Sunday Service

Category: Sunday Service

15th May 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 21 May 2022

Hello everyone,

Another bumper email this week so do settle down to read about what is going on in the life of StColumba’s. 

SUNDAY’S SERVICE

We are looking forward to gathering in church tomorrow for a service of Morning Worship at 10.30am led by David Bavin and with my latest sermon from the book of Ezra. We will have ENERGIZE groups for children and young people as well. For those unable to be in church you can watch an online version above. I’m sorry there is no PDF of the service this week.

HOPE INTO ACTION PRAYER MEETING

We will be meeting on Sunday evening for an hour of prayer from 6pm. This is not limited to HIA so do come along if you have any prayer requests or thanksgivings you would like to share. There won’t be a Prayer Meeting on Sunday 22nd because of a special service in town, see below.

MISSION NEWS

Here is the latest news from HOPE FROM ABOVE in Australia. Don’t forget Tim & Carol Derbyshire, who work with Hope from Above, will be with us at St Columba’s on Sunday 12th June.  We have also received a letter from CMS this week thanking us for the donation we made in support of M&H who are working in North Africa. Their latest Prayer Letter is on display at the back of church – for security reasons we are unable to copy this or attach to an email, so please do look for it at the back of church. We look forward to welcoming M&H and their family to St Columba’s at the end of July. 

LODGE PARK SCHOOL INVITES YOU TO THEIR JUBILEE TEA – Wednesday 25th May

As some of you know I have been visiting Lodge Park School during their lunch break most weeks of this school year as well as making some short films that they have watched during their Tutor Time. They have asked me if I know anyone who would like to join them for an AFTERNOON TEA in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Wednesday 25th May. Please let me know if you would like to come along and I will book you in.

VOLUNTEERS

Thank you to all those people who signed up last week to help as welcomers or with refreshments or with our Jubilee Celebrations. There is still room for more people to offer their services and the sheets will be available at the back of church again tomorrow.

PUZZLES

Steve’s 76th edition of Puzzles & Other Stuff is attached. He warns that you will need a tissue handy for the story of Bob!

NEXT SUNDAY

There is a Communion service at Rockingham at 9am, and a Morning Worship service at St Columba’s at 10.30am with Energize groups. 

UNITED PRAYER FOR CORBY next Sunday at 6pm

The Corby churches are invited to join together to pray for our town during the visit of the Knife Angel. We will be gathering at the statue at 6pm to ask God to bless and protect the people of Corby. 

AND FINALLY

A couple of weeks ago in our All age Worship we considered which celebrities were likely to be or become Christians. Of course, we quickly learnt that anyone can become a Christian. However mostpeople thought the Kardashians would be on the “not likely” list, so I had to smile when Premier News produced an article titled “The Kardashians: The Christian faith of the world’s most famous family”! You can read the story here – and you could also use it as a conversations starter with anyone you know who is a fan! 

May God bless you all in the coming week

Ian

8th May 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 21 May 2022

Dear Friends,

Welcome to another Saturday email and an invitation to a rather special service tomorrow at 10.30am when we will be welcoming some of Agnes Dunn’s family to join us as we dedicate a new banner they have donated to the church in memory of Agnes.

We will also have what looks like a very interesting sermon from David Bavin and a celebration of Holy Communion, as well as ENERGIZE groups for our children and young people.

Following the PCC meeting last week it was decided that with the fall in Covid infections we should no longer ask people to wear face coverings at services, but encourage anyone who would like to wear one to do so. We have also put more chairs back in church so there is less social distancing, apart from the chairs closest to the walls – please leave these for people who would like to maintain some social distance. In Communion services we will continue to share bread and wine together for the time being. 
We also felt that now is the time to re-introduce a team of welcomers before the service and refreshments afterwards, but we can only do these things if we have VOLUNTEERS to do them, so please do sign up when you come into church, otherwise there will be no refreshments. 

For those who can’t be with us in a church tomorrow you can watch a version of the service on youtube
and here is a PDF of the service as well.

SPRING HARVEST NEWS

This week’s Songs of Praise was filmed at Spring Harvest in Minehead when some of us were there so do watch at 1.20pm on Sunday and see if you can spot any familiar faces. We have the first Spring Harvest stories in our service tomorrow as well. Those people who have signed up to Spring HarvestHOME may be interested to know that all the material will continue to be availabel until 22nd May so more time to catch up on things you missed.

The HOPE INTO ACTION Prayer Meeting will happen at 6pm tomorrow evening in church.

JUBILEE CELEBRATION Sunday 5th JuneWe need lots of VOLUNTEERS to help with this day of activities including people to:make cakes in advance, serve tea and cake on the day, welcome people to the service/lunch,supervise family fun games, help with the BIG LUNCH Please sign up on the sheets in church or by replying to this email.

There is a bumper edition of PUZZLES & OTHER STUFF from Steve here, complete with a new Colour by Numbers picture. A prize awaits the first person to complete this and send to me (by email would be fastest but you can hand to me in church if you prefer).

NEXT SUNDAY

We have a service of MORNING WORSHIP at St Columba’s at 10.30am with the latest sermon in the series on Ezra.

May God be with you all in the week ahead,
Ian

01536 400225

07903 644609

1st May 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 21 May 2022

Hello again everyone, 

Sorry this email is rather late coming out. Part of the reason is that I enjoyed a very good Men’s Group breakfast this morning, with good food, good company and good music! We have our next meeting at 7.30pm on Thursday 19th May to which all men are warmly invited. 

SUNDAY’S SERVICE

I hope you have all had a good week and are enjoying the sunny start to the Bank Holiday weekend. Tomorrow the weather does not promise to be as good, so what better way to start the day than in church for our ALL AGE WORSHIP at 10.30am. Younger children are invited to bring any ride on cars, bikes, scooters etc ready to parade in at the start of the service – all will be explained! For those who are not able to be in church you can watch a slightly less energetic version of the service. There is also an even less energetic PDF of the service here! 

PCC on WEDNESDAYOn Wednesday next week the PCC will be meeting and among other business will be discussing our ongoing Covid measures, face coverings and social distancing for example. If you have any views about these please do speak with me or any PCC member before Wednesday. We will also be discussing our plans for celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Sunday 5th June. More details will be available shortly but the outline for the day is as follows:11am Celebration Service, hopefully outside the church,12 noon BIG Community Lunch which we are providing for 200 people (this is a great opportunity to invite people to join us for worship and FREE food!), then in the afternoon we are planning a programme of entertainment, again mostly outside the church (weather permitting). This will be the last meeting of the PCC before our re-arranged Annual Meeting on Sunday 22nd May. 

THIS WEEKWe have our regular HOPE INTO ACTION Prayer Meeting on Sunday at 6pm – we pray about many other concerns as well as about our HIA house so do come along if you would like to spend some time in prayer. 

On Friday at 10.30am in church we have the funeral of Mandy Niemandt’s dad, Alfie, and it would be great if folk from church could come along and support Mandy and Riaan. 

Next Sunday we have a Communion service at 10.30am at St Columba’s, with ENERGIZE groups for children and young people. In the afternoon at 3pm there is a Family Service at Rockingham. 

Steve has said that this week’s puzzles will be delayed so I will send them out separately so as not to delay this message. 

May God bless you all in this coming week. 

Ian 

01536 400225

07903 644609

24th April 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 24 April 2022

Hello again everyone, 

What a wonderful week it has been. It began with our gloriously joyful Easter celebrations last Sunday, continued for 27 of us with a trip to Minehead for Spring Harvest 2022 and included answers to at least three prayers for church members, two of which pinged onto my phone in one minute while I was waiting for a SH seminar to begin! Let us give thanks to our risen Lord Jesus who has shown, once again, that he is very much alive and at work within us and among us today. There will be stories about Spring Harvest in our services during May, as well as a continuing focus on prayer for the Jubilee Celebration on Sunday 5th June and Bishop John’s weekend from 1st to 3rd July. Those of you who were in church on Easter Day were given a mini egg to give away and I hope you have managed to do so – I gave mine away to a neighbour just this morning, and from his reaction I need to pray lots over the next month! 

SUNDAY SERVICES

Tomorrow we continue to reflect on the risen Lord in our services. There is a 9am Communion at Rockingham and 10.30am Morning Worship service at St Columba’s, both featuring a sermon from Linda Coleman. Energize will be meeting again tomorrow to prepare for our All Age Worship on Sunday 1st May. There is an online version of the St Columba’s service available to watch, PLEASE NOTE the link will not include the sermon until later this evening. There is no PDF here but I will forward it to anyone who requests a copy, but again that will not be until this evening. This is my way of carrying out a survey to find out if this is still serving a useful purpose, so please do reply even if you only sometimes make use of the PDF. 

HOPE INTO ACTION PRAYER MEETING

After an Easter break we are meeting again at 6pm tomorrow in church for our Prayer Meeting when we pray for HIA as well as other needs in our church family and the wider world. Please do consider joining us even if you have not been before.

MEN’S GROUP BREAKFAST

All men in the church family, and beyond, are invited to come along to our Men’s Breakfast on Saturday 30th April, 9am-11am in the Church Hall.Serving up friendship and fellowship with a hearty dose of hot and cold food plus drinks. Do feel free to invite friends along.If you have any special dietary requirements email Kevin – kfm@thedigitalchristian.com

NEXT SUNDAY

We are looking forward to our next ALL AGE WORSHIP at 10.30am with the first Spring Harvest stories. We are also looking forward to re-commencing some HOME GROUP style meetings in church soon. We hope to look at the subject of mission and how we can all be involved in it. And if your initial reaction was “that’s not for me” can I suggest that it might be just what you need! Sadly there are no Puzzles this week as Steve has been busy putting up a greenhouse!

I look forward to continuing to celebrate together the glorious news that Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

Best wishes, 

Ian 

01536 400225

07903 644609

17th April 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 17 April 2022

He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!

I do warmly encourage you all to come along to one, or both, of our Easter Celebrations tomorrow morning. It is three years since we were able to gather in church on Easter Day and fully celebrate Christ’s resurrection, so let us do it in style tomorrow. 

We will certainly be starting our celebrations early with the SUNRISE SERVICE at St Leonard’s Rockingham at 5.30am. This service is a very moving way to start Easter celebrations, quite literally moving, because we start outside the church around a fire before moving inside and slowly moving towards Communion. The church can be accessed via the entrance to Rockingham Castle off the A6003. Drive up to the post with the intercom and the gates will open. Drive to the Castle Towers and you will see cars parked just off the road on the right going away from the Towers. You then have to walk down to the church. After the service there will be breakfast in Rockingham Village Hall. 

At St Columba’s we have a more leisurely start time of 10.30am for our ALL AGE EASTER CELEBRATION WITH COMMUNION, although we are asking children and young people to arrive by 10am for a run through of our Easter drama. The weather looks as if it will be fine so we will finish the service outside church singing “Thine be the glory”, as we did last year but then we were socially distanced, tomorrow we can gather together to sing out God’s praise! This service includes some aspects, like the drama, that could not be filmed in advance, so we don’t have a pre-recorded version of the service this week, but you will be able to watch a livestream tomorrow morning at 10.30 (or you can watch back later in the day)

There will be no HIA Prayer Meeting tomorrow evening because many of us will be packing for Spring Harvest (and wanting an early night after getting up for the Sunrise service!) On the subject of SPRING HARVEST don’t forget that you can watch at home (you may even be able to spot people from St Columba’s) by buying an online access ticket for £49 from: https://www.springharvest.org/events/news/spring-harvest-home-is-back-for-22

I am grateful to those who prepared Holy Week Reflections, and those who came along and joined in – we had quite a variety. Just before Easter you may like to make use of a final reflection prepared by David Bavin. This is a Passover Reflection for the evening of Easter Eve (today) and is basically three characters involved in the trial of Jesus looking back over the events from their point of view. It can be viewed in full or broken down into each character’s section and used for meditation. The reflections stop at the end of Passover before Easter dawns. You can watch via this link: https://youtu.be/Xp_cwzseHEU

Next Sunday, 24th April, there is a service of Holy Communion at St Leonard’s, Rockingham at 9am and of Morning Worship at St Columba’s at 10.30am. We will also be meeting again for our HIA Prayer Meeting at 6pm on Sunday 24th.

Here is an Easter Special mini SCANS from Steve, and at the back of church there is a Prayer Letter from our new CMS mission partners, working in North Africa. They will be visiting St Columba’s in the summer, so do have a read and get to know them and their situation. Due to sensitivities in the area where they are working we are not able to include this as an attachment, but if you would like a printed copy for your personal use do ask Ian.

Although Kevin and I will be at Spring Harvest this coming week we will have our mobiles with us (see below) so do call if you need us and we can contact people in Corby if necessary.

A very happy Easter to you all,

Ian

Ian – 07903 644609

Kevin – 07512 822422

10th April 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 10 April 2022

Good morning everyone, I am sending this email out early because of Margaret Singh’s MEMORIAL SERVICE in church this afternoon at 3pm to which everyone is most welcome. There is lots of news below about all our upcoming activities for HOLY WEEK and EASTER as well as PRAYER NEWS and, of course, information about our services tomorrow. But with Holy Week in mind I wanted to start with a mention for Steve’s Puzzles and Other Stuff which is here (this is a large file and if you have trouble opening it let me know as there is a compressed file available). It contains an article from the archives about celebrating a Passover Supper at St Columba’s (perhaps you remember it?) and as Steve suggests this is something we can do again, or, to paraphrase the words of the Passover “next year in…Corby”. SUNDAY’S SERVICEWe will be celebrating Palm Sunday in church tomorrow at 10.30am while the children and young people will go out to prepare for not one but two services in the coming week (Hot Cross Bun Feast on Good Friday and Easter Day – see below). Everyone in church will be given a Palm Cross, if you are not able to be in church and would like a Palm Cross please do let me know and I will deliver one to you. (Please note as I am sending this early the playlist is not yet complete but all will be in place later today ready for watching tomorrow). There is the usual PDF of the service here. UPCOMING EVENTSTomorrow eveninh we have our regular HIA PRAYER MEETING at 6pm in church. This will be a little different tomorrow as it will include a Reflection for Holy Week. This will be the first of a short series of HOLY WEEK REFLECTIONS taking place on Monday and Tuesday evening at 7.30pm and everyone is very welcome. On Thursday we have a MAUNDY THURSDAY COMMUNION remembering the Last Supper, also in church at 7.30pm. 

Then on GOOD FRIDAY there is lots going on:

• We have a HOT CROSS BUN FEAST for the first time since 2018 so let me explain what this is. Simply it is an activity based event for everyone, but especially children and families, to think about why we have a Cross on our Hot Cross Bun. Held in the Church HALL from 9.45 for a 10am start on Friday it will last for just over an hour and includes Hot Cross Buns to eat (other options are available) and coffee, tea or cold drinks. The children will be preparing for this in Energize tomorrow so do come along, bring your friends, and join in the fun.
• There is a gathering in the Town Centre, outside McDonald’s, at 1pm on Good Friday but no walk of witness this year.
• The timing of this is not ideal because we would also like to encourage people to attend a quieter HOUR BY THE CROSS at Rockingham church at 2pm on Good Friday. This is a quieter more reflective service. Access to the church is via the main Castle entrance off the A6003, drive up to the post where there is an intercom and the gates will open (if you drive beyond the post the gates won’t open), then drive through the Castle grounds to the tower gateway where you will see cars parked down the hill and then you have to walk to the church.

On Saturday 16th April at 11am we are going to gather with Alois, Nicole, Kye, wider family and friends for LINDA MATEYO’S MEMORIAL SERVICE in church. This will be a bi-lingual service with some songs sung in Shona and I hope many people will join us to remember and celebrate Linda’s life. EASTER DAY will begin very early with a SUNRISE SERVICE at Rockingham at 5.30am (yes that is right 5.30 in the morning, just before the sunrise). If you have never been to a Sunrise Service I do recommend it and encourage you to make that special effort on Easter morning, it will be worth it. Later we have our ALL AGE EASTER CELEBRATION with COMMUNION at 10.30am in St Columba’s, and weather permitting, I hope we might finish the service outside (as we did last year when we could not sing in church) for a rousing rendition of Thine be the glory. Again the children will be preparing for this in Energize tomorrow. SPRING HARVEST AT HOME 18th – 22nd AprilA group of us are going to Spring Harvest at Minehead but, due to popular demand, Spring Harvest Home is back for 2022. Taking place at the same time as Spring Harvest in Minehead, their streaming website will bring incredible worship, fun kids sessions and insightful teaching directly to you in your living room. Featuring a combination of live sessions and pre-recorded videos, you’ll experience the essence of Spring Harvest without having to leave your home. It promises to be an incredible time so if you can’t join us in Minehead why not join us online? Tickets are just £49 and are on sale NOW! 

Further details, speak to Miriam or go online to https://www.springharvest.org/events/news/spring-harvest-home-is-back-for-22

LOOKING AHEAD

After Easter and Spring Harvest we hope to start some new groups in church to continue the fellowship, Bible Study and Prayer from our Lent Groups. Look out for more details of these but I expect they will be on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings like the Lent Groups.

And of course we have our PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATION on Sunday 5th June and BISHOP JOHN’S WEEKEND from 1st to 3rd July. We will have FIVE MINUTES OF PRAYER for these in our Sunday morning services, but why not start giving them five minutes of prayer every day at home?

PRAYER NEWS

I am pleased to say John Pender is recovering and hopes to be home from hospital soon. Please continue to pray for him as well as Maureen McCluskey as her recovery is taking rather longer. Sadly Mandy Niemandt’s father Alfie died on Monday last week, his funeral will be on Friday 6th May at 10.30am in church – please pray for Mandy and Riaan and their family. Also please pray for Cathy and Rachael Smith as Richard’s funeral takes place on Wednesday 13th April. Also that day Revd Nat White is being installed as minister of Grange Park Church in Northampton so please pray for Nat and Pete as they begin this new chapter in their ministry.

And finally, there is a Newsletter from HOPE FROM ABOVE in Australia with lots of news for prayer so do have a look and…pray.

May God bless you all in this coming Holy week,

Ian

01536 400225

07903 644609

3rd April 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 3 April 2022

Hello again everyone,

Once again we have a lot of news in this week’s email so do grab yourself a cup of tea (and your diary or calendar) and sit down to take it all in.

PRAYER NEWS

It is with great sadness that I have to say that Richard Smith went to be with the Lord on Wednesday morning. Thank you for your prayers for him but please do continue to pray for Cathy and Rachael.Three people from our church family are in hospital at the moment and in need of prayer:John Pender has a number of issues that have delayed his treatment for leukaemia but the tests are coming back with encouraging results. He does need his blood sugar to stabilise and for an infection to clear up. He is no longer able to receive visitors because there is Covid on the next Ward.

Maureen McCluskey went in on Monday and had a procedure on Tuesday which she is slowly recovering from.

Mandy Niemandt’s father went in on Wednesday and was diagnosed with lung cancer and only given 6-12 months, so do pray for him and for Mandy and Riaan.

On a more positive note Margaret Freeland is recovering at home after a procedure last week. 

Do give thanks that Kevin and I spoke to about 1000 school children over the last week from four different schools. It is wonderful to have these opportunities to speak about Jesus in school.

THIS WEEK’S SERVICES

The service on Sunday morning at 10.30am is Holy Communion, and there will be ENERGIZE groups for children and young people. For those not able to attend church the service can be watched on youtube.

 Please note the online service will not be complete until later this evening (Saturday). There is a PDF of the service here. Also tomorrow we have a HEALING SERVICE at 5pm. Everyone is welcome to this, whether you have a need for healing yourself, or know someone who does, or simply want to join with others praying for the people mentioned above.

PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATION and BISHOP JOHN’S WEEKEND

We are introducing five minutes of prayer for these outreach events in our Morning Services from tomorrow. This will be led in different styles but it is a way of encouraging everyone at church to engage in the serious work of prayer to prepare for these opportunities to reach out to our community as well as our friends and family, neighbours and colleagues. Please consider spending five minutes a day at home praying for them as well. More details tomorrow morning.

THIS WEEK

Hope into Action Prayer Meeting will be happening at 6pm tomorrow or immediately after the Healing Service finishes. 

The final LENT GROUPS will take place on Tuesday at 10.30am and Wednesday at 7.30pm. We are looking at John’s gospel this week.

In church on Saturday 9th April at 3pm we have a MEMORIAL SERVICE for Margaret Singh. Everyone is welcome to join us for this and to join with Margaret’s family in remembering her.

Next Sunday we have a service of Morning Worship at 10.30am.

HOLY WEEK

We are going to have a series of Holy Week Reflections on the evenings in Holy Week. The first will be in the HIA Prayer Meeting at 6pm on Sunday 10th but then they will be each evening at 7.30pm in church.

On Maundy Thursday there will be Holy Communion at 7.30pm and then on Good Friday we have our HOT CROSS BUN FEAST at 10am in the Hall and an HOUR BY THE CROSS at 2pm in St Leonard’s, Rockingham. 

On Saturday 16th April we have a MEMORIAL SERVICE for Linda Mateyo at 11am in church. Please do come along and support Alois, Nicole and Kye at that service.

SPRING HARVEST AT HOME

18th – 22nd April

A group of us are going to Spring Harvest at Minehead but, due to popular demand, Spring Harvest Home is back for 2022. Taking place at the same time as Spring Harvest in Minehead, their streaming website will bring incredible worship, fun kids sessions and insightful teaching directly to you in your living room. Featuring a combination of live sessions and pre-recorded videos, you’ll experience the essence of Spring Harvest without having to leave your home. It promises to be an incredible time so if you can’t join us in Minehead why not join us online?

Tickets are just £49 and are on sale NOW!

Further details, speak to Miriam or go online to https://www.springharvest.org/events/news/spring-harvest-home-is-back-for-22

SCANS and PUZZLES AND OTHER STUFF

For those who are in church tomorrow there is a new printed edition of SCANS available free of charge. Steve has also produced another Puzzles and Other Stuff which is here. 

May God bless you all in this coming week,

Ian

01536 400225

07903 644609

27th March 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 27 March 2022

Hello everyone, 

Tomorrow is Mothering Sunday and we are looking forward to celebrating together in church for the first time since 2019! Do come along and share in the joy of this special day. The service in St Columba’s begins at 10.30am (although we would ask any children to try and arrive by 10.15 so they can practice their parts in the service!). This week the service will be available as a livestream, so please go to the following link just before 10.30am on Sunday, or afterwards, and you will be able to watch the service in church. There is a PDF of the service here, although this does not contain everything that will be included in the service in church. For those who prefer a quieter service there will be a Communion service at Rockingham at 9am tomorrow. 

HOPE INTO ACTION NEWS

I am delighted to be able to report that a tenant moved in to our HIA house on Friday, after much hard work by many people on both the admin and practical side. The tenant is a single mum with a young daughter who did not know about their new home and as she went round the house finding all the new bits and bobs put in place for her there were shrieks of delight from each room she went into! This is a reward for all the work and many hours of prayer that have been poured into the house. Do come along and celebrate this moment at the HIA Prayer Meeting on Sunday evening at 6pm in church.

LENT GROUPS 

Our Lent Groups continue this week on Tuesday morning (10.30am) and Wednesday evening (7.30pm). This week we will be looking at Luke’s gospel and you would be most welcome even if you have not been to any of the previous talks.

NEXT SUNDAY

On Sunday 3rd April we have a HOLY COMMUNION service at 10.30am and a HEALING SERVICE at 5pm. This is the first healing service we have had for many months so do please come along, either if you need prayer or if you would like us to pray for someone you know.

MEMORIAL SERVICES

MARGARET SINGH left instructions with her daughters that her funeral, at the Crematorium, should be very small and they are following that request. However they have also asked if we could hold a Memorial Service for Margaret to which everyone is welcome. This will be on Saturday 9th April at 3pm in St Columba’s so do please come along to remember Margaret and give thanks for her life.

I am also pleased to say that we are holding a Memorial Service for LINDA MATEYO the following Saturday, 16th April, at 11am in St Columba’s. Linda sadly passed away during the pandemic when there were limits on the number of people who could attend a funeral so this is the first opportunity many people will have had to gather and remember her. After the service there will be an opportunity to visit her grave, where a new headstone is now in place, before refreshments in the Church Hall.

PRAYER NEWS

Please pray for John Pender who has spent most of the last week in hospital, but Sheila is cautiously optimistic that he is making progress. Also pray for John & Sheila’s son-in-law Graham who has Covid, as well as anyone else you know who is infected at the moment. Please also pray for Sue Scholes’ kidney function to improve so she does not need dialysis. Finally do remember Richard Smith in prayer, he is now in a hospice with only a few weeks to live, he is sleeping a lot but is comfortable. Do continue to pray for Richard, Cathy and Rachael.

PUZZLES

Here is the latest edition of Puzzles and Other Stuff.

Do look out for a printed edition of SCANS out next week. 

May God be with you all, 

Ian 

01536 400225

07903 644609

20th March 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 20 March 2022

Hello everyone,

I am pleased to say that I am feeling well in spite of a series of positive Covid tests that have kept me isolating all week. Thank you for all your prayers. I am looking forward to being able to be with you all in church tomorrow. My recent experience, and others in church who have Covid (see Prayer News below) reminds us that the rate of infection is very high and while most people (myself included) have a very mild case there is still a risk, especially for those who are more vulnerable. As a result I think that we should maintain our care for one another and continue to wear face coverings in church for the time being. I look forward to the time when this is not necessary, but, in spite of what is happening elsewhere in society, maybe because of what is happening elsewhere, we do need to remain careful and caring.

SERVICES TOMORROW

We have a choice of service in church tomorrow with HOLY COMMUNION services at 10.30 and 5pm. They will be similar services but with different sermons and different people leading intercessions. There will be less people at 5pm so if you are anxious about Covid and mixing with larger groups that is the service to attend. The 10.30 service will include ENERGIZE groups who will be preparing for next week’s MOTHERING SUNDAY service. For those who are unable to attend in person, like me last week, the service is available on youtube. This was filmed at home because I was isolating. There is also a PDF of the service here.

HOPE INTO ACTION PRAYER MEETING

We will be having our regular HIA Prayer Meeting at 6pm tomorrow, or immediately after the end of the 5pm service. As well as praying for the HIA house, which is nearly ready for the first tenant to move in, we will pray for other needs in our church (see below) and the wider world.

PRAYER NEWS

I am pleased to say that Michael Cain (our church member, not the actor) is home from hospital, thank you for your prayers.Please pray for all those with Covid at this time including: Barbara Bradshaw, her husband George and Carole Speirs dad Billy. Do continue to pray for Kevin and Kate and their family. Kate is waiting for more tests and their eldest daughter, Hannah, is moving to Corby next week. 

LENT GROUPS

We have had two meetings of our Lent Groups and three to go. I should say that the talks stand alone, so even if you have not been before, or have missed a talk, do come along and join in the fellowship – it is simply wonderful to be meeting together again. The groups will this week be looking at Mark’s gospel and meet in St Columba’s on TUESDAY at 10.30am and WEDNESDAY at 7.30pm.

EXTRAS

The latest HOPE FROM ABOVE Bulletin is here, as are the latest PUZZLES AND OTHER STUFF from Steve.

NEXT SUNDAY

Steve’s Puzzles does have an amusing picture to remind us that next week the CLOCKS GO FORWARD so we miss an hour in bed. This is especially tough on Mums who will not be able to enjoy quite so much of a MOTHERING SUNDAY lie in while breakfast in bed is prepared! Our service will be a special celebration for MOTHERING SUNDAY so we look forward to seeing you there. There is also a Communion service at Rockingham at 9am next week.

May God be with you all, and do get in touch of there is anything we can help you with.

Ian

01536 400225

07903 644609

13th March 2022

By Kevin Montgomery in Sunday Service on 13 March 2022

Dear St Columba Church family

We’re looking at Chapter three of the Book of Ezra this week, and in the first verse it contains the phrase ‘the people assembled together as one’, how amazing to think of people all those many years ago meeting together to come before God and worship Him just as we are still coming together today.

SUNDAY SERVICE

Over the last couple of years we have seen a lot of disruption to that coming together, and have had to meet in different ways physically and online and we are reminded this week that Covid has by no means disappeared from our lives as Ian came down positive for coronavirus earlier this week, please do be praying for him, Miriam and Jo. 

Due to this we’ve got a reduced online service this week but thankfully still have Ian’s sermon as part of his series on Ezra. 

Our Sunday service was due to have the Annual Meeting as part of it but with Ian being in isolation we are postponing that for the moment and will let you know the new date when it’s been arranged. Instead we have a Morning Worship Service and big thanks to Rosie and William for stepping up to do this service.

COMING UP

 
Our lent groups started well last week and will be carrying on this week, looking forward to those. For all of our men, we have postponed the men’s meeting for this month and are encouraging people to attend the Lent Groups instead. However gents, do put the 16th April in your diary – which is Easter Saturday, we will be having a men’s breakfast in the morning – more details to come.

EXTRAS

We do have another great Mini-SCaNS available from Steve to keep you occupied and the latest update from Tim and Carol Derbyshire.

COMMUNITY

You may have already seen the news of proposed funding cuts to Pen Green Children’s Centre here in Corby, whilst we have to appreciate funding issues within the new North Northants Unitary Authority this seems to me at least to be a serious inequity and I would encourage you to have a read here; https://www.change.org/p/save-pen-green-s-core-funding and if you feel able to sign the accompanying petition. At the same time do be praying for all those in authority; for them to serve the people they are looking after well and for wisdom as they seek to lead.

Our Hope into Action house is getting increasingly close to being ready for its first tenant and a big thanks to all those involved in getting it ready, particularly John Lynch who has done a fantastic job in getting the house ready.

PRAYER

We are called as a people of prayer, and we do still have our Hope into Action prayer meeting at 6pm this Sunday, it would be great to see you there.

I’m aware that we had a number of prayer requests last week, which I would encourage you to continue praying for and please do continue in prayer for Ukraine and the situation there and all those affected by it as well as all those trying to help.

It is with sadness that my only update so far from last weeks prayer news is of Margaret Singh who after suffering a stroke last week passed away on Wednesday, eternal rest grant to her O Lord, may perpetual light shine upon her, may she rest in peace and rise in glory. I am sure she will be much missed. Please do be praying for the family at this time and for God’s comfort to be with them. We have no information on the funeral as yet, but will let you know when we do.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Kevin Montgomery

Curate, St Columba

01536 647727

07512 822422