Dear friends,
It was lovely to have ‘full house’ on Sunday and a joy to be in your company. We learnt from Jesus’ letter to the Church at Pergamum about Antipas,who was martyred for his faith, and also about the pressure on the church to compromise their trust in Jesus with food sacrificed to idols, an issue explored by Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth.
More significantly, we focused on the promise that “to those who overcome” Christ gives a white stone with a new name, known only to God and to the believer. This is an indication of the delight Jesus has in each of us, and his desire for intimacy with us as individuals. He loves you so much that even amidst the multitude in Glory, you will be his treasure!
Whilst Luke 8:17 tells us nothing that is now hidden will remain hidden in heaven, it seems God has new secrets in store for us when we meet him face to face. Maybe in front of us is an opportunity for us to meet his marvellous love for us, with our own deep love for Him. Perhaps honest confession and secret acts of charity and devotion are our opportunities to build a secret life with Him… (more about this here and here and here. As Paul puts it, “Your life on earth is done, and you now have a secret life with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
I didn’t mention it in the service, but there’s a song by Martyn Joseph called Everything in heaven comes apart, which always reminds and warns me that everything hidden, confusing and hypocritical will be revealed in heaven. It has this chorus:
“Everything in Heaven come comes apart, everything in Heaven come comes apart.
It comes apart explains itself and shows its complex ways;
To see at last is to be free from a complicated maze;
It comes apart explains itself and shows its complex ways,
Everything in heaven comes apart.”
It’s worth a listen…
Hymns and Media
We sang Meekness and Majesty, a version of Our God is a great big God (led by the brilliant children of Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church), Before the throne of God above, What a friend we have in Jesus and Nearer My God to Thee.
Additionally before the service I played a versions of How sweet the name of Jesus sounds and All must be well by the remarkable church planters in Scotland’s housing schemes whose music we’ve used quite a lot – they are 20schemes.
Prayer
There was lots for us to pray for this week. If you are able, please do remember to pray:
For De Wet and Marsia in Johannesburg, where De Wet is suffering with the virus and Marsia with Breast cancer. Please pray too for their three young children.
For Nic’s mum Pam,
For Jamie – Jamie, if you get this email, we all love you and are praying for you.
For Simon’s friend Bob – having had surgery.
For Kitty, relative of one of Avril’s neighbours. Kitty is 12 and she had back surgery yesterday whilst we were together in worship.
For Alan – who was fitting a new manifold on his car yesterday!
For any of the fellowship going away on holiday in the next few weeks.
Please do continue to pray for persecuted Christians and the ministry of charities like via CSW, Open Doors, Help the Persecuted or Release International.
Prayer in the Chapel
We are aiming to open the Chapel for private prayer on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays between 10:00 and 12:00 from Monday August 3rd. To do so we need one volunteer for each session to accompany Ian. We are not expecting the Chapel to be busy and are not advertising this anywhere – we’d just like to give you the opportunity to come back to the Chapel safely to pray if you would like to get out of the house and find some quiet time.
No special skills are required – and we will give you a safeguarding briefing to ensure you feel safe and supported whilst you volunteer.
If you could join in in the month ahead, could you fill this form in and Bec or I will be in touch?
September Planning
We are continuing to plan for a limited reopening of the Chapel in September, where we host the zoom service for those worshipping from home. We are working through risk assessments with the circuit and are considering having the following groups in the Chapel: those leading worship, those unable to worship from home, and possibly our Sunday School. Please do pray as we continue to plan…
I’m grateful Kevin who has helped get the Chapel ready for hosting the zoom service, to Don and Mike who are helping to get new signage ready for the front of church, and to Simon, Sally and Tracy who are getting the website ready for us.
The Week Ahead
Sam, Bec, Mike and I will be meeting this week to begin the process of undertaking risk assessments related to re-opening the Church building. We are imagining opening for private prayer with Ian and a small rota of helpers from Monday 27th of July, and possibly opening in September for a worship group, for Sunday School and those who can’t get onto Zoom.
Sunday service at 10:30
Next week we’ll hear Jesus message to the church in Thyatira from Revelation 2:18-29. I’ll be hosting the service from Somerset, where Lana, the kids and I are going to look after my grandmother for a week.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91452831539?pwd=K3FaaG1SMGY0N3NlS0U2SEIyUVFEdz09
Meeting ID: 914 5283 1539 Password: BCMC
Coffee Morning
Please feel free to click the link here at 11:00 on Wednesday for a chat with anyone else that is free
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81030034262?pwd=amFjSG1SR0NVRzJBQTZIVlc0bXUwQT09
Meeting ID: 810 3003 4262 Password: BCMC
Other links
John Brown has kindly forwarded details of the brilliant ministry that’s available this week from the Keswick convention. The theme is hope, and I’m sure everyone of us could find encouragement and teaching here: https://vkc.keswickministries.org. There’s also a full programme of activities thinking and craft for kids here: https://vkc.keswickministries.org/keswick-for-kids/ .