Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

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

A recent item on the BBC caught my attention – it was a report of how a Lutheran church in Germany had opened its doors to the local Moslem community who were too numerous to be accommodated in their mosque during the social distancing regulations. A photograph showed the Islamic prayer mats laid out under the gaze of the Christian scenes depicted in the stained-glass windows.

The period at the end of Ramadan is particularly important with many devotees wanting to mark it with prayer rituals. The report reminded me of an incident that I saw whilst in Saudi Arabia. At that time (maybe still) all Saudia flights included a prayer as part of the pre-flight safety briefing. A local flight was due to depart at 11:30 but it was delayed. At midday the crew came down onto the apron, turned towards Mecca and commenced praying. Would it happen at Gatwick?

The Moslem attention to prayer is in stark contrast to what we find in many Christian communities. As part of his mid-week musings, Martin has been taking his dogs on a prayer-walk. The dogs themselves do not appear to do much praying and Martin has raised questions as to why we, as God’s people, do not seem to do much better.

• Does prayer actually achieve anything?
• Is it any more than a psychological placebo?
• Is there any difference in outcome between someone who prays and someone who doesn’t?
• And even if God does hear our prayers, does he really answer them?

 
Is this heresy on the part of a Baptist minister? Or is he voicing something that most of us would have to admit to asking ourselves? Do our prayers focus on what we want (we call them ‘needs’) with maybe a bit of thanks for past blessings thrown in? The Devil is quite happy for us to pray like that, just so long as we don’t take it seriously.

Martin suggests that we should revisit the example that Jesus used when teaching his disciples to pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Let us use this simple yet profound recognition of who God is and the honour that is His by right as the basis to revitalise our prayer life. Then we can add a request – “Lord, teach us to pray!”

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

In a recent e-conversation, Ian Gray mentioned that despite the current restrictions we still have plenty to be thankful for. Indeed, to be house-bound you do, by definition, have to have a house and ‘be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home’. We see from the news that there are many people who do not have or cannot enjoy that blessing.

Back in February, Nancy wrote about being thankful for the obligations and chores that we have because they also mean that we can enjoy the blessings associated with them. But that was back then, in a different pre-COVID world where everything was normal. Can you recall the days when Zoom was the stuff of comic-books and wearing a mask in a bank was likely to cause panic amongst the staff? What will the new normal be? Will there still be blessings from above?

Psalm 136 reminds us that ‘His love endures for ever’. God is not fazed by a mere global pandemic; that is no reason for Him to back off or distance himself. On the contrary, as we spend more time asking questions and looking for answers He draws closer to us. For those who are suffering, be it through disease, distress or disturbance to routine, remember that He is still able to bless those who turn to Him.

So after you have woken at 3 o’clock in the morning and stared at the clock long enough for the digits to come into focus, you can thank God for His blessings; a secure place to rest, a new day and, not least, the joy of turning over and going back to sleep.

Psalm 40 v5:

O Lord my God, you have multiplied your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

Or, as Johnson Oatman Jr. wrote in 1897:

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

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they’re here to stay.
Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be; there’s a shadow hanging over me,
Yesterday came suddenly. Now I long for yesterday.

Some words from a song that may echo from the past but yet seem so relevant some 55 years after they were sung by the Beatles. What happened to those good old days that we used to call ‘these trying times’? Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be!

Is looking back too negative for you? Then try these words from William Shakespeare:

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creep in this petty pace from day to day until the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.”

He wasn’t so positive about the future either.

What does God’s word say about yesterday and tomorrow? In the NIV there are 8 references to ‘yesterday’ and 56 to ‘tomorrow’. Does this indicate their relative importance? Job declared “we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.” James takes a different perspective but arrives at a similar conclusion. Echoing Proverbs 27, he says “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

But what about today? If we can indeed take the number of references as an indication of importance then the 205 entries for ‘today’ (and the 118 mentions of ‘this day’) should make us pay attention.
In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul reminds us that “today is the time of God’s favour, today is the day of salvation.” (LTV) Joshua invites us to: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24 v15)

However, perhaps the most important reference is the one that includes all three of our time scales. Hebrews 13 v8 tells us: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.” What is there to add?

O Thou who changes not, abide with me!

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 17/May/2020]

Over the past many weeks, some of us have been trying to make sense of the flood of online prophecies about the times we’re in. Is this an enemy attack? Then why doesn’t our all-powerful, loving God just STOP IT? Maybe He’s working out His will in all this in ways we don’t understand! And all of these ‘prophets’ are finding scriptures to back their interpretation of events.

I’d like to re-read Matthew 24: 6-8 and 13-14. Here’s where different translations can open our eyes. For instance, some include ‘pestilences, plagues, or epidemics’ at the end of verse 7. But, even so, they all agree that ‘this is not the end’ it’s just ‘the beginning of birthpangs’.

What is about to be born? It must be something new, something full of hope and promise, something the Bridegroom and His bride have been passionately longing for!

Yes, this is a disruption, not just a ‘blip’! Everything that can be shaken is crumbling. World systems are breaking down – economies, social structures – even familiar church forms?

But … look at verses 13-14! I’ll use The Passion Translation: ‘But keep up your hope to the end and you will experience life and deliverance. Yet through it all, this joyful assurance of the realm of heaven’s kingdom will be proclaimed over all the world, providing every nation with a demonstration of the reality of God. And after this the end of this age will arrive.‘

We are living through the end of a passing age and the beginning of the next. Much of what we’re used to is disappearing – not just slightly disturbed – but something amazingly beautiful is being born. Can we see it? Zechariah did!!
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