts, along with crafts for under 5s, a full schedule of performances (including Thurnscoe Harmonic Male Voice Choir and The Grumpy Old Men), virtual reality cinema and 3D printers, face painting, circus skills and much more!

A scornful sceptic once asked if anything good could come out of Nazareth. Cynicism and low expectation meant this man almost missed out on meeting the Messiah. Philip was an object lesson in the dangers of judging a book by its cover (or in this case, a person by his home town.)

I was rather like Philip. I was born in Barnsley and loved my home town, but the Dearne Valley, despite being the place of my parents’ birth, was something else. They ‘escaped’ from Bolton-on-Dearne on their marriage to the heady heights of Ardsley and I saw nothing good in these dreary Dearne villages to draw me back. Actually, at eighteen, as I set off to university among the dreaming spires of Oxford, I was quietly confident I would spread my wings and fly away altogether. The world was my oyster and I expected to like shellfish.

Like C. S. Lewis, I was to become a reluctant convert – not to Christianity, which I embraced at seventeen with a sense of purpose and destiny, but to the Dearne Valley. God called me back here to live and work in this area, and I was not best pleased with Him. I’d planned to live abroad, using my linguistic talents in exotic settings. How dare He have other ideas?!

God loves the whole world, and that includes Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and my parents’ native Bolton-on-Dearne. I don’t remember a specific date when my attitude changed. I came to live in a terraced house in Thurnscoe in 1987, and I’m still here. At first, I was restless, reluctant, grumpy. I felt I had little in common with the majority of people and yearned for beauty, not the ugliness of shuttered shops and littered streets.

But beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Slowly, I came to realise a community is made up primarily of people. It’s people who make a difference to places, who shape beauty from ashes, who care enough to pick up the litter and instil new values and hope to a place. It’s people who pull together on projects and infuse an area with positive vibes. It’s people who dare to dream who turn villages into places of welcome and acceptance.

I started volunteering in my local community – at the Dearne Enterprise Centre in Goldthorpe (now the Factory), at Houghton Road Centre and at Gooseacre Primary School in Thurnscoe. I discovered other people with passion and commitment; I discovered people who care. And one day, I discovered, to my astonishment and surprise, that I loved where I lived.

That’s why I am determined to celebrate this community, for this area is so much more than it is perceived to be from the outside. Can anything good come out of Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and Bolton-on-Dearne? Most emphatically, yes! Regeneration can come, new birth that incorporates the physical locations, the economic health, the wellbeing of residents and the spiritual life of the area. Community spirit is alive and well in this place. The arts’ festival is just one way of recognising and celebrating that fact.

BMBC’s ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign is a reminder to us all that love has the potential to change everything. The Dearne Valley is full of people who care, who sow seeds of love into their communities day-in and day-out. Let’s champion creativity in all its glorious guises and celebrate community in all its fabulous forms and be a people who leave cynicism and despondency behind to embrace a positive present and a fearless future with a God who never gives up on us and who is able to bring good from every place as we work with Him in love and hope.

The last of the Summer Fun days took place today at Goldthorpe Parish Church. The theme was ‘Teddy Bears’ picnic’, so there was opportunity to paint teddy bears, create your own sticker teddy bear and listen to teddy bear stories, with Gaby Lees from Barnsley Museums bringing some of the bear costumes from the Cooper Gallery‘s excellent Bear Exhibition (still running till 1st September and well worth a visit!)

In addition, we also had dominoes, 4-in-a-row and table tennis to entertain us (though the younger children had more fun hunting out spare ping pong balls than playing, it seemed!)

A lovely day with a wide range of ages present – and a whole range of teddy bears to enjoy!

Our thanks to all who have helped so generously with these Summer Fun days: Dearne Area Team, Dearne Churches Together, Berneslai Homes, Tesco (Wath-on-Dearne), the local Co-op, FareShare, Feeding Britain… and countless more people who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to feed local families and to provide a day of fun entertainment for all.