Thought for the Week - 27/6/2021

Dear Friends, 

So this week sees the beginning of the Wimbledon Tennis Championship, a staple of our British summer which we all missed out on last year because of Covid. This year sees the well-known players that we all recognise, together with some new kids on the block, battling it out to be crowned Men and Ladies Champion 2021. Of course the strawberries and cream and the Pimms will be on hand, the sun will shine (hopefully), the usual etiquette will be followed as only Wimbledon does, and the matches will be thrilling, although perhaps not as thrilling as the match between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut on Court 18 in 2010, which lasted 11 hours 5 minutes, was played over three days and whose final set was 70-68 to Isner. It is the longest recorded tennis match in history and whilst Isner progressed to the second round, the ‘loser’, Mahut, received a cheque for £11,250. But I’m not sure either player ‘lost’ in the grand scheme of things, because both would go down in tennis history in a match that would probably never be repeated. Isner is quoted as saying about tennis, ‘It’s just simple: just keep fighting and keep believing, try not to show weakness out there’. The apostle Paul encourages his readers by saying things like, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’ (2 Timothy 4:7), ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it’ (1 Corinthians 9:24), and ‘I can do all this through him who gives me strength’ (Philippians 4:13). The Christian faith is about giving our all to God and as we know giving our all is hard. We can get tired, discouraged or fed up. At times like this, determination can be hard to come by. But if there is one thing that helps when we’re battling through a difficult challenge, it’s having someone beside you to cheer you on and offer encouragement. The prophet Isaiah writes, ‘You are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’ (Isaiah 41:9-10). 

Grace and peace,

Neil

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Week - 28th January 2024

Dear Friends, In 1985 the Congregational minister and hymn writer Fred Kaan reflected on ‘For the healing of the nations’ saying, ‘Of all the hymns that I have written, this is the text that has been more widely reprinted and incorporated in major hymnbooks than any other’. It was first used in 1965 and it expresses something of the deep longing and desire for peace and reconciliation, for God’s justice to be known, and for an end to all conflict and violence. Fred Kaan was a committed pacifist and, in an obituary, following his death in 2009 at the age of 80, it read, ‘His theology reflected a God committed to and immersed in a world crying out to be set free from every form of injustice. Fred’s poetry centred on a Jesus who embraced the whole of creation and excluded no one and nothing from his love. In Fred, the Christian peace movement found its voice.’                      ...
Read more

Thought for the Week - 29th October 2023

Dear Friends,  Today we are celebrating two things, firstly it is the Bible Society’s Bible Sunday, a day when we can give thanks to God for the scriptures and echo the apostle Paul’s words, ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’ (2 Timohty 3:16-17). And secondly, as a church we are celebrating the 140 th Church Anniversary of Beckenham Baptist Church, founded in 1883 as Elm Road Chapel, the opening services took place on Wednesday 31st October – 9.30am Prayer Meeting, 2.45pm Public Service, 4.45pm a Meeting in the Chapel, and at 6.30pm another Public Service – with various Baptist luminaries of the day in attendance. The public reading of the Scriptures has always been at the heart of all we do as a Christian community, for it is there that we can hear the stories of the Bible and reflect upon our own place in God’s never-ending story ...
Read more

Thought for the Week - 4th December 2022

Dear Friends,  ‘Census 2021 will probably be remembered as the one in which Christianity became a minority religion in England and Wales’, so read the article in a leading UK newspaper. It went onto say that ‘the number of people identifying as Christian dropped 5.5 million in the past decade’ ( The Guardian , 29/11/2022). Responding to the findings the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said that the country has ‘left behind the era when many people almost automatically identified as Christian’, and that the Christian church would continue its work in the face of both ‘revival and decline’ ( Sky News , 29/11/2022). He went on to say in an interview for BBC News, ‘ It's not a great surprise that the census shows fewer people in this country identifying as Christian than in the past, but it still throws down a challenge to us not only to trust that God will build his kingdom on Earth but also to play our part in making Christ known’. The Bible Society says that the findings of...
Read more