Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection by Helen Ruffhead was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 12/Feb/2023]

Recently I was thinking about the young people who have stayed with me over the past 6 years. Most of them have related to me as a friend, even a mother (or grandmother) figure, but some (especially the boys) seemed to see me just as a provider of a bed, meals and clean washing. It suddenly struck me how often I too have seen people purely in terms of their function, perhaps as my sons’ carers, shop assistants or church officials, rather than as individuals with feelings and families.

It is easy to make the excuse that I am no good at small talk and that sometimes I have offended people by asking the wrong questions. Relating to people purely in terms of their function is safer, as I know what to say and am less likely to make mistakes. However, I know that I am unlikely to offend someone by asking how they are and listening carefully to their answer. Praying regularly for people also helps me to care about them and prompts me to ask the right questions.

How often do we relate to God simply as a provider of things we need rather than trying to get to know Him? We may say “Lord” when we pray, but if we then proceed to tell Him what we want Him to do for us we are assuming that He is our servant.

We all know the story of Mary and Martha, one that has always made me rather uncomfortable as I have a lot of sympathy for Martha. I now see that Jesus was showing that, unlike the men of his day, He didn’t see women just as servants of the men but as friends, a radical and shocking idea in those days. When Jennifer Rees Larcombe was seriously ill, she felt God say to her that many people wanted to serve Him but few wanted to be His friend, which was what He wanted most of all.

Hosea 6 v 6 says “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me” (GNB).

Jesus said “I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father“. (John 15 v 15 GNB).

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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 February 2023]

When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within^[1]

Here, we are not talking about those ‘up-front’ temptations when we are faced with decisions about actions that we ought not to do or not doing things that we should do. Rather, we are looking at how the persistent memories of past sins can become a temptation in itself.

All Christians who are sincere about their faith will have had this experience. Very often it takes the form of a reminder of those things that we did wrong and the longer we dwell on them the ‘wronger’ they seem to get. But it is not just one recollection of an isolated event; one thing leads to another and the memories pile up, in the terminology of last month’s sermons, the mess gets messier.

How did we get into this state? Aren’t our sins supposed to have been forgiven so why do they continue to cause us such hassle?

One of the reasons that these memories persist is that we have to live with the consequences. God may forgive our sins but, it can be argued, rarely does he return our circumstances to what they would have been had we not sinned. David’s sin with Bathsheba was forgiven but Uriah remained dead. Similarly, these experiences may offer us lessons that we should not ignore. The apostle Peter made a lot of mistakes and learnt a lot of lessons after he met Jesus but in his more mature years he wrote:

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5 v7 [NIVUK]

However, there is no benefit in dwelling on the ‘might have been’; we have to move on from where we’re at. How can we take something positive from our negative feelings?

The psalmist wrote: “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”.^[2] Some 40 years ago I had the opportunity to circumnavigate the globe. Travelling from east to further east, there was always somewhere yet further east. Even in the Far East the Wild West is still to the east.

Of course, the psalmist would not have understood the concept of the earth as a globe. For him the sunrise and the sunset would define the extremities of the earth. Perhaps that offers us a hint for how to deal with persistent memories. At the end of each day, bring them to God in prayer. Tell him what’s on your mind, don’t worry about reminding him about things that he has forgotten!

In practical terms, reading a few verses from the Bible and then praying about them can help to calm our minds. If your circumstances allow, try listening to some quiet Christian music before falling asleep.

Finally, let us look again at the verse quoted earlier

When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see him there, who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died, my sinful soul is counted free;
for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me

Pardoned and free, we need not succumb to despair.

Resources:
[1] “Before the throne of God above” Charitie Lees Bancroft, 1863.
[2] Psalm 103 v12

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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 Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 05/Feb/2023]

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts I doubt it’s for the sermon! We all come for many different reasons. Perhaps it’s because our friends go, or we feel a duty to attend, or we love the worship. Maybe it’s because we want our children to get a Christian foundation in their lives, or it gives us an opportunity to escape life for a bit and rest in God’s presence. Some come because they’re just curious. A little while a go a lady turned up to a Sunday service with her daughter because her daughter had been learning about Christianity at school and she wanted to see what church was like.

Regardless of the reason, we want people to feel welcome, accepted, and included in what is going on. However, in order to do this well, we need to be able to understand how a Sunday service might be for someone new, who maybe has little or no experience of ‘church’. What happens when someone comes for the first time and can’t find somewhere to park? What happens when they turn up and people ignore them? What happens when they don’t know the songs, or the protocol for church that everyone else seems to know but haven’t told them about? What happens when their children are frowned at, or when parents are expected to leave their children in a back room with a bunch of strangers?

Now, HBC does an amazing job of welcoming people, but we should never become complacent – there is always room to improve, and always work to be done in educating the entire church in how to better welcome the newcomer. But I also want to ask the question, who are we introducing people who come on a Sunday to? Too often people come to church, and even become Christians because they have discovered a community that loves and welcomes them – that they can be a part of. Now that’s great, but primarily the person we should be introducing them to is Jesus. We need to ensure that we preach about the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We need to challenge people to change and not stay the same. We need to welcome the Holy Spirit into every meeting, allowing space for God to do what we can’t – change people’s hearts.

Ultimately we want to create a warm, caring, engaging and vibrant environment in an appealing, safe, and accessible setting, which introduces people to our life-transforming Saviour, Jesus. How can you be a part of making that an ongoing reality at HBC?

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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 January 2023]

There is an area in the southern hemisphere, between the latitudes of 40S and 50S where a fierce wind circulates the globe with little in the way of significant land masses to restrain it. For mariners it is a particularly dangerous area, testing their skills against the forces of nature, and it has gained the name of ‘the roaring forties’. In January 1988 the missionary ship ‘Logos’ was added to the tally of ships that were lost in that area.

Have you ever noticed how frequently the number forty is mentioned in the Bible? Three variants are the most common: 40 days, 40 days and 40 nights, and 40 years. In the account of the great flood we see that the rain fell for a period of forty days and forty nights; Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah; their son Esau was forty years old when he married Judith.

Moses spent forty years learning the etiquette of the Egyptian court before spending another forty years learning to lead sheep. Both experiences were essential to prepare him for the Exodus and leading the Israelites during the forty years spent wandering in the desert before entering the promised land.

Several of Israel’s judges and kings led the nation for periods of forty years. Sometimes they were periods of peace but at other times God used the surrounding nations to test his people’s loyalty.

Some Bible scholars subscribe to a school of thought called numerology, in which every number mentioned in the Bible is deemed to have some significance, beyond being a simple number. For them, the number forty is associated with times of trial and testing. There are several 40-day examples of periods of trial and temptation which support their argument:

• Moses spent forty days and forty nights on mount Sinai but the people turned away from God during his absence.
• The Israelite spies explored the land of Canaan for forty days before rejecting the opportunity to move into the land.
• The Philistine giant Goliath taunted the Israelite army for forty days causing fear throughout the nation.
• Elijah spent forty days on the run from Jezebel, fearing for his life.

 
In the early chapters of both Matthew and Luke we read that, after Jesus was baptised, he spent forty days and forty nights in the desert. During this time he was tempted by the devil who offered him shortcuts to satisfy his physical needs and to test God. On each occasion Jesus rejected the temptation, quoting words from scripture to aid his defence.

We too face temptations and trials of various kinds but are we sufficiently familiar with the words of scripture to be able to quote them in times of temptation? Here are two verses that can help:

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2 v18 [NIVUK]

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10 v13 [NIVUK]

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.

[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 29/Jan/2023]

Some days, life just doesn’t seem fair. You try to help people and they take you for granted, and don’t appreciate the effort you put into the things you do. Life seems to be one of ‘survival of the fittest’ and ‘you have to look after number one’.

These were the thoughts going through Dormy’s mind. He was a doormat and was getting fed up of feeling downtrodden. Life seemed to be just one of people walking all over him and rubbing their dirt off on him.

He had been brought to a church called HBC by a member of the welcome team and had pride of place next to the front door. He had been so pleased at the start, but more recently, things had started to irritate him.

After the Sunday service one day, he decided he would talk to Henry, the vacuum cleaner. Henry had a smile on his face most of the time and had been around in the church much longer than Dormy.

Henry listened to what Dormy had to say, was silent for a while and then said “Dormy, before you came to HBC, particularly when it rained, there was a trail of mud as people walked in and I remember having to do a lot of work cleaning up after services and other meetings. Since you came, I haven’t noticed that. It’s interesting that just the other day, I was talking to Mabel, the mop, and we were commenting on how you have this ability to make every one who interacts with you come away cleaner than when they came in. In fact, one could say that you seem to make them better for having met you”.

Dormy had never looked at things this way before. He thanked Henry and thought a bit more about this. He looked at the bits of mud stuck to him and remembered he had heard at one of the church services at Easter of someone who washed the feet of his friends at a meal they were having. Dormy smiled and said to himself “you know, if he could wash their feet, I’m happy to clean their shoes”.

Do you feel treated like a doormat sometimes? Do you sometimes want to let off steam about this? Do you want to stand up for your rights? It is a bit controversial with what is going on in the news about the various strikes at the moment, but it is worth thinking that although you might be treated like a doormat, if you have the ability to bring out the best in others, and if everyone was a better person after they met you, perhaps being a doormat is actually not a bad thing after all.

As Phil reminded us in the sermon on Sunday, there was one who when he was pushed to his limits didn’t retaliate, or seek retribution, or stand up for his rights, but rather said, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

May God grant us all His wisdom and grace when we find ourselves in difficult and challenging situations, to choose to show love and mercy. That is when we are truly most like Christ.

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 January 2023]

Meditation – for those of a certain age, the word may invoke an image of an eastern mystic sitting cross-legged on a dais, surrounded by smouldering joss-sticks and magic mushrooms, and sublimely indifferent to the world around him. Perhaps one or two world-famous musicians are seeking inspiration whilst sitting at his feet.

It may be that such an image contributed to the reluctance of many in the more conservative denominations of half a century ago to accept that meditation might have a valid place in a Christian’s quiet-time. The idea of relaxing control of your mind would have been very-much alien to those whose personal devotions were focused on diligent Bible study and concentrated prayer.
Were they right?

Genesis 24 tells us that Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening^[1]. Earlier in Genesis, prior to the fall, we see God in the habit of walking in the garden in the cool of the evening. Jesus himself would often retire to a quiet area to pray after a busy day dealing with the people around him. Indeed, he had some advice for those seeking to emulate this habit:

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6 v6 [NIVUK]

Listening to appropriate music can be an aid to meditation. Hymns that have stood the test of time can be helpful, bringing to mind some of the truths of our faith, temporarily subduing those outside distractions. Well-known lyrics can remind us that God is awesome yet faithful and caring, willing to guide us in his will.

Does meditational music need words? Does knowing the words expand or restrict our thoughts? Classical composers such as Bach or Handel frequently composed works that were intended to glorify God through the magnificence of the music itself. Modern composers such as James Michael Stevens continue to do so, offering works of a smaller scale that, nevertheless, aid meditation without the constraint of formal words.

Our quiet time is not an occasion for emergency prayer or extended prayers of supplication. We can, of course, ask for our daily bread or the forgiveness of sins^[2] but the psalmist gives us the wider context:

Be still and know that I am God Psalm 46 v10 [NIVUK]

For us, the nature of our western lifestyle is rarely conducive to a regular quiet-time. The pressures of the day are persistent, family members need our attention, our thoughts start to wander. We even start to think ahead about what we will do once the quiet-time is over. The apostle Paul offered some advice on how to keep our minds on track:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 [NKJV]

References:
[1] Genesis 24 v63
[2] Matthew 6 v9-13

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.