Mark’s activity had two parts. We had to make words out of the names Elijah and Elisha (the men’s team won with 56 words) and also had to make a model representing key events in these men’s lives.

One team focussed on the jug of oil which never ran out:

The children made their own models.

The men’s model was the winner:

A great activity which helped to reinforce what we had learned about Elijah and Elisha!

Gillian gave the epilogue at tonight’s family service, looking at how Elisha was motivated by a passion for his master which led him to pursue him and long for a double portion of his spirit to help him. He refused to leave Elijah, even when urged to do so, having a burning desire to do the things he saw Elijah doing. Because of his passion and persistence, he was present when Elijah was taken into heaven and his cloak fell on him, allowing him to do miracles which confirmed God’s presence and power in him so that others saw and took notice.

Jesus came with a burning desire to do the Father’s will, and promised that those who long for Him will do even greater things than He did (Jn 14:12). While Elisha had to pursue Elijah to receive his blessing, Jesus came to seek and save, taking the initiative in reaching out to us. He has not left us on our own, but has poured out His Holy Spirit on us. Just as those who saw Elisha recognised Elijah’s spirit on him, we need to be so full of the Holy Spirit that others recognise we are like Jesus. Our desire and passion for God tend to decrease with age, as familiarity and independence creep in, but we need to hunger and thirst for a closer walk with God if we are to see the miracles He wants to do through us.

Tonight’s family service looked at the Old Testament prophets, Elijah and Elisha, who were indeed men of miracles. Stephen spoke about how Elijah saw many different kinds of miracles – miracles of provision (1 Kings 17:16), when the jar of oil did not run out, thus keeping Elijah alive during a time of famine; miracles of life (when God listened to Elijah’s cry and raised a dead boy back to life, 1 Ki 17:22); miracles reminiscent of Moses when the water parted as he struck it with his cloak (2 Ki 2:8) and the ultimate miracle of not having to taste death (2 Ki 2:11).

Elisha, present when God took Elijah, received a double portion of God’s power, performing twice as many miracles as Elijah. These included parting the water as Elijah had (2 Ki 2:14), thus demonstrating he had inherited Elijah’s mantle (the literal origin of this metaphor!); miracles of provision (2 Kings 4); miracles of healing (2 Ki 5:10); miracles of bringing the dead to life (2 Ki 4).

What is important for us to realise, however, is that miracle are not just impressive stories from the Bible. They happen too in our day, because God does not change. James reminds us that Elijah was a man just like us; he listened to God and obeyed Him – this was the key to his success and is the key to seeing miracles happen nowadays. Jesus performed many miracles of provision, healing and resurrection and we too can see miracles happen today if we put our trust in Him.

Dave spoke this morning from John 21:1-14. Here, Jesus appears to His disciples for the third time after His resurrection, helping them in the ordinary things of life as He directs them to a great catch of fish (153) after a night of fishing in vain. The disciples at this time were in a period of waiting, and were probably still confused and uncertain as to what they should be doing. They did not recognise Jesus at first – something that is common to many post-resurrection encounters (think of Mary Magdalene and the disciples on the road to Emmaus). We have to ask why the disciples were so slow in recognising Jesus – and why we too are often so slow in recognising Him.

Part of the reason lies in our tendency to expect to meet with God in certain sacred places (perhaps in a church building or in magnificent natural surroundings.) Whilst it is good to meet with God in these places, we need to be expectant that we can meet with Him anywhere. When on earth, Jesus turned up at a wedding, on a fishing boat, in the market place, at a well and in many other places, not just in the synagogue. He appeared to people in ordinary, everyday surroundings – and even after His resurrection, we find Him in a cemetery garden, in a locked room and now cooking breakfast on the beach. The truth is that the ordinary becomes sacred when we find God there and that God is to be found everywhere.

Christ is with us everywhere – when we serve the needy, hungry and poor, He is there; when we are involved in ‘mundane’ community outreaches, He is there; He is in everyone we see. We need to learn to recognise Jesus in the ordinary, but He is with us all the time.

Here are some more photos from the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival, showcasing the different talents on show over the past two days.

Pat’s beautiful cross-stitch paintings and hardanger:

Jackie from the Salvation Army practising cake decorating and some examples prepared earlier by another volunteers:

Paintings and poems:

Aerial view of Stuart White’s wood-turned items:

Local history and art combined in this display about the Bolton-on-Dearne war memorial:

An example of JuliaArts’ skilled painting:

Craft items galore (cushions and story cushions by Aw Sew Lovely):

A knitted memory blanke by Carol Gratton:

It’s wonderful to see the diversity of creativity in our local community. Paul reminds us that we are a body with different parts and each person has a role to play (see Rom 12:3-7). I was very struck by a quote I read reccently, which said, ‘What if we were created to be creative?‘ I firmly believe that we are made in God’s image and that He is a creative God… and that as a result of this, we are made to be creative too. There is so much scope for how that creativity can take shape, but it has been a privilege to see so many people’s creative works over the past two days.

The second day of the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival was just as exciting and action-packed as the first. We had music performances on stage from Pat & Andy Moore, The Grumpy Old Men and Thurnscoe Harmonic Male Voice Choir, whose spiritual songs were really powerful. (‘Glory, glory, hallelujah, the truth is marching on‘!)

We also had a fashion show from the local Pins & Needles sewing class (which meets at the Renaissance Centre in Bolton-on-Dearne on Fridays from 5-7 p.m.) and a dance demonstration from RotherHop:

Outside, we had Creative Recovery running karaoke in costumes!

We also had a display of model aircraft from the Barnsley Model Flying Club:

Inside, we had demonstrations of spinning yarn from Ruth Pettitt, with some even being brave enough to have a go!

The 3D printer kept hatching new dinosaurs!

And if you were feeling stressed, you could always have a relaxing hand massage from WEA’s Juliana Gilmartin:

It was a fabulous event which showed us all how creative people can be in such a wide range of different areas and was a wonderful way to celebrate our amazing community.