Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during January 2024]

It is that time of year again, the old calendar is discarded, three becomes four.

Do you look back at the year just gone and recall the disappointments, missed opportunities and sub-optimal decisions? All those new year resolutions that turned out to be nothing more than short-lived intentions; maybe you can recycle them yet again for this year. Do you identify with the Psalmist when he wrote:

We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan. Psalm 90 v9 [NLT]

Perhaps you can look back at the past year, content with the satisfaction that comes from having ticked all the boxes. There will be more boxes to tick this year but you anticipate them with confidence. You share the Psalmist’s gratitude for the blessings of the past year.

You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. Psalm 65 v11 [NLT]

Starting a new year is reminiscent of starting a new exercise book at school. What we will write about is largely outside our control but the way in which we write is up to us. We start with a tidy page, straight lines, clear script, no smudges or corrections. Contrast that with the final pages of the book: illegible scrawl, lackadaisical spelling, symptoms of indifference. A new year, like a new book, gives us the opportunity to make a fresh start.

Do you recall that predictable verdict at the end of each school term – ‘Could try harder’? So easy for a teacher to write, so difficult for a pupil to achieve, but often written with more than a grain of truth. Having dismissed new year’s resolutions as passing fads, nevertheless perhaps there are some areas of our lives where we could try harder.

Are there any activities in the church or local community which would benefit from an extra volunteer? Would the time spent watching TV be better spent in Bible study? Could an entertainment subscription actually achieve more of lasting value if it were to be invested in the foodbank? Such lifestyle changes can be hard but there will be a reward for the effort.

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14 v23 [NIVUK]

As we embark on a new cycle of summer and winter, springtime and harvest, we can say, with respect, with sincerity and with confidence that God only knows what opportunities and challenges await us. These well-known words from an Old Testament prophet were written many years ago but they have a special relevance for a new year.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29 v11 [NIVUK]

Resources:

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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 mid-week Reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during January 2021]

In a recent reflection we looked at the report of the conversation that Jesus had at a well outside the Samaritan village of Sychar. The account focuses on the change in the woman as she talks with Jesus, and the reaction of her fellow villagers. However, there is a footnote to that story that is liable to be overlooked. John 4 v40 tells us that the villagers urged him to stay with them for a further two days.

Were the disciples happy with this breach of protocol, consorting with the despised foreigners? We are not told but we can be sure that if the Jewish leaders had known they would have had apoplexy. They were offended when they saw Jesus dining with tax-collectors and sinners; to stay in a Samaritan village would render them speechless!

Do we harbour any secret thoughts about who Jesus should be seen with? Are there situations into which we are content to let Jesus go, just so long as he doesn’t expect us to accompany him?

The outcome of this sojourn in Sychar is that “many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony”. Did they all live happily ever-after? As a community of new believers they would have a lot to learn; new ways of interacting with each other, new ways of worship. Like new believers today, they would not have become mature disciples immediately but we can be confident that the Holy Spirit would have started to work amongst them.

The change in the village would not have gone unnoticed in the surrounding area so did Sychar become the hub of a new evangelistic outreach? Certain Eastern Orthodox traditions maintain that the woman herself was baptised and took the name Photini, meaning ‘enlightened’. It is suggested that she became a successful gospel preacher and was later martyred for her faith.

In the Biblical book of Acts the narrative returns to Samaria:

Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said … they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women.
[Acts 8 v5-6, 12]

Later we see that Peter and John went to Samaria, to teach the new believers and to preach in many Samaritan villages. Is it too far-fetched to suggest that the positive reception that Philip, Peter and John received was, at least in part, due to the previous witness of a woman from Sychar?

It all began with a simple request for a drink of water. Do you know someone who is thirsty?

‘Woman at the Well’, Carl Heinrich Bloch c1872, Public Domain.
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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 mid-week Reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during January 2021]

I have never had the experience of having an older brother but I understand that it can be very reassuring to have someone stronger and possibly wiser on hand when trouble comes along.

The Bible has a lot say about brothers. We see Aaron, who was the spokesman for his brother Moses. We see Hanani and Nehemiah, who worked together to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. We see James and John, and Peter and Andrew, two pairs of brothers who were partners in business and partners in becoming disciples of Jesus. However the Bible contains rather too many examples of older brothers not living up to this ideal.

Maybe that is why Job lamented:

“But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow.”
[Job 6 v15 NIVUK]

Abel suffered at the hand of Cain, Isaac was pestered by his half-brother Ishmael, Jacob lived in fear of Esau. These were two-boy households; image how much worse it must be if there are more of them!
Big bother indeed.

Joseph had ten older brothers and his attempts to act all-superior soon landed him in trouble. His brothers got so fed up with him that they sold him into slavery and concocted a story about his death. Little did they realise that some 20 years later they would be asking him to save their lives.

David had seven older brothers and he was so far down the pecking order that his father didn’t even invite him to a family celebration. He was scorned by his brothers but I suspect that they soon changed their tune when he became king. Later he wrote:

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”
[Psalm 133 v1 AMP]

Was that a lament for his own boyhood experience or exasperation at the behaviour of his own sons whose lack of brotherly love extended to intrigue and fratricide?

In many of the New Testament letters the use of ‘brothers’ is expanded to include all those who are members of the church, both male and female. Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica:

“But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.” [1 Thessalonians 4 v9 NKJV]

Many people have spoken of how they have found friendship and support at HBC. Let us not be complacent but rather be encouraged to continue to show God’s love to visitors and regulars alike.

Clip from John Tenniel’s illustration of Tweedledum and Tweedledee (1871, PD)

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.