14 members enjoyed the opportunity of coming together to share in a Communion service to commence our Easter reflections and celebrations.

Faith led us in a beautiful time of readings, poems and Easter songs:

Philippians 2 v 5-11
Song: 290 Jesus is Lord
Prayer
Poem: A Beautiful Thing
Song: 780 How deep the Father’s love for us
Isaiah 53 v 1-6
Song: 596 When I survey the wondrous cross
Isaiah 53 v 7-12
Song: There is a Redeemer
Poem: Greater Love
Matthew 26 v 26-30
Communion
Song: 1346 In Christ alone
Prayer
Sung vesper

We finished our time together with a cup of tea and hot cross buns! 

Happy Easter from everyone at Thursday Fellowship.

We welcomed back Dr Ruth Butlin who gave us an update on the work of The Leprosy Mission.  Ruth has just returned from a trip to India to attend the Mission’s 150th Anniversary.

The link below gives a very interesting account of Ruth’s journey with the Mission:

https://www.leprosymission.org/the-leprosy-missions-150th-anniversary/the-leprosy-missions-heroes/ruth-butlin-tlm-hero

Many communities in the Odisha State region of India are in desperate need. People with leprosy have been abandoned.  They endure terrible living conditions  – unsafe housing, lack of sanitation and unclean water where disease is rife.  Bodies are frail and malnourished.  Many are outcasts left heart-broken, robbed of all dignity, hope and despised by the outside world.

This is where The Leprosy Mission steps in with an aim to stop the spread of leprosy, now and for future generations. They passionately believe that God has called them for “such a time as this”, a time to revive health, revive futures and revive hope. 

Ruth told us about the appeal to revive this very poor region of India and we were all given a leaflet with details of how we could support this work if so desired.

Ruth’s heart is really with the Anandaban Hospital, having worked there, (See Ruth’s story above), especially after the devastating earthquake in 2015.  The rebuilding work was due to be completed this year but there is a little way to go, so the meeting agreed to channel our love offering of £160 to this project via Ruth.

We look forward to hearing further news of the work in the email updates Ruth sends out from time to time. Watch this space!

Another lovely afternoon as Lorna Sivyour, who has been coming to us for over 30 years, brought along her violin to play some beautiful classical pieces of music and to speak to us about creation and cleansing.

Lorna’s inspiration for creation was Michelangelo’s painting of the Creation of Adam where God reached out his finger to impart the gift of life. Her second thought about cleansing and forgiveness, came from the account of the woman caught in adultery where Jesus, writing with his finger in the sand, did not condemn the woman but told her accusers, John 8 v 7 (NIV)“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

The first piece of music was Elgar’s Virelai followed by his very familiar Nimrod (Enigma Variations).

Lorna then reminded us of Romans 1 v 20 (NIV), “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” When we look around at all the beauty, how can one say that it has evolved? God’s handiwork is everywhere!

None of us our perfect.  We have all sinned. Yet God does not condemn us.  We are dearly loved and we are accepted just as we are.  We are VIPs (very important people) yet we are WIPs (Works in progress).

Lorna challenged us to keep our eyes on Jesus and to spend time in the Word.

The last piece Lorna played was Rimsky-Korsakov’s, Scheherazade. We then finished our time together singing one of Lorna’s favourite worship songs, Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord – You are the Everlasting God. Amen to that!

15 members were present for a wonderful afternoon of music, worship and reflection led by our visitor today, Rosemary Kemp.  It is always a joy to welcome Rosemary to our meeting and her thoughts were very much focused on ‘Music in worship’. 

Sue kicked-off our time with some verses to set the tone – Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts. 1 Chronicles 16 v 9 – so says King David.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. Psalm 95 v 1-2.

Rosemary was exposed to music from a very early age and started learning the piano at the age of three. To Rosemary, music is a language; a gift from God, with a responsibility to share it with others and a way of worshipping.

Sometimes, words are not enough and music can give you a way of expressing your emotions and feelings.

Rosemary delighted us with some familiar tunes, tunes so powerful and majestic that they don’t need words for meaning as they carry so much emotion. Rosemary called them, standalone pieces, e.g.

Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia – perhaps better known as “We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender.” (I have to confess that I was very moved by this.) and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. 

Music can be very enriching in a service of worship.  We can come alive and/or it has the power to make one feel at home and part of what is happening even if someone is new to the environment. Some people express themselves in dance and flag waving and even playing instruments so that everyone is catered for and can feel part of our coming together to worship God and to bring Him honour, praise and glory.

We were able to join in with some beautiful worship songs as our response to what we had heard and enjoyed:

SOF 544 There is a Redeemer – Melody Green
SOF 912 Lord, You have my heart – Martin Smith
SOF 89 Faithful One – Brian Doerksen
SOF 1850 Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God – Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
SOF 203 I believe in Jesus – Marc Nelson

Rosemary also delighted us with some unfamiliar pieces – 

Ludovico Einaudi’s Primavera which means spring was particularly lovely and very appropriate for this time of year. A Chopin waltz was a piece of music which sounded just like a conversation was taking place and the composer was asking us to “listen to me!” It had a language all of its own!

At the end, we had an opportunity to be still (which is of course our motto for the year), to rest in His presence, to meditate while Rosemary played Debussy’s Arabesque.

A very uplifting afternoon – thank you  Rosemary for blessing us!

Troubled by what is happening in the world? Not sure how to pray? Let’s do it together! Jane leads our online prayer opportunity for March. Click on the link below to access the video:

https://www.facebook.com/downsbaptistchurch/videos/973761664470030

17 members joined us for the first meeting of our spring and summer session on what was a beautiful, sunny and warm spring day. It was so good to be back all together and what a special meeting it was!

Sue led us beautifully and introduced our motto for the year – Psalm 46 v 10a – “Be still and know that I am God.”

We had the opportunity to be still for two minutes and to focus on God. Surprisingly to Sue, everyone found that quite easy to do and seemed not to be distracted by the sounds from outside or wandering thoughts!

We then thought about some of the things that can help us focus better, like listening to a favourite worship CD, looking at a picture (Sylvia brought in a small picture of Holman Hunt’s ‘Light of the world’), holding a small wooden cross (a few of our number use these), lighting a candle, being out in nature and enjoying God’s creation, sitting by the sea and gazing up at the stars. All of these can help us to be still and to not just know of God but to really KNOW Him in our hearts and in our lives!

Sue had chosen some beautiful songs and readings which helped all of us to reflect that God is indeed our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46 v 1), of which there is so much in this world.

We were all given a bookmark to take home and to keep close so that we can be reminded to take time to be still and know that He is God!

Jane leads our first Prayer Together opportunity for 2025 focusing on Colossians 3 v 1-17.

Gareth leads or online Prayer opportunity for December.  Please click on the link below to take you to the video:

https://www.facebook.com/downsbaptistchurch/videos/1395457354758620

Our last meeting of the Autumn session saw 26 people including 9 guests join us for our annual Carols, Candles and Cake service. We welcomed back our friend Phil Cook to bring us a festive message to prepare our hearts as we celebrate the real meaning of Christmas.

We so enjoyed singing the beautiful carols and listening to readings and poems as detailed below:

Phil started his message by wishing us all a Merry Christmas! But what does this mean? It is quite an old fashioned term and most people tend to use Happy Christmas these days. The word merry really means good, glad, rejoice and be of good courage not meaning being full of anything else like the feasting, fun and frolicking often associated with this time of year!

There seems to be little cause for rejoicing with the ills, trials and adversity that so many people face. Yet, the real meaning of Christmas lies in the true celebration of Christ’s birth.  His coming to earth as our glorious King is a merry and illustrious occasion! Even the angels took part in this merriment – “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2 v 10-11).

Let’s rejoice this Christmastime – we are the recipients of the greatest gift possible. Jesus, who came as a baby all those years ago is the Saviour of the World.

We then enjoyed tea and cake and the opportunity to share fellowship. Grateful thanks go to our hard-working committee for ensuring everything runs so smoothly each week and a special thank you to Lis for the wonderful Christmas cake so nicely packaged for each of us to take a piece home.

We take a break for the winter and will reconvene at 2pm on Thursday, 6th March, but there is an opportunity for a winter coffee morning at Faith’s home on Thursday, 13th February at 10.30am. 

Have a wonderful Christmas and all good wishes for the New year.

Thirteen of us gathered at Thursday Fellowship this week to hear our friend, Ann Dracott, speak about ‘creativity’ and especially the small things we can do.

Our Creator God made us to be a creative people. What can WE do when we’re limited by age, health or resources? Ann brought things she’d made – biscuits, a child’s knitted jumper and a poem. We can all offer something small – God doesn’t despise the small things (Zechariah 4:10). She gave examples – David, the young shepherd boy and the tiny stone in his sling, the small amount of oil and flour the widow offered to Elijah, the fishes and loaves that fed 5000 and the widow’s two mites.

We’re often put off doing even small things because some people can do things better than us, or we want gifts we haven’t been given! But God made the small gifts he HAS given us to glorify him and to bless others. Ann mentioned the little skilled jobs done by people building the Ark of the Covenant, Nehemiah and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and Asaph writing psalms. Galatians 6:9 tells us not to grow weary in doing good. We can all do small things for people who come across our path. ‘Actions speak louder than words.’ Ann finished by reading her poem on the Lord’s Prayer. Then we all enjoyed eating her biscuits!

A big thank you to Sue Cunningham for this lovely report.