24th March 2024
By Justin Dyche in Sunday Service on 30 March 2024
Hello everyone,
Please find below details of all our services for this Holy Week and Easter. I do hope you will be able to join us for one or more of these services which remind us why this season of the year is so important. There are also detail of a meeting about SPRING HARVEST for all those who are going, and more details about our new PRAISES FOR PRAYERS feature in St Columba’s services in which we hope to hear about answers to prayers from members of our church family. There are also details from last week’s Annual Meetings at St Columba’s, and the latest Snippets from the Shires from Tim & Carol Derbyshire in Australia, with an update advising the news that Tim’s dad, who we have been praying for, died during this last week, after the first Snippets was sent out. Do look out for the latest printed edition of SCaNS in church on Sunday as well.
PRAISES FOR PRAYERS
At our Annual Meeting last Sunday I launched what I hope will become a regular feature of our worship, an opportunity for people from our church family to share in the service their answered prayers, a feature we are calling PRAISES FOR PRAYERS. I hope this will encourage all of us to pray more, and as such this is another part of our YEAR OF PRAYER. If you have an answer to prayer you would like to share please do let me know, ideally before Sunday so we can plan these in the service.
PALM SUNDAY SERVICES
There will be two services on Sunday morning. At 9am in St Leonard’s, Rockingham we have HOLY COMMUNION and at 10.30am in St Columba’s there is a service of MORNING WORSHIP, during which the children and young people will be preparing for both the Hot Cross Bun Feast on Good Friday and our Easter Day service. This service will be available as a livestream here:
https://youtube.com/live/5pS_6lQfU94?feature=share
SPRING HARVEST MEETING
Also on Sunday we have a meeting at 5pm in St Columba’s for all those going to Spring Harvest at Butlins, Skegness after Easter. It is always helpful if everyone can be at this meeting so we can share all relevant information with you. This is especially important if you have not been before.
If you have not booked to go as part of our group it is still possible to go as a Day Visitor, the best days are Tuesday 2nd – Thursday 4th April and to get the most out of the day arrive by 10am and don’t leave until after the evening meeting at about 9pm. Day tickets cost £44 for adults (15+), £32 for 5-14 year olds, and £24 for 2-4 year olds. You can book your tickets here:
https://ecevents.uk/sh2024-day-visitors/days/Site/Register
Do let us know if you are coming and we can look out for you.
It will also be possible to watch Spring Harvest at Home, being broadcast from Skegness so you may even see some familiar faces in the crowds! Tickets will cost £27.50 and full details will be available next week.
PRAYER MEETING
Also on Sunday we have our regular 6pm Prayer Meeting at St Columba’s, so if you are coming to the Spring Harvest meeting why not stay on and join us for prayer.
LENT GROUPS
Our Lent Groups conclude this Wednesday at 10.30am or 7.30pm looking at the subject of Praying to Serve. These groups will be held in the Meeting Room of the Church Hall where we can enjoy some warmth without being squashed!
HOLY WEEK and EASTER
Later in the week we have the following special services for HOLY WEEK and EASTER:
Maundy Thursday 7.30pm Holy Communion at St Columba’s – always a special time to reflect on the Last Supper.
Good Friday 10am Hot Cross Bun Feast in St Columba’s Church Hall – a service designed to explain to children and families why we have a cross on our Hot Cross Buns – who could you invite to join us?
Good Friday 2pm Hour by the Cross in St Leonard’s, Rockingham – a quiet reflective service as we remember Christ’s death on the Cross for us.
Easter Day 7am Sunrise Service at St Leonard’s, Rockingham – because the Lord was found to have risen “very early in the morning”! This will be followed by breakfast in Rockingham Village Hall.
Easter Day 10.30am All Age Communion at St Columba’s – always a highlight of the church year and this year even more so with the Baptism of Chuka and Njideka’s baby, Kamto.
ST COLUMBA’S ANNUAL MEETINGS
At St Columba’s Annual Meeting of Parishioners we re-elected John Lynch and Janet Taylor as churchwardens and at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting we elected Elaine Bavin, Linda Coleman, Justin Dyche, James Ireland and Margaret Smith to the PCC. If you were not at the meeting and would like a copy of either the reports booklet or the financial accounts to 31st December 2023 please do reply to this message and they can be sent electronically. Thank you to everyone who has served St Columba’s in whatever capacity on the last year and especially to those people elected last Sunday and also to all who contributed to a very enjoyable Hot Lunch after the meeting.
CONFIRMATION Sunday 21st JULY
We have arranged a Confirmation Service in our Sunday morning service at St Columba’s on 21st July so if there is anyone who has not been confirmed, or baptised, then please do speak with me in the next couple of weeks as we will be gathering a group together for Confirmation Preparation after Easter.
SNIPPETS FROM THE SHIRES
Please find here two letters from Tim & Carol Derbyshire. The first is Snippets from the Shires March 2024, but as explained above this was written before Tim’s Dad died. The second, Snippets from the Shires March 2024 update, reflects on this sad news.
May God bless you all in this Holy Week, and I do hope you can join us at one or more of our special services.
Ian
01536 400225
07903 644609