Hello everyone,
Welcome to the latest issue of our church newsletter. Our newsletter is sent out regularly to share reflections from services, Bible readings and church news to our church family. You can find previous issues on our church website here.
We would love to hear from you and are always looking for uplifting and encouraging content to share in future issues of this newsletter. If you have any ideas or content that we can share, please do email them to Louise (publicity@christchurchuxbridge.org.uk)
Opening Prayer
Amazing God, you are our God,
and we are your people, your children.
Help us to learn your ways,
that we may love you more dearly,
and learn to live more truly,
enjoying and sharing your abundant life
with the whole planet. Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
Reflection from 25 February
Readings – Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16, Psalm 22: 23-31, Romans 4: 13-25 and Mark 8: 31-36
There are times when we can feel that we live in a world where everything should be delivered to us on a plate. There are assumptions that success should be easy and results instant; that we should be able to buy our way out of difficulty, and that the possession of more and more goods is what will make us happy. There can also be the danger of buying into this in the church and thinking that the Christian life should be an easy ride in which everything will go in my way.
But Lent takes us in a different kind of direction. The direction of Jesus’s struggles in the wilderness and his death on the cross. In Lent, we walk that way to the cross, but we know that it’s a walk to the one who died so that we might have life. Life in all its fullness. Life where the values of being loved, just as we are and loving one another, and the values of justice and of peace equally offered for all people, are held before each one of us.
What’s interesting in Lent is that some days are actually exempt from the Lenten journey, for they are always about marking the day of resurrection. It’s as if the Spirit led the church to the realisation that people couldn’t cope with 40 non-stop days of fasting and so we all need a little break and it’s a break of faith not just because of our needs. There need to be these regular breaks on the journey which point to the promise which is before us at the end of the Lent after the crucifixion, because when we walk this way, we know that there’s a promise and a hope that lies beyond the cross.
That sense of promise and hope is already seen in the Hebrew scriptures, and in particular in our reading from Genesis. Today we’ve read about Abraham and Sarah. Or, as the passage starts with Abram and Sarai. They are given new names to mark their new beginnings. And these new beginnings don’t happen early in their lives. Abram and Sarai are getting on in years, and yet they’ve received this promise, a promise that might have seemed absurd or outrageous, that Sarai would be pregnant, and that Abram and Sarai would be ancestors to many descendants.
They’ve waited so long for their own child. Sarai who had been without hope found hope late in life. And it’s interesting that in the Hebrew scriptures she’s described as being 90 years old. Just imagine, do we know any 90-year-old people who might have a child? Well, I think it’s the sort of thing we’d put out of our heads immediately. But we don’t actually know if she was exactly that age as recording ages in the Hebrew scriptures wasn’t necessarily following the same principle as has been over the last 20 centuries. One commentator has suggested that this could possibly mean in today’s terms that she was about 45 or 50, so still well beyond when she might be expected in those days to have had a child.
Abraham and Sarah had to wait a long time for their dream to be fulfilled. And then what? God’s promise that they would become the father and the mother of many nations took even longer to fulfil; well past their own lifetime. And in the story, we know that Abraham was indeed richly blessed and became the father of many nations, and not just of many nations, but of three of the main world faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. One fruitful point of encounter for us today as people of different faiths is to go back to that common origin of our forefather Abraham and his trust in the one living God. What’s intriguing about the promise is that they would come to the point where they would see one part of this fulfilled: the birth of a child. But they wouldn’t see the whole of it fulfilled. There were so many generations that would follow before this would happen.
Sometimes it feels for us today that it’s hard to trust and believe that God’s promises will be fulfilled. We know we can’t always see clearly what will come next. Personal events can take us in different directions than we expect, and this reading from Genesis gives us a picture of waiting. Waiting is about having a sense of trust in the God who is eternal and doesn’t work within our limited human time frames alone. Part of the trust is that God will come at unexpected times and places, opening up new opportunities and dreams for all of God’s people. And we’re celebrating today with Beth this particular opening up of membership of this church in her life and all that this means.
For us in Lent, we’re called to see that this season is about walking and waiting and wrestling with God as we seek to trust our lives into God’s hands. And in the reading we heard from Romans, Paul continues the reflection on people of faith and what faith means. Now I’m aware that over the years I’ve heard a whole variety of comments about Paul; some of them not all that polite. For example, some people argue that Jesus came with this simple gospel and that Paul confused matters by complicating it. Some say, couldn’t we just stick to reading the Gospels? Wouldn’t that be more straightforward? Not worry about all these complex and long-winded letters, and the arguments continue.
Now I know Paul’s letters aren’t the easiest to understand, but his writings have given birth over the centuries to some of the most lengthy and profound commentaries on any books of the Bible. Paul is wrestling with the intellectual questions of the day. He’s trying to make sense of why Jesus came and what the background to Jesus coming was. And I think it’s a reminder that it’s still an important task for us as Christians today to wrestle with questions about our faith, even if these questions might be very different from the ones in Paul’s day.
Paul was addressing issues that arose out of Jewish, Greek and Roman worlds. We’re addressing issues that arise out of our contemporary culture. In the passage we heard read Paul’s trying to unpack why it was that it was Abraham’s faith and not what he actually did that justified him. He’s trying to point beyond Abraham to God and to point out that it was Abraham’s relationship to God that was significant and the source of his journey. What was significant about Abraham was not just that he obeyed the letter of the law, but that he trusted in God. He didn’t need to feel certain about what the future held or where the journey might leave. He placed himself in God’s hands.
The story of Abraham is about saying there’s more to life than just the material world. There’s more to life that we can touch than we can touch or see or feel, and that more is about faith in God, who sometimes seems hidden from us and feels like a mystery to us. The passage from Mark’s Gospel is about Jesus and his destiny in terms of undergoing suffering and having to die before he rises again.
There’s so much in our world today about the difficulty and reality of suffering and the way it afflicts so many people in so many different ways across age ranges across the nations. We only have to read the news every day and look at Israel and Gaza and Ukraine and Russia, or older people and younger people and the way they’re treated by the NHS in this country. The invitation to follow Jesus involves responding to his words about taking up the cross, and the cross points us to God’s knowledge of suffering and God’s presence in the midst of suffering. The victory that is won for us on the cross is fulfilled in the resurrection when the new life of Jesus is released into the world in a way in which death can no longer be the conqueror. The cross is a sign of how much God is prepared to offer for us in order that we each might have life in all its fullness.
God in Jesus comes to bear the world’s sins and burdens. But the world at the time of Jesus didn’t want to hear this message, the message of repentance and turning away from sin. So we know that in Jesus’s day the crowds clamoured for him to be crucified. The cross shows how far God is prepared to go in love for humanity, even to death itself. And the words about taking up the cross are about offering ourselves willingly and freely for others.
Sometimes self-offering means a struggle and involves carrying our own cross, doing something for someone else rather than what I would just be happy to do for myself. The words of Jesus point to the way in which it is through self-offering that fulfilment comes. Through self-offering, we are able to sit more likely to ourselves and our times of struggle. Through self-offering, we become whole as we live in that rich relationship with God and with one another.
And so being becoming a church member isn’t just a matter of joining an organisation which needs to be well run. And I’ve read stuff nationally about the RC and in the Church of England about what’s most important is that we have well-structured and well-run churches. Well, I’m sure that’s importance as a second order issue, but the first step is to respond to God’s love. And the second step is to live that love out in God’s world. A love that is offered to all people, regardless of gender or ethnicity or sexual orientation or age range. God’s love is poured out equally, upon each one of us, and we are called equally as each one of us to live that love out in our lives in God’s world.
So may we each this day be renewed in our sense of the loving presence of God, even in the midst of our deepest sufferings. And of God’s call to each one of us to take up the cross and follow him. That we might find the fullness of life in his grace and mercy. Amen.
Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch
Readings for 3 March
Exodus 20: 1-17
The Ten Commandments
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- John 2: 13-22
- Psalm 19
- 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25
Our worship
We meet at 11am for our Sunday services, which are also live-streamed on our Facebook page. If you wish to view our services online, you can find them at www.facebook.com/christchurchuxbridge. You do not have to be a Facebook user to watch them – our services are publicly viewable. You can also view a recent service on our church website. Our service this week will be led by Methodist local preacher, Joanne Davies. You can find the order of service here.
If you are unable to join us in person or online for our Sunday services, but would like to receive a recording of them on a memory stick to watch at home, please let us know.
Forthcoming services
3 March – Joanne Davies (Methodist local preacher)
10 March – Christ Church worship group – parade service (Mothering Sunday)
17 March – Revd Margaret Dudley (Methodist minister)
24 March – Christ Church worship group
Church charity news
Church charity coffee mornings
There will be coffee mornings to raise money for Communicare Counselling Service on the following dates:
Saturday 9 March
Saturday 30 March
Saturday 13 April
You can find more details about Communicare Counselling Service, our church charity for 2023 at:
https://christchurchuxbridge.org.uk/activities/churchcharity2023
World Day of Prayer
Friday 1 March, 2pm at St Margaret’s Church
This year’s World Day of Prayer service will be held on Friday 1 March at 2pm at St Margaret’s Church, Windsor Street, Uxbridge. The service this year has been put together by Christian women in Palestine and the theme is ‘I beg you, bear with one another in love’.
One Hillingdon Worship Night
Saturday 2 March, 6.30pm – 8.00pm, St Margaret’s
Dear friends,
We’re excited to share that the Uxbridge Parish will be hosting the One Hillingdon Worship Night, a special event tailored specifically for the youth in our area. It’s set to take place on Saturday 2nd March, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at St. Margaret’s Church in Uxbridge.
We’ll kick off the evening with doors opening at 6:30 PM, allowing young people to drop in and enjoy some games, drinks, and snacks. The main service will begin promptly at 7:00 PM with a time of uplifting worship, followed by an engaging talk.
We warmly invite you to join us, along with the young people from your churches, for what promises to be an inspiring and joy-filled evening of praising and celebrating Jesus together.
Looking forward to sharing this wonderful experience with you all!
Alessandra Bazzo
Children and Youth Minister, Uxbridge Parish
Hillingdon u3a Singers concert
Welcome Spring
Sunday 24 March, 5pm at Christ Church
Hillingdon u3a Singers present ‘Welcome Spring’ – a concert with songs by Hillingdon u3a Singers featuring additional items by Hillingdon u3a Guitar Group and Hillingdon u3a Ukelele Group. Tickets cost £10 for adults (£3 children) and are available from members of the groups or on the door before the performance.
Dates for your diary
| 1 March | World Day of Prayer |
| 2 March | One Hillingdon Worship Night |
| 6 March | Welcome Wednesdays |
| 20 March | Welcome Wednesdays |
| 24 March | Welcome Spring concert |
| 29 March | Good Friday Walk of Witness |
| 3 April | Welcome Wednesdays |
| 17 April | Welcome Wednesdays |
| 19 May | Congregational Meeting |
| 8 September | Congregational Meeting |
| 24 November | Congregational Meeting |
Children’s Corner
Praying for other churches
This week we hold the following churches in our prayers:
- Hayes End Methodist
- St Andrew’s, Ealing URC
- Uxbridge Quakers
Closing prayer
Loving God, thank you for your gift of freedom.
Thank you also for giving us guidance
on how to be fully alive and loving.
Be with us as we put your guidance into practice,
and help us to enjoy sharing your beautiful world.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
