John Sherbourne 
Sunday the 15th of May sees Phil Commons picking up the baton to complete our running the race mini series.
This is a particularly busy time at MBC what with the plant sale coming up next weekend, Pentecost and of course HM the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations all withing just a few short weeks.
If you can’t make it to any of our Services remember you can always catch up by visiting the MBC YouTube chanel either on the day or at any time after.
“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!” Acts 2 v 11 The Message.
“We are from these different countries, but we can hear these men in our own languages! We can all understand the great things they are saying about God.”
The Feast of Pentecost was perhaps the best attended Jewish festival in Jerusalem with Jews and visitors from all corners of the world, sharing many languages, gathering for the Feast. The disciples and followers of Jesus had also gathered, possibly in the Temple Courts area for the festival, as they waited for the promised Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came, the disciples and followers were first aware of the sound- a loud, audible sound like a powerful, gale force wind filling the whole building. This was followed by flames of fire settling upon the head of each one present. As the Holy Spirit moved among them, disciples and followers began to speak out their praises and worship to God in spoken languages that they had never learned, as the Spirit came them power. The crowds, attracted first by the sound of the strange wind, began to gather round, then hearing words of praise and thanksgiving in their own native tongues and languages, from the mouths of a motley collection of uneducated Galileans.
The disciples were speaking out to all within earshot, the wonderful works of God. They were praising their God, proclaiming His goodness, communicating, and delivering their praise in such a dramatic way, that their hearers were astounded at what they were hearing- because they were now tuned in and hearing this, each one in their own native language.
The lovely phrase ‘now you’re speaking my language’ means ‘now I see what you’re getting at’ now I can understand what you’re saying’ and even’ I think that we are on the same page!’ Now I can see it!
So often when we are talking about Jesus and our Christian faith, we are not talking the same language as our listeners. We are not on the same page, and so it is not surprising that ‘they don’t get it!’ Some years ago, a book called The Five Love Languages. How to express Heartfelt Commitment to your Mate by Gary Chapman, became an instant best seller. The book outlines five different ways (words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch) that we can express, receive, and experience love. The author believed that it was important to know your ’love language and that of your partner to make sure that you were communicating in the way that you can receive the message. He also believed that love could get’ lost in translation’ when couples speak different love languages.
The crowd in Jerusalem got the message very clearly. The worship and praise was in their ‘first’ language, their ‘heart’ language, their ‘love’ language. “There are Parthians, Medes and Elamites; there are men whose homes are in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Africa near Cyrene, as well as visitors from Rome! There are Jews and proselytes, men from Crete and men from Arabia, yet we can all hear these men speaking of the magnificence of God in our native language.”
After Peter’s clear presentation of the gospel message of salvation, to the crowd, three thousand individuals that day were added to their group. They had heard, ‘got it’ and responded in faith.
PRAY
Forgive me when my words of praise and thanks are feeble or non-existent.
Forgive me when I do not speak of you even to those in the family of faith.
Help me so that my words and my life may speak of you in ways that can be understood.
Give me the words to say so that they are clear, simple and do not confuse.
Help me to tune into the way that others are thinking, feeling and speaking so that I can bring your grace and love. AMEN
I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never fails me
All my days, I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
I love Your voice
You have led me through the fire
In the darkest night
You are close like no other
I’ve known You as a Father
I’ve known You as a Friend
And I have lived in the goodness of God
Cause all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
Bethel Music
With a finishing time of 1 hour and 59 minutes Shelley came a mere 51 minutes behind the winner of Sunday’s Run for All Leeds Half Marathan. Having said that she completed the 13.1 mile course a darned site faster than many of us would have done.
Running again to raise money for and awareneess of the Roy Castle Cancer Foundation our intredid runner intends to spend a lot more time pounding the pavements ahead of this year’s London Marathon for which she has landed a much prized entry. 
Well done Shelley.
In addition to the money to support Ukrainian refugees, we have also recently been able to send £4,750 to the churches we are linked with in Romania for their work in the local community.
Florin Fodor, an elder at Manastur church in Cluj said “We need to keep a healthy balance between the work among the refugees and other ministry activities we are called to do.”
The money we have sent is to be used as follows:
· £1,500 to Manastur Baptist Church in Cluj for work among young people, meeting needs in the congregation and bursaries for Christian students.
· £1,000 to the gypsy church in the village of Floresti near Cluj towards the salary of pastor Iosif Hoca, needs in this very poor congregation and for the salary of an assistant.
· £500 to support Florin and Dana Fodor in their work with university students through the Campus Crusade organisation.
· £250 to Nicu and Rita Reparuc for their work through the Bethany House in Cluj providing accommodation in a Christian environment to people with limited finances and in need of somewhere to stay.
· £1,500 to Zsuzsi & Andor, Noemi & Csaba for them to use in supporting youth work and needs in the Hungarian speaking congregations in Udvarhely and Cserefalva.
This has been possible because of your generous giving and also by the money raised through the plant sale last year.
We have received the following message from Manastur Baptist Church in Cluj.
Dear brothers in Leeds, Thank you and we appreciate all your support so far! God reward you! Thank you for the projects of the church that you continue to support and we are glad to see that you want to support new projects such as the work of the Fodor family with Alege Viata! We continue to make food packages and financial support for people in need both in the church and in church branches or friends of the church. The work with young people is growing, they also organised last year, in addition to the summer camp and two outings over the year, two youth conferences attended by other young people from the Christian community in Cluj. We will continue to support the young people in our church by providing financial support. We also continue to support the salary of Brother Hoca Iosif at the church in Floresti. This year I supported with an occasional monthly help a brother who helps the work in Floresti. We, as well as the church, support the church in Floresti with the payment of gas and electricity utilities, costs that have increased recently. We want the Lord’s blessing on the work of your church in Leeds!
With appreciation,
Baptist Church No. 1 Cluj-Manastur
The money so far received from MBC has now passed the £10,000 mark with the actual total standing at £10,191.95.This is a fantastically generous response from the church.
So far we have sent £6,500 out to Romania (for them to use in supporting the Ukrainian refugees) as follows… £2,750 Manastur Church, £1,250 Campus Crusade and £2,500 VIA Church.
Therefore currently we have £3,691.95 in the account of which £2,000 is reserved for Zsuzsi / Andor and Noemi to use in Udvarhely / Cserefalva leaving a further £1,691.95 available.
Right now we are trying to work out the most effective use for this money, but please don’t stop giving.
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Also below is a message and a picture sent to us from from Floin and Dana Florin.
Dear friends
Just an update about this weekend. On Sunday we have a service in church 11-12midday where we complete our series about Jesus in Mark’s gospel. There’ll be activities for younger ones during the talk.
Usually its café church on the first Sunday of the month but since we’ve had a few cafes recently we are going to do it later in the month, possibly on the 8th. We’ll do communion on the 15th May (3rd Sunday) as usual. And just a heads up that next week is the Leeds half marathon so some roads will be closed, some of you may want to cheer on the runners. The church building will be accessible still. More details to follow.
Beacon café isn’t happening this week to give the helpers a break on bank holiday Monday but it will be back on the week after. Stepping Stones, our new toddler group has its second session next Tuesday 10am -11.30. Do let us know if you’d like to come along or pass it on to those you know who might be interested so they can get in touch.
We are getting together all the current information that we know about house groups so I can let you know about this very soon. If you want to join a housegroup or you feel God is calling you to start a new one or if you meet with others and think it could be a some kind of house group where others could join then do get in touch with me.
Building relationship, discipleship and sharing with others in a safe environment really helps…(Hebrews 10:24-25). In this new season some people are maybe sensing the importance of connecting with a group again after a long time or some are maybe thinking it for the first time. If you want some resources, do let me know.
Finally, thanks to those who took part in Tuesday’s meeting.
Shelley
Tomorrowm you can join us either in the building or on the MBC YouTube channel at 11am.
Please be aware that on Sunday May 8th the Leeds Half Marathon will once again be causing some traffic disruption around MBC.
Usually the race passes us somewhere between 9.50am and just after 11, however, road closures apply both before and after the event.
To see a full list of road closures go to 2022-lhm-road-closure-poster.pdf (runforall.com)
Sunday worship from the Ukrainian Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile was moving and informative. I was above all impressed by the prayer of confession:
Lord God. We have strayed from the path of peace. We have forgotten the lessons learned from the tragedies of history. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed people’s dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed. We thought only of our own nations and their interests. We grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns. We chose to ignore you, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive. To suppress innocent life. To stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbours’ keepers and stewards of our common home. We’ve ravaged the garden of the earth with war. And by our sins, we’ve broken your heart. Who desires us to be brothers and sisters, now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord.
It is a ‘We’ prayer, not an ‘I’ prayer: that is the first good step.
The worst and biggest evils are those we make together. Most of us never get near killing even one person, but together, ‘we’ are armed with the capacity to destroy people and cities and wheat fields.
In this prayer, we take our stand as people responsible for and in the history we make and suffer. We do not abdicate the human calling, the dignity of being responsible to God for one another and for the earth. This prayer does not let hands droop and knees shake (Isaiah 35.3; Hebrews 12.12). God gives human beings the ability, in finite freedom, to be good stewards of earth and all that is in it.
Confession is a strong, healing, rousing kind of prayer. It brings us to face the truth about ourselves as doers. Confessing both guards us from despair over failures and saves us from expecting miraculous rescue from God – the sort of rescue that costs the loss of God’s gift, the dignity of human responsibility.
Cardinal Vincent Nicholls spoke this pray in two minutes, but who can grasp its import in two minutes? I need the transcript, for I need longer to pray it well, both in thought and in obedience. Can it be a ‘We’ prayer if we don’t give time to talk it through together?
In truth, a prayer like this gives us an agenda for thought and action. For this prayer to be true to human dignity and the calling of God, it has to be taken into the longitude of life, even political life. Don’t ‘the tragedies of history’ as well as the bounty of God’s triune goodness in human being call for a lifetime of learning and responding?
Prayers of confession rarely get much time in church services. ‘Short prayer – instant absolution’ is a frequent formula – this prayer ends simply asking ‘forgive us’. Perhaps that is all a minister can say. The phrase, ‘Forgive us’, leaves us waiting for God, in God’s way and time and working with God. ‘Forgiveness’ gains real substance as we stumble through history, with and towards God.
Forgiving, God’s forgiving and ours, is fundamental to being human. It makes it possible to be simultaneously truthful about, and hopeful for, human being. But forgiving needs to be thought and lived through time, it is not given by a word, nor achieved in a flash.
If you are a little like me, you may sometimes half listen to what someone is saying or perhaps misinterpret or misread a significant message. This is not a good thing to do and is certainly not ‘active listening’. It is easy to ‘fit’ a message into what we think it should be based on experience or logic. In the days leading up to His death, Jesus had explained to His disciples and followers that He would be betrayed, killed but would rise again from death. On Easter Sunday, it was Mary and the women at the tomb who were the first to ‘remember’ what Jesus had told them about resurrection, and for this to truly impact their lives.
The men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” ‘Then they remembered his words. Luke 24 v 2-8
Then Jesus appeared to the gathered disciples in Jerusalem and said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24 v 44-45
Jesus had tried to prepare them for this very moment and now, the truth, the reality and the impact of His resurrection was dawning on the disciples and followers. They were remembering and their minds would begin to be opened to understand the scriptures. They were at the beginning of a journey of remembering and discovery, mulling over all that they had heard, weighing everything up and absorbing what they had seen, heard, and received, with the help of His Holy Spirit. Their memories and accounts would be carefully compiled and written down for the benefit of others and eventually for us. The purpose of their Gospel accounts was that others might hear, understand, and have life in His name.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20 v 31
We have a wonderful gift in our hands- the Bible. Even with poor memories, we can be continually reminded of God’s words and meet with the living Jesus. The Holy Spirit is there to help us to understand and to remember. The young Timothy was advised to keep on searching the scriptures.
You must go on steadily in all those things that you have learned and which you know are true. Remember from what sort of people your knowledge has come, and how from early childhood your mind has been familiar with the holy scriptures, which can open the mind to the salvation which comes through believing in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for re-setting the direction of a man’s life and training him in good living. The scriptures are the comprehensive equipment of the man of God and fit him fully for all branches of his work. 2 Timothy 3 v 14-17
PRAY
Jesus, I want to be still and listen for Your still, small voice.
Please speak to me through your word, the Bible.
As You speak to me, please show me want you want me to be and to do.
Amen.
Here are a few pictures just in from Andor and Szuszi Ferco in Romania. They were taken at last weekend’s Youth Camp.
If you would like to find out more about the work these two young pastors do, speak with Rod Russell, Howard Dews or Karen Ross, I’m sure they would love to share some stories with you.
