‘Look-In’ – 26 April 2024

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

As I come to you today, may I centre myself on you again, O God.
Help me to turn aside from the busy-ness and business of the day,
to meet with you again in this space.
Come here, Holy and remarkable God,
By your Spirit I pray.
Amen.
(Taken from The Vine)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection from 21 April

Readings – Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34: 1-10, John 10: 11-18 and 1 John 3: 16-24

 

So, I have a four-part reflection that we’re going to think about. In the Gospel reading we see Jesus describing himself as the Good Shepherd; that he loves his sheep so much. Not only that he loves them, to look after them, and he will lay down at the at the gate of the pen at night. If we read back a few verses, in John 10 we get that saying where Jesus says, “I am the gate” and it’s exactly as we were saying earlier about the sheep pen, being the one who lies across the pen to close it, to be the gate in the pen to protect those within it and to keep people out. But more than that, he’s talking about laying down his life and I think he’s foretelling that he will lay down his life in the crucifixion and ultimately allow himself to be killed.

 

He contrasts himself really with the hired hand. The hired hand is just in it for the money, running away to avoid trouble if there’s trouble to protect himself, and allowing the flock to be sacrificed to run off. Jesus won’t allow that and would sacrifice himself in their place. He brings nourishment, he brings refreshment, he guides the flock and supports those in need, particularly the weaker members of the flock: those who are sick, those who are lame. He guides them and he rescues them and, I think, echoing the words of the psalm as our Good Shepherd for you and I. Even in our darkest places he will be with us, guiding us on the right paths.

 

 

I remember some years ago, Jo and I were going through one of the darkest times in our life, and it amazed me how God was there for me in even in ways that it just seems might have been serendipity but I don’t think it was. The number of times when I was traveling into London to go to work and getting on the Metropolitan line when just the right person would turn up and sit down next to me and chat for half an hour. It actually was often Cathy – not always – but there was a number of people and it just felt like God coincided our lives for that half hour in a most miraculous way. It has happened a lot less since and I don’t sort of need it, I suppose.

 

We don’t need to be fearful of evil because he will always be with us and then there’s this promise that he’s going to bring us blessing in the face of our enemies. It’s really interesting that Psalm 23 is arguably the most famous Psalm you know. Somehow it connects really deeply with people, both those of faith and those not of faith. It’s very frequently used at funerals, but it’s also become something of a cultural icon. If you think about psalms that appear in films, Psalm 23 appears probably more than any other. In the 1997 film, Titanic, the priest is reading the psalm as the ship is sinking. In the John Wayne film Rooster Cogburn, the female protagonist is reciting the psalm in the face of her attacker. In the 1985 Clint Eastwood film Pale Rider there’s an interplay between hope and and doubting the divine. As a young girl is burying her dog that has been killed by the villains, she recites Psalm 23 but intersperses her own commentary: “I shall not want – but I do want…”, “he restoreth my soul – but they killed my dog…”, “I shall fear no evil – but I am afraid…”,  “thy loving kindness and mercy shall follow me – if you exist.”

 

There’s one film that had a huge impression on me, which was the 1986 film When The Wind Blows, a full length cartoon film, beautifully done, and it recounts a rural English couple’s attempt to survive a nuclear attack and maintained their sense of normality in the subsequent fallout and nuclear winter. Towards the end when they are reaching their demise, Jim Bloggs recites Psalm 23. In the film it’s really poignant.  I think it’s incredibly important though that we don’t let the familiarity of these words wear out the meaning of the words for us. I think we need to take them to heart even though they become so very familiar.

 

While we’re thinking about 1980s films, on a personal level it is it is the decade when I met my beloved and I recall marriage lessons from years ago in the 1980s. Jo and I came from a church that took weddings and marriage really seriously and actually would encourage you to a series of lessons to prepare for and teach you things. Curiously one of the lessons that we really learned was summarised in the lyrics of the 1998 song Teardrop by Massive Attack. Massive Attack was an English trip hop collective from Bristol but that lesson was love is a verb. Love is a doing word. Not a feeling, not a state of mind, not something to fall into or out of, but a thing to do, an action.

 

In the letter from John, which we listened to, it talks about how Jesus laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for others, for our brothers and sisters:

 

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother and sister in need, but has no pity on them how can love be in that person, for love is not words or speech, but it is actions and truth.”

 

I think we need to hold ourselves to that measure. The extent to which we do acts of love for one another and for others is the extent of which God’s love is in us; this, not our fancy words, our fancy rhetoric and our beautiful meetings, it’s that doing, that action, that being there for each other, sharing with those in need, showing love in actions and in truth.

 

So to the third part, Ezekiel. Often parables have layers of meaning, and I think it is absolutely the case with this one as Jesus says I am the Good Shepherd. I don’t think he was just telling a story, I think he was think he was being provocative and hence the rather provocative image. The Old Testament reading from Ezekiel that we had today would have been well known at that time. The religious leaders would have known it, the people he was talking to would have known it, so I don’t think this is just a nice parable about looking after sheep, but I think it’s a Messianic claim. Jesus was claiming to be the one sent and it was also a rebuke. I think he was strongly rebuking the religious leaders of the time he was speaking to.

 

In claiming to be the Good Shepherd he was putting himself into that Old Testament prophecy and pretty clearly telling the religious leaders that they were the Shepherds of Israel to whom Ezekiel says, “woe to you Shepherds of Israel, you eat the food, clothe yourselves and slaughter the best animals. You don’t care for the flock, you don’t strengthen the weak, the sick, or the injured, you don’t rescue the strays, you ruled them harshly and brutally.”

 

The Old Testament writers often used the notion of a shepherd as a kind of shorthand for a civil or religious leader so this rebuke to the leaders in that time around Jerusalem around Israel is a remarkably stark rebuke to them and the consequences of that prophetic judgment that Jesus was telling the religious leaders of that day is: I, Jesus, will be the Sovereign Lord and I’m against you. I will hold you accountable for the flock. I will remove the flock from you and tend the flock so that you can’t feed yourselves with them, which is actually bringing poverty on them as well as disempowering them. It’s a threat of financial ruin, taking the flock away, so he was declaring a rebuke and a takeover.

 

Finally, I want to think about that very enigmatic line in verse 16 of the Gospel reading. Jesus said, “I have sheep that are not of the sheep pen” and promised that they were going to be brought into the fold too. What do we make of this? I’ve often kind of pondered what does this mean and maybe the most obvious meaning is that Jesus was also referring to the Gentiles, those who were not of the Jewish faith, but I think it’s a little bit more than that. I think we can read it in a more generalised way, that he came for those who are not like us; he came for the others.

 

Isn’t it interesting that we often define ourselves by those that we are like. When you were at school there was probably an in-crowd and there were outsiders or others. We see it today in social media wars where there are those who agree and others who are wrong, and we see it rather tragically in in the kind of political campaigning – the them and us narrative or us versus the others. We’ve got this narrative at the moment about the immigrants who come illegally in their boats and take our jobs and only on Friday I was reading what the Prime Minister said, and if this isn’t me making a political point this is me referencing the language change that’s happening in the political discourse. On Friday our prime minister was describing what he called the UK sick-note culture where benefits have become a lifestyle choice for some others causing a spiralling welfare bill. It sounds really rather like othering the benefit claimant in a way that is very them and us.

 

This blaming of others or scapegoating is actually a really profound mechanism. When a group blames and expels the scapegoat, it brings unity within the group in an almost religious way. It brings peace within the group. This is a mechanism to bring social peace by identifying a scapegoat, blaming them and expelling them. It works for a while and then another scapegoat is needed, and somebody else is othered, and somebody else is expelled and the cycle repeats.

 

Jesus broke this mechanism. He was persecuted, blamed of some fault, and executed. Even the disciples got wrapped up into the scapegoating mechanism and the collective pressure to abandon Jesus. Remember that the disciples became part of the scapegoating crowd: Peter’s denial of Jesus, joining in with them, not wanting to be othered like Jesus at that time.

 

Whereas humanity has achieved some sort of temporary social peace by performing these violent acts of scapegoating, Jesus’s solution is much more radical, much more efficient and much more permanent. He turned the other cheek and abstained from retribution and more than that he brought love to those that were othered, specifically love to the outcasts, love to those our society excludes, and so this is God’s command that we believe in the name of his son Jesus and love one another as he commanded us to love; those that are in the in group, but also to love the others.
Neil Mackin

 

 

 

 

Readings for 28 April

John 15: 9-17

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

 

 

Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:

• Psalm 22: 25-31
• Acts 8: 26-40
• 1 John 4: 7-21

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our worship

We meet at 11am for our Sunday services, which are also live-streamed on our YouTube channel. If you wish to view our services online, you can find them at https://www.youtube.com/@christchurchuxbridge

 

You can also view a recent service on our church website. Our service this week will be a joint service at Ickenham URC at 11am. You can find the order of service here. Please note that there will be no service at Christ Church this Sunday and the service this week will not be streamed online.

 

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

28 April – Joint service at Ickenham URC (No service at Christ Church)

5 May – Neil Mackin (Christ Church member and trainee URC lay preacher)

12 May – Christ Church worship group – parade

19 May – Christ Church worship group (Pentecost)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CTU Bible Study

Wednesdays from April 24th to May 29th

13:15 – 14:15 at the Quaker Meeting House, York Road, Uxbridge.

 

The session on 1 May will focus on Psalms 122 and 123.

 

 

All welcome. For more information, please contact Mike Beranek at mikeberanek8@gmail.com or by telephone on 07757 775625.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dates for your diary

 

27 April	Preach with a view social event
28 April	Preach with a view joint service at Ickenham
	Farewell service for Revd Dong Hwan Kim at Ruislip Manor Methodist Church
1 May	Welcome Wednesday CTU Bible study group
8 May	CTU Bible study group
15 May	CTU Bible study group
19 May	Congregational Meeting
22 May	CTU Bible study group
29 May	Welcome Wednesday CTU Bible study group
12 June	Welcome Wednesday
26 June	Welcome Wednesday
10 July	Welcome Wednesday
24 July	Welcome Wednesday
4 September	Welcome Wednesday
8 September	Congregational Meeting
18 September	Welcome Wednesday
24 November	Congregational Meeting

 

 

Children’s Corner

(Based on Acts 8.26-40)

 

 

 

Praying for other churches

This week we hold Trinity, Harrow (URC/Methodist) in our prayers.

 

 

Closing prayer

This is the day that the Lord has made,
As you go out into the remainder of this day, and the week ahead,
May you experience the Creator God, the Christ-light and the Holy Spirit at work.
Amen.
(Taken from The Vine)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection from 3 March

Readings – Exodus 20: 1-17 and John 2: 13-22

 

I don’t know about you, but often when I think about Jesus, I think of a softly spoken man whose peaceful, loving and gentle. He’s always smiling, always patient, always kind. And as believers in Christ, we know all these things to be true. But in our gospel passage this morning, Jesus is far from this traditional picture that we paint. Perhaps as we, as believers in a modern world, when there is this increasing focus on secularism and worldly material things, need to challenge ourselves to that stereotypical image of the lamb-like, meek Jesus.

 

Instead, Jesus was confrontational to the people. He challenged their thoughts and beliefs. He was not a timid little mouse. He came not only to upset the tables in the temple, but he came to upset the world’s way of thinking. He confronted people every day of his life on Earth. But he confronted them without anger or judgement. Instead, the ones he was challenging were the ones filled with a vengeful kind of anger and judgement within themselves. Christ went out every day knowing that he was going to disagree with someone he encountered that day. And the Scripture passage this morning is showing this kind of righteous anger, where you’re justified in being upset with the circumstance, action, situation, or person.

 

 

Righteous anger is a little step higher because it’s devoid of any kind of evil or vengeance or wrongdoing. It’s got no motives. It’s got no way of forcing your will on anyone. It’s got no personal reaction within it. It lacks any selfishness of ‘my way or no way’ sentiments. And there’s none of the hurt that’s involved when we feel unrighteous anger, perhaps. I’m sure we all have moments when we’ve been angry with something and the anger that we feel in those situations usually has some kind of hurt attached to it. Someone says something unkind or does something unjustified, and we get angry and hurt in response. But just before the anger hits, if we’re honest, there’s a wound that’s been inflicted by that action or that word that has led to the anger arriving.

 

Some practical examples of this. Perhaps we’ve been treated unfairly at work and we react by suppressing that anger immediately. Why? Because our feelings have been hurt by the injustice we’re perceiving in a supervisor or co-worker’s actions. Perhaps we get angry at a parent or a spouse or a sibling because they stop you from doing something. That, if we’re honest, isn’t the real reason for the anger. The fact that we feel that they don’t trust us to make our own decisions. Someone says something that makes us feel inferior or threatened in our judgement, and so our anger is the result of hurts inflicted by others in the past and perhaps their judgement of us when we were younger. All these human anger moments really start out on the spiritual journey to our innermost beings because there is a hurt that’s touched us to the core; a word or action that dredges up old memories. And our emotions are so quick, so conditioned, that almost all of the time when we react in anger, we do so without even realising it; without even thinking about the core hurt and pain.

 

 

And this anger, this unrighteous anger, is what is prevalent and destructive in our world today. There have been thousands of case studies done on escalating anger in our world. Experts and their studies on those who have become involved in gangs have all concluded one thing. That those who are a walking time bomb of anger are those who feel that personal power is the only way they can get any feeling of worth in their life. They have grown up in surroundings of poverty, stress, lack of education and, most of all, the lack of a loving environment, leading them to seek out validation of their own worth in seeking a kind of fearful respect that they impose on others, to equate their own self worth.

 

Those same experts interviewed people living in the same homes in the same streets, but in a different environment who did not resort to joining gangs or resorting to violence. The difference for them was they had someone early on in their lives, a parent, a grandparent, a teacher or a coach: someone who took the time to tell them they had worth, they were good at something; someone who believed in them and their abilities. And most often, that someone not only spoke the words, but lived it out in their own meaning in their own life. That someone put aside their own needs, their own time, and realised the importance of simply saying to someone, “Good job. Well done. I’m proud of you.”

 

And then we compare these human experiences that we have to Christ. Because unlike us, Christ did not need a word of affirmation in his life. First of all, he was perfect and perhaps more importantly, his Father in heaven had the divine ability to place an abundance of love within his Son’s heart. Christ knew where his affirmation came from. He knew his Father’s love was unconditional, supportive, and present within him. Christ was humility walking, but not necessarily because he was God in flesh. Instead, it was because he knew that God, carried his Father’s love within him every moment of every day.

 

And so when we read this gospel passage for a first time, we risk becoming like the Pharisees. We get caught up in the details of the story. Yes, Christ was angry because there were unjust activities going on in God’s house. But many assumed that the reason for the anger was the idea of vendors being in there and selling things. But when you look at the wider context of the time that would have been a necessary thing in those days when sacrifices needed to be purchased so that they could be offered in the temple. What Jesus got angry about was not the fact that they were selling these things, but because they were taking advantage of the poor; exchanging the currency for temple coins to be of a higher value, trying to make a profit out of something that was necessary for their worship rituals at the time.

 

Focusing on things being sold in the church is not the point of this message. And the point is the same point that Christ encountered every day in his ministry. People doing wrong by preying on the innocent and that is the reasoning for Christ’s righteous anger. This scene could have easily taken place in the streets or at a fair, or a bazaar, or any other kind of context. But it added insult to injury, because not only were they taking advantage of people, but they were doing so in God’s house. The righteous anger poured out of Christ because his lambs were being used to feed the pockets of greedy men.

 

The Bible has a couple of instances where Jesus displays this righteous anger. In Matthew 18, verse 6, Jesus uses very strong language to describe the punishment of anyone who causes a child to stumble. In Mark 10, verse 14. Jesus was angry when the disciples hindered the little children from coming to him. And in Mark 3, verse 5, Jesus looks on with anger at the Pharisees who are eager to prosecute him for healing on the Sabbath. But the common and overriding factor in all of these instances of Jesus’s anger is directed towards others who put up barriers to stop people coming towards him.

 

Righteous anger, the type of anger that Jesus had, is never about selfish human motives. Righteous anger only happens when God and his teachings are being threatened. When God’s children are being threatened. When God’s word is being misconstrued and being used as a tool for bad purposes. Righteous anger doesn’t have threats. There’s no thought of vengeance. There are no lies involved, and there’s no selfish purpose in its expression.

 

And so we as Christians in a modern world need to embody this kind of righteous anger. When we come faced with things that are a barrier to us from experiencing and enjoying the presence of God. Sometimes it might be directed towards ourselves, when perhaps we let life become so busy that we put off prayer and meditation. When we put up barriers to our own relationship with Christ or the relationship of others with Christ, that gives God cause for righteous anger. And when we deliberately put things in our lives or in the lives of others that hinder that relationship, Christ gets angry. And what justifies Christ to bear such anger? The stripes on his back that he took for us. He did all of that so that we could have a relationship between us and God.

 

So in this week ahead, I urge us all to take time to reflect, challenge and confront ourselves. What are the barriers that we put in our own lives that stop us from having a relationship with Christ? Is it our own human anger, the consequence of human wounds? Is it our preoccupation with searching for something more?

 

How can we challenge others to break down their barriers which are preventing them from having a relationship with Christ? Do our own actions inadvertently put up barriers that stop people coming to Christ?

 

In this season of Lent, let’s all take the time to break down these barriers to our own and to others relationship with Christ. So that Christ can truly live and grow in the hearts and lives of us and everyone we meet.

Amen.
Joanne Davies

 

 

 

 

Readings for 10 March

John 3: 14-21

¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

 

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

 

 

 

Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:

• Numbers 21: 4-9
• Psalm 107: 1-3, 17-22
• John 3: 14-21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our worship

We meet at 11am for our Sunday services, which are also live-streamed. Please note that we have now changed our online streaming platform to YouTube. If you wish to view our services online, you can find them at https://www.youtube.com/@christchurchuxbridge.

 

You can also view a recent service on our church website. Our service this week will be a parade service led by Christ Church member, Louise George. 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

31 March – Revd Jon Dean (URC minister) – Holy Communion (Easter Sunday)

 

 

 

 

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 service 1st March

For many years there has been a service in Uxbridge on the World Day of Prayer (which originated as the ‘Women’s World Day of Prayer’) on the first Friday in March. This is organised by a group from several of the Uxbridge churches, including Christ Church, and this year the service was held at St. Margaret’s Church. There was a good attendance and it was good to meet and share with those in other churches in Uxbridge for this act of worship.

 

This year the service, with the theme ‘I beg you, bear with one another in love’, has been planned by Christian women in Palestine, and this has a particular relevance this year. The service included stories from three Palestinian women which gave personal slants on the history and situation in this troubled area, although I was impressed that very little bitterness was expressed in these. It helped to remind us that there is a considerable Christian community in Palestine, and this has a long history. The stories can be seen on the World Day of Prayer England, Wales and Northern Ireland website at www.wwdp.org.uk and they are well worth reading.

 

A considerable spread of food was provided after the service by a local group of women with middle eastern backgrounds who have set themselves up to draw attention in a small way to the hardships being experienced in Palestine. They have varied national and religious backgrounds, but one who I talked with is certainly of Palestinian origin and had settled in this country as a young teenager when she and her mother were eventually allowed to join her father, who had fled Palestine where his safety was threatened about 30 years ago.

 

Whatever the politics, it was good to be reminded that it is ordinary people like you and I who suffer in such situations as those in Palestine at present, and we need to continue to pray for all affected by the continuing conflict in that region.

Peter King

 

 

 

Good Friday Walk of Witness

Friday 29 March, 11am

This year’s Good Friday Walk of Witness will take place on Friday 29 March. The walk will start from St Andrew’s Church at 11am and will process down the High Street with stops at the Civic Centre and Uxbridge Underground station and will finish with a short passion play outside St Margaret’s Church. There will be refreshments available in St Margaret’s Church following the passion play. All are welcome.

 

 

 

From the Circuit

Revd Dong Hwan Kim farewell service

Revd Dong will be leaving the Circuit this year, so to celebrate his time with us, the Circuit is holding a Farewell Service at Ruislip Manor Methodist Church on Sunday 28th April at 4pm, which will be followed by refreshments.

 

Circuit Life

The latest issue of Circuit Life is now available and can be accessed online at https://tinyurl.com/circuitlife-mar23

 

 

 

 

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

 

20 March	Welcome Wednesdays
24 March	Welcome Spring concert
29 March	Good Friday Walk of Witness
31 March	Extraordinary Congregational Meeting
3 April	Welcome Wednesdays
17 April	Welcome Wednesdays
27 April	Preach with a view social event
28 April	Preach with a view joint service at Ickenham
	Farewell service for Revd Dong Hwan Kim
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 Methodist
• Ealing Green (URC/Methodist)
• Uxbridge Salvation Army

 

Closing prayer

Thank you Lord, for you are a God of abundant blessings. Thank you for all you have given to me.
I pause for a moment to return something of those blessings to you and to your service.
Lord, put my life to use in building a world of justice, joy and peace, in Jesus’ name,
Amen.
(Taken from The Vine)