We’re really looking forward to the ‘Job & Jingle’ pantivity which will be happening in Goldthorpe on Monday 26th November. Professional theatre company 4FrontTheatre will be visiting us, performing the show at Goldthorpe Primary School in the morning. Pupils from Sacred Heart Primary School will be coming over to GPCC in the afternoon to watch the show and then there is an evening performance at 6.30 p.m. at GPCC.

Here’s a trailer to watch to get a flavour of what this pantivity is all about: press here.

Set in a mediaeval royal court, the Queen wishes to find out how to celebrate the best Christmas ever! Job the Friar and Jingle the court jester will answer the challenge… but which Christmas will come out on top? – the religious holiday or the festive party? Join us to find out! (Evening event is free, but tickets are needed to attend – see Julie for tickets.)

The film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ tells the life story of Freddie Mercury, member of the hugely successful rock group ‘Queen’. It is a film that is receiving great acclaim, both from film critics and audiences; I’ve heard rapturous reviews of it from people I know, who say ‘the best film I’ve ever seen’ and ‘great film.’

That has set me pondering. Many ‘Queen’ songs, including the eponymous ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, are well known and musically ambitious, reaching beyond the usual three chord domain of much rock music. They have amazing melodies and Freddie Mercury’s vocal range and musical talent are beyond qustion, though (as with all musical questions) these will not be to everyone’s taste. But the film taps into something else, appealing not only to hard-core ‘Queen’ fans but also to a wider audience because it looks at the never-fading appeal of the flawed hero.

We all need heroes, people we admire and respect, people whose talents and skills may well be beyond us, but who stir within us awe and a desire to ‘rise above the normal’ (‘Hero’, Kutless) Yet we are also drawn to flawed individuals because we ourselves are flawed. That’s why all the ‘superheroes’ in Marvel and DC comics have alter egos who are ordinary and maybe even deeply miserable. Clark Kent is a weedy reporter who can’t get the girl he loves to notice him until he dons the Superman costume. Peter Parker is an orphan with little going for him until he becomes the mighty Spiderman. Bruce Kent is another tormented individual haunted by a disturbed past, a billionaire who is still not happy, before he becomes the avenging hero Batman.

Freddie Mercury was a hugely talented individual, but the film portrays his whole life: the bullying over his buck teeth which made his childhood miserable, the demons that haunted him, the struggles he faced before becoming famous, the struggles which fame brought. People relate to that. Those who are bulled, those who are of mixed race, those who may have talent in one area but who feel useless in other areas of life, those who struggle with low self-esteem and crippling shyness all relate to a hero who did ‘make it’ and yet was still flawed and imperfect.

We are all broken, flawed individuals who are yet made in the image of God and we all contain vast, largely unexplored, potential. We also serve a Saviour who took on human flesh and is able to empathise with our suffering and sorrows, though He knew no sin. There really is only one perfect hero. All the rest of us are flawed heroes at best.

Meet Flockton, one of our flock, knitted for us by ladies from the local Catholic churches.

Flockton, one of 30 sheep, will soon be going on an adventure. We are taking the sheep to local shops in Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and Bolton-on-Dearne so that children can take part in an Advent Sheep Trail where they have to find the names of the wandering sheep. The idea is that the sheep will all end up reunited at the Christmas celebration at the Salvation Army on Saturday 15th December between 2 and 4 p.m, whilst people can have the fun of finding the sheep’s names as they look in local shops and can possibly win a Christmas hamper through taking part in the trail.

We’ll be meeting the rest of the flock on Friday 16th November at the Salvation Army when we hope to begin distribution of the sheep to the shops!

Thank you to all who supported the Salvation Army Christmas Hamper and Winter Warmer appeal. These items will be passed on later this week.

Garry continued the theme of our ‘Do Something Sunday’, reminding us that the complacency of fools will destroy them. (Prov 1:32) Complacency is a great danger to the church, for if we are complacent, we are satisfied with how things are and feel there is no need to do any more. It is foolish to be complacent, however, because change is inevitable and we are built to ‘do something’ – work was part of God’s original plan for mankind. (Gen 2:15)

Jer 29:4-7 reminds us that God urged His people, even in exile, to seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which they had been carried. Instead of being negative and critical, we are urged to speak well (Eph 4:29-30). Daniel and his friends took this word to heart and worked well in Babylon, gaining high positions and seeking the prosperity of the place in which they lived. So often, Christians have been involved in doing something to change situations that were unfair or unjust: the Tolpuddle Martyrs (who were transported to Australia for forming an early trade union to right wrongs in the workplace) were led by a Methodist lay preacher, George Loveless; Keir Hardie (the first leader of the Labour Party) was a lay preacher who was driven into political activisim and sustained in it by his faith.

BMBC’s ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign is very Biblical. We are called to do something here, where we live. Matt 9:36-10:1 reminds us that Jesus said the harvest was plentiful, but the workers few; Not only are we called to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field, we are the ones God will use! We have the advantage of working with God; we are not on our own.

Jn 4:35 reminds us that the fields are ripe for harvest now. Eccl 9:10 reminds us to do whatever our hand finds to do with all our might. God has good plans for us, plans that are ‘tailor-made’ for us (Jer 29:11, Eph 2:10) It may be that God wants us to do new things, to be creative, to stretch and develop our faith. One thing is for sure. We need to ‘do something’!

Mark Altrogge’s song ‘In My Generation’ contains the piercing question ‘What is on Your heart? Tell me what to do. Let me know Your will, and I will follow You.’ Ultimately, we need to be like Jesus who only did what He saw His Father doing. (John 5:19) Our ‘something’ has reflect the things on God’s heart.

The Bible gives us clear indications as to what matters to God.

1. God cares for the individual. He so loved the whole world that He sent His only Son, Jesus, but that salvation is appropriated by people individually. God truly knows and cares for us individually: ‘even the very hairs on your head are numbered.’ (Matt 10:30, Luke 12:7) Christians have always been at the forefront of campaigns which remind society of the worth and value of each individual, whether that’s the unborn child, the disabled whom nobody wants to acknowledge or the elderly whose life seems so costly to maintain and of so little worth to society. Caring for indivdiuals is one of the chief ways we can ‘do something’.
2. God cares for children. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ (Matt 19:14) It’s important we care for children, because God does.
3. God cares for the fatherless and the orphan and widow. He ‘sustains the fatherless and the widow’ (Ps 146:9); the Old Testament gives us clear indications of the provisions God made in society for those people who were powerless to help themselves.We need to care for those who cannot speak up for themselves.
4. God cares about those in slavery, about justice, about fair wages. (Deut 24:14) Zero hour contracts… minimum wages… immigration rights… justice in the workplace – all of these very ‘modern’ topics are on God’s heart and should therefore be on our hearts too.
5. God cares about the poor and needy and urges us to be ‘openhanded’ to them (Deut 15:11). That’s why we support the Salvation Army foodbank and sponsor Bedline, Amshika and Innocent and support Fredrick and Reeba’s ministry in India.
6. God cares about injustice and oppression.He ‘upholds the cause of the oppressed.’ (Ps 146:7) God doesn’t want His people to be the privileged minority who trample all over people. He wants us to stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, to help those who can’t help themselves.

     7. God cares about people having the opportunity to hear His word. We need to be active in promoting freedom of speech in our country and to remain true to His   word. That won’t always be popular; it may even lead to active persecution, but we need to understand that the unfolding of God’s word brings light (Ps 119:130) and that His word has the power to set people free and lead to transformation.