blog

  • Just a thought... 24 May

    The right response to amazing grace? Yet again last Sunday morning, we heard the testimony of someone who is a recipient of God’s amazing grace in Christ: The wonderful story of conviction of sin being amazingly met with forgiveness because Jesus has already taken all the punishment deserved on the cross. The stunning reality that His resurrection from the dead sealed the certainty of future hope. Redemption’s work is done again, as it is for every true Christian! Yet, what is a right response to such amazing grace? We saw on Sunday morning that it’s to take...

  • Just a thought... 10 May

    “Make yourself at home!” are warm words of welcome. Yet it can sometimes be a meaningless phrase that amounts to little more than ‘take a seat’. The question of being ‘at home’ and ‘where is home’ is one we saw Nehemiah and his colleagues working on last Sunday morning from chapters 11 & 12 of the Old Testament book of the same name. They were trying to re-populate the newly re-built city of Jerusalem and in the only way they knew how, working out the large variety of people who would enable the...

  • Just a thought... 3 May

    Although we now have our own building, it was in Hardenhuish School hall on 17th April 2005 that our church held its first public service of worship. This year that was Easter Sunday, so we chose to celebrate last weekend on 1st May. Starting our anniversary service with Psalm 90 we considered again the benefit of marking the passing of time: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90 vs 12) As we paused to reflect the past, with its joys and sorrows, its encouragements and its pain, the overarching...

  • Just a thought... 26 April

    It’s one thing knowing a fact or truth or idea but it’s an entirely different thing seeing it put into practice. Often a principle can sound great in theory but watching the effects it has in someone’s life can be either really convincing or show that it’s wrong.On Sunday morning in our Sunday School gift day, we saw together from 2 Timothy how the apostle Paul pointed to Timothy’s mother and grandmother as examples of the Gospel put into practice. Faith in the Lord Jesus and His Word had such an obvious great effect...

  • Just a thought... 19 April

    Bizarre as it sounds, some people might regard the resurrection of the Lord Jesus not happening, and the Gospel not being true as very convenient: As we saw on Sunday evening from 1 Corinthians ch 15, no resurrection would mean our bodies are disposable like single-use plastic rather than renewable, and we can (mis)use them now however we want! Yet it would mean that even if there IS a God, there is no way to know, let alone placate Him. We would only be left with the hopelessness of whatever life we now live. As Paul put it...

  • Just a thought... 12 April

    It’s almost never the wrong time to reassess how we’re getting on. Our western culture likes to do it at the start of each year, but it can be helpful to do at other times too: Last Sunday morning we continued to see Nehemiah and his colleagues doing that, having finished rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In the light of what they heard from God’s Word, they sought to recommit themselves to Him. Yet having confessed their sin in ch 9 their only solution was to renew the covenant in ch 10, which we might sadly summarise...

  • Just a thought... 5 April

    So many issues feel so big in our world! The horror of what’s happening in Ukraine, the enormity of the energy crisis, the uncertainties of Covid 19. These and other things are just such massive problems that they feel beyond us! It was a very different scenario but we saw on Sunday morning as Nehemiah and the remnant of God’s people faced a situation that felt way beyond them – yet in their case it was the result of historic rejection of the LORD both by them and their ancestors! Their response is deeply humbling: as we saw...

  • Just a thought... 29 March

    With all of the bad news around, it’s easy to lose sight of reasons to celebrate: the sadness of illness, the threat of war. So often it can feel as if we live under one dark cloud after another. Yet as we saw from Nehemiah chapter 8 last Sunday morning, even in the midst of opposition, and faced with their own failure and sin, God’s people were commanded to celebrate regularly. Telling them to wipe the tears from their eyes at the grief of their sin, Nehemiah’s words to them are thrilling: “…the joy of...

  • Just a thought... 22 March

    Recovering from disaster can be slow, grinding hard work. Once each issue is resolved there always seem to be other problems which need to be dealt with. We know it from personal experience of clearing up the simple accidents of home life, but we also know it from bigger issues that seem to dominate our broken world. We’ve seen it from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah on Sunday mornings recently. Yet last Sunday morning we read the surprising request from those who bore the burden of clearing up that they wanted their leaders to read the Old Testament...

  • Just a thought... 15 March

    Right now through our news screens, we are confronted with deeply moving scenes of human beings fleeing to find safety and rest. No doubt all of us are asking what we can do to help and many reading these words are going to extreme lengths to alleviate the suffering of others, yet in the knowledge that anything we can do (and there are things we can do!) will only ever be temporary. The situation reminds us of the Bible’s description that human beings are always ultimately searching for REST. Everything else we do is only ever an attempt to...