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
Loving God, you open the way
for us to hear your voice
and to do your will.
Give us your strength,
your courage, your presence,
so that we may respond
in word and deed
and be your people for your purposes,
through Jesus our Lord
who gave his all for us.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
Reflection from 22 September
Readings – Isaiah 60: 1-6 and Matthew 2: 1-12
You know this is something I learn, and I always learned from little children. That’s why Jesus said, “if you cannot be like these ones you may not see the kingdom of God”. The freedom that they have before God, before you, before everyone in the world. Children are so free and happy, and I thought my friend was coming to join me here so would share our sermon – maybe he will! We want to love them and give them all the love that they deserve. These are gifts that God has given us.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I’m so happy today but a bit nervous preaching to you for the first time as your minister but with no idea of what you are expecting. Before the readings – and I’m sure you all were surprised when the readings were taken – Louise had to be sure and came to me to check if it’s Christmas already, but maybe God will always have something to tell us within Scripture; Christmas or no Christmas, at any time, in any season, God will still have a word for us that we can take from his divine word.
This is not Christmas, but today we begin a journey together; a journey of which we all have no idea of how it’s going to go, but to simply trust and believe that our God is going to see us through, leading and guiding us along the way. The road is not going to be an easy road. The prophet Isaiah here in our reading is putting it in the most graphic and scary terms, describing the place where we are today: a dark place where he sees darkness covering the whole earth. A place in which we need God’s guidance to take us forward and to take us to where we want to go. This is the place we find ourselves today, but in spite of that Isaiah continues to say “but our light is going to shine anyway. It may be dark, yes, it may be gloomy, yes,” but Isaiah is saying, “in spite of all that, our light is going to shine.” I find this gives me encouragement and the comfort that I need.
Friends, I believe that God has not brought us here to leave us, but to take us to where he wants us to go, and in our New Testament reading, the most surprising text that we have read, we find a people here starting from the same place where we are today; a place of darkness and lack of clarity. Christ Jesus is born somewhere, and these people want to go there and worship him, but they have no idea of how to get there. I see a bit of us in that: in that we want to go somewhere, but we have no idea of how we are going to get there.
These people were the wise men, the Magi, also known as the wise men. Wise by our standards, yes, but not wise on the things that God had not revealed to them. Friends, this for me is evidence to the effect of our limitation. When our knowledge and wisdom are not able to tell us everything, there will still be something we don’t know, no matter how wise and intelligent we are, our knowledge alone and our wisdom alone is not capable of telling us everything. We all are going to need God at some point along this journey, and the Magi needed God even though they were wise.
We are told that the star of God then appeared and started to lead them, guiding them to where they wanted to go. Can we not see ourselves in that place where we need the star of God to appear now, and start leading us to where we want to go? Personally I believe this is exactly where we are: a place in which we need this star to come, otherwise we we’re not clear of what we’re going to do and where we’re going to go, and our knowledge and wisdom alone, even the expertise we might have, is not what we need most especially at this time.
I’m not even coming to you with these things or with answers to the questions you might be asking, no, but to simply walk with you on this journey that we have started, and God willing, maybe inspiring or encouraging you to keep going as we walk along, but allowing God himself to lead us and to guide us. That’s what we need most. Putting his word first to inspire and challenge us and help us to change our ways, if need be, and follow a new path that I believe God is putting before us today.
Friends, it’s important for us to note this thing here in the in the scripture that we have read: whenever the star of God stopped or disappeared, the Magi also stopped. Where would they go without the star of God leading them? How would they know the way? This was obviously not a comfortable place to be. Just imagine the fears and the anxiety that often come in those moments of waiting. What if the star is not going to come again? What are we going to do and where are we going to go? This may be something we could be going through right now: what if we made a mistake, maybe this is not what God wants for us, what are we going to do if the star of God is not going to appear and begin to lead us? What are we going to do? We obviously can be anxious and we get worried about the unknown future, and these are the times we easily can go the wrong way if we are not patient enough to wait for what God has in store for us.
The Magi in this text found themselves in Herod’s palace, a move that nearly costed them their whole mission, taking away the joy and the experience of a newborn Christ. It would have ended there before anyone have had a glimpse of it. We are told that Herod’s plan was to kill the baby Jesus before anyone could get just a glimpse of this new experience, and I see this as serving a warning to us on this our new journey, friends. Trusting, believing, and waiting on God is all we need, and the road ahead is never going to be an easy or smooth. It’s going to have its own turns and twists to even make us uncomfortable at times. Always with those “are we there yet?” kind of conversations as we hobble along, maybe tired and weary from the load that we are carrying now or the questions that we might be asking.
We already have seen enough of surprises and shocking things in this life. Dark places, images of war and destruction are all around us, with levels of Injustice that cannot be told. We see this every day, and it compromises our vision at times, and we do not know how to respond, and just like the Magi, we end up turning to Herod, or other places, for solutions only to lose what God has already placed in our hands. We have it already, and all we need is to trust and believe that God has not brought us here to leave us, but to take us to where he wants us to go. We may all be wise, yes, but not without the star of God leading and guiding us, our knowledge and wisdom alone is not going to help.
I already have seen your beautiful plans and dreams for this church, but I want to believe that they are not cast in stone, not to be changed or moved should God choose to take us in another way. The Magi had good plans for themselves, one of which was to go back the same way that they had come. A very wise thing to do, remember that these men were wise and it made sense for them to go back the same way that they had come. This would obviously save them from going in circles in roads that they have not known before. It was a wise thing to do, but wise as it may have been, they were happy and willing to put it away; put away their good plan and follow a new plan that God had for them to go back a different way.
Now if you are going a different way, all you need is to depend on the God who is sending you. Friends, I believe that God has something new for us here, but the danger can very well be in us ignoring this, still wanting to go back the same way we have come. It, of course, may sound good or appealing to us because it is familiar, but can very well lock us into a rut where we will end up doing things for the sake of just doing it, but with no spark, surprise, or excitement to enjoy our new encounters and experience.
Jeremiah 29:11 assures us of the beautiful plans that God has in store for us; plans to prosper us and not to harm us and to give us a hope and a future. This is what God has in store for us, but this will not be without challenges and dark places that we often encounter in this life. In spite of all this, Isaiah continues to tell us that our light is going to shine anyway so it doesn’t scare us, and in conclusion I just need to encourage us to keep following the star of God; keep following the word of God as a guiding torch leading us in the paths that God wants us to go, and that way I know that our light is indeed going to shine.
It reminds me of a song that we used to sing that I loved so much that said,
“Be bright in a corner where you are,
be bright in a corner where you are,
where you are, where you are,
where you are, where you are,
where you are, where you are be bright”
You know, we sang this song believing that indeed our light is going to shine for the world to see, and this is all I want to urge us to do, brothers and sisters, to be bright in a corner where we are and the world is going to see. Come, let us pray:
Lord, we want to thank you we thank you for your presence even in times or places where we are not clear of what we want or where we are going. We trust and believe that you will take us by the hand and walk with us, and we pray and ask this in the wonderful name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Revd Wilbert Sayimani
Readings for 29 September
Mark 9: 38-50
Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us
38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.
Causing to Stumble
42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. [44] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [46] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
49 Everyone will be salted with fire.
50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- Numbers 11: 4-6, 10-16, 24-29
- Psalm 19: 7-14
- James 5: 13-20
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 led by Methodist deacon Claire Gill. 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
29 September – Claire Gill (Methodist deacon)
6 October – Revd Maggie Hindley (URC minister)
13 October – Revd Wilbert Sayimani – parade and enrolment service
20 October – Neil Mackin (Christ Church member and URC lay preacher)
Community ConneX Quiz Night
Community ConneX are hosting a quiz night at St Martin’s Church Hall in Ruislip at 7pm on Saturday 19th October. Tickets cost £12 and include a jacket potato and dessert. If you are interested in joining in or bringing a team along, please contact Jeremy Child (tel: 07734 955155, email: jeremy.child@communityconnex.co.uk).
Who are we?
Claire Potter invited us to consider whether we are conformists or rebels (sermon September 8). I wonder how many looked in the mirror and asked themselves which they are!
I asked if I could belong to a third group. I called it “questioners”!
To which group do YOU belong?
Howard Cooper
Are you in? Inclusive Church Survey
Inclusive Church would like to hear from Inclusive Church members and anyone who believes in broadening the welcome of churches as they prepare new strategies. The survey is open until 30 November. If you would like to join the conversation, you can find more details online at https://www.inclusive-church.org/are-you-in/
Children’s Corner
Dates for your diary
| 2024 | |
| 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 End Methodist
- Ickenham URC
- Uxbridge Salvation Army
Closing prayer
May we listen for God’s call,
know his strength,
see where he is leading us,
be faithful in doing his work
and make way for his kingdom.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
