Please click on the link below to join in our Service.
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.
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
Saturday 4 April 2020
Click on the link to join in with our Virtual Palm Sunday Service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4slrLCkixA&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4slrLCkixA&feature=youtu.be
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)