BH Bulletin - Thursday 14 May 2020

Thought for the Day by John Head (BH Member)

“Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light to my path” – Psalm 119 v.105
High above the town of Dover (Dubris as it was known to the Romans) stands a Pharos or lighthouse within the Castle grounds. At one time there was a second Pharos up on the hill on the other side of the town.
Most lighthouses are intended to be warnings to sailors to keep away from dangerous rocks on which their boats would founder.
The Dover lighthouses had a different purpose. The pair would have shown as seamarks by day and had burning braziers atop them to act as beacons by night. Framing the entrance to the harbour in the Dour estuary they would have helped sailors to navigate safely into it.
And so should be God’s Word to us. We need to read it and absorb it.
It is a        “Tool for employment and compass for travel,
                   map in the desert and lamp in the dark;
                   teaching, rebuking, correcting and training -
                   these are the scriptures, and this is their work.”
                                (Christopher Idle.)
 John Head

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​Coffee and Chat Reminder

​This afternoon there will again be a 'lockdown' coffee and chat session on zoom that anyone can join at 3.30pm
The link and passwords are the same as last week. If you are new to the chat and would like to join in please can you email Giles on bishophannington@gmail.com for the link and passwords.

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Emerging from Lockdown by Gill Cook (BH Member)

Emerging from Lockdown is not unalloyed joy. Will we ‘get back to normal’ or will there be new hurdles to negotiate? We wouldn’t be human if the future didn’t concern us.
In such a situation of uncertainty and apprehension, I Peter 3:14-15 is a New Testament ‘commandment’ which will take us into that future.
Firstly, Fear not, occurs 366 times in the Bible, one for every day of the year including the 29th Feb in a Leap year.
Secondly, Peter instructs us ‘to set apart Christ as LORD’ in our hearts.
What things do we ‘set apart’ in everyday life?

• money (for a rainy day)
• china (only the best for the guest)
• a special outfit (for a special occasion)
• loo rolls?
• Time (for__________) you fill in the blank!

 
Richard Wurmbrand was a pastor in Romania in the 50’s and 60’s. He spent a total of fourteen and a half years in Communist jails enduring unspeakable torture without ever betraying his fellow Christians in the Underground Church.
When asked how he managed to endure, he simply said:
I prepared myself for what would surely come.
 
Peter got there first!  In 1 Peter 1:13 he tells us: ‘Prepare your minds for action’ Or as the KJV puts it so picturesquely. Gird up the loins of your mind. Richard Wurmbrand did that.
Jesus did exactly that. He knew what awaited Him and prepared Himself, aligning His will with that of His Father.
Peter tells us that we must do the same by setting apart Christ as LORD of our hearts and minds and wills if we are to live as overcomers in an uncertain future.
 
Feels too daunting? Praise Him, ‘He is able to keep us from falling and to present us before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy’. Jude :24.
​Gill

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