Beckenham Baptist Church

Dear Friends,  One of the things that I found during the lockdown times we were all subject to was how much more I appreciated God’s creation during my times out for my daily walk, especially the beauty and variety of the trees. I suddenly became aware of these towering structures, the skyscrapers of nature, some with different coloured leaves and blossoms, all magnificent to see. I wonder if you have you heard of the Queen’s Green Canopy? In celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, this is a unique project that invites people to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’, with the aim to increase and protect trees in the UK, and as a lasting legacy to honour the Queen’s leadership and service to the nation. It began in the planting season (October-March) in 2021, and this year there will be another opportunity to get involved when the planting season for 2022 begins. There are a number of different kinds of tree mentioned in the Bible including sandalwood, cedar, fig, palm and sycamore, but

Dear Friends, Well, did you stay up for the occasion? The annual humiliation for the UKs entry into the Eurovision Song Contest , this year staged in Turin, Italy, is as traditional as fish and chips, cricket on the green and queuing without complaining. But this year there had been an anticipation that things might be different, and different they were. As the evening wore on into the night, and as the points were awarded from various European cities (and Australia!), the UKs Sam Ryder with his song ‘ Space Man ’ began to rack up the points. To the astonishment of the host – Graham Norton – and probably many others too, lots of first and second place positions were given, and as the excitement grew it became clear that he had done well, very well indeed. He topped the jury vote and was only knocked off the first-place position when the public vote was announced catapulting Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra to win the competition. There were no hard feelings, just joy and delight that Ryde

  Dear Friends, Today (15th May) is the beginning of Christian Aid Week, the first of which took place in 1957. Working with 700 local organisations in around 50 countries Christian Aid seeks to help poor communities, and enable them to deal with hardships from climate change and the possible threat of natural disasters. This year Christian Aid Week will focus on the plight of drought which numerous countries around the world face, and which has become more common because of the   effects of climate change. The impact on the world population is great meaning that millions of people around the world struggle to get the food and water they need. Christian Aid is telling the story of Jessica Mwedzi who lives in rural Zimbabwe and that because of drought every day is struggle for survival. From the Christian Aid website we read, ‘Like many women in rural Zimbabwe – 7 out of 10 rely on farming for income and food – Jessica toils on her farm but nothing can grow on her ashen, dry land. Dro

  Dear Friends, Did you know that May 8 th is World Donkey Day? The idea of a scientist called Raziq Ark and began in 2018, World Donkey Day is about celebrating the stoic spirit and individual charm of these animals, who, Ark says, are a ‘precious genetic resource and a great gift of nature’. As a child I can remember visiting the U.S.A. with my parents on a family holiday and being fascinated by various US TV comedies including Mr Ed , the story of a talking horse. I was I was amazed that a horse could talk and even more amazed that in the credits at the end of the show it simply read that ‘Mr Ed’ was played by ‘Himself’. In the Bible we have the curious incident of Balaam’s Donkey in Numbers 22. Ballam was a sorcerer and prophet who, though not one of God’s chosen people, was willing to acknowledge that the Lord was indeed a powerful God. But he did not believe the Lord as the only true God, and had mixed motives in obeying the Lord’s command but only as long as he could profit f

Dear Friends, Sunday 1 st May is commonly known as May Day and in the UK we enjoy the Early May Bank Holiday, the Monday following the Sunday, an extra day of ‘rest’ for some. Historically May Day celebrates the return of spring and new life and it is thought to have its origins in the agricultural rituals of the ancient Greeks and Romans, with later practices including the gathering of wildflowers and making them into floral garlands, the crowning of a May queen who would lead any May Day procession, and the setting up of a May tree or Maypole which people would dance around in celebration of springtime. Among the many superstitions of May Day was the belief that washing your face with the early morning dew on 1 st May would beautify the skin. Today in many countries around the world 1 st May is celebrated as International Worker’s Day or Labour Day which commemorates the historical struggles and gains made by many workers and labour movements. In 1889 an international federation