Sue leads us in our worship today.
Please click on the link below to view the YouTube video
Matson Baptist Church is situated in Matson Avenue, Gloucester GL4 6LA. Matson Baptist Church serves Matson, Robinswood, Abbeydale, Abbeymead and Upton St Leonards with members also living in Tuffley, Barnwood and other areas in Gloucester.
Saturday 26 December 2020
Thursday 24 December 2020
Christmas Day 2020
Please join with us as we celebrate Christmas 2020.
Please click on the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiDsScGzTAw 
A Prayer
for Christmas Eve
Loving
Father, help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of
the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men. Close
the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness
come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil
by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear
hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and
Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and
forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
–Robert
Louis Stevenson
Saturday 19 December 2020
Sunday 20th December 2020
Please join us for our Communion Service
Please click on the link below to view the service.
Saturday 12 December 2020
Saturday 5 December 2020
Sunday 6th December 2020
Please click on the link below to join in with Jonathan leading us with "The Coming King"
Saturday 28 November 2020
Sunday 29th November 2020
Please click on the link below to join our Advent Service.
Please have one candle ready to light during the service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iJCVdKN5X8
Saturday 21 November 2020
Saturday 14 November 2020
Wednesday 11 November 2020
Saturday 7 November 2020
Remembrance Sunday 2020
Please join us at 10:24 am on Sunday morning in order to take part in our Service and Act of Remembrance at 11:00 am.
Please click on the link above.
Saturday 31 October 2020
Saturday 24 October 2020
Saturday 17 October 2020
Saturday 10 October 2020
Sunday 11th October 2020 - Harvest Festival
Please click on the link below to view our Harvest Festival Service that includes a feature on the BMS in Chad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ii-fnkFPXg
Saturday 3 October 2020
Saturday 26 September 2020
Sunday 27th September - our Communion Service
Please join us for our Communion Service. You will need a piece of bread and a drink.
Please click on the link below to take part in the Service.
Saturday 19 September 2020
Sunday 20th September 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1w3ntggwU
Saturday 12 September 2020
Sunday 13th September 2020
Please join us as as Will leads us in a talk on Philip.
Please click on the link below to join our Virtual Service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmro_m3fYqY
Saturday 5 September 2020
Sunday September 6th 2020
Join Margaret as she leads our Service from Morecambe Bay.
Please click on the photo of Margaret to see the service.
Saturday 29 August 2020
Saturday 22 August 2020
Sunday 23rd August 2020
Please join us as we worship.
Please click on the link below (not the photo).
Saturday 15 August 2020
Saturday 8 August 2020
Sunday 9th August 2020
We invite you to join us for our Virtual Sunday Morning Service.
Please click on the link below (not the photo).
Saturday 1 August 2020
Saturday 25 July 2020
Join us for our Virtual Service - Sunday July 26th 2020
Please click on the link below to join our Virtual Service
Saturday 18 July 2020
Virtual Communion Service on Sunday 19th July 2020
Please prepare a piece of bread and a drink, then join us for our Virtual Communion Service.
Please click on the link below to join the Service.
Saturday 11 July 2020
Saturday 4 July 2020
Saturday 27 June 2020
Sunday 28th June 2020
Please join us for our virtual Sunday Morning Service.
Please click on the link below, not the photo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU9De_U7ERQ&t=297s
Please click on the link below, not the photo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU9De_U7ERQ&t=297s
Sunday 21 June 2020
Message from the current President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain for our reflection:
WE ARE ALL GEORGE FLOYD; black people can't breathe!!!!! -
5 ongoing issues that are choking the life out of black people and people of colour!
5 ongoing issues that are choking the life out of black people and people of colour!
George Floyd was a Christian who was struggling to get his life right. Before his life was mercilessly ended, it is alleged that they beat him in the police car and then dragged him out and only then did they suffocate him. The anger over George's death is understandable. Only one police officer has been charged when four were involved in his death, two holding down his lower body whilst one knelt on his neck suffocating him slowly as he cried for his mother, pleading for his life while the fourth who had the power to stop them watched. It was cruel inhuman and in the truest sense evil.
It is a metaphor of what has happened to black people and people of colour over the last few centuries.
BUT:
Black people still face more significant challenges to success and life compared to their white counterparts living in the west, let me show you five reasons why!
1. Racism exists in the workplace!
Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that to receive the same pay and performance reviews as their white counterparts, Black workers have to work twice as hard[1]. Worse still the discrimination is shown to create a feedback loop which results in ongoing negative stereotyping. But even where the productivity of black workers is superior to their white colleagues, the research shows that discrimination persisted, which could lead to lower wages or slower promotions.
I know black kids who have had to change their name in order just to get an interview for a job because when they used their African names, they couldn't get past the front door to secure an interview. These are graduates who have worked hard to achieve a quality degree but then find in the west (usually white middle-aged men) barring their progress or chances. What hope then for those who have little or no education?
What has the world lost because of such discrimination? Consider this; Percy Julian was a pioneering black chemist. He was not allowed to attend high school in America but went on to earn his PhD. His research led to drugs that treat glaucoma and arthritis, a brilliant mind who faced prejudice at every turn; he is regarded as one of the most influential chemists in American history. What other great scientists and innovators have been lost because the challenges were just too much for them to overcome. Why should any black kid have to overcome such challenges?
Let me be clear for every successful black worker you encounter in the west be sure they have worked their socks off to get anywhere near the top of their sector.
2. Racism exists in the Church!
I've watched it over the years even in ministry, and I almost never comment on issues of race in case it is perceived as "playing the race card". But I have watched black ministries being stereotyped, just ask yourself how many second generation indigenous black leaders exist in the UK church, you might be surprised. Or ask this question why is it that national black leaders come predominately from black majority churches and not indigenous ones? Leaders Like Sentamu off the Church of England are rare. Do not believe that racism exists only outside the Church. When God sent an outpouring of the Spirit in Reading, some discounted it because I was black, I have been told as much by fellow white ministers, some who later apologised to me. The assumption was it’s a black church thing, the fact is our church is predominantly white but also has different races in it.
My first memory of going to a ministers prayer meeting in Reading was to be told by a leading figure not pray too loudly as it was off-putting for others, I ignored the request, now everyone prays as they wish loudly or quietly all prayer types are accepted.
Let us be clear; Christianity has been an engine for the progression of Black people predominantly by black people, but also as a tool for oppressing them by white people [2]. Apartheid, for example, partially based on erroneous theology only ended 25 years ago in 1994. From the earliest days, Black Christian communities have helped black people make progress in an otherwise hostile west. It might seem odd now that the first African American Catholic priest had to attend seminary in Rome because no American seminary would take him. But the legacy embedded in disputes over slavery in America with the Civil War prompted the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians to split into Northern and Southern factions. Yet the truth is amongst people of colour, the words of Martin Luther King Jn is what fills the heart. Black people want to work with and live with other races, not seeking unfair advantage, but longing for an equal playing field where they can breathe, it is less prevalent now in the Church, but it still exists and manifests especially where white believers have a sense of entitlement connected with the colour of their skin.
3. Racism is in our judicial system!
I wish to applaud the attempts of the judicial system in trying to root out all forms of bigotry, but I remember when I served as a magistrate the need to explain to colleagues that when a black kid is in the doc and refuses to look you in the eye it is not because they are guilty, shifty as they may seem, but rather it is because if they have been properly brought up in a black context they will have been taught not to look an elder in the eye, they are simply trying to be respectful.
Yet I witnessed more than once as a magistrate police officers having to be reprimanded because their story was just not credible. Now let me be clear 99% of police officers are exemplary public servants, but racism does exist, and when it appears it is ugly.
4. Racism is historic
They say the victor writes history; It is only now that western history and Hollywood is highlighting the contribution of black individuals. Many of the contributions that black people made in the second world war were simply written out of the early historical narrative.
Yet some of the most significant historical achievements of humanity both scientific and heroic came from the ranks of people of colour people like Alice Ball, an African American chemist who developed the first successful treatment for those suffering from leprosy.
For young black people finding heroes who are people of colour that make contributions to life, demands a lot of research, they are not featured in academia or business news as much as they are in sports or music. Yet you only have to visit a local hospital to see the contribution they make to health, they just need the media to let them breathe.
5. Racism is in our schools!
It's not conscious; most teachers are good and decent they are teachers because they want to help children and care about them, but let me be clear teachers carry prejudice, and the statistics show it. In 2011 research by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills demonstrated the bias. Black applicants predicted grade accuracy was the lowest at only 39.1 per cent of predicted grades being accurate, while their white counterparts had the highest, at 53 per cent.
The study showed that Black students have their grades underpredicted. So if you are black, you are unfairly expected to do worse than your white counterpart [3]. This is why the decision to take predicted grades as the benchmark results because of coronavirus is an unjust one for black kids; the academic system needs to let them breathe.
"I can't breathe", is a phrase that black people and people of colour have to work through in the west in everyday life in a way that many white people will never have to face. George Floyd's dying plea is a literal metaphor for the cruel injustice that continues to be inflicted on people of colour.
As Christians, we should take a stance against racial prejudice, and where we can do our bit to stand up against it, and any oppression of minorities whenever it rears its ugly head.
Yinka Oyekan
President of The Baptist Union of Great Britain
President of The Baptist Union of Great Britain
footnotes
1. https://www.nber.org/papers/w21612
2. The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
3. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/…/11-1043-investig…
1. https://www.nber.org/papers/w21612
2. The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
3. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/…/11-1043-investig…
Saturday 20 June 2020
Sunday 21st June 2020
Please prepare with a piece of bread and small drink before you join our virtual service.
Please click on the link below to view the service (do not click on the photo).
Saturday 13 June 2020
Saturday 30 May 2020
Sunday 24 May 2020
Sunday 24th May 2020
Please click on the link below (not the photo) to join in our Virtual Service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpLgQDT4RR0
Saturday 16 May 2020
Sunday 10 May 2020
Sunday 10th May 2020
Please click on the link below (not on the photo) to view our latest Virtual Sunday Service.
Linda, family and friends are taking part.
Sunday 3 May 2020
Saturday 2 May 2020
Sunday May 3rd 2020
Please join with us as we share our Virtual Sunday Service,
Please cick on the link below.
Sunday 26 April 2020
Saturday 18 April 2020
Saturday 11 April 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptHKnQ_2HXU
https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2020-04-10-tftd-hope-in-uncertain-times-part-3
Friday 10 April 2020
GOOD FRIDAY
Our Virtual Good Friday Service is now online. Please click on the link below to join us now.
Thursday 9 April 2020
Maundy Thursday Service - to be viewed in the evening.
Please click on the link below to view our Maundy Thursday Evening Service
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUesYgPupuE&t=305s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUesYgPupuE&t=305s
Tuesday 7 April 2020
HOLY WEEK
TUESDAY
This is Holy Tuesday
Time to rest, as the hour draws near,
And the path is becoming increasingly narrow.
Read: John 12:1-11 (GNT)Jesus Is Anointed at Bethany
12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, the man he had raised from death.
2 They prepared a dinner for him there, which Martha helped serve; Lazarus was one of those who were sitting at the table with Jesus.
3 Then Mary took a whole pint of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard, poured it on Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The sweet smell of the perfume filled the whole house.
4 One of Jesus' disciples, Judas Iscariot—the one who was going to betray him—said, 5 “Why wasn't this perfume sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?”
6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would help himself from it.
7 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Let her keep what she has for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me.”
9 A large number of people heard that Jesus was in Bethany, so they went there, not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from death.
10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too,
11 because on his account many Jews were rejecting them and believing in Jesus.
Reflect:
In the deepest sense, this was an anointing of the one who Mary loved.
We are told that wherever love is, God is present, and all these years ago in the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, the light of the divine was shining brightly.
It is a relief to feel that we’re getting through Holy Week-
That we find some respite in this story, away from the ugliness and suffering of the events which usually take up our time, as well as the strange desolation and frustrations of these virally rampant days in which todays world seeks to keep turning.
Life needs its illumined moments, and this is one of them.
On many other days Mary and Martha were concerned about those in need.
Yet in this moment, other factors were at work- the dynamics of love, of giving one’s self to another in spontaneous affection. We cannot live without such moments. The loneliness experienced all around us as we endure isolation, self-imposed or otherwise, makes us yearn for hugs.Or to put it another way, a gentle foot massage from time to time.
Within the many dramas of Holy Week, let us pause and thank God that Mary took this perfume, poured it over the feet of the one she loved and then wiped them with her hair – and afterwards the whole house was filled with the scent of that wonderful pure nard.
Imagine that sweet-smelling home, and Mary’s simple act which gives us courage to reach out to others spontaneously and without having to wonder what others will think about our behaviour.
The touch of love is never easily defined or boxed in.
Mary’s anointing made the house at Bethany into a sanctuary and transformed that meal into a Sacrament "showing forth the Lord’s death until he comes."
The whole world is now filled with the fragrance of that perfume..................
Repeat the following words, with silence in-between, as often as you choose.....
Lord, let me reach into the deeper places within
and move out with
spontaneous love.
Pray
Lord Jesus,
I thank you for the unlikely people
who provided support and showed love for you during precious moments on the road to Jerusalem.
Encourage me by their wisdom and goodness
to walk the whole way of the cross with you.
Remind me that parsimoniously ‘counting the cost’
can deform and make the soul closed and miserly.
Help me to see differently and to act gently,
to defend the unjustly accused and misunderstood.
May I see shining through this good material world,
the beauty of the spiritual, the peace from the ground up…
In the midst of life’s darkness and difficulties,
give me courage and let me be consolation for those around me.
Strengthen me to make of my life
an extravagant gift of love to you and to others,
knowing I can only do so
by the power of your death and resurrection.
Amen
Continue your walk with Jesus towards Jerusalem. Listen to his words, be with him on his journey.Let his story, his presence, linger in your house and in your life and let him welcome you.
And may God bless you,
the Maker, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
This night and all your nights and days.
Amen .
Mottram St Andrew Lent/Easter walk theme:
Rev. Sue Swires
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