As a church, we are privileged to be able to help the Salvation Army food bank. For those struggling with financial worries, food is not the only thing they need, however. Right now, the Salvation Army would also be grateful for donations of:

• toothpaste (for children & adults)
• toothbrushes (for children & adults)
• nappies (especially sizes 3, 4 & 5)
• shower gel
• deodorant
• wash sponges/ flannels
• soap

If you can bring any of these items into church along with tinned food (especially tinned meat such as ham or corned beef), cereals, UHT milk and soup, that would be a real blessing to many families. It isn’t just those who are unemployed who are struggling; this week I met a family with three children where the overlap between a parent leaving one job and starting another (and getting paid for the new job) meant several weeks without a wage, causing a short-term crisis.

Is 58:6-9 reminds us that our outward acts of piety (including fasting) must include sharing our food with the needy, providing the poor with shelter, clothing those in need and working against injustice. 1 John 3:18 urges us to not love ‘with words or speech but with actions and in truth.‘ Our practical help can be a real blessing to people in need and can open the way for them to not only hear about the love of God but see this love in action.

The Women’s World Day of Prayer was held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Goldthorpe this afternoon, a cold and snowy afternoon making the sunny climate and Caribbean music of Cuba seem a real attraction!

The church was beautifully decorated with Cuban flags and paper jasmine flowers:

The theme of the service was ‘Receive Children, Receive Me’ and Karen Beecham from the Methodist Church spoke about how children were welcomed by Jesus for their openness, faith and trust and how we should not expect children to be mini-adults but should be prepared to learn from their faith, whilst recognising that in other areas (such as bickering and telling tales), we need to move on from childhood! Children from the Sacred Heart Primary School sang beautifully during the service, reminding us of the presence, glory and power of the Lord and the need to respond willingly to God’s call.

After the service, refreshments were enjoyed, including Cuban-style cookies prepared by ladies from different local churches:

An offering of £73.90 was given which will be forwarded to the headquarters of WWDP and distributed among a variety of Christian charities.

Every day, I must place myself under constraint at some point. I get in a car and must, by law, submit to the constraint of a seat belt.

When travelling, I must submit to the speed constraint imposed or risk losing the privilege of independent travel. These constraints – limitations, restrictions – often seem to chafe at my freedom, but I choose to place my freedom under the authority of the constraint, since actually these constraints are for my benefit. I don’t mind the constraint of a seat belt because I know it is protecting me in the event of an accident. I don’t mind the speed limits because I’ve seen the effects of car collisions at speed. I cheerfully accept the lesser constraint in order to avoid a greater one! (hospitalisation, immobilisation, even death…)

Many view submission as a chafing constraint imposed on us by a killjoy God. In reality, however, submission is a liberating constraint allowing us the freedom to enjoy life as God intended it to be. As we submit to those in authority over us, we are not limited or chained, but given the freedom to be fully ourselves, creatures made in the image of God.

The hymnist says, ‘O! to grace how great a debtor/ Daily I’m constrained to be.’ (‘Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing’) Paul said, ‘Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another.’ (Rom 13:8) The ‘constraints’ of love and thankfulness are not seen as onerous duties, but transforming delights. The constraints upon us are not straitjackets to limit us, but protection and blessing intended to free us to live life as God intended. When Paul spoke of being contrained or compelled to preach the gospel and having to discharge this God-given responsibility (1 Cor 9:16), he did not see this as a limitation but as a measure of God’s grace to him, a sinner. We are free people, challenged to use our freedom constructively to bless others and thus fulfil the whole law, understanding that freedom is not the absence of constraint, but a channelling into the right use of that freedom.

Steve and Katuska (missionaries in Mozambique) are preparing to return to the UK this month after their first term of service in the Bible seminary in Maputo. For anyone who has ever moved house, you can imagine the chaos they are currently facing as they pack up their home and prepare to return to Glasgow.

Please pray for the family at this time of transition and for all who will stay behind in Mozambique. Steve has handed over responsibilities at the seminary to Alberto Guambe (who has taken on the role of Academic Director) and Andre Malombe and Sandro Silva, a Brazilian missionary. Steve still needs to sort out about the financial management and maintenance of the building in their absence and asks for prayer for their Mozambican colleagues and friends, especially as they face sharp increases in the price of almost everything, and for the other OMS missionaries who will continue to work there. The good news is that new missionaries are in the pipeline and preparing to go out to Mozambique.

Please pray for the whole family as they return to the UK, especially for the education of the three boys, Sam, Ben and Joe.

Big Local Thurnscoe, organisers of the ‘Spring Show’, have just released a poster for this event on Palm Sunday:

We’ll be leaving church at 10 a.m. on Sunday 20th March and then going through to Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe (home to Emmanuel Pentecostal Church, opposite the Asda car park on the main road through Thurnscoe) for a time of prayer before we move up to Phoenix Park. Local churches will gather at the car park at 10:50 a.m. and the donkey procession/ singing will start at 11 a.m. Kevin Watts, pastor of the Pentecostal church at Thurnscoe, will give a brief explanation of Palm Sunday and then we’ll be involved in chatting with people and handing out goody bags containing Easter leaflets and Easter eggs.

It’s hoped this will be a great community event. Other things which will be going on include a dog show (£1 entry) and craft and sporting activities. There will be stalls from local groups and the chance to ‘meet a creature’ (not sure what creatures will be there, other than the donkeys!) and refreshments and toilets will be available.

Phoenix Park used to be the slagheap for Hickleton main colliery many years ago, but was transformed into a lovely community park in the 1990s with the help of the charity Groundwork Dearne Valley and local residents. (Poems by local resident Desiree Chipp are carved into 3 of the entrances to the site, for example, and Stephen’s footprints as a young child are cast into one of the paths!) Now maintained by the Forestry Commission, the park links Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe. Pray for fine, dry weather, as it can get very muddy otherwise!

March is shaping up to be a busy month! Here are some key dates:

• Friday 4th March at 2 p.m. is the Women’s World Day of Prayer at Sacred Heart Church on Lockwood Road in Goldthorpe. Come along to pray in particular for Cuba, a land under Communist rule for many years. Join with women from other local churches and around the world in praying on the theme ‘Receive Children, Receive Me’
• Sunday 6th March at 6 p.m. will be our family service, but we’ll also be celebrating Mothers’ Day.
• Sunday 13th March will be the service at Cherry Tree Court in the morning and a dedication service in the evening at 6 p.m. at Market Street. Please bring refreshments to the evening service as we’ll have a fellowship meal after the dedication of baby Tatijana.
• Sunday 20th March (Palm Sunday) will be the procession at Phoenix Park in the morning, followed by a service at Market Street in the evening. We will leave church at 10 a.m. in the morning, go on to pray at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe and then start the community spring event with the procession at 10.50 a.m.
• Friday 25th March is Good Friday and we’ll be holding a service at 6 p.m.
• Saturday 26th March is the ‘Churches Together’ March of Hope around Goldthorpe, leaving our church at 10.15 a.m. After the march, we’ll be returning to church for a light lunch.
• Sunday 27th March is Easter Sunday, with services to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m.