St Michael and All Angels Houghton-le-Spring

Bishop Mark was in Houghton le Spring again today (20/08/2018) to attend a farewell party at Space4. He has been a staunch supporter of the project from it’s inception and has continued to visit and champion our cause throughout. Today we were able to thank him, wish him well on his upcoming retirement and present him with a gift to remember us by. Bishop Mark gave us parting words of encouragement, stressing the importance of the work we do in our local community and acknowledging the input of our service users. He also gave a very moving blessing to baby Anastasia, who initially started to cry as she was handed over to him but then, as if she knew what was happening, stopped crying and lay quietly in his arms. It was a very special moment for all of us.

We have been continuing to get good numbers at our Summer Club for local children at the Kepier Hall – a project funded from a Community Chest Grant. We were joined by Colin Nicholl, husband of Rox one of the organisers of the club, who tapped into his previous experience in youth work and kept the children well occupied with some great games both before and after lunch. Then it was time for ‘Open the Book’ – we have teams from our church congregation who go into local Primary schools to share bible stories in this amusing and engaging way. We heard all about Noah, the flood and his ark and the children sat spellbound as Rev Judith Howes told the story while some children helped to act it out. Sheila Wynne, Joan Beattie and Rebecca had organised some marvellous craft activities that had the children making arks and animals and then it was back to some great active games to finish off.
Week four was something of a carbon copy of week three only this time we got to hear all about Jonah and the Whale thanks to David and Rita Turnbull. But we also had a visit from Ann Donkin and Jo Avery from Gentoo who joined in with the crafts and did some fantastic face painting.
None of this great activity could happen without the hard work and dedication of a small team of volunteers from Space4, our uniformed organisations and church.

We have just completed week two of our Summer Club for local children and our sessions have been very well attended and a lot of fun with a splash of hard work for the grown ups! We began both session with a healthy and tasty cooked lunch which the children made short work of. Week one we had a visit from Bryan Lee from the Coalfields LAF Team who did some great physical exercise games with our 60+ children split into two groups. We also enjoyed some fun games with music lead by Rev Judith Howes and the Kepier Halls Dawn Wright. The children were sent home worn out but happy with a healthy packed tea.
Week two and another healthy cooked lunch this time followed by some fabulous craft activities lead by Denise Hepplewhite from Apextra Family Learning and the wonderful leaders of our Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. The children made some fantastic sea related items and then we had games lead by Rox Nicholl. Some of the children were very good and not doing the actions during a game of ‘Rox Said’ and they took a long while to be whittled down to a winner! Huge thanks to all the very hard working volunteers who slaved in the kitchen cooking and washing up, helped with the craft activities and made sure all the children were safe and had fun. This project was funded by a Community Chest Grant from our ever supportive local Councillors

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It was a delight to welcome Bishop Paul this morning to preside and preach. Bishop Paul reflected on the fact that we have had two significant ‘goodbyes’ in recent times and encouraged us to work together as we begin our vacancy. Bishop Paul preached on all three of this mornings readings – Job 38.1-11, 2 Corinthians 6.1-13 and Mark 4.35-41.
He observed God’s message to Job that God is far bigger than humankind, bigger than our imaginings and our understanding so trying to make sense of what may or may not happen can be futile. We need to trust in God and have faith.
When we find ourselves in the storms of uncertainty and challenge that life throw at us we need to remember, as the disciples were reminded in Mark, that God is always with us. God is there with us in all the mess and muddle and he is guiding us to calmer waters.
And finally, this amazing all knowing all powerful God wants to work with us in this dysfunctional world. He is our co worker not our boss. We are encouraged to have our hearts open wide as we work with God. Bishop Paul suggested that we might want to draw on the text from the passage when putting together our person specification for the next incumbent. He noted that he hadn’t seen any of the more negative things that Paul listed on recent person specifications but reflected that all life experience shapes us.
It was good to have time after the service to share coffee and conversation with each other and Bishop Paul.

We had a marvellous turn out at the Kepier Hall today for Rector Sue’s farewell lunch. As usual the Next 900 team cooked up a fabulous meal for everyone to enjoy and there were lots of memories shared. John Lambton produced a wonderful presentation of Sue’s life history and time spent with us and there were gifts and thank you speeches. It has been a 10 year period packed with all sorts of amazing events and achievements for St Michael and All Angels under the inspirational leadership of Rector Sue and we wish her every

happiness and success as she moves on to new adventures and challenges in Wales.