Thanks to Gemma’s cake-making skills, people enjoyed birthday cake tonight!

After the top layer was eaten, the bottom layer was left:

Then there was another cake to tackle!

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the cakes didn’t last past the evening… but hopefully, people will provide more food for the ‘Churches Together’ lunch on Saturday!

In the third of our alphabet series, ‘The A-Z of Christian Faith’, we looked at the letter C and concluded (from 1 Cor 1:18-25, 1 Cor 2:1-5 and 1 Cor 15:1-8) that ‘C is for Christ Crucified’. Paul makes it clear that this is the absolute essential element of the gospel; as Simon Ponsonby (pastor of theology at St Aldate’s, Oxford) says, in an open letter to the church published in the February issue of ‘Christianity’ magazine, ‘Drop the cross; lose the plot.’  He says, ‘If we drop the cross we lose the plot, and we cannot blossom and bless, only wither and die… We have a gospel. We have the breath-taking, heart-racing, life-changing, epic story of God who loves us and has come for us. This story of stories presents God in Christ entering the world to rewrite our fractured story, to rescue the drowning, to find the lost, to free the bound, to comfort the broken, to restore the fallen, to enlighten the confused, to create community, to transform society, to recreate creation.’  

In John 12:12-16, we read about Jesus’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, how the crowd heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!’ Matthew also tells us about this moment, explaining how Jesus came to be entering riding on a young colt and how this was recognised as the fulfilment of Zechariah’s prophecy about the Messiah (Matt 21:1-11, Zech 9:9) Excitement was high; the crowds ‘spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.’ (Matt 21:8) Everyone fully expected Jesus to be the kind of political King they were all longing for; but the events of the rest of Holy Week remind us that God tends to act in ways that surprise us and in ways that cannot be predicted.

The final week of Jesus’ life on earth is detailed in all gospels: Jesus teaching His disciples about the kind of kingdom He would usher in, the last supper with disciples, the loneliness of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal, arrest, trial and finally crucifixion. If anyone had told the disciples on Good Friday that ‘Christ crucified’ would be described as the ‘power of God for salvation’ (Rom 1:16), they would have thought you were mad. Not only was Jesus dead, He was dead by the most horrific form of execution possible and to Jews, crucifixion was particularly vile, for it reminded them of Deut 21:23 (‘cursed is anyone who is hung on a pole.’) We are used to the idea that the cross represents something wonderful and powerful: the means of salvation. That was not the case then. Jews saw this as a despicable form of death, not at all what they expected would happen to God’s Messiah.

Why did God choose crucifixion as the means of salvation?

1. Because He loves to confound or destroy the wisdom of the wise and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent. God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Is 55:8-9). We simply cannot grasp His wisdom, but must all stumble over the ‘scandalon’ Christ crucified presents to us (see 1 Pet 2:8). A crucified Saviour makes no rational sense, but paradox is involved; it doesn’t seem to make sense to us in either a religious or a rational way, but it is the way God has chosen to work to save people from their sins and we need to accept that He knows far more than we do when it comes to saving!
2. Because He wants our faith to rest not on human wisdom but on God’s power (1 Cor 2:5). Only faith that rests on God’s power and God’s way of doing things will achieve anything spiritual and lasting.
3. Christ crucified is the means of salvation, revelation and conquest. John Stott says ‘What God in Christ has done through the cross is to rescue us, disclose himself and overcome evil.’ (‘The Cross of Christ’, P 167) Christ dealt with the problem of sin on the cross by sacrificing Himself for our sins (2 Cor 5:21), revealing God’s love for all mankind (John 3:16) and defeated sin and the power of the devil by rising from the dead (Heb 2:14-15).

In dying for us, Jesus has ushered in a new age, ‘the day of salvation’ (2 Cor 6:2) and given us new life, new hope and new purpose. Some of the benefits of Christ crucified lie ahead in the future, but we have the present assurance that nothing can now separate us from His love and that we are now reconciled to God: ‘But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.’ (Col 1:22) We can be whole and holy before God through the crucifixion of Christ.

Phoenix Park was redeveloped when my son was just a child, and we have many fond memories of the initial work which turned the former slagheap into a beautiful parkland area, with artwork commemorating local history:

One of his favourite parts of the park was the climbing wall. Some things never change…

It was great to see so many people from the local area enjoying the event:

The donkey rides were especially popular:

We were especially pleased to be able to give out about 120 goody bags containing leaflets about the meaning of Easter, leaflets advertising our Easter services and Easter eggs. We hope many people will be able to join us on Easter Saturday for our ‘March of Hope’ around Goldthorpe, when we’ll again be giving out goody bags and inviting people to church services. We’ll be leaving our church at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday 26th March, joining with other churches at Lockwood Road and 10:30 a.m. and returning for a light lunch at Market Street after the march. All welcome!

Today is Palm Sunday, and that took on a whole new meaning for me this week as I gazed at real palm trees in front of the hotel where I stayed in Malta:

However, we had different kinds of palm leaves today as we joined in the ‘Spring Show’ at Phoenix Park, organised by Big Local Thurnscoe. Led by two lovely donkeys (Dillon and Marley), members of local churches joined together to sing praises and hand out goody bags at the community event:

Kevin Watts from Thurnscoe Pentecostal Church welcomed everyone and explained about that first Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey and being greeted by crowds singing ‘Hosanna in the highest’ and scattering cloaks and palm leaves before Him.

A variety of community groups were at the show, including the Goldthorpe Guides (who organised a nature trail):

Other groups involved included BeWell Barnsley, Big Local, Groundwork Dearne Valley and the Forestry Commission, which manages Phoenix Park:

Local businesses also sold items:

There was  the opportunity to ‘meet a creature’ (though lizards and snakes aren’t high on my list of creatures to meet!) and a dog show:

All in all, it was a great event, blessed by wonderful dry, sunny weather and our thanks go to Alison Vint and her amazing team of volunteers who truly do love where they live and who are working tirelessly to make Thurnscoe a better place:

I’ve just had the privilege of spending a few days in the lovely Mediterranean island of Malta, leaving behind the grey skies of England and being dazzled by the sunshine and warmth of March there! The history of Malta is rich and varied, but by far the most significant event, according to the Maltese, not just according to me, is recorded in Acts 28:1-9: the account of Paul’s shipwreck on the island which led to the gospel being preached on the island and Christianity being introduced there. The gospel account is recorded in different languages on this monument in Ir-Rabat:

We went on a boat trip to the nearby island of Gozo and from there saw a statue of St Paul on the coast, commemorating his shipwreck (the place is now called ‘St Paul’s Bay’!)

Churches abound in Malta: this is St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

The domed church of Mosta, bombed during WW2, but no one was hurt as the bomb did not explode.

The church in Mdina.

Malta is evidence that one individual really can make a huge difference to a whole community. The island is full of beautiful churches, built by people of faith who were captivated by the message of Jesus first brought to the place by an apparent ‘accident’ of nature. Paul’s dedication in preaching the gospel wherever he went has reaped an enormous harvest. We should never underestimate the effect of one person’s testimony.

Pray for Malta, for each place needs an ongoing, living encounter with Jesus, not just an encounter with history. We had the privilege of witnessing the start of a service in Mosta, full of young school children eager to participate in the Easter story. Students from nearby Mattersey Bible College will be going on a mission to Malta very soon; pray they will be a blessing and help to Maltese Christians and there will be an ongoing harvest in that beautiful place.

This morning, Stephen reminded us that God knows us by name and gives us a new name. Tonight, Mark reminded us that choosing a name can be a difficult thing for parents-to-be! At tonight’s dedication service, we had the privilege of dedicating Tatijana to God, acknowledging her as a gift from God to her parents (Ps 127:3-5).

Children are a blessing and a commitment to parents. Christian parents have a responsibility to pray for their children, to discipline them and to bring them up to fear and know the Lord. Parenting will one day mean letting go of these children, but we can entrust them to God who cares for them and sees them all the days of their lives.

In Matt 19:13-15, we see people bringing children to Jesus for Him to bless them. The disciples were not keen on this, believing He was too busy to be bothered with children, but Jesus always has time for children. Jesus wanted to bless them and part of the dedication service involves asking for God’s blessing and direction on the whole family, but especially this new addition!

Children are biologically linked to their parents and will show traits of their parents in many ways. In the same way, by God’s Spirit, we are linked to the DNA of God and are growing to reflect His image. As parents, we promise before God to honour Him in every aspect of our lives and ask for His help in raising children; as a church, we commit to praying for every family within our wider body and supporting them in whatever ways are possible. Ultimately, we are grateful for God’s unconditional love and blessing for us all!

Our prayer is for every child and young person ultimately to come to know the Lord in a personal relationship and we baptise those who make that personal decision of faith.