[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during November 2025]
November starts with a period of remembrance – first we remember a guy who efforts came to naught and then we remember those whose efforts were instrumental in protecting and maintaining the freedoms that our society values.
Challenges to authority and threats to our way of life are not just historical events. They are very much current affairs, the focus of our daily news bulletins. Collectively, we no longer expect that ‘things will get better’. How can we combat this attitude of pessimism?
Job, in the midst of all his afflictions, was able to say:
Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song.
Job 36 v24 [NIVUK]
One occasion when the people praised the Lord in song was when the Ark, the Old Testament symbol of God’s presence, was being established in Jerusalem in around 1000BC. The event was accompanied by a dedicated musical ensemble whose celebrations included the lines:
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he pronounced,
1 Chronicles 16 v11-12 [NIVUK]
We too can recall the wonders that God has done; there is good advice in these words written by Johnson Oatman in 1897:
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Our memories tend to be short-term and unreliable, and often somewhat selective. We buy souvenirs that soon become dusty relics of times past, we keep diaries and photographs which mean very little to those who inherit them.
No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Ecclesiastes 1 v11 [NIVUK]
As Christians in the New Testament era we recognise that the presence of God is not confined to a symbol but rather it is to be found in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We recall the occasion of the last supper that Jesus ate with his disciples and the instruction that he gave them:
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’
Luke 22 v19 [NIVUK]
Is there a risk that those of us who have become familiar with the function and practicalities of the communion service may lose sight of some of its significance? How do we prevent our minds from wandering as we wait for the distribution of the elements?
In 1875 Philip Bliss penned some lines which, as we ponder on them, may help us to focus:
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned he stood,
sealed my pardon with his blood:
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
References:
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Last week’s reflection: All Change!
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys