BH Bulletin - Thursday 9 April 2020

Thought for the Day by Giles Cockman

At the weekend I was doing what I suspect a lot of us have taken to doing these past few weeks, clearing out a cupboard of clutter. At the back, I came across a cassette tape, and when I managed to eventually find something which could play it, I found it contained a recording of There is a Green Hill in a far-away Country, which we had sung at a service one Easter back in the early 2000s at BH. Interesting timing, as we are in Holy Week, and soon to recall Jesus’ death on the cross.
The words to the song, a modern take on the classic, contained some lovely words worth pondering:

1. “Where Jesus our Saviour, the King of all glory, suffered and died to save us all”

First of all, we are reminded of exactly who He was, and what his status was, of the man who went to the cross. The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the creator of the entire universe, who humbled himself to death – even death on a cross. He endured ridicule, immense physical pain, hatred and derision. All for us sinners. In Luke 23: 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

1. “I may not know of, the pain of His passion…”

Now we are reminded that we can never fathom the huge amount Christ suffered – the anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane when drinking the cup of God’s wrath, which should have been for us. In Luke 22:44 we read: “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground”. Then the complete isolation of Jesus, as the Father turned His face away from his beloved son dying in agony on the cross. How intolerable must that have been? As we sing in another song “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross”. How much did Jesus love us to endure all that for us?

1. The final verse says “So very dearly, Jesus has loved us, and all He would ask is, that we love Him too”

And these words should permeate through all our thoughts, words and deeds, each and every day. For me, it’s praying that I would be more disciplined in my own prayer and quiet times, to prioritise my encounters with Him and not take for granted what a massive privilege it is to converse with Him and know He is listening. To know that by his stripes, I am healed. In Matthew 25, we are also reminded that 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ So my prayer for me, and for us as a church family is that we will continue to demonstrate our love to Christ, to each other, these coming weeks, and beyond, into our neighbourhoods and communities, in both practical and prayerful ways.
This is the YouTube version of the song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C2mh8D4lME
​Giles

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Maundy Thursday Prayer Meeting - a reminder

​​Please remember our Prayer Evening this evening. 7-8pm and then we can go out and clap the NHS and key workers.
If you are member of the church and you have not received a link please contact the church office
See you there.
​Phil

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A Note from Hazel Barclay...

​Dearest Church Family,
Having just clambered through to the privilege of joining the golden band of the over eighties, “injury time” as a dear friend called it, I am encouraged that Jesus is “the same yesterday, today and for ever” and that loved by Him I can still serve HIm.
In spite of the daunting struggles we over eighties face with communicating in this technical age, I am excited that God is not bound by church buildings or even our inadequacies but through this very tool which causes us such anguish and frustration, His Word is reaching out from many churches with the Christian hope of redemption and the hope of Heaven ahead, with glimpses even now! So what is my part in this? Like so many of us under ‘house arrest’, I am challenged to pray that as “Livestream” flows via the Internet into the many dark and arid corners of our land God’s Word will “speed on and triumph”.
With my love,
Hazel

Tim Gage received this from a friend

​A Call to Prayer During the Second World War, at times of extraordinary national difficulty, there were specific calls for the people of Britain to meet together and pray. These were encouraged by King George VI and the government of the day. Men, women and children flocked to churches to pray. Within days – and some cases, hours – incredible, miraculous things happened, one of the most incredible being the evacuation of Dunkirk.

As the Coronavirus begins to take hold, we today find ourselves in extraordinarily difficulty, circumstances. Circumstances which are not only affecting us but which are affecting the people of all nations. Circumstances which demand an extraordinary response. I firmly believe this the right time for us to do the same and to call on our nation to pray, just as we did in the past. As we are unable to meet together as churches, how can we do this in 2020? In this time of isolation we cannot replicate those previous calls for prayer but – with the benefit of social media – there is no reason why this call to prayer can’t be circulated to at least a few thousand Christians by simply contacting our friends and asking them to call on their own churches to pray. They can also pass this message on to the rest of their Christian friends.

My suggestion is that we set aside an hour during which Christians throughout our land – wherever they may be – offer prayers to our great and mighty God. When would this be? I doubt there could be a better day to do it than Good Friday, 10th April, 2020. What better time than between 12.00 noon and 1.00pm? Please try to find at least a few minutes during that hour when you, your family, your Church and your friends bring this whole crisis to the Lord in prayer.

If you could please pass this message on to everyone at your Church and to the rest of your family and friends – wherever they might be, home or abroad – that would be brilliant. If possible, let’s get people across the whole world praying during that hour!

​Jeff Hewitt – Elder – Dunstable Baptist Church.