[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during November 2025]
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark
John 20 v1 [NIVUK]
Have you ever noticed how often God works in the dark? We live in a non-stop world with cities that never sleep, with systems operational 24-7 and with people constantly on the move. Yet it all began in the dark.
(more…)
[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2025]
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Philippians 3 v8 [KJV]
It is surely no coincidence when a word of Scripture fits our plans or experiences. When Charles Spurgeon chose to quote that verse when writing his series of daily reflections[1] he had, of course, no idea about what I would be doing some 160 years later but nevertheless the verse did turn out to be appropriate.
(more…)
[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during April 2025]
Easter is one of those events in the ecclesiastical calendar that present us with a challenge. Like Christmas and, to a lesser extent, Palm Sunday, the story has become so familiar that we feel that we need to find some way to ‘revitalise’ the story each year.
But should we think like that? Is there a risk that the quest for novelty or entertainment value may become a digression?
(more…)
[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during February 2025]
Our contemporary practice of referring to the days of the week by unique names is thought to date from the Sumerian period, around the fifth millennium BC. The practice was adopted and refined during the days of the Babylonian empire. Names were often associated with the deities of the times, themselves often associated with astronomical entities (eg Sun-day, the day of the sun god).
(more…)
[This reflection by Chris Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 22/Dec/2024]
I often think I fit into that category!
When I was a child my mum would pray this prayer over me as I went to sleep at night:
“Gentle Jesus meek and mild look upon this little child, pity my simplicity, suffer me to come to thee.”
(more…)
[A devotional reflection originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during June 2024]
“Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words, like silent raindrops, fell
And echoed in the well of silence [1]