February News (and advance notices…!)
In addition to all the alarming business going on at church this week (servicing the burglar alarm and fitting a new fire alarm), other things are going on behind the scenes.
Plans for the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival are moving with a swiftness I’ve not often encountered in planning events! This event will take place on Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd September from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Dearne Playhouse (by the doctor’s surgery in Goldthorpe on Washington Road.) It’s hoped that this festival will combine exhibitions of local artistic talent (in any creative form such as painting, drawing, photography, crafts, knitting, sewing, crocheting, embroidery, woodwork, metalwork, flower-arranging, cake-decorating etc.) with performing arts running on stage (Thurnscoe Male Voice Choir will be taking part, and Julie Medlam from Dearne Playhouse is working on dance, drama and singing slots, as well as running a workshop for under-18s in the performing arts on Thursday 24th August) and workshops and demonstrations taking place in the building throughout the event. Examples so far of things being suggested are the use of arts through technology (using 3D printers, for example) as well as having a display of model aircraft flying outside!
We are keen for local residents and groups to be involved in the festival. You can choose to exhibit one item or more, or offer your skills in whatever area of creativity you are gifted in! However, we do need to know what is on offer by 24th March so that we can plan where everything will go and organise a programme of events on stage. Please do let us know what you would like to do. The festival will only be a success if local people get involved and demonstrate to the wider world that the Dearne area is a place where we want to champion creativity and celebrate community.
Other news involves dedication services on 19th February at 10.30 a.m. (for Oliver Burgin) and on 19th March at 6 p.m. (for Esther Turner). Please pray for both these services and ask God to bless these children and their families. Because of the dedication service on 19th February, there will be no communion service that morning. There will also be a funeral service on Friday 24th February at 1.45 p.m.
Don’t forget also the Christian Institute meeting at Doncaster Evangelical Church on Beckett Road, Wheatley, in Doncaster on Wednesday 1st March at 7.30 p.m. The Christian Institute looks at how we can bring a Christian influence to an increasingly secular society and campaigns on behalf of Christians in the workplace, schools, the judiciary and government.
Finally, the Women’s World Day of Prayer will be on Friday 3rd March at the parish church in Goldthorpe on Lockwood Road. Time to be confirmed, but it is likely to be in the afternoon. In the evening, those going on the India mission trip will be meeting together to pray and plan, so do pray for this as well – it’s not that long now until the eight of us go to India and we are very excited!
An Alarming Day…
Don’t be alarmed! – nothing bad happened today, but we had Day 2 of the fire alarm fitting and the burglar alarm was serviced as well at church!
Burglar alarm servicing, with Steve from Kent Alarms:
And in the world of fire alarms… Yesterday was all about fitting conduit… Today the cable was added:
The emergency lighting on the stage was finished:
Work was then started in the community room:
Another busy day, with thanks to all who worked so hard and to those who manned the building during this work. More to follow tomorrow!
Fire Alarm Fitting
This week, we are having a fire alarm fitted. S & G Electrical arrived early this morning:
They perused the building, deciding which was the best way to proceed:
Then they set to work, installing new emergency lighting in the children’s room and stage area:
Getting ready to fit the control panel:
Working on emergency lighting and smoke alarms:
Fitting conduit:
Working in the worship room:
Tidying up after the work:
Day 2 tomorrow!
February Birthdays
We had two birthdays to celebrate this week:
Transgender Issues
Garry continued his ‘Talking Point’ series tonight, looking at transgender issues. Gender is generally understood as ‘the state of being male or female’, and transgender is defined as ‘denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex.’ This is very much an issue in the news at the moment, with examples given including a 10 year old girl who declared that because she did not like ‘girls’ toys’, she was not a girl and deserved surgery to make her a boy (a view which the Times columnist, Janice Turner, said indicated the BBC was allowing a ‘pernicious ideology’ to enter the mainstream media unquestioned.) It is easy to believe that this issue affects very many people, although the statistics indicate that only 0.6% of the UK population would consider themselves transgender. Nonetheless, as Christians we must consider our response to such issues.
Transgender is not the same as intersex, which refers to people who are born without genitalia or with damaged genitalia or those affected by Klinefelter syndrome (XXY chromosome in men). Intersex people have a physical problem, but trans-sexual people feel as though they have been born into the ‘wrong body.’ According to GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), ‘transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate.‘ Their problem is largely a question of what they believe; under the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, an adult who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and lived for 2 years as a person of the opposite sex can apply for a gender recognition certificate.
Transgender issues are high profile (which toilets and changing rooms should a transgender person use, for example), but we have to acknowledge there is a significant minority of people who have had operations to ‘change gender’ and later express regret about this (see here for further details.) A Home Office report from April 2000 said, ‘Many people revert to their biological sex after living for some time in the opposite sex.’ Clearly, the issue is not as clear-cut as some in the media would like us to believe.
It appears that underlying the transsexual movement is a radical form of self-determination, where the assumption is that a person’s subjective feeling overrides objective, biological reality. God made us male and female (Gen 1:27); this is the reality of our world. As the Church of England’s 2003 discussion document comments, ‘we are not simply people who inhabit bodies, rather our bodies are part of who we are.’ Christianity deals with truth (Jn 1:17, Jn 8:31-32, Jn 14:6). Paul declares that the truth is crucial (‘if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.’ 1 Cor 15:4) We must hold on to the truths of the Christian faith whilst showing love and kindness to all, for truth is liberational. It’s not surgery which transforms people’s bodies that is needed, but the truth of the Gospel which transforms people’s hearts and minds which is required. Christ alone can transform people and give them liberty, since those whom the Son sets free are really free. (Jn 8:36)
Relationships Matter!
I love children’s films. They capture essential truths in simple form and I greatly enjoyed the new Lego Batman movie, released this week, despite not being a great fan of Batman myself (perhaps I identify too readily with this angst-filled vigilante and don’t need to be reminded of his inner turmoil!) There is something rather cute about seeing these characters in typical Lego mode…
The Lego version not only has great action featuring a host of characters from children’s fiction and the infamous villain, the Joker, but looks at an essentially serious theme: how life really is about relationships and how we should not live in isolation for fear of being hurt when people die or let us down. Batman has to learn to care about and work with others again if he is to emerge from his solitary, rather lonely life.
God’s love for us is not something to be kept selfishly to ourselves; it is something to be shared with others, as Mark reminded us this morning. ‘Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.’ (1 Jn 4:7) Only when we are truly connected to God and other people can we really understand the meaning of life.