Our Devotions

Towards the end of each rehearsal, we share together in devotions, and band members take it in turns to lead this time of reflection. We would like to share our devotions with you and we hope that you will be blessed in reading them.

Share with us and be blessed

Monday 14 October 2024 led by Norman Cassells

Which Way Next

It is 15 years since Marilyn and I met with the Divisional Commander and his wife to discuss the formation of the South Western Fellowship Band. I hadn’t long stepped down from being the Bandmaster at Bristol Easton. I had felt a very strong urge to speak to the DC and it was a brief comment from his wife, Jean, that set the ball rolling.

However, it is true to say that Marilyn and I have always tried to listen to the callings inside our heads. The one time we really missed out was on a holiday in Kenya. We were staying in a beautiful hotel in Malindi on the coast. Whilst we were there, we had the opportunity to visit several schools and give the children pencils and school books which we had received from Staedtler in Llantrisant. The gifts included pencil cases and coloured pencils as well.

On one of our walks, we met a young man called John who was very smart and keen to talk, and we spent quite a while with him. The next day, we looked for him and were able to give him a pencil case and pencils which brought such a smile you would have thought he’d just won the lottery.

Unfortunately, although being urged by the Spirit, we did not follow him up and try to see about his schooling, and we believe we missed a large opportunity to help this young boy.

Since that time, I have kept a photo with me in my music case as a reminder of a missed opportunity.

It is fair to say that we are all on a journey and, from time to time, the Lord tries to get us to go a particular way but, being rebellious and stubborn, we don’t always go the right way.

Marilyn and I are now awaiting the next nudge from the Lord, and we pray that we are able to accept whatever challenge He has for us. It has been an immense privilege for us to have led this wonderful group of people, and we are confident that the Lord has great things in store for the Fellowship Band.

Bible passage from the message:

Philippians 3:13 – 4:1 (New International Version)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s example

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

Closing appeal for steadfastness and unity

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

~~~~~

Monday 9 September 2024 led by Marcia Ley

Guard Your Step

The other Saturday morning I went with my sister in law and her partner to find the graves of relatives she was not aware of until recently.

When we arrived at the village church and graveyard, we found the church to be closed, but through the locked gate I was able to read the following verse from Ecclesiastes chapter 5: “Guard your step when you go to the house of God”. 

I thought this was rather apt as we had gone to the churchyard to look for gravestones and grave markers for my sister in law’s relatives.  Many of the graves were not marked and we only knew they were there as my sister in law had been provided with a map of where her relatives may have been buried. So we needed to guard our steps as we searched.

Later, I gave thought about how our steps mattered in our own lifetimes. How we step affects what we do day-to-day, who we are in contact with, who we see and how we react.

Since Covid, life has changed for many of us, in what we do and how we place our steps.  I personally have given up work and I am now able to volunteer.  I spend one afternoon a week listening to Year 4 children read, which is such a privilege.  So my life journey has changed; I expect a lot of yours have done so as well.

Considering where I step, the following words to a song I used to sing came to mind:

One more step along the world I go
One more step along the world I go
From the old things to the new
Keep me travelling along with you.

And it’s from the old I travel to the new
Keep me travelling along with you.

‘Round the corners of the world I turn
More and more about the world I learn
And the new things that I see
You’ll be looking at along with me.

And it’s from the old I travel to the new
Keep me travelling along with you.

As I travel through the bad and good
Keep me travelling the way I should
Where I see no way to go
You’ll be telling me the way, I know.

And it’s from the old I travel to the new
Keep me travelling along with you.

Give me courage when the world is rough
Keep me loving though the world is tough
Leap and sing in all I do
Keep me travelling along with you.

And it’s from the old I travel to the new
Keep me travelling along with you.

You are older than the world can be
You are younger than the life in me
Ever old and ever new
Keep me travelling along with you.

And it’s from the old I travel to the new
Keep me travelling along with you.

 

Our prayer:

Dear Lord

We ask for you to keep travelling along the road of life with us.  To give us the courage when we do not know what is around the corner or ahead of us.

Lord, let us be able to leap and sing, even if we are no longer as agile as we were; but let our hearts and mind sing and leap in your name.

Amen

 ~~~~~

Monday 3 June 2024 led by Mark Cole

Watching Doctor Who on Saturday night brought to mind how some people are living their lives now. The character had a bubble around her head made up of mobile phone screens, so-called friends always giving her praise whatever the question. Asked to move, she asks for direction of travel, arrows appear on the screen for her to follow. If she was feeling worried, she has a song on the screen to help her forget everything. When she is persuaded to shut down the bubble she can’t even walk in a straight line because there is no arrow.

This is Doctor Who, it’s science fiction but younger people around us now are in bubbles of their own, living this life inside their bubble. Influencers appeared around the time of lockdown, many are making money by telling others how to live, what to do and not do, there is the rise of mindfulness which in itself tells people that the best way to live is just look after yourself and not take anyone else’s problems or needs because this will only cause us harm.

In the lives we live we follow the life of Jesus and his teaching, we can’t just shut ourselves off to others and their needs and we do this with the power of the Holy Spirit to give us strength.

Bristol South SA helps each year at a carol event in Whitchurch, Bristol, where Father Christmas arrives to turn on the lights. Last year one of our CO’s daughters who has been learning cornet played with the band, her friends were impressed, so along with Lt Clare we prayed and discussed the possibility of starting something at the school. We didn’t wait too long before the headteacher spoke with Clare asking if we could come into the school to run an after-school club and teach brass. We didn’t need arrows on the floor to show us the way, just the Holy Spirit’s leading.

I missed the last practice because Sue had a pre-med appointment, it was not just that the appointment was late but it was found her blood pressure was a bit high and there was a possibility of a heart murmur, obviously many thoughts were going through Sue’s mind at this point. Fortunately, following a doctors visit, everything is now running smoothly and the shoulder replacement goes ahead on the 11th June as planned. People didn’t hide in their bubble due to this, but talked about it, prayed and helped.

In his book ‘A Book Of Sparks’ Shaun Lambert says about mindfulness. For example, in Romans 12:2, Paul tells us, ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’. Our thoughts and feelings are often shaped by our culture into narcissistic, competitive, fearful or consumerist patterns. This verse enables us to witness our thoughts and enables us to de-centre from them. Paul follows this up in 2 Corinthians 10:5, where he says, ‘Take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.’ This verse also enables us to disarm our thoughts – to notice them, but to let them go.

‘Mindfulness is not about avoiding difficult reality, but about facing it straight on.’
~~~~~~

Monday 20 May 2024 led by Brian Mogford

Yesterday we celebrated Whitsunday, the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came to the first disciples in the upper room. All together in a special place; a thin place.

When we lived in North Devon, our house was very close to a Christian conference centre called Lee Abbey. We regularly joined with them on special occasions. Alongside the Abbey was their own beach and entrance to the sea. Often, especially during the summer months, we would go down to the beach and find that they were holding open services and baptismal in the sea. This became a Holy place and you could almost touch the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Hence it became known as a thin place!

The term comes from the Celtic tradition, a mountain top or other physical place where the air is thin or hard to come by. Thin places really reflect a spiritual thinness as well. A thin place is where we feel especially close to heaven, experiencing the peace and presence of Jesus in a special way.

When I look back over my life, there are a number of places that I call a thin place, as well as Lee Abbey: on a visit to Iona Abbey in Scotland, Sunbury Court where the Army chooses its new Generals – also where I spent many conference weekends plus visiting in a business capacity – also the corps retreats we used to hold from Bath Citadel to a variety of venues, especially one led by Lt.-Col Peter Moran when the Holy Spirit visited us in a remarkable way.

There are also times of the year that become thin times. Christmas Eve night: most cattle are tethered during the winter; however, many farmers have to unhook their cattle as they try to kneel in homage to the newborn King of Kings. In the Bible there are thin places: the fire that followed the Ark of the Covenant, the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, the encounter with Jesus on the Emmaus road, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples on the first Pentecost. These are just a few examples of such places.

When we face trials, eternity comes closer, where God’s grace is waiting to happen. However, a park or even a city square can be a thin place if we allow God’s spirit into our thinking and actions.

I dream that my home, my place of worship, our band can be a thin place where the Holy Spirit abides and fills us all.

If we want to find that thin place, then take the words of Paul in Romans 12:1 (The Message translation). “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.”

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
(Helen Howarth Lemmel)

~~~~~~

Monday 4 March 2024 led by Mark Harris

Bible readings:
Psalm 28 vs 7-8
Psalm 46 vs 1-3,7,10-11. 

Do you ever wonder about the way you have achieved what you have done? I certainly have. I suppose I grew up with relatively modest aspirations.  As I have grown up I have somehow found the strength and ability to achieve more and more.  I suppose while at school I just wanted to pass the 11 plus to go to a selective secondary school where I just wanted to get the GCEs to allow me to get into the sixth form where I wanted to get the A levels to enable me to go to university where my aim was to get the qualifications to be a teacher.  I didn’t imagine for one minute that I would end up as a Headteacher, twice being elected as local President of the NAHT, speaking at national conferences, meeting with MPs and even appearing with them on television. 

Similarly in my spiritual life I was quite timid or reserved growing up, quite nervous about or saying anything in public.  Like so many of you, I grew up in the Salvation Army from Primary to Junior Soldier to Senior Soldier, cubs and scouts, YP Band and Singing Company, Corps Cadets, Senior Band and Songsters.  My shyness has obviously changed over the years.  Somewhere I have been given the strength to pray aloud, speak out and lead meetings when required.  I have also been given the ability to chat and listen to those who drop into the cafe at the hall or who attend the warm space sessions.  I often think of the words of verse 10 when I am preparing what to say in devotions or planning a meeting. 

 “Be still and know that I am God”  

How important it is that we all take the time to be still, to meditate, to pray, and to listen, so that we can, with God’s help, achieve our potential, and through doing that be living examples of the sorts of lives He would want us to live and the sort of people He would want us to be. 

As slightly older members of the various corps, we should not be afraid to use our knowledge and experience to help those developing in their faith. We still have an important part to play in encouraging others (particularly younger people) to continue to try to grow our corps or church family so that we will maintain our witness, wherever it is that we are serving in the south west. 

With God as our strength, we still have an important part to play and should not really be surprised at the effect that we can have on others.  

~~~~~~

Monday 19 February 2024 led by Lt-Col Sandra Moran

This week I’ve been preparing for yesterday’s worship at my local corps, and decided on the theme “God speaks”, exploring the many ways that God communicates to us.

So it was that when I turned my thoughts to today’s epilogue, the fact of God speaking to us through music leapt to my mind, and seemed very appropriate. I’m sure we all recognise that God touches us through music – specifically for tonight, brass band music, and feel the privilege of seeing Him reach out to others through the music we present.  What a joy it was to see folk at the mercy seat, at Bridgwater, and to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit as we ministered at previous venues (Bath, Cirencester, etc. ) last year.

For me, while listening to band music brings blessing, I have to admit that actually playing the music seems to have an even deeper impact.  I’ve been a ‘bando’ from childhood, when I first learned how to play the tenor horn.  I remember the pieces that really touched my heart through playing in the senior band during my teens and twenties.

We were only a small band – 8 players – but we had quite a good standard, and would often conduct meetings and festivals at other corps.  One of the pieces we often included in our repertoire was Dean Goffin’s The light of the world.  It was based on Holman Hunt’s painting, which depicted Jesus, with a lamp, standing and knocking at a closed door (the heart’s door), which has no handle on the outside.

It contained the tune Aurelia, which I always connected to “O Jesus I have promised to serve thee to the end”.  It had the knocking theme represented by 2 notes, which recurred throughout the piece.  I think the horns introduced this theme (quite gently) but other instruments took it up at intervals, sometimes softly, sometimes more demanding, until the final gentle tap, again by the horns, followed by a very gentle, peaceful arpeggio, started by the euphoniums and continued by the solo horn, which somehow spoke to me of the submission and opening of the door, as Jesus entered the heart.  Forgive the concentration on the horn part, but that was my own perspective.

There were other songs in the piece, too.  “Behold me standing at the door, May I come in?” and I eventually realised that the words associated with Aurelia were:

O Jesus, thou art standing
Outside the fast-closed door,
In lowly patience waiting,
To pass the threshold o’er.
Shame on us, Christian people,
His name and sign who bear,
O shame, thrice shame upon us,
To keep Him standing there!

It seems to me that while this song is, of course, about the initial choice to allow Jesus into our lives, as we accept his forgiveness and the responsibility to live Christian lives, but it also underlines the fact that it’s addressed to Christian people, who have already made this decision.  That there are times when we shut Him out again, and He needs to knock again and again. That’s certainly been my experience. There have been times when, although still believing, I have shut Jesus out of my life – through busyness, complacency, not including Him in my day to day.

Revelation 3:20 says: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

May He continue knocking as we continue to minister – to others and ourselves through music.

Lord Jesus, I thank you for those you inspired to compose music through which you speak to our hearts.

~~~~~~

Monday 5 February 2024 led by Man Kit Chow

My name is Man Kit, I come from Staple Hill Citadel Corps. Most of my friends and people from our church are calling me “KIT”. I have a small family, it’s only my wife, myself and our son. My wife, Grace (some of you might have met her when we had the concert at Bridgwater Citadel in July last year), she is an “officers’ kid”, next year will be our thirty years marriage anniversary. Our son, Joshua, is a university student, he is studying Criminology at UWE now.

Before I came to the country, I had worked part time at our corps as a ministry assistant, mainly involved in taking care of some bible studying groups, teaching Sunday school and those related to biblical education. Another part of my time, I studied theology at Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary, majoring in Old Testament. Now I work for them as an assistant lecturer for some distant learning course.

Some of you might recognise me from this issue of SALVATIONIST (1), I hope you don’t mind if I read to you what has been published before as my sharing:

If you are planning for a trip, or going to buy a new car, you might go first search online for more information. Believe it or not, I first started to search about Bristol after Major Liz Church asked me: ‘Did you know about Bristol before you came here?’ My answer was no and yes. I knew Bristol was a city in the UK, but besides that I really didn’t know much. You may ask, then, why my family and I came to Bristol. One of the reasons was that we have friends here, but the most important reason was that we knew there was a Salvation Army here. Being part of Staple Hill Corps makes me feel so blessed and peaceful.

When we were living in Hong Kong, we were privileged to be able to travel to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Australia. If our travel schedule allowed, we would try to visit one of the Salvation Army corps in those countries for a Sunday service. Of course, we couldn’t speak Japanese or Korean. However, when the band or pianist played from the songbook, we would sing along in our own language. We would then be in unity praising our Lord, just as we are in Staple Hill Corps when we are singing together, which always makes us feel at home.

Thirty years ago, when I first went to Wan Chai Corps in Hong Kong, it was because of the Self-Denial Appeal. After all these years I know more about what The Salvation Army is doing than before, as I know how faithful our God always is. Leaving our hometown for a new place was not easy to deal with, from language barriers and different food to weather conditions and transport networks. However, I remember how good God was to me in the past and I continue to believe he is and will be the same faithful Lord to me. This brings me peace. 

In the Bible, there are two verses that give me courage to face challenges and difficulties. Joshua 1:9 says: ‘Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’ (New Revised Standard Version). In John 16:33, Jesus says: ‘I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (NRSV).

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity for each of us to come tonight to practice. May your music comfort and strengthen us, help us to face difficulties and without losing our faith in you. Please keep us safe until we meet next time. Listen to our prayer, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

(1) Salvationist 1909 (13 May 2023): 4.

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Monday 15 January 2024 led by Lt-Col Sandra Moran

Well, here we are at a milestone in the history of the Fellowship Band.  A place which includes the beginning, as that has influenced what we have become today.  It includes the end of an era, which I would suggest has been played really well.  And now the beginning of a new era.

Things have changed over the years – that’s inevitable – but there is one thing we have never lost.  The sense of fellowship.  Yes, we enjoy the music, playing together as a band, we love the challenge of learning a new piece, being stretched sometimes, being lost in the beauty of the music, and the faith of the composers.

We love ministering at all the different places, and sharing those poignant moments as God, through His spirit, comes very close. 

But I have found in conversation with many of you that we also value the fellowship that the band has given us.  We have laughed together, cried together, shared our concerns, our joys and our sorrows.  We have read from the bible as we shared devotions and we have prayed together.

This will, I know continue as it has done over the years.

Paul wrote some wise words to his favourite church, the Philippians, in order to encourage and strengthen their fellowship. In Phil 2: 1-4 he says,

“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate?  Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another and working together with one mind and purpose.  Don’t be selfish, don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.”

Let’s continue to grow the precious fellowship we have been given.

Prayer

Father God, we thank you for this band, and for the leaders who have guided us over the years.  We ask that you will continue to journey with us through the coming days, and bless each member, and our leadership team, as we continue to minister together.

Amen