15th February 2026
By Justin Dyche in Sunday Service on 21 February 2026
Hello everyone,
I am pleased to say that Vera came out of hospital on Wednesday, but she had been joined in Northampton by Roy Tosh who had a suspected TIA last weekend. Roy is still there and waiting to be assessed by Seagrave House to see if he can be discharged there. Please pray for Roy and Jessie, as well as for Vera continuing her recovery at home.
This week includes Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) and Ash Wednesday, with special services morning and evening at St Columba’s (see below). This means that it is the beginning of Lent, that annual season of self discipline when we seek to give something up and take something on. You may give up chocolate (or any other treat) and then use the money to donate to a good cause (our Gift Day falls in Lent, but there are, of course, many good causes you may support), or you may give up watching a favourite TV programme and spend the time reading a Christian book or praying, or you may give up an activity outside the church to make time to attend the Wednesday Course, and although this started two weeks ago you can still join (see details below).
I am also pleased to report that our Church Improvement Project is gathering pace and hopefully work will begin in the next couple of months. This means that our PRAYER and GIFT DAY will come at just the right time to enable the work to be completed. This is scheduled to take place on Saturday 21st March and there will be more details about this in the coming weeks, but for now can I ask that you all mark out that day in your calendar and plan to spend at least some of the time between 9am and 3pm in church. If you are thinking of making a donation to the Church Improvement Project it may be better to wait until all the publicity about the Gift Day is available. In the meantime please do pray for the Project and ask the Lord to guide you about your response to the Gift Day.
Details of all the upcoming events are as follows:
Sunday 15th February
10.30am – Holy Communion at St Columba’s – this service will include the final sermon in our series on evangelism, so do come along so that you are prepared to help more people discover the love of Jesus for themselves. There will also be ENERGIZE groups for children and young people age 3-16.
The service will be available to watch on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/Qj9Sd02hihM?feature=share
6pm – Prayer Meeting at St Columba’s – everyone welcome.
Ash Wednesday Services and DISCIPLESHIP EXPLORED
We will observe the beginning of Lent with two services of Holy Communion at 10.30am and 7.30pm and I do encourage everyone to attend one of these. The “sermon” in the service will be the video from Discipleship Explored, and I hope we might have time for some discussion over coffee after the service. As mentioned above you may like to use this course as a “Lent Course” and even if you have not attended the first two sessions it is not too late to come along, and this week offers something of a taster so why not join us and give it a try. From next week, 25th February, the Course will return to the usual format, watching the video, discussing questions in small groups and comparing notes at the end.
Sunday 22nd February
9am – Holy Communion at St Leonard’s, Rockingham
10.30am – Morning Worship at St Columba’s – This service for the first Sunday of Lent will include a sermon from Linda looking at Jesus’ temptations and there will be ENERGIZE groups for children and young people.
6pm – Prayer Meeting at St Columba’s – everyone welcome.
THEATRE NEWS!
If you enjoyed the performance of songs from “Sister Act – The Musical” by Rutland Musical Theatre in church last Sunday morning then you can book to see the whole show at the Core at Corby Cube from Wednesday 8th to Saturday 11th April (7.30 performances daily and also 2.30 on Saturday) with tickets available from the Corby Cube Box Office, online at Sister Act | The Core at Corby Cube or in person.
CHARITY OF THE WEEK – Samaritans Purse Shoeboxes
I heard this week that my shoebox, along with over 55,000 others, had been delivered to Moldova in eastern Europe. A local church partner there writes:
“Greetings, this is our first time participating in this project and we want to express our gratitude. We held two outreach events for around 80 children. There was a fun programme of games, delicious food, performances by children, a word about the true meaning of Christmas and the distribution of gifts.
The children were very happy about the gifts and their contents. For one child, receiving a sports bottle brought great happiness, while for another it was the sewing kit.
We also had the opportunity to meet some of the parents and subsequently invited the children to The Greatest Journey. Thank you very much for this opportunity. God bless you.”
Please pray for the children who received our shoeboxes, especially as they embark on The Greatest Journey, an opportunity for them to discover Jesus.
God bless you,
Ian
01536 400225
07903 644609