Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during November 2023]

In the 1959 comedy film “The Mouse That Roared” the English actor Peter Sellers played three of the leading roles. He subsequently achieved fame as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series.

Are you playing more than one character in life; one personality at home, another at work and another at church? Would people who know you as one character recognise the others?

The film recounts the financial struggles facing a small European nation after a Californian winery started replicating its distinctive local wine. Having observed the way in which Germany received Allied assistance after losing WWII the Prime Minister devised a solution; to declare war on the US, then surrender on terms that would bring economic assistance. A small invasion force set out for the US, intending to surrender to the authorities in New York, but things did not go as planned.

Are you under pressure from things that are outside your control? Do you find your plans are constantly being thwarted?

Commit your future to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf.
Psalm 37 v5 [NET]

The invaders met no resistance and several Americans were taken as hostages. The Europeans returned home as victors, taking with them a prototype nuclear bomb with which they intended to enforce a peaceful equilibrium between the world’s larger nations. At the end of the film we are shown that the bomb was not what it seemed, the ominous sounds that emanated from it were made by a mouse that had taken up residence in the bomb casing.

Is your faith what it seems? Does it give the impression of being world-changing but yet it is little more than an empty shell that generates noise and little else?

Mice do not get a good press in the Bible.^[1] By contrast, certain other small furry creatures do get a more positive mention:

The rock hyraxes are not a mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the rocks.
Proverbs 30:26 [NASB]

I have watched rock hyraxes in their natural habitat. They are easily startled, the slightest hint of a threat sends them scurrying for cover. Although they are small and timid they have a powerful close relation, being genetically descended from the same line as the elephant.

Are you timid and hesitant about your faith? You too have a powerful close relation:

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18 v24 [NIVUK]

Resources:
[1] Leviticus 11 v29 [NKJV]

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This reflection by Helen Ruffhead was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 26/Nov/2023]

Most small children love doing action songs, but as a 10-year-old I decided they were beneath my dignity and would flatly refuse to sing them at Sunday school. Nine years later, at university, I quite happily sang songs like “If I were a butterfly” at the Christian Union meetings, as my enthusiasm in my new found faith overcame my pride. One great advantage of getting older is that we are far less worried about our dignity or what others think of us. Now as a pensioner I am glad I still have the physical ability to jump or to reach up high (although the latter can be painful with my frozen shoulder).

Even now, there are a few worship songs which make me cringe, not because of the actions but due to silly words, dire tunes or bad grammar. (At a previous church, I refused to sing that I wanted to lay in God’s arms, as I am not a hen.) It is important to remember that some people (especially older children, teenagers and men) can find silly songs so embarrassing that they are put off church altogether. On the other hand, there are children’s songs which really speak to me as an adult.

The song, “Father God I wonder” reminds us that God has adopted us as sons and daughters. Unfortunately putting the word “daughter” instead of “son” doesn’t scan, so I have to sing “child” instead, which embraces all the genders. I have often quoted from “Nothing’s too big, big, big for his power, nothing’s too teeny weeny for his care” in our prayer times on Connect in Faith. It reminds us that even the seemingly overwhelming problems like war and climate change are not too big for God and our minor worries are not too trivial for his care.

The song, “I reach up high” contains the words “I jump and dance with all my might. I might look funny but that’s alright. I’ve got to (woo, woo) praise the Lord”. These words remind me of King David, who jumped and danced with all his might before the Lord. His wife was disgusted with him and said he was exposing himself to ridicule, but all he cared about was pleasing the God he loved. (2 Samuel 6). If the great warrior King David was not too proud and dignified to praise God without restraint, then perhaps we can do the same.

Resources:

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This reflection by Dazz Jones was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 19/Nov/2023]

The journey of faith is compared to a race in the Bible, this is to highlight the importance of endurance and staying on course, being focussed. “A huge cloud of witnesses is all around us. So let us throw off everything that stands in our way. Let us throw off any sin that holds on to us so tightly. And let us keep on running the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1, NIRV). This verse encourages Jesus’ followers to shrug off the burdens of sin or distraction so we can focus on the path ahead of us, which Jesus trod.

In my experience, the best and worst thing about running is how quickly it can stop being hard if you just … stop. The furthest I’ve ever run is 10 kilometres and that took me over an hour … which is a lot of running (at least as far as I’m concerned!). Whenever I run, the little voice in my head, the temptation that is always there is to just stop … to just to ‘walk for a bit’. Sometimes that’s probably a good idea, injury is not fun for anyone. Yet what I have found rewarding about running is that when I don’t listen to that voice, when I persevere and keep going despite that temptation to stop (and make the pain end!) is a great sense of achievement and pride; a growing sense of identity as someone who can overcome. When that is my goal, to be someone who overcomes that small voice telling me to give up and walk, it helps me keep focus on continuing to run and run.

The link to our faith is that we need to remember what the goal is. Distractions are things that draw are focus away from that goal. We could argue that the opposite of ‘dis-traction’ is traction, (that logic seems to follow?) which includes things that help us keep a grip on our path to push on to our destination. A few of these could be:

Teamwork: Running with others makes training much more enjoyable, stick at church and spend time with uplifting Christian friends.

Goal-focus: The ‘Instagram feed’ or comparison to our family and friends might make us feel like we’re ‘off course’ or create a sense that we’re ‘falling short’ in life. What is the goal of your Christian life? Sit with that question for a while to refocus yourself.

Discipline: We all hate this one. There is no denying that regular, consistent effort will produce results. We are what we continually do, Aristotle said, and history shows that to be true. Despite how we feel, sometimes we have to put in the time and force focus.

Resources:

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during November 2023]

As a general rule we tend to prefer those situations or products with which we are familiar. We tend to shop in those stores where we know the layout of the shelves, at a restaurant we often chose menu items that we recognise and we even like to listen to sermons when we have some idea of what the preacher is on about. When we do explore new places we are reassured by having an established place to which we can return.

Relatively few of us have had the experience of being deprived of access to the place that we call home. On those occasions when it has happened to me I was consoled by the knowledge that the problem was only temporary. Consider then the plight of those who have been permanently deprived of their homes and have nowhere to go.

Images of those who are homeless, refugees from war zones, victims of flood or famine, all appear on our tv screens with disturbing frequency. Nor are they situations that occur at a safe distance – somewhere ‘over there’. There are people who are facing these problems in our midst, here and now.

In the global context, this is nothing new. We recall how Jacob left home to avoid a hostile domestic situation, how the residents of Jerusalem were forced into exile in Babylon, and even how the young Jesus became a refugee fleeing to Egypt. They did not know what awaited them but staying-put was not an option for them.

In Genesis we read:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12 v1 [NLT]

Abram may not have known where he was going but he had confidence in the one who was organising the journey. To what extent are we willing to trust the one who is overseeing our journey through life?

Abram was a wealthy man, he had servants and livestock so he had the resources to be able to settle comfortably wherever God would lead him. Yet he was not content; the one thing that he desired the most was missing – an acceptable heir.

We sing the words “All I have needed thy hand has provided”^[1] but do we believe it? Are there times when we wonder whether ‘all’ actually means all? Perhaps we think that something is missing, something that would make life more complete, something that God is holding back.

The antidote to those thoughts is to remember those fellow-travellers whose lifetime of memories, achievements and ambitions have been reduced into one item of hand luggage. For all of us the future is unknown. We plan and build, only to have it snatched away. Heed the words of Jesus:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where bombs and bullets destroy, and where bailiffs break in and steal. … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6 v19, 21

Resources:
[1]: ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’, Thomas Chisholm, 1923

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.