Beckenham Baptist Church

Dear Friends,  Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia! And so we celebrate once again the mystery that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We have read the Holy Week story and walked with Jesus the road marked with suffering and pain, but now there is the new dawn, the new beginning, new life. The apostle Paul, writing to the believers in Corinth says, ‘If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). What does it mean to be ‘in Christ’? To be ‘in Christ’ means to have committed your life to following Jesus and obeying his will for your life. To be ‘in Christ’ means to know and acknowledge God’s love for you and to seek to please God in your life. To be ‘in Christ’ means to know that you are forgiven because of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be ‘in Christ’ means to know God’s mercy, grace and provision for your life, and to offer your life to God in pr...

Dear Friends, Today is Palm Sunday, and we once again begin the events of Holy Week as we remember Jesus’ final journey that leads to the Crucifixion on Good Friday, the silence of Easter Saturday, and then the celebration of Easter Day when Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin and death forever. Tucked into the gospel of John and chapter 13 we read the account of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. We remember this event on Maundy Thursday together with the Lord’s Supper, as Jesus directed his followers to ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ as we share in bread and wine. The act of Jesus washing his friends’ feet was an act of humility, and he says, ‘Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet’ (John 13:14). He gives this instruction for us to follow, and he models servanthood in a most memorable and dramatic way, showing his servant attitude to his disciples and meaning that even if God in the flesh is willing to serve in this way...

Dear Friends, This week in the Release International Prayer Diary we were encouraged to use Psalm 133 to pray for unity and harmony among Sudanese churches and their leaders. ‘ How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore. ’ (Psalm 133, NRSV). The Open Doors 2024 World Watch List has Sudan at Number 8 in the list of countries where Christians count the highest cost for following Jesus. It reads, ‘A few years ago, Sudan was a good news story on the World Watch List. Apostasy was no longer illegal, and more leniency around freedom of religion was brought in by the transitional government – there was still a long way to go, but there were signs of hope.’ In April 2023 though conflict broke out and man...

Dear Friends,  Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent, and it is Mothering Sunday, the day when we give thanks for our mums and those who carry out any kind of ‘mothering’ role in our lives. It is an opportunity to show our gratitude by sending cards and presents, the most popular of which are flowers, chocolates and jewellery, and shoppers are estimated to spend £1.7 billion on the celebration this year in the UK. But today is also know by some in the church as ‘Refreshment Sunday’ because historically those taking part in the Lenten fast were allowed to relax on this day from the rigours of fasting and abstinence. Yet another name for the fourth Sunday in the Lenten season is Laetare Sunday, Laetare being the Latin for ‘Rejoice’ and coming from the first few words of the traditional Latin entrance verse for the church service, ‘Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her…’ (Isaiah 66:10), and a little later we read of this image, the Lord says, ‘As a mother co...

Dear Friends,  The season of Len t encourages us to wait and in the Watch and Pray – Wisdom and Hope for Lent and Life booklet produced by the Church of England, we are invited to wait expectantly for God to meet us and sustain us. Drawing on the wisdom of Black Spirituality and particularly the practice of ‘tarrying’ (waiting), we are encouraged to draw closer to Jesus and to each other. One of the ways in our Christian faith we draw closer to Jesus and others is as we gather around the Table of the Lord at Communion, and where we hear the words, ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’ (1 Corinthians 11:26). Writing in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2024 Lent Book, Tarry Awhile , Selina Stone says, ‘To be invited around the Lord’s table is a privilege that none of us deserve. As we gather around the table that is not our own, at which we are guests, we are reminded… of the reconciling work of Christ even while we tarr...

Dear Friends,  From this month’s Open Doors prayer diary we have been asked to ‘pray for the persecutors’ and we heard the remarkable story from Central Asia which said, ‘A policeman arrived at an underground pastor’s home to arrest him, but he wasn’t in. His 10-year-old daughter invited him to wait. She made him dinner and, saying grace, thanked God for the food and this ‘good man’. Overwhelmed by her love, he became a Christian and is now helping protect the church’. We are asked to read the stories and testimonies of those who are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ, and to pray for these courageous believers. ‘Be ready to be inspired by them and rejoice with them, because God is honouring them’ Open Doors reminds us. We read of the apostle Paul’s request for prayer from the believers in Thessalonica, that the gospel message would continue to spread and that he and his fellow missionaries would be ‘delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith...

Dear Friends,  A childhood memory that perhaps we can all associate with (and which may persist into later life) is holidaying at the beach and taking off our shoes and socks and running in the sand and sea barefoot, which always to me seemed to express a freedom and enjoyment that life not on holiday never quite gave. During Lent this year I’m using a book called Barefoot Prayers – a meditation a day for Lent and Easter by Stephen Cherry who is the Dean of Kings College, Cambridge. He says that ‘prayer is what happens when humility meets grace, or rather, when humility is met by grace. People today shy away from the virtue of humility for fear that to get close to it will make them weak in the face of hostile others, or in the fear that thinking themselves humble, they might slip into pride. Yet humility is the least negotiable of the Christian virtues. It is the basis of spirituality, wisdom and ministry’. The gospel of Matthew tells us of the story when Jesus’ disciples came ...

Dear Friends,  This week sees the beginning of the season of Lent in the church calendar as Ash Wednesday marks the 40-day period of prayer, fasting, repentance, moderation, self-denial and spiritual discipline. The purpose of the Lenten season is to set aside some time for reflection on Jesus Christ and to consider his suffering and sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection. Why a 40-day period you may ask? It is based on two episodes of spiritual testing found in the Bible, the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness by the Israelites after the Exodus, and the time of Jesus’ temptations by the Devil in the desert after his baptism. The account of Jesus’ testing in the wilderness reminds us that he fasted forty days and nights, and that he was hungry. That sense of hunger is what we seek over the period of Lent as we seek to come closer to God, to learn more about our own relationship with him, and to discover more about who Jesus is as we slow down and take our time. ...

Dear Friends,  Sunday 4 th February is the BMS World Mission Day of Prayer. Each year at the beginning of February, the Baptist family in the UK is invited to pray for the work that BMS is doing around the world for some of the most marginalised and least evangelised people to experience the fullness of life through Christ and the love of Jesus in both word and deed. From the BMS website we have the following that tells us something of what BMS does: ‘Mission – what is it? It’s over 200 years of matching God’s word with deed. It’s our storied Baptist history and world still in need. We’re shaped by our past as we look to the future. It’s you and it’s us, it’s ‘we’ working together, as BMS World Mission uniting believers to change the world. Will you join us? In over 30 countries from cities to the most remote places, we tackle injustice and suffering in desperate places. We walk with refugees and those forced to leave home. We share the good news of Jesus where it’s never been...

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.’                      ...

Dear Friends,  This week, 27 th January, marks Holocaust Memorial Day and this year’s theme is entitled, ‘ The Fragility of Freedom ’. From the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust resources we read,  ‘Freedom means different things to different people. What is clear is that in every genocide that has taken place, those who are targeted for persecution have had their freedom restricted and removed before many of them are murdered. This is often a subtle, slow process. The ten stages of genocide, as identified by Professor Gregory Stanton, demonstrate that genocide never just happens. There is always a set of circumstances which occur, or which are created, to build the climate in which genocide can take place and in which perpetrator regimes can remove the freedoms of those they are targeting. Not only do perpetrator regimes erode the freedom of people they are targeting, demonstrating how fragile freedom is, they also restrict the freedoms of others around them, to prevent people ...

Dear Friends,  This week sees the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 18 th January-25 th January, and this year the theme comes from the churches in Burkina Faso in West Africa and focuses on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, asking the question, ‘Who is my Neighbour?’. Dr Nicola Brady, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, introducing the theme writes, ‘In choosing this passage of Scripture… the churches of Burkina Faso have invited us to join with them in a process of self-reflection as they consider what it means to love our neighbour in the midst of a security crisis. The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the best known passages of Scripture, yet one that never seems to lost its power to challenge indifference to suffering and to inspire solidarity. It is a story about crossing boundaries that calls our attention to the bonds that unite the whole human family… In this week, the Church is being challenged to stop and tend to ...

Dear Friends,  Happy New Year! January is a time when people make new year’s resolutions like giving something up, taking up a new hobby or learning a new skill. You may be familiar with the ‘Thankful January Challenge’, naming something you are thankful for during the 31 days of the first month of the year. We can be thankful for the little things as well as the big things in life, those things we can be grateful for and show our appreciation. The apostle Paul writing to the believers in Thessalonica says, ‘Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). It is a reminder that our joy, prayers and thankfulness doesn’t depend on our circumstances or feelings but on our faithfulness in Jesus Christ. Following these three commands – be joyful, pray continually, and give thanks – often goes against our human nature, and yet when we do make a conscious decision to do what God says, it is the...

  Thought for the Week: In her book, Music of Eternity – Meditations for Advent with Evelyn Underhill , spiritual director and retreat leader Robyn Wrigley-Carr explores the spirituality of this early 20 th Century writer and spiritual guide and writes of the presence of God as we embrace the coming of Jesus to earth and his continual coming to us every day. She says Underhill invites us to respond in worship as we adore God, seek to be humble, loving and forgiving and share the peace of Christ with others. Underhill writes, ‘The old mystics always insist that love and humility are sisters. As we learn about love, we seem to get smaller and smaller and the wonder of God to get greater and greater. The more we realise the fact of this love pouring out from the heart of God to draw all things… the deeper grows the love which is demanded from us in return’. As we once again remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we thank God for his incredible act of love in giving his p...

  Dear Friends,  In his book ‘ Preparing for Christmas – Daily Meditations for Advent ’, the Franciscan priest and founder of the Centre for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Richard Rohr, reflects on the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, and what he calls ‘the amazing thing of the deliberate inclusion of four foreign, non-Jewish women, of whom at least three were of easy virtue, or even public “sinners”’. In a piece entitled, ‘The Authority of Those Who have Suffered’, Rohr wonders why the gospel would risk such characters appearing in the list, concluding that ‘it clearly wanted to say that Jesus came from the ordinary, the human, the broken, the sinful suffering world, as all of us do. His birth accepted the full human condition, which becomes his first step toward the cross’. For Jesus, his authority is found in ‘the authenticity of his message and because of the transformative power of his journey through death to resurrection’....

  Dear Friends,  As you may be aware we are now the owners of a dog called Marlow, a cute fluffy Cavapoochon. One of the things that I’m discovering about owning a dog (and there are many things I’m discovering) is that he does like to come and sit next to me on the sofa, and when I say next to me, it is more like he is trying to sit on me, he is that close. The upside of course is that it is like having my own personal hot water bottle to keep me warm. In The Little Book of Advent , a collection of Bible readings, prayers and reflections for each day of Advent, in section called ‘God is near you’, David Adam who was the Vicar of Holy Island, Lindisfarne and published several books of prayers, reflected on Isaiah 43, where the Lord says, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burne...

Dear Friends,  For the Advent season this year I’m using again The Little Book of Advent , complied by Canon Arthur Howells, it is described as ‘an indispensable collection of readings from some of the most celebrated modern-day spiritual writers’ including Henri Nouwen, Kathy Galloway, Jane Williams and David Adam. In a reflection entitled ‘Be Still’ by Michael Stancliffe, a Church of England priest who was a canon of Westminster Abbey, a former chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and Dean of Winchester, he reflects on the prophet Elijah’s encounter with the Lord on Mount Horeb where God met him, ‘not in the roaring of the wind, nor in the commotion and convulsion of the earthquake, nor in the terrible power of the fire – but in a still, small voice’, and as Stancliffe, describes, Elijah ‘had reached the still point at the centre’. He says, ‘For the still centre is the source of all life and power and might… ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10) … We are t...

  Dear Friends, This week sees the beginning of the COP28 Climate Summit taking place at Expo City in Dubai. The conference runs from 30 th November until 12 th December and will be attended by a number of major world leaders, leading scientists, journalists, as well as members of the public. Themes being discussed will include food and agriculture, finance and accountability, technology and innovation, health and education, children and youth, gender and inclusion, and it is hope that there will be some positive progress on the state of the ‘Loss and Damage Fund’ that was established at COP27 in Egypt last year with the aim of assisting nations that are most vulnerable to the climate crisis. As this conference begins and many people will be looking with hope perhaps tinged with uncertainty and doubt about the future, I’m reminded of words from the Psalms, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and establis...

Dear Friends,  In my daily Bible Study notes we have been thinking about ‘thankfulness’ and thanksgiving which enables us to look back and recall what God has said and done in our lives, to be grateful for what he is doing and what he has provided, and to look forward with grateful hope and expectation. We read in the apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus, in a section about instructions for Christian living, that we should ‘be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 5:18-20). That call to give ‘thanks to God for everything’ we sometimes may find difficult to do. When life is going well for us, thanksgiving to God may be easy, but what about when we are facing life’s challenges, or when we see around us those things that are destructive and unhealthy to ourselves and others, ...

  Dear Friends,  During this early part of the month of November we are drawn in the church calendar to ‘remembering’, and as a friend recently reminded me it is sometimes called ‘remembrancetide’. Some remember the saints of old in All Saints Day on November 1 st and others remember loved ones who have died on All Souls Day on November 2 nd . Perhaps our focus for remembering falls on November 11 th , Armistice Day, and November 12 th , Remembrance Sunday, when we will once again remember the fallen and all victims of war. We will call to mind the cost of wars and conflicts, both historic and present day, the huge numbers of precious lives lost and the damaging and lasting effects that such battles leave. It was the former prime minister Neville Chamberlain who is quoted as saying in 1938, ‘In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.’ In the world today we need to redouble our efforts in working for peace and in praying for ...