May God’s peace and love be found in your hearts and your homes this Christmastide. 

Cottingham Food Bank 

Wednesday mornings between 10 and 11:30am, behind the Zion Church in Hallgate, Cottingham. We are open to everyone, no referral or proof of benefits required

Contemplative Prayer Group at St Ninian's and St Andrew's

The Contemplative Prayer Group will restart on Tuesday, 03rd February at 7pm. During February the group will be led by Chris Hembury from SEARCH who will be looking at the lives of different Celtic saints as a focus for our prayer. As usual anyone is welcome, whether you can come regularly or just occasionally.

Jon Steel

 Your lay preacher ponders again – February:  Valentine's Day – Love and success

January saw ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘National Hug Day’; two very different ways of seeing the world. Hopefully the latter succeeded in balancing out the former, but as we move into February the calendar tends to focus on Valentine’s Day. At school (as a pupil and as a teacher) I remember the fun we had in trying to succeed in gaining the greatest number of cards. I confess that I never won, but the opportunity to show and to share love has always seemed like a good idea to me, no matter what day of the year it is. Even with the current pressure on household budgets, it’s anticipated that the UK economy will probably benefit from our purchased expressions of love to the sum of one billion pounds this month.

I came across one company of florists offering a bouquet of a hundred red roses for the financially successful; six of them encased in 24-carat gold and the rest finished with a sprinkling of ‘Diamond Dust’. All yours for a mere £20,000.

But love is so much more than an expensive price tag or even an emotion we might feel. It’s a decision we need to make and make regularly with one another. By doing so, we can transform the world around us. The Bible speaks in great detail about the nature and expression of love and it was seen as so important by Jesus that He actually made it a commandment. “A new commandment I give you: love one another.” (John13: v.34)

I always appreciate the items of good news, often at the end of a bulletin, that highlight some expression of love that has succeeded in making the world a better place. Perhaps we should have more of them? But how about this from Charlie Mackesy’s wonderful book, ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.’ “What do you think success is?” asked the boy. “To love,” said the Mole.

What a lovely way of seeing the world. May we all have the heart to give it and the grace to receive it.

Mary Young