oday’s guest writer is Rod.
Reading a recent Friday article by Iain Rodgers where he drew on his interest in Rugby, it prompted a few thoughts I had recently. Now, I’m not a great sports fan, though like Iain I do enjoy the Six Nations Rugby Union tournament (wearing a different coloured shirt to Iain!), and I have only a passing interest (no pun intended) in football: however, a recent event in international football did set me thinking.
Some of our family members for various reasons are fans of Barcelona – the football team that is. A few weeks ago, I noticed that Barcelona had been soundly beaten by a German team, and - perhaps rashly – I mentioned this at a family occasion. There was an element of “this shouldn’t have happened!” because Barcelona’s star player, Lionel Messi, widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, had been playing so they shouldn’t have lost. I tried to explain to a younger family member that however good one star individual is, there are still eleven players in the team and they all have to work together, as a team, in order to get a good result.
Thinking further about this reminded me that in the Bible Paul reminds us (Romans 12, v. 4) that “we who are many, form one body,” and each of has different gifts to use for the benefit of the whole church. We can’t just rely on any individual to be an effective witness in Longbridge, or in the wider world: we need to pool our talents and act together to show God’s love to those around us.
From my experience of not just watching sports on TV, but also from the world of work, we all have different gifts, and harnessing them for a shared purpose is what makes a great team; a team that can make a difference. We can all think “I’m not good enough,” or “someone else can do that better than me,” but perhaps we forget just what God can do through his Holy Spirit within us – if only we let him!
Over the last few months, it has been challenging for us to come together as a Longbridge Baptist Church “team.” I struggled for some time with Paul’s exhortation in Hebrews 10 v. 25 “let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing,” when we really didn’t have any choice about it. Even now, although we can meet together in restricted circumstances, it doesn’t feel like it used to. But we still share our unity in Christ; we are still together in spirit with each other in our fellowship, and with other Christians all around the world. And we can still support each other by keeping in touch and praying for one another.
May we all, in these strange times, still feel part of God’s “team,” united in Jesus.
God bless you - Rod Sillence.
Congratulations to Lucy, Philip and Lottie on the safe arrival of a healthy baby boy weighing 6lbs 2oz.
Sunday Livestream on Facebook: From Sunday we will be only broadcasting the bible reading and message, as the licence we hold only allows the broadcasting of copyrighted songs by live musicians and not songs from other sources (i.e. YouTube).
This means the livestream will not start until around 11am - Stephen