When you walk through the barriers at Alton Towers amusement the experience is overwhelming; I’d describe it as full-on sensory overload!
There’s that classic theme park music blaring out, everything is brightly coloured and in your face, THEN there’s the smell of freshly fried theme park doughnuts… It’s an assault of the senses!
 
Imagine that experience taken to the next level.
I think that’s what John must have felt as the Lord Jesus welcomed him through the heavenly door in Revelation 4.
 
Have a read of Revelation 4:1-11


If you know your Bible well, you’ll notice shades of Daniel 7, Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1 & 2 glimmering through but there’s rainbows, thunder, oxen, precious jewels, thrones, crowns, what is going on!?!!
One of the most helpful hints to reading Revelation I’ve come across is this:
the plain thing is the main thing & the main thing is the plain thing.
Isn’t that really helpful?
 
And in Revelation 4 what is the plain main thing?
V2 There before me was a throne with someone sitting on it…
 
Ten times John mentions this THRONE it’s like his eye is constantly drawn back there and if you read the passage, you’ll notice EVERYTHING is defined in its relation to this throne. Things encircle or surround or are in front of come from this throne.
Wow.
 
God is on the throne at the centre of EVERYTHING.
 
Every detail that John recounts is designed to show off the captivating beauty of our God (the jasper and ruby); the rainbows shows off His mercy; the rumbling thunder and peals of lightning reveal God’s might & judgement; and the living creatures and the elders reveal all of creation, all of God’s people all of bowing down to the King.
Everything is joined in praise and worship of our glorious God who sits on His throne.
 
What. A. God.
This is Ultimate Reality
God is on the throne at the centre of EVERYTHING.
 
 
I wonder if our lives reflect that Ultimate Reality?
Is this throne, is this God the centre of our lives?
Does the structure of our week, the themes of our prayers, the use of our time reflect this throne room? What might it look like for you to place this throne front and centre in your life?
 
 
God is on the throne at the centre of EVERYTHING so let us join in that heavenly song praising our God who is magnificent and awesome crying Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty.
​

For full details click on the picture

​The final word
 
‘And so Job died, an old man and full of years’ Job 42:17
 
I was reading through the book of Job a few weeks back, and it was the final verse that made me stop and think. It's very 'matter of fact' and in many ways, quite lovely. 'And so Job died, an old man and full of years' - his life on earth was ended. He'd started off well, being a righteous man - 'blameless and upright'. He 'feared God and shunned evil' (1:1). He was also very rich, happy and kind. An important man, he was in fact 'the greatest man in the East' (1:3). But then things went wrong, and he lost everything - family, wealth, respect, health - you know the story.
 
But here, in the final chapter, we get a touching 'epilogue', and learn that the latter part of his life was more blessed by God than the former part (42:12). After his troubles were over, he lived for another 140 years. Then, as an 'old man, full of years' (v17), he died. As other old testament books would have said, he 'rested with his fathers'.
 
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ let's not fear death, at whatever time it comes, but trust that our times are truly in God's hand. Let's see it as resting with our loving saviour, and with our dear friends too. Alive and waiting with joyful expectation for the resurrection day and our glorious new life and destiny. Yes, death brings great sorrow - of course it does. But through the darkness and weeping of the night, is the reminder that 'rejoicing comes in the morning’ (Ps 30:5). 'Trust in the Lord at all times' (Ps 62:8) - even in and through the nights of sorrow.

​Well that’s Easter finished. Decorations down (yes, we try and have some up), Easter eggs finished (truth be told we may have started these before Easter) and hot cross buns away (for at least a week… they are good all year round!)
 
But here is a truth which we all know… the hope of Easter never comes down, is never finished and is never put away.
 
This low week after Easter when things seem a little quieter, when our focus shifts from building up to that great day to some day in the future (Christmas dare I say).
 
But because of Easter God’s focus has not shifted.
 
His focus is upon Jesus, the one whom he loves, the one who bled and died for you and for me upon a cross and the one who was raised from death to bring light and life.
 
And today that hope is yours and mine, whether we feel like it or not.
 
Why not read through these words and praise God afresh today.
 
Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
    his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
 
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
 
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
 
1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.
​Ben

​uggested reading: John 18:16-18 (and rest of chapter)
 
How on earth can this Friday be called a ‘good’ Friday?
 
It’s a question all of us must have encountered. Whether we have asked the question ourselves, or have asked it of others with the intention of explaining why.
Good Sunday makes sense, probably even better to be called The Greatest Sunday of all time!
 
But for the events of the Friday; the arrest and sham trial of Jesus in the early hours of the morning, his scourging and flogging by Roman soldiers, the utter humiliation as his own people bay for his blood and for a murderer to go free, the dragging of the cross to Calvary, the pain of watching a disfigured man nailed to the cross, and the suffering he exerted in the hours till his death.
 
‘Sad Friday’ would probably make more sense to us. ‘The Saddest Friday of all time’
 
But the truth is, as most of you know, that this is day is called ‘Good’  because of what happened on the cross. Upon the cross Jesus bore all of our sin, all of our failings, all of the brokenness that separates God from man. His death has bought you life!
That’s why it’s a Good Friday, because actually before that Friday every single day was ‘The Saddest day of all time’ because we were dead in our sins, lost for eternity.
 
So this is a day for rejoicing. This is a day to experience the Peace that God offers. This is a day for wondrous reflection, marvelling at what Christ did for you.
 
And it gets better. Stay tuned for Sunday…. 

The next BH bulletin will be on Wednesday 7 April.  After that the bulletin will come out three times a week on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The Electoral Roll review is coming to an end on Sunday (4 April).  After that the Electoral Roll will close until after the APCM on the 25 April.  If you have an Electoral Roll form and have not returned it please return it by Sunday or you will not be able to join the Roll until after the APCM so you will not be able to vote at the APCM.

The Cup: Luke 22:39-46 
 
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”
41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 
45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” 
 
What words would you use to describe what Jesus is like?  Brave? Compassionate? Strong? Wise? Loving? Powerful?  
 
I’m not sure many of us would say ‘emotionally fragile’, and yet here, in a moment of unimaginable anguish, Jesus seems broken.  
 
It is the night before he dies.  He has just shared the Passover meal with his friends. They’ve gone from there to the Mount of Olives- a quiet place which provided a good space to reflect and pray.  There on that hill - in Gethsemane- Jesus leaves his friends, telling them to pray so they don’t fall into temptation.  However, they are so emotionally and physically exhausted that they take a nap.  If they knew what Jesus was about to face, they would be awake with him, supporting him and praying for him at his time of need. 
 
Jesus is left to face this terrible anguish all alone: And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground (v44).  
 
We are used to hearing Jesus praying to his Father.  But not like this. In fact, he’s so distraught that An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him (v43).  We’ve never seen Jesus like this.  He can barely endure what is happening. What could possibly cause a man like Jesus to be on his knees sweating blood as he prays? 
 
It’s a cup:  "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me (v42)    
 
The cup is a symbol of God’s anger and punishment (look up Isaiah 51).  
The cup is full to the brim of God’s right and holy hatred for sin. 
The cup is something we all deserve to drink from.   
                         
But here, perfect, glorious King Jesus is on the mountainside beginning to taste what is in that cup.  And soon enough he will drain it to its dregs. 
 
Think about that. Jesus the perfect son of God begins just to taste what it will be like to be treated like a sinner.  Jesus the second person of trinity begins to feel what it will be like to be forsaken and abandoned by God. 
 
What love Jesus has for us!  If just a taste of God’s wrath was enough to make him fall to his knees and sweat like blood, how much worse was his actual experience on the cross the next day? 
 
All of that was so that you would never need to drink a drop from that cup yourself.  
 
No wonder that tomorrow really is GOOD Friday!   

Fran and Martin Russell March News letter please click below

James and Carolynn Webb March News letter please click below

Katie Bennett March News letter please click below

I’m awful at Art… we used to have Art exams at school and I was given 23%, and I think that was just for turning up and writing my name. But someone who is very good is the Artist Rembrandt. He has produced many notably works, but the one I want to focus on is ‘Raising of the Cross’. Here he depicts Jesus being lifted up upon the cross, but he decides to paint a familiar face onto one of the soldiers… his own.
It was Rembrandts way of saying… i’m guilty, I’m the reason Jesus died.
 
So today as we prepare to look upon the cross it’s as if we are looking into a mirror.
 
Jesus had to die for you and for me.
If you want to know what your sin is like, then look upon the Son of God who died for you. 
If you want to know what your sin deserves then look upon the Son of God who died for you.
If you want to know the price he paid for you to be free then look upon the Son of God who died for you.
This morning why not use the familiar words of Isaiah 53:3-6 to focus your hearts and minds onto the saviour who died for you and for me.
 
4Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.
Ben

    God cannot be fully known
 
     Our God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty
       There are some things God cannot do.
 
C.S Lewis is brilliant. He has written so much gold. I think this is my favourite quote of his and surprisingly, it’s from Prince Caspian!

“Aslan" said Lucy "you're bigger".
"That is because you are older, little one" answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
Aslan of course represents God/Jesus in Lewis’ writing and he’s touching on something truly wonderful: our God cannot be fully known.
 
Psalm 145:3
3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    his greatness no one can fathom.
 
This is what clever people call the incomprehensibility of God the idea that cannot be fully known. This may sound like a bad thing; I mean in schools something being incomprehensible is a bad thing (!) like me trying to wrap my head around Standard Deviation I couldn’t comprehend it so I gave up.
But with God, incomprehensibility is BRILLIANT. It reminds us that He is the Infinite Creator and we are Finite Creatures. If we have understood that God is Infinite (see 16.03.21) He has no boundaries or limitations whereas we are finite creatures then how could we ever expect to come to the end of knowing God there will always be more to know!!?
 
Yes, He’s incomprehensible (we’ll never know Him fully) BUT He is knowable. We cannot know all there is to know about God but we can know all we need to know about God. He’s told us in His Word everything we need to know about who He is. We can know Him truly if not fully.
This makes God very different from us! We can be fully known, and we are, by God.
 
This has a lot of implications on us:

1. We are not experts on God.

 
If you were to go on MasterMind, what would your specialist subject be? Mine might be Cypriot Cuisine or Pokemon?! But there is no one on this earth who could say, ‘God is my specialist subject, I know all about Him.’ God is incomprehensible! There is always more to learn, as we plumb His depths and find out about Him we realise there is EVEN more to find out about like Lucy and Aslan above, we can never master the Lord! Isn’t that thrilling? When you come to church or in your quiet times and look over a familiar bit of Scripture, remember God is incomprehensible there is still more to learn!
 

1. We are not experts on ourselves or our neighbours.

 
We are not incomprehensible. We can be and are fully known by God.
So we need Him to diagnose what we’re really like, to see beyond our feelings about ourselves and tell us the truth. This also tracks for how we think about other people; we don’t fully know them, God does, so we cannot and should not judge or pick fault in our neighbour.
God cannot be fully known, let us devote our lives to the joyful study of knowing Him better!
Stephen

Thank you so much to all of you who have contributed to the set up of the Easter garden. Special thanks goes to Steve Funnell, Harold Turner, Sarah Sinden, Carol Head and Kwikfit Hove.
We would love the whole church family, along with the wider community to be involved so do bring a plant with you and use the spades provided to plant it, bring a painted stone or a little cross made out of sticks to leave there too.                                                                                             
As well as this, the garden is there to be enjoyed so why not meet a friend to pray, bring along your children/grandchildren, ask a neighbour to visit it with you or pop in on your daily walk. (Government guidelines apply so see instructions displayed.)                                                 The garden is open to use every day, we’d love it to look amazing by Easter J
Do be praying this garden will be used and point people to other events at BH.
Enjoy celebrating Easter in God’s creation!
  
See video below for a virtual tour of what the garden looks like so far.​

“[Christ] himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one.” (Ephesians 2.14)
We tend to be familiar with the idea that through the cross, Christ reconciles us to God. Yet through the cross, Christ also reconciles us to all who are in him.
That reconciliation doesn’t simply mean the absence of conflict, or that we’re pretty friendly to each other. Rather, we are “one”. Consider your body. Although it has many parts, it is one. Now consider your church. It is not simply a group of different individuals and households who happen to regularly worship the same God together. You and they are one.
When you next spend time with Christians – or even just think about another Christian – wouldn’t it be good if this was one of your thoughts: “they and I are one.” The more of us who do that, the more Christ – who “himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one” – will be glorified.

The first of the Easter Reflection Services is tonight at 7:30pm. For more information and to book your place click on the picture.  Booking will remain open until 4:30pm this afternoon.

So Bad So Soon
You may, like me, have read this in your morning bible reading on Wednesday.
Adam’s oldest son kills his own brother. A deliberate, planned, murder. Cain and Abel.
Why?
A whole load of answers to that one. Life was all about himself. God had rejected his offering (v5) and Cain was furious. But his offering wasn’t the best he could have done (unlike his brother’s). He had done wrong and he wouldn’t admit it. He was at the centre of his own universe; the epitome of sin. And his resentment and jealousy ended up shedding his own brother’s blood and taking his own brother’s life. So soon after the Fall. It’s terrible; and it’s just like us, because our hearts are just the same as Cain’s.
Next Friday is about blood too. Shed blood. Jesus’ blood. Shed not out of resentment and fury, but shed out of love, sheer love. For you and me. So that our Cain-like hearts may be healed and we may have a new life. Next Friday is so important that it’s worth preparing for, and that’s why we have services each evening during the week before Easter, called ‘Holy Week’ in some places. Our little series starts on Sunday (morning and evening) and we’re doing to work our way through the ‘Servants Songs’ in Isaiah. We’re going to think about the Suffering Servant, shedding his blood for us, and we’re going to prepare for Good Friday, and the glories of Easter Sunday.
Prepare well. We’re heading for a wonderful weekend.
​

​

Don't forget to book your place at the Easter services.  Full details of the services and how to book can be found by clicking on the picture.

​
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.

As a young leader in the church there’s obviously a reason why this particular passage strikes a chord with me but I think there’s an incredible message which we all can learn from.
We can often get into the habit of saying ‘no’ to God, making excuses “I’m too young, too old, too stupid, too ugly, too weak, too tired, too stuttering, too depressed, too anxious, too useless” to do great things for you.

But do you see what God says to this; “Before I formed you in the womb” I had set aside great things for you to do. As we’ve been looking at in our morning services in Ephesians lately; God chose us before the creation of the world. Before he formed us, he had chosen us and set aside things for us to do

He has called us all to do great things for him. Whether that’s preaching in front of stadiums, speaking to everyone we know about God like Jeremiah, or prayerfully absorbing his word each day and being an encouragement to those around us. God has chosen us to do those things and will provide us with all we need to do them. He will give us the spirit that 2 Timothy tells us is not the spirit of timidity but the spirit of love, power, and self-discipline. He will use that spirit to remove fear from us. He will reach out and put his words in our mouths.
If you see me at any point soon, please remind me of this passage! It’ll probably be the thing I most need to hear.
​Alex.

Few things are more important to our growth as Christians than to be able to understand the Bible, and so to feast on the Word of God.
Phil & Ben have set up two workshops to help us grow our skills in handling the Bible:
Monday 7th June, 7.30pm
Monday 27th September, 7.30pm
Come to one, come to both.
They’re for anyone who wants to be better at understanding the Bible. So that’s everyone then!
But we’d really like all preachers, future preachers, small group leaders, youth and children’s leaders to come, along with anyone doing a 1-1, or anyone who would ever lead a bible study.
We hope to meet in person, it may have to be on Zoom, but for now, it’s two dates for your diary.​

​

“ CAMEO = Come And Meet Everyone Online”
 For the next couple of months, at least, Cameo won’t be meeting  in the Church buildings so we would love to invite anyone who is able to access Zoom on a Thursday morning, between 11:00 and 12:00 approximately, to join us for refreshments & chat, topics of interest, quizzes, discussions and more...please come along using the link in ChurchSuite and we look forward to meeting you there.