16th February 2025
By Justin Dyche in Sunday Service on 22 February 2025
Dear St Columba’s Family,
Steve Scholes’ Funeral – Monday 24th February at 1pm in church.
Steve asked that his funeral should be “a joyous affair” and with that in mind Sue has asked that people do not wear black. Also, as I said last week, I would be grateful for any memories you have of Steve. Apart from Sue, Steve had no living relatives, so it would be wonderful if St Columba’s could be full of Steve’s church family for this service.
Jane Inwood’s Funeral
I mentioned last week that former church member, Jane Inwood (“Tall Jane” or “Jangly Jane” as some people knew her) has her funeral on Tuesday 18th February at 11am. This will be a simple Graveside ceremony at Shire Lodge which will be followed by an informal Celebration of her life in St Columba’s at 11.30, followed by refreshments. I would encourage all those who knew Jane to join us for this, when we will also welcome many of her former carers and friends from the local community.
SUNDAY SERVICES
On Sunday there will be a service of HOLY COMMUNION at 10.30am in St Columba’s with ENERGIZE groups for children and young people. This will include the next sermon in our series looking at the Passion narrative in Luke’s gospel, this week thinking about the events in the Garden of Gethsemane from Luke 22 v39-53. This service will be available as a livestream by going to: https://youtube.com/live/VTuqEzytOeo?feature=share
In the evening we will have the PRAYER MEETING at 6pm, please use the side door of church.
ELECTORAL ROLL
Every six years we have to prepare a completely new Church Electoral Roll (our membership list) rather than simply revising the existing roll. This means that everyone who would like to be included on the Electoral Roll needs to complete a new application form. This will mean you have a vote at our Annual Meeting on 16th March (see below). To make this as easy as possible we will be handing out forms at services and giving people time to complete them during the service, so they can be collected in before you leave. However for anyone who has not been in church over the last few weeks here is a form that can either be completed electronically and sent back to me via email (ianpullinger@btinternet.com) or printed at home and delivered to church or the Vicarage BEFORE the end of February. Any questions about this please email ianpullinger@btinternet.com.
ST COLUMBA’S ANNUAL MEETINGS and LUNCH
As mentioned above our Annual Meetings will be on Sunday 16th March after the 10.30am service in the Church Hall and will be followed by a hot lunch. There will be a sign up sheet in church for the lunch, and while everyone is welcome to the Meetings, you do need to be on the Electoral Roll to have a vote (see above).
ONE LOVE SOCIAL CLUB
This group is run by Ann Rigby’s daughter Rachael, and involves about thirty people with special needs meeting every Friday from 6.30 to 8.30 at Stephenson Way Community Centre where they have lots of fun. Every week they do something different, this Friday it was a Valentine’s Disco, but they also do arts and crafts, games, singing, dancing etc. They have asked if we would be able to donate small raffle or tombola prizes for the group as these give so much pleasure.
NEXT SUNDAY
On Sunday 23rd February we have two services and a Prayer Meeting as follows:
9am HOLY COMMUNION at St Leonard’s, Rockingham.
10.30am MORNING WORSHIP at St Columba’s with ENERGIZE groups for children and young people who will be preparing for our All Age Service on 2nd March.
6pm PRAYER MEETING at St Columba’s.
LENT 2025
Lent begins in two and a half weeks and we will have two Holy Communion services on Ash Wednesday (5th March) at 10.30am and 7.30pm,
We will then have Lent Groups meeting at those times on Wednesdays 12th, 19th, 26th March and 2nd April when we will be watching a video by Jeff Lucas “There are no strong people” based on the story of Samson. Everyone is welcome to these groups, which we hope will lead to further Fellowship Groups gathering after Easter.
CHARITY OF THE WEEK – World Vision
This week our highlighted charity is World Vision. They have a long history of taking action that transforms the world with a focus on helping the most vulnerable children, in the most difficult places, to overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. They have partnered with millions of children and families to find a way out of poverty, and we’re often among the first to help when a crisis strikes. As a Christian charity, we help children, of all faiths and none, in some of the world’s most dangerous places. We believe it takes a whole community to create happy and fulfilling childhoods. And we work together with communities so they’re empowered to do just that. Our integrated approach includes water, healthcare, education, child protection, and income generation. With the aim of allowing every child to fulfil their God-given potential. Across almost 100 countries, our impassioned community of supporters, volunteers and community leaders work together to transform children’s lives.
Find out more at: https://www.worldvision.org.uk/about/world-vision/
Every blessing to you all.
Ian
01536 400225
07903 644609