This page comes from the newsletter of Broadmead Baptist Church, known as The Record. The Record has been produced since 1934.
The Broadmead Cross
This cross, like all representations of the cross of Jesus Christ, symbolises his suffering and death for all humanity.
The arms reach outwards, like the arms of God, in love and forgiveness, gathering all suffering to himself
The space between the two upright members represents the fact that Christ is no longer dead. Beyond the cross there is the Resurrection.
The upright members point upwards to denote Christ's Ascension.
From The Record - Prayer for the Nearly Well
A tribute to an elderly lady who was horrified to find herself being prayed for when all she had wrong with her was her gammy leg – she had had that leg for a long time, and it was not important enough for public mention before God.
Let’s all go on the Prayer List today, Lord,
With our aches which are old friends
And our pains which come and go.
With our slowly failing eyesight
And hearing which misses the best bits.
We will enumerate the weaknesses
We have by-passed all our lives;
The things we have never been able to do,
And those in which we manage but will never excel.
Glory to God for all the pleasure in life;
For what we can do, the sense of achievement;
For the ‘cunning plan’ that successfully circumnavigates problems;
For the freedom not to need success in everything.
Stand by us in our weaknesses, our ongoing distresses,
And turn our eyes from ourselves to yourself;
Re-focus our attention on our companions,
On the service we do do, on the glories of the world we share;
Sunlight, birdsong, rain softening the air and the ground,
Shelter, food, humour, work done together for mutual benefit;
People touching our lives and we theirs, and moving on;
The interaction as we sit before God, in momentary harmony.
So today, Lord, we pray for ourselves
And therefore we pray for each other –
Other selves: equally in need of your grace,
Continually in need of healing and redirection.
Abba, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
Grant us your company on our shared journey.
ROS HOUSEAGO, 2010
Last updated: 25-05-10