Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during September 2020]

Do some of the locations named in the Bible arouse your curiosity? We are told that names given to Biblical characters are often very significant, but what about the locations? We know about Jerusalem, Jericho and Joppa, and we can find maps of Abraham’s wanderings, the exodus from Egypt and Paul’s missionary journeys but what about the lesser-known places?

Some names are simply geographical locations. The fugitive David hid in the caves of Abdullam and in the desert area around En-gedi, both remote places where it would be difficult for his pursuers to find him. Other places such as Jehovahjireh, Bethel and Ebenezer bear names that remind us of particular events.

In Deuteronomy 32 Moses is told that he will die on Mount Nebo. For me, Mount Nebo is a popular tourist spot to the north of Brisbane yet nobody thinks that Moses died in Australia. Why does Revelation record letters to a small settlement in southeast Pembrokeshire and a large city on a continent that won’t be discovered for another 1,500 years? Both Sardis and Philadelphia are namesakes of those Biblical cities whilst the ‘original’ Mount Nebo is in Jordan.

Other names have a metaphorical significance. The book of Psalms has a number of examples, including “It is as the dew of Hermon” (Psalm 133) and “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!” (Psalm 120). Hermon is a mountain that was a source of water for northern Israel, Meshek was one of the rudest nations at that time while to dwell in the tents of Kedar was to be cut off from the worship of the true God.

Returning to our previous examples, Jehovahjireh was the name that Abraham gave to the place where he had been about to sacrifice Isaac but God provided a substitute. Bethel was where Jacob had his dream of a stairway to heaven, a means of direct communication with God. Ebenezer means ‘Hitherto has the Lord helped us’.

Together these remind us that God provided a substitute who took the punishment for our sins, that we can have direct communication with God and that He will continue to be our refuge and strength.

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 06/Sep/2020]

Have you ever felt like an outsider? I suspect that most of us have felt this at one time and sadly one place where this is often experienced is in the church.

I remember feeling very isolated at a previous church, as the only single parent, the only adoptive parent and the only parent of children with special needs. One day I was talking with another woman who I assumed was at the centre of things, as a deacon, a long standing church member and having the ideal family with a Christian husband and a “normal” child. Yet before I mentioned my own feelings of isolation, she confided in me that she felt rejected and on the outside of the church.

Feelings of isolation can arise because we feel different from those around us, or because past experiences of rejection make us assume that others will reject us. The need to belong is fundamental and the feeling of being an outsider can be excruciatingly painful. Recently I had a dream in which I discovered that a number of things had been happening to people at church, like moving house or getting engaged, of which I had been unaware. The hurt of being excluded stayed with me even after waking up, but then I felt God was saying to me: “You need never be excluded from my church. If you listen to me, I will gladly tell you the things that I am doing in the church. These things are far more important than who has moved house, got engaged or who is having a baby.”

Many of us have felt isolated over the past few months. It must be particularly hard for those who do not have internet access, or who are unable to leave their homes. Yet we can draw comfort from the story in Numbers 11, in which Moses gathered 70 of the elders together and God poured his Spirit on them. For some reason 2 of the elders had not gone with the others, but God still poured out his Spirit on them where they were. Even if we are unable to meet together, God can still pour out his blessing on us wherever we are.

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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during September 2020]

The decorators have been in. Such a simple statement; such profound implications. It took more than a week to prepare the rooms in which they were to work. Pictures to be taken down, electrical fittings disconnected, furniture removed, cupboards emptied, shelves cleared of those mementoes of long-forgotten holidays – ironically the outcome that the souvenirs were intended to prevent. No time to ponder and procrastinate; pass them on to the next generation to deal with.

But there are more significant memories. This house is over 120 years old and has been in the same family of most of that time. Children have grown up in these rooms, their own children have grown up in theses rooms, and so for at least four generations.

One of the most dramatic memories comes from the communist era. Certain men of the village used to gather in one of the rooms to listen to radio broadcasts from the West, which was strictly illegal. Eventually one of the men sneaked and the house was raided by the police. They found the radio tuned to the foreign station and as a result the owner spent spent six months in one of the Romanian prisons that Richard Wurmbrand described with such graphic detail.

Memories, and dust! Dust from the tops of the cupboard that you can’t reach, dust from pulling down the old ceiling, dust from the packed-earth insulation in the attic, dust from replastering, dust from finishing surfaces, even the dust has dust.

The Bible has quite a lot to say about dust. Genesis 2 tells us that God made man from the dust of the earth. Psalm 103 reminds us that God “knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” but reassures us that “the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children”. 1 Samuel 2 contains a promise: “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and makes them inherit a throne of honour”.

Ancient alchemists searched for a way to change base materials into gold. The death of Jesus Christ provides the way to turn dust into gold-dust, precious in God’s sight. Have you been refined?

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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during September 2020]

‘As long as the earth endures, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’ [Genesis 8:22 NIV]

And so a new month begins. COVID continues its rampage despite the (now forgotten) assertions that the warmer weather would reduce its severity; the return to school looms, as both an opportunity and a threat; and the decimated holiday industry is echoing the lament from ‘Chaplin’ – “Where are all the people?”

“Where are all the people?” also applies to our church congregations. I heard recently one Australian pastor describing ‘pyjama Christians’, those who tune in to watch the church show and then tune out. Just because you cannot go to the Lord’s house does not stop the Lord from coming to your house instead, and are you ready for that?

On the other hand, are we making the most of the breakdown of old, perhaps less inviting, perceptions of church? We have a new culture of thinking differently and some amazing tools available. We must ensure that advancements in technology can also bring advancements in the work that the Church worldwide has been given.

We saw last week that the apostle Peter was called to try something new. In his case, it involved spending time with people that previously he would not have considered ‘saveable’. Without compromising in any way the essentials of the Gospel, Peter was able to share the good news with his audience and, at the same time, to expand the vision of those who had travelled with him.

Do we have a big-enough vision? Or are we waiting for a return to normality and the cycle of predictable events. God reminded Noah that certain predictable events including the changing of the seasons would continue ‘as long as the earth endures’. That introduces the prospect of an eventual end to the earth and puts a time limit on predictability. Despite the expectations of many, and the preparations of a few, the old earth will pass away and be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. A new normality will be established and the focus of the question has shifted: “Where will you be?”

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This week’s Midweek Message takes the form of interviews with representatives of two organisations helping poorer people in the Horley locality.
– Doug Kilborn, a trustee of the Henry Smith charity;
– Gill Martin, a leader of the ‘Make Lunch’ initiative.
The following link will open an introduction by Martin Shorey, Minister of Horley Baptist Church:

YouTube link: Help Horley

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 30/Aug/2020]

Two young refugees from Sudan have just tried to paddle across the Channel to England in a small inflatable boat with two shovels as oars. The tiny boat capsized and one of them managed to swim ashore in France, but the other, a 16 year old boy, was washed ashore having drowned. This is another tragic loss of life in the ongoing attempts by refugees to come to the UK.

Now that we have the opportunity to go on holiday, there have been warnings recently in this country about the danger of holidaymakers, particularly children, being swept out to sea in small inflatables by wind and current. When we were on holiday in South Wales, Barbara and I took our two children for a row in a four man inflatable. It was a beautiful sheltered bay, but two boys of about 8 or 9 went out too far and were being swept out to sea by the wind. There was no way I could, or even dare, to try and reach them, but they decided to jump into the sea and swim to the beach. The older boy kept going and reached the shore, but the younger one stopped swimming and cried out for help. I managed to reach him and we pulled him out of the water, then the five of us rowed back to the beach. When we got there the two boys ran off and it was apparent that they were there on their own. What a blessing that I was in the right place at the right time otherwise the younger boy would have drowned.

On a boat trip to Caldy Island a few days later, the boatman told me how he had picked up an inflatable a mile or two offshore and found a terrified boy cowering in the bottom of the boat. When he got to land he took the boy to his holiday home and his parents had not even noticed that he was missing.

On a completely different subject, during the lockdown Barbara’s sister, Joan, was seriously ill and taken to hospital in Harlow, Essex. By “chance” our son-in-law’s sister was in charge of the ward where she was taken for assessment, and because she knew Joan well she was able to tell the doctors that she was normally a strong, bright, elderly lady. Although expected to die, during the five weeks Joan was in hospital she regularly visited her, arranged video calls and even prayed for her, (Joan’s not a Christian). By a miracle Joan was healed and we were then able to break lockdown and look after her at home.

These are three examples that I believe that God arranged for someone to be in the right place at the right time. There are several examples of this happening in the Bible. I can only share one important occasion in the book of Esther. The wicked nobleman, Haman, planned to kill all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire. Queen Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, encouraged her to risk her own life to save their people. He said, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). They were both in the right time and place. Esther was able to turn the tables on Haman and save all the Jews from slaughter. The Jewish people still remember that to this day in the Feast of Purim.

We may not have the opportunity to save a whole race or even one individual life, but we can be sure that there will be times when God puts us in a place and at a time when only we can help or encourage that person who is in need. We may not feel able to do it but if we are faithful to God in this way, then He will certainly be faithful to help us to do it.

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