Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of mid-week devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during May 2021]

How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? [Psalm 137 v4 NIVUK]

In the conclusion of his talk with Angie a few days ago, Martin posed some questions about our feelings about the potential for re-launching ‘church’ rather than just reviving what had existed before. In this Tuesday Challenge I want to revisit those questions. As one who has been ‘doing church at a distance’ for over 10 ten years, my experience is rather different from that of someone who thinks of lockdown as an interruption to normal activities. Nevertheless, perhaps my comments will provide some stimulus for further thoughts.

Are you looking forward to returning to physical church, or are you quite happy accessing online church at home?
For me, returning to physical church is not currently an option so my vote would go to continuing to provide access to church activities online. There are many categories of people for whom physical attendance at a conventional service is difficult; the online option allows them to sustain the contact. In addition, it is not a betrayal of HBC to suggest that there are other choice morsels available elsewhere on the internet menu. If I prefer more classical singing, it is there; if I want in-depth teaching on a particular topic or passage, it is there; if I want to see how other denominations practise their faith then that is there too. A varied diet stimulates the appetite and we may well learn something new that will benefit our own worship times.
That is not to say that everything we see is wholesome or helpful. We need to emulate those in Berea who heard Paul’s teachings and then tested them against the Scriptures. Perhaps one of the most important roles of a physical church or home group is to teach us how to make sound judgements about what we see and hear.

What have you missed most? What were you glad to do without?
What I have missed most has been the home group – the detailed look at the Scriptures, the focussed prayers, the discussions, the prolonged debates after hours, the handed-down wisdom of those who have travelled ahead of me.
Notwithstanding a degree of envy towards those who can use their talents to praise the Lord in song we should remember that ‘worship’ is more than a musical interlude in the service. The whole service should be an integrated act of worship, leaders and congregation alike, and that is more difficult to achieve online.

Does change excite or worry you? Does it even make you angry? Why?
Change is not necessarily progress. There is an old saying which has been widely ignored during this century, in many aspects of life: ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. How have the things that we want to change come about? They were themselves the outcome of change but why? We need to examine the reasons for the proposed changes, to ensure that they are indeed changes for the better. Change for a valid reason can be honourable; change simply for change’s sake is not.

Even amongst the disruption, have we felt that God has been shaping and working in us, our community, and our church?
Throughout history, God has used disruption to work his purposes out. He disrupted Noah, he disrupted Abram, he disrupted Jacob, he disrupted the Hebrews in Egypt. In fact, one gets the impression that disruption is God’s ‘modus operandi’; it is through contentment and complacency that his people tend to lose touch with him. We should not be surprised when God allows the boat to rock, be reassured that he still controls the storm.

Psalm 137 is a lament. The author, possibly Jeremiah, describes the sadness and despair of those who are unable to enjoy the worship if the Lord in the ways that they remembered from before their exile. But, is a lament for the ‘good old days’ appropriate for us? We have seen God at work through the new technologies; they are neither new nor a mystery to him. For various valid reasons, some churches have decided that modern means of communication are beyond them. Such decisions must be respected but perhaps God’s words through Isaiah are more appropriate for us:

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. [Isaiah 43 v19 NIVUK]

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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 May 2021]

In Rudyard Kipling’s epic story ‘Jungle Book’, Mowgli is the man-cub, an orphan boy who is brought up by a pack of wolves in the Indian jungle. He encounters a variety of wild animals, both friendly and otherwise; there’s his bumbling friend Baloo the bear, the somewhat aloof panther Bagheera, the duplicitous snake Kaa and his arch-enemy Shere Khan the tiger. Later in the story we encounter Colonel Hathi with his parade of elephants and King Louie who leads a colony of apes that lives in an abandoned temple.

The story has had the ‘Walt Disney’ treatment, introducing phrases and snatches of songs that have, perhaps, become more familiar than the original story. We can identify with the quest for the bare necessities of life, the need to control the power of man’s red flower and the allure of the king of the swingers. Some can see a spiritual dimension in the serpent whispering “trusssst in me” and the devilish intentions of the tiger, whilst the eventual return of Mowgli to the man-village is likened to the arrival of Pilgrim at the Celestial City.

What is the relevance of this story in the context of a devotional reflection? What can we learn that might be of value in our day-to-day circumstances and our walk with God? Does God’s own survival guide offer any advice?

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.^[1]

As we awake each morning, whether to the trumpets of the dawn patrol or the shrill call of a smart-phone, our Shepherd knows our needs for that day, and he knows just how to satisfy them.

Mowgli would not have survived without his friends – that’s what friends are for. Even if we live as a hermit or the sole believer in a secular situation, we are not without a friend. The Holy Spirit will be a guide and comforter, if we allow him.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

It is a jungle out there. Life is beset with temptations, trials and traps. There are people who would gain great satisfaction from making life difficult for us. Generally, God places us in communities of both believers and non-believers. Some will help us, some will hinder us but in both cases God can use them to realise his plans for us, and they are all for our good.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Life in the jungle will not last for ever. There is a home at the end of the road; a village with many mansions awaits those who trust in Jesus Christ as saviour and faithfully follow him.

Is your name in his book of invitees?

[1] All quotations from Psalm 23, NIVUK

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 was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 16/May/2021]

I’m quite aware that not everyone sees things as I do! But I’m also quite sure, based on the observations of up-to-date Christian writers and private conversations I’ve had, that many of us are secretly thinking things we don’t dare speak about openly. So … here goes!

Very recently, while in group prayer, I had a mental picture of a bus at a stop. The driver was standing outside the bus calling out, ‘All change!‘ His passengers were getting off his bus and boarding another which had just pulled up in front of it. I immediately had what I think is a prophetic interpretation of the scenario: Bus 1 had apparently achieved its purpose – it had taken people so far. What wasn’t clear to me was whether, 1) this change of bus was a normal part of the route, or 2) this was an emergency caused by a breakdown of the first bus.

I think option 2 is correct. No-one expected to have to change buses to complete their journey. BUT THEY WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO GET WHERE THEY WANTED TO GO IF THEY REFUSED THE ‘ALL CHANGE’ CALL! Bus 1 had not really served its purpose, but the passengers couldn’t have realised that before getting to this stop.

Here’s where things get really challenging. Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate change activist, says that when we find ourselves tackling a life-or-death catastrophe, small adjustments to our lifestyle are FAILURES; only radical change will make the necessary difference!

I apply that to church. If we’re going to complete our journey, to fulfil Jesus’s ‘great commission’ (Matt 28: 19-20) we need to wake up to the truth that our traditional ‘means of transport’ has failed to get us where Jesus wants to take us. We need the courage, the DESPERATION, to get on that next bus. We’ll be surprised to see who’s driving it!!

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.