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 with 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
Creator God, you make us and shape us;
you provide for all our needs
and you guide our paths.
Help us to live our best lives for you,
bringing your peace to our world.
May we be like Jesus
in how we live alongside others
and so draw nearer to you.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
Reflection from 15 September
Reading – Mark 8: 27-37
it’s really interesting to think about what would we say if someone came along and said, “Who’s Jesus? Tell me who Jesus is, tell me about Jesus, who is he?” What would you say? What would someone not here this morning say if somebody said, “Who’s Jesus?” In our reading from Mark, Peter’s response to the question “who do you say I am?” is immediate. He doesn’t hesitate. Jesus asks him who he thinks Jesus is and he comes straight out and says, “You’re the Messiah.” He believes Jesus is the one that God sent to save us, he acknowledges Jesus is God, Jesus is the one that’s been prophesied about for thousands of years and that his purpose is to save people.
Peter believes Jesus’s teaching. He believes absolutely that Jesus speaks with the authority of God. He’s listened to him, followed him, chosen to give his life to him. He’s seen the miracles: Jesus has walked on water, he’s fed 4,000 people, he’s fed 5,000 people, he’s healed people. Peter has seen all that and said, “Yes, I believe in you. I know that you are who you claim to be. You are God’s son, you’ve been sent on a mission to save the Jewish people” and he declares that to Jesus.
What he doesn’t know is what that looks like. Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, yes he’s come to save us, but Peter has no idea what that is going to look like, how it will happen, or what the cost is going to be.
In the next bit of the story, Jesus predicts his death: “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, but when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan,” he said, “you do not have in mind concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Just thinking for a minute about that passage from the two different perspectives there, Peter’s perspective and Jesus’s perspective. I wonder, what would Peter have thought and felt when Jesus said to him, “I’m going to die” Hearing Jesus say that he will die is shocking. It’s unexpected. This is the man that Peter’s left everything to follow, the man whose words he listened to. Peter’s been out, he’s done his own preaching and healing in Jesus’s name. Jesus is the man that he believes is going to save and free the Jewish people. He’s just said, “Jesus, you’re the Messiah, God, Savior of Israel.” Why on Earth would Jesus be hated and rejected and killed? To him, Jesus’s death at the hands of the elders and the authorities is defeat, it’s the end, it’s not how it’s meant to go. It’s failure surely to end up dying. That’s the end of his ministry, how could that be the thing that he’s left his life behind for?
Peter’s just had a moment of real spiritual security. He’s in a good place, confident: “I believe in you, you’re the Christ, you’re the Messiah.” Everything’s going well, and then Jesus turns around and changes all his expectations, saying, “yes, but I’m going to die.”
Peter’s journey of faith is so similar to our own: those times of certainty when you know everything is okay, you’re confident in who God is, what he’s done, what he wants us to do, how he loves us, followed by those doubts and questions and getting it wrong in between. It’s a really human reaction of Peter’s to confront or contradict somebody who said something bad is going to happen. Jesus said, “I have to die” and Peter goes, “no, no, you don’t.”
It’s a very human reaction to say that, but that’s kind of the point, it’s human. God’s way is not our way, and Jesus’s way isn’t Peter’s way. It’s not what he thinks and it’s not what he’s expecting. Jesus is aware that the end is near, he’s getting closer and closer to Jerusalem and he needs to prepare the disciples for what’s going to happen, the fulfillment that actually he needs to die because he’s paying the price of the sins of everyone in the world, that he’s going to die to pay the debt of what people have done wrong.
It’s an unexpected mission. It’s a far bigger mission than Peter can imagine. It’s the reverse of the conquering hero that people are expecting. It’s also a mission that’s not just about the Jewish people; it’s a universal offer of salvation for everyone across time and space, not just the Jewish people. Jesus is working to a completely different schedule and mission plan to what Peter can see or imagine. He prepares his followers for the suffering that’s to come, that they’re going to lose him, the reality that they’re going to have to face suffering and persecution themselves too, hardship, even death, as they carry on the work that he started. He’s preparing them for the reality that even though he’ll die, he’s going to return to life as well. All of those things he needs to prepare them for.
We can see in this little exchange that Jesus sees a different picture, a bigger picture than the humans around him see. He sees it from a different perspective; he sees his mission which is to die, because through his suffering and death he can save people and restore their relationship with God. The people, like Peter, around him can’t see that no matter how faithful, no matter how good their faith, no matter how much he believes Jesus is the Messiah. Peter just can’t see the whole picture and the whole plan.
A dear friend of mine once came into my junior church when I was young, and I’ve never forgotten the picture that he explained to us. He said that following Jesus is like a tapestry. God pushes the needle down, and we just kind of push it back up a bit randomly because we don’t really always know what we’re doing. God pushes it down and we sort of push it back up again. On our side, on the bottom, it looks quite messy, but the top that God sees looks really neat and tidy, and he can see that the bigger picture and the plan. That’s what Jesus is saying to Peter: God’s way isn’t our way, he sees so much more. Jesus’s way isn’t Peter’s way; he knows what he has to do, even though Peter doesn’t really understand that.
In the final section of our reading, Jesus is saying, “if you want to follow me, you have to watch me really hard, and you have to do what I do, and you have to go where I go, and it’s hard, but if you’re serious about following me that’s what it looks like” He says, “Those who come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me; those who lose their lives for me and the gospel will save them.”
There’s a good version in The Message version which I really like. Jesus says, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.”
I really like that – you’re not in the driver’s seat, I am. Following Jesus is hard. Jesus says it might take you somewhere where you don’t want to go, it might take you somewhere that’s difficult, and hurts, and feels dark, but I’ve been there and I do it too. The disciples learned that following Jesus isn’t just about listening to his teaching, it’s not just about watching his healing, it’s not just about telling people about him.
Being a disciple, being a follower of Jesus, is not a backseat role. It’s not something you do half-heartedly. Following Jesus means doing it 100% because God gave us 100%: 100% love, 100% everything. Following Jesus, giving back to him is about 100%.
I have a story for you that I’ve always remembered since I was a young person. It was told at a youth conference when I was about 19. It’s about a house, a nail and a donkey. A man was looking to buy his dream house. He took time, he took care, he budgeted really carefully, and eventually he found the home of his dreams. He made a very low offer for the place, prepared to negotiate, but the owner accepted it straight away so he got the house for a really good price.
The owner just gave one condition. He said, “You can have it for that price, but I just want to keep one nail.” The man was really quite excited. He’d found his dream home, he was getting a low price, so he agreed. On the day they completed the purchase, the old owner came and he selected the nail that he wanted, and it was one right by the front door. The man said, “well, aren’t you going to take it with you?” and the old owner said, “No, no, it’s my nail. I’m going to leave it there.”
A week later after the man had made the house perfect, having painted it, organised it and cleaned it, he came home to find that there was a hat on the nail. “I’ve just put my hat on the nail,” said the former owner, “my hat on my nail, is that okay, you don’t mind, do you?” The man didn’t protest, he thought, “well okay it’s just a nail it’s just a hat, fine” and a week later he came home to find a hat and a coat on the nail. He was still happy with the house though, but a week after that he came home to find a dead donkey carcass hanging on the nail in his house.
“It’s on my nail,” said the former owner, “you agreed that I could have that nail and it could stay there. You can’t move it, that’s my donkey on my nail.” The smell grew worse and worse until it was unbearable. The man couldn’t live there and he had to move out of his perfect house, at which point the previous owner came right back and moved right back in.
So the moral of the story is that if we don’t give 100% of our lives to God, if we start to take back and keep that little bits like that nail for ourselves, they become bigger and bigger. Jesus says he wants 100% from his followers. He doesn’t want them to give up when it’s hard to follow him. If they face suffering in following him then, that just makes them like him because he faced suffering too.
From that whole passage in Mark we learn Jesus is the Messiah, he’s the son of God and that his task is to save people by giving up his life. Not by fighting with a sword, by giving up his life, and that truly following him means no half measures, not taking a back seat, but giving 100% of our lives to him and not holding anything back, because God doesn’t hold anything back from us. He doesn’t hold anything back of his love for us.
Catherine Wells
Readings for 22 September
Mark 9: 30-37
Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time
30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- Jeremiah 11: 18-20
- Psalm 54
- James 3: 13 – 4:3, 7-8a
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 communion service, led by our new minister Revd Wilbert Sayimani. 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
22 September – Revd Wilbert Sayimani – Holy Communion
29 September – Claire Gill (Methodist deacon)
6 October – Revd Maggie Hindley (URC minister)
13 October – Revd Wilbert Sayimani – parade and enrolment service
Induction service for Revd Wilbert Sayimani
Saturday 21st September, 2.30pm at Christ Church
The induction service for Revd Wilbert Sayimani will take place at Christ Church on Saturday 21st September at 2.30pm. The service will be led by Revd James Fields and refreshments will be served following the service. If you are planning on attending this service, please let Joanne know.
There will be a sign-up sheet available at church for providing food items for the refreshments after the service, please do sign up. We are also looking for a volunteer to manage the kitchen and ensure that the tea and coffee flow and the washing up is done, and a member who would like to read some prayers during the service. Please let Joanne know if you are able to help.
Parking will be limited to the church car park only for those with disabled badges and access needs, or those who are bringing large and heavy items for the event. If you need a parking space at church, please email Joanne. There is parking available nearby in the Cedars, Grainges and Chimes car parks.
Children’s Corner
Dates for your diary
| 2024 | |
| 21 September | Induction service for Revd Wilbert Sayimani |
| 2 October | Welcome Wednesday |
| 16 October | Welcome Wednesday |
| 30 October | Welcome Wednesday |
| 13 November | Welcome Wednesday |
| 24 November | Congregational Meeting |
| 27 November | Welcome Wednesday |
| 11 December | Welcome Wednesday |
| 2025 | |
| 8 January | Welcome Wednesday |
| 22 January | Welcome Wednesday |
Praying for other churches
This week, we hold the following churches in our prayers:
- Hayes Methodist
- St Andrew’s, Ealing, URC
- Uxbridge Quakers
Closing prayer
Lord, in this moment:
Hold me,
Accept me,
Validate me,
Inspire me,
Guide me,
Renew me,
Challenge me,
Strengthen me,
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
(Taken from The Vine)
