Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection by Chris Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 10/Dec/2023]

If any one is in Christ, old things are passed away, all things have become new.^[1]

Christmas and New Year seem to be a time when we rethink our lives afresh. It’s a bit like spring cleaning, when we clean out stuff that has sat on our shelves all year long, collecting dust, do we really need it and do we want it.

Patterns of our lives change, forced by circumstances beyond our control, we change the habits of a life time. This year, for instance I am rethinking sending Christmas cards because the price of stamps have gone up so much! The trouble is when you get older and don’t send people a card at Christmas, they think you’ve died.

Do our life long habits dictate what we should or shouldn’t do now? I have been challenged recently to reach out to those who are struggling with life, especially the lonely and those in need with families. But the question is how do we get to know them, perhaps through a food bank, or just chatting to people in the street.

I love that verse, “give and it will be given you”^[2], but do I just give because I want to get back?

There used to be a song we sang, “I’m going to put off the old life, put on the new, put off the old life that’s what I’ll do”, the new life is Jesus His love peace and joy, so I’ll put off the old and I’ll put on the new.

Please Jesus show me how to become the person you created me to be, so I can reflect your glory and give you praise,

So Happy Advent and every blessing for a prosperous Christmas to each person who is seeking Jesus in this special season.

Christmas Blessings

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Resources:
[1] 2 Corinthians 5 v17
[2] Luke 6 v38

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.

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Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections
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Link to Index of Bible Passages
 
Last week’s reflection: Advent by Martin Shorey
 

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

December is here. Three weeks of frantic activity by those who cried ‘Too soon!’ but who are now bemoaning ‘Too late!’. Then, like the Bible narrative, things go quiet after Christmas. There is, of course, a precedent for taking a trip to Egypt but that country has already offered respite to more than its fair share of refugees this year.

In the first book of Samuel we read of events following the sacking of Shiloh in around 1090BC. Shiloh had been the geographical focus of Israel’s religious life but the nation had become complacent about its relationship with God. Once again the nation of Israel was at war with the Philistines and things had not gone well for them.

Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.
1 Samuel 4 v2 [NIVUK]

Do you sometimes wonder about things that happen? Some events seem to us to be counter productive. Is God batting for the wrong side?

Matters took a turn for the worse:

Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. The ark of God was captured
1 Samuel 4 v10-11 [ESV]

The nation of Israel had, not for the first time, suffered a national disaster. Why had they, who considered themselves to be God’s chosen people, been so roundly defeated? Even worse, they had allowed God to be humiliated in the sight of the people around them. How could there be anything good about that?

Are there times when we become complacent in our faith? Have we even allowed God to be humiliated in the sight of people around us?

The scale of the disaster made the nation of Israel return to God. They renounced the foreign religious practices which had crept into their society and devoted themselves to serve the Lord exclusively. The representatives of the people asked the prophet Samuel to intercede on behalf of the nation.

So that brings us to Ebenezer, but not the one often associated with a certain English novelist at this time of year.

Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it “Ebenezer” (Rock of Help), saying, “This marks the place where God helped us.”
1 Samuel 7 v12 [MSG]

A rock can be an arid trip-hazard or it can offer a place of respite and security. The psalmist chose the latter option:

In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Psalm 62:7 [NKJV]

In 1776 the English parson Augustus Toplady had a similar experience, which led to him writing the words of what became a well-known hymn:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.

Have you found a quiet resting-place in this season of deadlines and expectations?

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Resources:
[1]

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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections

Link to Index of Bible Passages

Last week’s reflection: Not All It Seems
 

[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]

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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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections

Link to Index of Bible Passages

Last week’s reflection: The Same Old Story
 

[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.

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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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections
.
Link to Index of Bible Passages
 
Last week’s reflection: Don’t Get Distracted, Follow Jesus ‘til the End! by Dazz Jones