Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], July 2020]

Bodies are something we’re pretty familiar with, after all we all have one! So the apostle Paul uses the body as a way to describe the church. What can we learn from this analogy today?

Last week we looked at defining what the church is and what it isn’t. Actually we have to be careful what words we use because the words we do use say a lot about who we are and what we do. There’s a particular analogy that the Apostle Paul famously uses to talk about the church and it’s found in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it’s a letter that he wrote to the church in Corinth. They refer to the gathered believers in Jesus Christ as a body. In other parts of the Bible it tells us that actually those who believe in Jesus are the body of Jesus Christ; they are his representatives on earth, his physical presence filled with his spirit.

^[01:01] Paul takes that analogy even further and compares the body of Christ to an actual body. He talks about unity but he also talks about diversity and the importance of the differences that we find in our churches. You might be tempted to think “well, I can’t do what that person can do or I don’t look like them or sound like them so I can’t be part of the body, I can’t be part of the church” or you might be looking at someone else and say “You know what, they don’t really fit in here, they’re two different, they’re too unlike us.” Paul said “That just doesn’t work. It’s like the head saying to the feet or the eye saying to the hand I don’t need you“. Now in respect to a body then that’s just ridiculous and it should be ridiculous as well for the church because in our diversity and in our unity we make up a complete whole. We are all necessary, we are all important and we are all indispensable, so much so that if one part of the body hurts the whole body hurts.

^[02:27] I used to suffer from ulcers a lot as a child and even now I know that if I get an ulcer in my mouth that’s going to hurt pretty much for the whole week. Something so small can have such a negative effect on the whole of my body and likewise Paul says that if one part of the body hurts then the whole body hurts, if one part of the church hurts then the whole church hurts and if any part is lacking honour there well, God wants to fix that. He wants to raise them up, he wants to elevate them, he wants to give them a special honour and we as the church should rejoice in that. That is so relevant at this time when we are reflecting on racism and the way that we have been culpable in that.

^[03:14] Rather than questioning whether we should elevate one particular group of people, we need to realize that the black community has been rejected by our churches and sidelined so much that they have to form their own churches. God is actually using this time to lift them up and, rather than be annoyed at that, rather than becoming defensive we should rejoice in the fact that God is lifting them up to a place of honour. We celebrate our differences, we need to recognise that everyone is important and necessary and has a part to play. We need to recognise that we are united because we are the body of Christ and we are full of his spirit to do his work in this place in our communities and to build his kingdom.

[1] YouTube link: What is the Church? Part 2
Bible references: 1 Corinthians 12 v12-27
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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during July 2020]

Back in November 2016 Michael Goble wrote a reflection in ‘Yours’ in which he recounted how he had been called to step outside of his comfort zone. In one example he spoke of dancing in church and another of acting as chaplain to a youth group. Michael’s conclusion was “If that is truly His will for you then by His Spirit He will give you the power to do it”.^[1]

The prophet Amos was called to step outside his comfort zone. He describes himself thus: ‘I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”’ He found himself transferred from a rural setting into the court of the king of Israel where he had to deliver a message that was unpopular with the people of his day. The core of his message was that the nation of Israel – the people of God – had turned their backs on Him and were now headed for destruction.

As we see the news reports of post-lockdown reactions, do we too see evidence of people who have no interest in God? As a mass of humanity releases pent-up frustrations, whether at the barricade or the beach, how do we react? In Luke 18 Jesus described the religious approach: ‘The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector.”’ In the following chapter Jesus shows his own reaction: “As he … saw the city, he wept over it”.

In the days of Amos, the people rejected the warning from God and in due course they were taken into exile, the religious along with the ungodly. Yet the book of Amos has a positive ending:

“I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the LORD your God.”

We spend most of our lives trying to make ourselves comfortable. Maybe Psalm 119 offers a better approach: “I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them.”

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[1] Available on this site at I Feel Like Dancing
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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during June 2020]

Catalogue (def): a dialogue with a feline focus.

Recently we were treated to an ingenious presentation of the Biblical story of Daniel in the lions’ den^[1]. It set me wondering which of our ten cats could play the central role of Albus Dumblepaw. Ten cats? I suppose that ten cats is about the right number if you want to get rid of some corrupt state officials with dubious motives. In a somewhat similar way, our cats are not house pets – they are expected to earn their keep by controlling the local vermin.

Initially, there was just one cat but someone dumped two kittens at our gate, no doubt thinking that the Englishman will look after them. Then a neighbour’s cat decided that we were offering better facilities so she moved in too. The two older cats are familiar with the instruction in Genesis 8 v17 and have set about complying; each had three kittens and they are both happy to nurture each other’s offspring.

Domestic cats are not often mentioned in the Bible. By implication, their ancestors are included in the process of creation and similarly in Noah’s floating menagerie but otherwise it is their wilder cousins who take pride of place. We think of lions as the magnificently-maned layabouts of the savannah but the middle-eastern concept is more like a mountain lion. Fiercely protective of both their family and their territory, they symbolise strength, cunning and aggression. They inspire fear in those who encounter them although some, like Samson and David, were able to defeat them.

In 1 Kings 13 we have the curious story of a prophet who disobeyed God and was attacked by a lion on his way home. His body was found with the lion standing on one side and his untouched donkey on the other. Later, in 2 Kings 17, we are told that the people who resettled Samaria after the Israelites were exiled were themselves attacked by lions under the hand of God because they did not know what “the god of that country requires”. The key to survival is obedience to God.

The apostle Peter warns us: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Failure to heed this warning is likely to be catastrophic.

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[1] HBC Sunday morning online service, 21/Jun/2020, from 27:58
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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 28/Jun/2020]

In many ways I have quite enjoyed my holiday at home for the last few months. Like all of us, we had a good opportunity to get some outstanding jobs done in the home and garden. We are fortunate to have a secluded garden, with trees, shrubs and flowers, and so we were also able on many sunny days to spend some time sitting there imagining we were out in the country. But I did have a bit of a wobbly the other day, and later on it didn’t help when we heard the sad news that Dame Vera Lynn had died. For over 80 years her songs had lifted us up and given hope to millions of people when times were dark, even until recently.

I knew that I needed lifting up as I began to read the Bible passages that were set for that day. The first was from 1 Kings 19 when Elijah, fresh from his victory over the prophets of Baal, ran away from Queen Jezebel and he became so depressed he wanted to die. Well that wasn’t a very good start for me. After sending an angel to give him food and drink, God got his attention by sending a strong wind, an earthquake and fire, and Elijah listened and went off to continue serving Him.

The second passage was in Acts 12. Peter was thrown into prison by King Herod Agrippa where he awaited trial and probably death. Again, a not very happy story as I did feel a bit like being in prison myself. However, the story got better because God sent an angel who led him past the guards and opened the iron gate so that he escaped safely back to the other believers in Jesus. So there was hope for me.

Next, I read Psalm 136. I imagined the Psalmist standing in front of the people crowded into the Temple court. Then I thought of it happening as we would do it today, or hopefully soon, with him pointing to a large screen and saying that he would read the words in black giving thanks to God and they would respond by reading the words in blue. So he started off.

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good”
and the crowd shouted back,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
“Give thanks to the God of gods.”
“His faithful love endures forever.”
“Give thanks to the Lord of lords.”
“His faithful love endures forever.”

And so on to the end of the Psalm –for 26 times. I suddenly realised with each shouted response from the crowd that God was shouting at me that “His faithful love endures forever”. That was what I needed, as I thankfully thought of the countless times He had faithfully loved my family and myself in times of blessing, and times when things were going wrong.

I shouldn’t have needed reminding about God’s faithful love, and sometimes He needs to wake us up to reality by shouting at us. So let us listen to what He says, giving us hope, and “always give thanks to God for everything” (Eph. 5:20).. Then we shall make the right response – praise.

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[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], June 2020]

Before we all rush back to our church buildings, let take some time out to think about what church is, and what it isn’t.

The government announced yesterday that they’re going to allow churches to reopen, not just for prayer but actually for services and weddings and things like that and I thought, what would be good before we all rush back to our buildings would be to consider what church actually is. So this is part one of two, maybe more, parts where we’re just going to look at defining what church is and also what it isn’t.

^[00:42] I was going to look at a passage in the Bible from Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18. The context of this passage is that Jesus has been doing some pretty amazing things, some miracles, some preaching, some teaching and Jesus sits downs with his close group of friends and asks the question “Who do people say I am?” Some people say “Elijah or you’re a prophet or Moses” but Peter looks at Jesus and says “You are the Christ, you are the Messiah, you’re the one that we have been waiting for.” Jesus says these words “And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church”. It’s a bit of a play on words because Peter’s name means rock but Jesus is saying is that “on your confession, on what you are saying about me; that is going to be the foundation of a church that I’m going to build”.

^[01:45] This is the first occurrence of the word ‘Church’ in the Bible, in the New Testament. Actually it’s not a direct translation. The Greek word that this is a translation of is ‘ecclesia’. Ecclesia means a gathering of people with a singular purpose, a singular intention. It was people who came together because something united them and this was a word that didn’t just apply to Christians. It is a word applied to all sorts of people who were gathering but as Christianity became more established, certainly as it became the state religion for the Roman Empire then it was no longer about gathering people. It became about places of worship. For the Romans that would have been the basilica but a word that became very popular was Gothic, an old German word karika (if that’s how it’s pronounced) but later in modern German that became kirche (which I’m probably pronouncing wrongly as well) and that’s where we get the word Church. So the word ‘Church’ is actually a reference to a place of worship, the house of the Lord. It was never meant to refer to a group of people so the word church is not a translation of ecclesia, it’s merely a modern take on the word.

^[03:19] Let’s just explore what difference that makes. See, if the church is a place where we go to, a place where we worship, well there’s some positives in that certainly. It becomes a place of refuge, it becomes a place that’s unchanging and you can find security in there. It also becomes a place which is static, it’s a place that is stationary, it’s a place where you say “come hither” rather than going outwards. It is a place we say “find us” rather than us seeking the lost. It’s a passive place rather than an active place and it causes, unfortunately, the people of Jesus to be hidden rather than to shine brightly.

^[04:11] A movement on the other hand is not stationary. It moves and it evolves, it adapts, it changes, it spreads, it’s vibrant, it’s full of light, and the movement that Jesus was asking his followers to join was a movement that offered life and love and hope. It’s a movement that stood for freedom and justice and rescue. How popular do you think that sort of movements would be, then 2,000 years ago but also in the here-and-now. As long as we see ourselves as a location or a place we lose that momentum that Jesus said in that latter part of verse 18 even the gates of Hell will not be able to stand against. We need to be on the offensive, not the defensive. We’re to be out there, not hiding in our churches. In this time of lock-down when our churches have been shut I am in no hurry to rush back into our buildings because this gives us a unique opportunity to break those habits of hiding in our buildings. Instead, realise that we are scattered in our communities where we can truly shine and make a difference, where we can bring life and love and hope and where we can stand for justice and freedom.
So let’s get out there and be good news.

[1] YouTube link: What is the Church? Part 1
Bible references: Matthew 16 v18
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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during June 2020]

Henry Ford is reputed to have declared “History is bunk!”. A poorer but wiser man observed that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it¹. That was certainly the case for the kingdom of Israel in the time of Hosea’s prophecy and it still is relevant to us today.

One of the first things that we are told about Hosea is that he prophesied during the reigns of four kings of Judah and one king of Israel. Three of those kings are recorded as doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord; the other two did what was evil.

From Judah’s perspective, its four kings represent 97 ‘right’ years and 16 ‘evil’ ones. We might be tempted to think that a ratio of 6:1 is not so bad. After all, it reflects my ‘O’ level performance some 50+ years ago and my mother thinks I turned out all right, eventually. God’s verdict on Judah is found in Hosea 1 verse 7 “Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them – not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”

However, if we look at the northern kingdom, Israel, then a different picture emerges. Most of its kings were branded as those who did evil in the sight of the Lord and their people followed their example. In reign after reign the nation turned its back on God, and repeated defeats and disasters failed to teach them the error of their ways. Notice that in the verse preceding the one above God stated “I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them.”

The book of Hosea makes for difficult reading, confusing in its context and depressing in its repetition of the consequences of the nation’s errors. We could dismiss it as being of no relevance to us but that would be a mistake. It is encouraging to reach the final chapter of the book to find it portraying a much brighter picture:

“Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!”
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”
“The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”

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[1] Attrbuted, with variations, to George Santayana, philosopher and writer.