Encounter with God: October–December 2021

By Peter Morden, Csilla Saysell, Paul Woodbridge and 4 more

Encounter with God is Scripture Union's daily Bible reading guide designed to lead you to a deeper understanding about what God is saying to you and to his world today. You'll find its thorough and energetic investigation of the whole Bible inspiring and stimulating. And you'll discover that its biblical exposition is complemented by pastoral warmth from a strong field of writers and contributors. As well as daily content, feature articles provide insights into Christian spirituality, tackle contemporary issues, and profile teachers who inspire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scripture Union
• Release date: Jun 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781785068218

Peter Morden

Peter Morden has recently been appointed Principal of Bristol Baptist College, the oldest Baptist College in the world. He was formerly Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, Leeds. He is the author of a number of books, including The Message of Discipleship.

Book preview

Contents

Editorial: Windows of the Soul

The Writers

SU article: Giving Faith a Sporting Chance

Using this Guide

1 Corinthians 9–16; Psalms 15,16,17,18 Peter Morden

1 Samuel 16–31; Psalms 19,20,21 Csilla Saysell

Matthew 16–18; Psalms 22,23 Paul Woodbridge

Bible Unpacked: How to Read the Bible’s History Books Mary Evans

Malachi; Psalm 24 Ernest Lucas

Colossians 1–4; Psalms 25,26 Michael Quicke

Luke 1,2; Philemon John Grayston

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ISBN 978 1 78506 821 8 (epub)

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Editorial

Windows of the Soul

There is a disturbing and challenging question posed in this quarter’s notes on Colossians: Is Jesus present, prominent or pre-eminent in our lives?

One Advent, a few years back, an ex-industrial village not far from us in the north of England decided to undertake a community project. Most of the houses are Victorian terraces – small dwellings originally built for factory workers, joined side-by-side to the others all down each street. Villagers were asked to consider using one of their windows as a lighted Advent display during December. The impact of multiple, identically-sized lighted windows down the narrow streets in the dark, frosty nights was amazing.

Like many other visitors, we collected a village street plan and set out to view every Advent window, ticking them off as we went. Although some windows took a toy or Santa theme, many presented a scene from the nativity story, which we will read from Luke’s Gospel this quarter. Some windows were detailed, elegant and artistic; others were simpler offerings from the village’s children. We were drawn like moths from lighted pane to lighted pane, drinking in the combination of creativity and profound meaning. Every decorated window threw light out into the darkness, telling the story of him whom we serve, and the traditional carol’s words came true: ‘Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light …’.

At the time of writing the world is darkened by a second wave of coronavirus, by racism and nationalism, terrorism and political disagreements – but let us be full of hope. The pre-eminence of Jesus in believers’ lives even now can and will shine Light into the darkness – and when he returns, there will be no more night.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Sally Nelson

Editor

Angela Grigson

Senior Content Manager

ON THE COVER: ‘Every decorated window threw light out into the darkness, telling the story of him whom we serve’

Image credit: iStock / Rike_

The Writers

PETER MORDEN is Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, Leeds, UK and Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Spurgeon’s College, London.

CSILLA SAYSELL formerly lectured in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College, Aukland, New Zealand. She gave up her job to do more church-facing teaching in a freelance capacity. She also writes Bible-reading notes (for lay Christians) on her blog (labradoritemoments.com). She is married to Phil and together they love to travel and explore new places.

PAUL WOODBRIDGE taught New Testament at Oak Hill College, London, for 30 years. Now retired, living in Ely, UK, with his wife, Sarah, he has four sons and two granddaughters in London.

ERNEST LUCAS was a research biochemist before studying theology, and has doctorates in both disciplines. Now retired, he pastored churches in Durham and Liverpool, UK, and taught Biblical Studies at Bristol Baptist College, where he was Vice-Principal. He has written commentaries on several Old Testament books.

MICHAEL QUICKE is Emeritus Professor of Preaching at Northern Seminary, Lisle, Illinois, in the USA, a Baptist minister and former principal of Spurgeon’s College. He is also an award-winning author and international speaker.

JOHN GRAYSTON is now retired after 37 years on the Scripture Union England and Wales staff, but still writes, teaches and preaches. He is on the leadership team at Tile Kiln Church in Chelmsford, UK. When he can he escapes to his allotment, or to the mountains walking or skiing with his wife Jenny. He has two children and seven grandchildren.

MARY EVANS is a UK-based former theological lecturer, who is still involved with research supervision and marking. Writing, speaking, church family, friends and Langham Partnership Board responsibilities fill much of the rest of available time.

SU ARTICLE

GIVING FAITH A SPORTING CHANCE

In his role as a Scripture Union Mission Enabler, Isaac Rocke helps churches to connect with children and young people in their area. It is estimated that 95% of all under 18s in England and Wales don’t go to church, so making those connections and providing opportunities for the youngest generations to explore the Bible and respond to Jesus is hugely important.

We asked Isaac to reflect on how sport helped him, and a church he was working with, to make those connections. And not just with the young people, but with their families too…

Back in 2019, I was working in partnership with a church in central Birmingham who wanted to reach out to children and young people living on the estates in this deprived, mainly Islamic, community.

I went with a group of volunteers from the church and we found a patch of open grass conveniently located in the centre of two housing estates. It was ideally situated, on the route that most kids took to get from school to home. So, we contacted the council to get permission to do some games there.

We wanted to keep things simple – this wasn’t going to be about sports coaching, it was much more low-key because it needed to be activity that the volunteers would feel able to continue with, and they weren’t that into sports! We kept it really casual, and simply took down some cones and balls and started having a few outdoor games once a week for an hour after school.

Within two weeks, between 25 and 30 young people, mostly aged 8 to 13, were coming along. We added a couple of pop-up goalposts to the mix and enjoyed kicking a ball around.

Sanka* was one of the lads who joined in. He was about nine years old, very competitive and determined with it. When he walked past one day and saw what was going on, he wanted to join in, of course. He brought along Jannah, his sister – both of them loved playing the games.

We were quite open about our faith. At the start of each session, we’d pray and the children could join in if they wanted. At half time, we’d have a talk. We’d pick some item of sport that had been in the news, and relate it back to a Bible story and what lessons we could learn for our own lives – forgiveness, love, discipleship and so on. Pretty soon, the kids were asking questions, and we had some great discussions over the six months that I was involved.

I got to know Sanka much better over that time. He was a very lively kid, often in trouble at school. His dad had left home when he was only two, so I became a bit of a role model for him, something his mum Abigay was very grateful for. She said, ‘I think Sanka really looks up to you. He and Jannah love coming along every week – they come home and tell me all about what they’ve done and what they’ve learned.’

We were quite open about our faith. At the start of each session, we’d pray and the children could join in if they wanted.

But one day, Abigay turned up at one of our sessions, a bit agitated. ‘What’s all this about forgiveness?’ she asked me. It had been the theme we’d been discussing at the previous session.

It turned out that Sanka had come home and told his mum, ‘I forgive my father for leaving.’

Abigay was worried. ‘Have you been speaking to him about his family situation?’

‘No,’ I answered. ‘But we were talking about how, as Christians, we believe we need to forgive others for the wrongs they do to us. And we’re here because we want children and young people in our community to know about things like that.’

Abigay softened a little, and began to open up, about how Sanka’s father had left her with the two babies to bring up alone, about her struggles and the instability in her life, the impact on the children, how Sanka wasn’t doing well in school and how she worried for him.

Then she started asking about church and St Peter’s. The following Sunday, she brought Sanka and Jannah to the morning church service – and again the next week, and the next.

It’s so heart-warming and encouraging when God reaches out and touches the lives of not just the children, but their families too.

A few more weeks went by, and I was talking with the youth leader at the church. He said, ‘Abigay’s still coming to church with the children – she says that Sanka’s doing so much better in school now. And did you know, she’s now helping to lead the Sunday school!’

It’s so heart-warming and encouraging when, through some simple games played on a housing estate for an hour once a week, God reaches out and touches the lives of not just the children, but their families too.

Going beyond connections

Scripture Union’s Revealing Jesus mission framework is designed to help churches journey into faith with the 95% of children and young people who aren’t in church. We’re seeking to mobilise a movement of passionate volunteer Faith Guides who’ll commit to walking alongside ‘the 95’ as they travel through each of the four stages most people go through as they find and grow in faith, illustrated below.

Scripture Union Mission Enablers, like Isaac, are ready and waiting to support Faith Guides and their churches as they journey with children and young people through each of these stages. You can find out more about the mission framework and the support you’d receive as a Faith Guide at su.org.uk/revealingjesus

Connect

A relational opportunity, with a Christian identity and increasingly deeper explicit Christian content.

Explore

Time to uncover greater understanding from the Bible about Jesus, the Bible itself and the Christian faith.

Respond

Further exploration of the Christian faith and a clear invitation to respond to Jesus.

Grow

A culturally-appropriate, worshipping community that enables the faith of the 95 to flourish in their commitment to Jesus, embraced, supported and nurtured by the local church.

* Name and image have been changed

Using this Guide

Encounter with God is designed for thinking Christians who want to interpret and apply the Bible in a way that is relevant to the problems and issues of today’s world. It is based on the NIV translation of the Bible, but can easily be used with any other version.

Each set of readings begins with an Introduction to the section you are about to study. The Call to Worship section at the start of each note should help you consciously to come into God’s presence before you read the passage. The main Explore section aims to bring out