Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection by Michael Goble was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 03/Aug/2025]

In our entrance hall at home we have a small ceramic plaque showing the word “SHALOM” which we bought on a visit to Israel. The word means basically peace or tranquillity, as I remember a sermon about it one Sunday. At the time of our visit to that land there was peace in and around Israel, although it is hard to imagine that today.

We even visited the Palestinian Territories and also stayed in a Palestinian hotel for a week before moving on to an Israeli hotel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. I don’t think I would like to go there today even if I could now, at least not until Jesus, the Prince of Peace, returns to rule over a cleansed, forgiven and redeemed Israel, and also reign over the whole world. Then there will be true peace everywhere.
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[This reflection by Dennis Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 13/Jul/2025]

We have recently enjoyed a week of beautiful weather and familiar surroundings in Dorset! While sitting at an outside table overlooking the water, the three of us started talking about church stuff – as you do. On the Sunday, Chris and I visited a large church in Christchurch which friends had recommended. They called it a ‘Spirit-filled’ church.
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[This reflection by Michael Goble was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 15/Jun/2025]

Last week on Pentecost Sunday we were reminded that the resurrected and ascended Jesus poured out His Holy Spirit into His early followers. That was the birth of the Church of which we are a part, and gave each one of us various gifts of the Spirit to serve Him in His kingdom.

I remember that in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s there was a mini pouring out of His Spirit in which He showed His power in the Church. The many ways in which He showed Himself were surprising and unbelievable. I can remember falling to the ground in a service and found myself lying in God’s arms, and we were saying how much we loved each other.
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[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 08/Jun/2025]

“What’s in a name?” Juliet famously asked in Shakespeare’s tale of two star-crossed lovers, suggesting that a name is ultimately meaningless – that it doesn’t define a person’s true nature.

But the Bible tells a different story.
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[This reflection by Dazz Jones was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 04/May/2025]

Recently, I was talking with a friend who said, “I’ve ‘unfollowed’ [insert famous church leader here] because of what he said about …”

The leader in question had posted a written prayer on Instagram about a particularly emotive subject. I had a look myself and, interestingly, I thought it wasn’t clearly aligned with either side of the issue — but perhaps that was just my perception.
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[This reflection by Chris Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 09/Feb/2025]

How blessed we are to be able to share our faith in Jesus with each other in our country.

There are many people we know who have come over to our area seeking asylum from other countries because if they had stayed in their own country would have been persecuted for their faith in Jesus, tortured or even killed. It’s not an easy task to come over here, penniless leaving all they had, wives, children and so much more.
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