BH Bulletin - Tuesday 14 July 2020

Thought for the Day by Catharine Currell
​(Families Minister)

​“And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.” Ezra 3:11-13

As Evangelical Christians we have an ambivalence about church buildings. We know that we don’t need to be in a special building in order to hear from God’s word or worship him. Yet the buildings in which we meet with our brothers and sisters do become special to us. For some, they are spaces in which they were married or baptised. They may be the place we first heard the gospel and the place in which we are most comfortable worshipping. As we begin to use our church buildings again it will be a great joy to see one another again yet there will inevitably be disappointment too as we sit apart, unable to sing God’s praises together.

We must continually remind ourselves that the physical and visible gathering of God’s people is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to being ‘church’. We are sometimes a group of people in the same place at the same time but we are always the body of Christ. We are always brothers and sisters of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We are children of a heavenly Father, living stones, beloved sheep who know their Shepherd’s voice; we are a holy people, a chosen nation, saved by grace, bought at a price and given an inheritance in heaven! What an incredible thing it is to be the church!

As we meet, physically or virtually, feel free to make sounds of joy or of weeping…or both at once!
​Catharine

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We're on the way back!!!! 9.00am Service yesterday

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