REVEREND Ben Haslam became our minister at Crediton Methodist Church in September 2024 following the retirement of Rev Alison Richardson.

Sadly, on July 27, we said goodbye to Ben who will be leaving the Exeter Circuit in August to take up a new ministerial appointment in the West Midlands.

Following a rousing hymn, Ben said we should be grateful to the church musicians, especially when you think how boring church music used to be right back when it came from monasteries with monks chanting words of psalms in monotone. There was no variation in tone – no “bangers” to sing along to.

Music, like everything, developed and you can have all sorts of harmonies as long as the central melody, a fixed song, is in place.

To Ben, Romans 8 was the fixed song, the bedrock of the Gospel.

The song that we are called to sing every day of our lives because it distils into the one chapter the essence of what God did for us in Christ and what it means for us as those who follow Christ.

It is a burst of good news especially as it follows Romans 7 which outlines the bad news that essentially we are lost and without hope without God’s intervention. There are two kinds of people – those hoping for death and those hoping for life.

Paul urges us to choose life and why? What is it that means we can say we have hope given that our position as human beings seems hopeless.

Thus, Romans 8 gives us a big sunburst of glory and joy and hope. It is all about how God has intervened to remedy the hopelessness.

This is clearly the clearest statement in the New Testament of what God’s intervention consists of.

The result is that nothing can separate us from the love of God because Jesus has dealt with every single barrier between us and God. The result is three things – confidence, assurance and hope.

We have the confidence to stand in the presence of God because of what Jesus has done for us. We can have complete confidence that God loves us and has done everything necessary for us to be able to stand in His presence.

We can have assurance because what God gives, he never snatches away.

We can have hope, a real hope, that God has prepared a wonderful future for all of his people.

Ben said he was ordained 10 years ago. When Methodist ministers are ordained, someone stands in front of them and says “you are worthy”.

These words terrified Ben and he did not feel worthy. In a way, he was right and he was wrong.

In himself he was not worthy, but he was worthy in the sense that God had called him and God would equip him.

God’s calling and equipping was what matters not Ben in his weakness.

In a way it is similar for all those who come to put their faith in Christ. It doesn’t matter what we have done, it doesn’t matter how frail and feeble and broken we feel we are. Because of what Jesus has done for us, God looks at us and says “you are worthy”.

When God looks at you He doesn’t just see the very fallible, imperfect, unfinished person you are.

He sees how you are in Christ as well. He sees you are worthy and you are free – free from everything that kept you from God.

Even given that living as a Christian can be challenging, it is joyful to read in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit himself, intercedes for us in those things that we don’t understand, in realms beyond our comprehension, the Spirit penetrates and intercedes for our good.

In Hebrews 7 we read Jesus intercedes for us at God’s right hand so we can honesty say that we have friends in the very highest places!

Where our words fall short, where we don’t pray because there are things that we cannot even begin to understand, so the Spirit comes and prays and works for our good.

This is the fixed song at the heart of our existence – a steady song of peace and security and protection and an unwavering faith and love.

All that is left for us is to live our lives in the light of that love, in lives of devotion, worship, service, peace and joy.

We then all celebrated Holy Communion.

A delicious buffet lunch was enjoyed by all and we said goodbye to Ben and thanked him for all he has done for us in the past year. You will be missed Ben, Best wishes on your new appointment.

Bronwyn Nott