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)
There will be no newsletter next week due to the school half-term break. The next newsletter will be sent out on 8 November.
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, you came for us, giving everything.
Open our eyes afresh to see you;
open our hearts to give;
open our souls to worship;
open our minds to be wise.
Take us and use us for your glory.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
Reflection from 27 October
Readings – Jeremiah 31:7-9 and Mark 10:46-52
‘A voice crying out somewhere’ is what I want to talk about today, and in both our readings the focus is on people like this: people crying out, but with no one listening. The blind, the lame and women who by virtue of giving birth are key to a nation’s future are all crying somewhere with no one hearing them, if not simply ignored. The reasons for ignoring them are sometimes the same personal challenges and pressures above everything else; there’s usually no time to think or worry about someone else when I have my own fish to fry and we hear of all the troubles in the Middle East, and in Ukraine and many other parts of the world, war is displacing people and leaving a miserable trail of destruction behind, while some of us here are happy; it’s life as usual and in the bustling noise of Uxbridge, for example, where partying and clubbing can happen without interruption, it is so easy to forget, or fail to hear noises beyond our borders.
I hear God calling us today to maybe put our ears down and hear the sound of someone crying somewhere. Maybe our Great Commission is now to partner and walk with those in challenging situations and the same is what I see happening in our reading today in Jericho where it was all bustling with the noise of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. People are happy as nothing is there to disturb them or standing in their way, and no one really thought about those sitting along the roadside begging: the blind, the lame and the crippled who could not join the traffic of people into the great city because of their conditions and because of their situations.
But on this day the sun is shining and the palm trees blowing in the breeze and the sea air even tantalising the nose, and this was really a good time to be alive as people were trafficking in and out of Jerusalem, but not for those sitting along the road begging. For these people who were lining the roads into the city, the day was just like many other days that came and went, leaving them sitting there begging. If one was lucky they probably would be given a few coins from travellers en route to the great city. No one really cared or thought about these people and how they felt sitting there overlooked as the rest of the world passed by.
In our Old Testament reading Israel is also going through the same. The nation of Judah is collapsing and her inhabitants taken into captivity. They struggled and cried alone when the rest of the world was moving and one man, Jeremiah, with his own challenges like all of us, stopped and gave attention to the struggling people of Judah. He started to give them hope for the restoration that was about to come.
I don’t think this is different from the world in which we are living today where we come across people every day who might want a word of encouragement to give them hope. We meet these people every day, we see them all over the place. Jeremiah did not stop caring about his own challenges, no, he had to care about someone else troubles too.
The same is also happening in the New Testament reading that we have read in Mark where a rejected and despised man suddenly became the focus of Jesus. We see in both readings that God is concerned about the weak and the marginalised, those pushed on the periphery on the fringes of life and he therefore is coming to heal and restore these people and give them back what the past has stolen from them.
Friends, I believe there is always hope in our brokenness, as long as we keep believing in what our God can do, as long as we can keep crying and shouting to God for his attention. God will hear us in the end. Our reading here is a classic example of this. He took Jesus’s attention by crying out, shouting all the time for Jesus’s attention, without stopping, in spite of how it bothered people around him, with some even trying to stop or to silence him. The man shouted even the more, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” He did not allow the people around him to stop him.
Sometimes people will look at you and will not think that you deserve to also queue along with everyone else for God’s blessings. There are times when even if you try to say something to make a point, no one will listen, they would rather you be quiet because you know, you know him, what can he say that we can at least listen. There are people who have gone through such experiences that people will look at you treat you or regard you as a nobody, and in Bartimaeus here, I see a classic symbol of brokenness. pain and rejection; an example of those people who are crying and struggling out there, a people who are banished to be on the periphery of life, or on the roadside begging or sleeping there.
Bartimaeus went through that. He slept in the cold and he was seeking to warm himself with anything he could find. That’s how hard life was for this man, and situations like I’ve seen in other places, he sought to warm himself with anything that he could get, and for Bartimaeus, we are told that he had this dirty old coat that had become everything to him: a cushion against the hard surface, and a blanket in cold winter nights, and he was cold, crying right there with nobody noticing him, and only those who have been on the fringes of life will understand what this man was going through. I have been there, and I know it I know what it means to be rejected, neglected and marginalized; I know what it means to be considered useless, when deep down I know that I’m worth more than what people can see.
David in Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you God because I know I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, your works on me are wonderful and I know that full well,” and I don’t care if no one else does, but I know that God loves me and those people we look down on, they know that God loves them. Knowing this alone, Bartimaeus could not be silenced when he chose to shout, to call on Jesus, nobody could stop him, but I tell you that some people are no longer fellowshipping or coming to churches these days because maybe when they came, they did not get the attention that they wanted from us, and that put them off, but if I were to speak to these people now I would simply point them to Bartimaeus; they did not notice him, they never recognised him, but that did not put him off. They still should be here calling on their God because God can still hear them. Bartimaeus could not be silenced, he even shouted the more with a loud voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” and people around tried to silence him, just like they are doing or we are doing to others today.
Jesus had this, and he stopped and, what’s interesting here is as people are pressing towards Jesus, wanting a touch, wanting a blessing, wanting a healing, not even giving a chance to this man, when Jesus heard this voice crying and when he stopped, the world stopped for everyone else who was there. No more blessing, no more healing, until this crying man got the attention that he needed, and Jesus said, “I can’t continue doing what I’m doing here, I hear a voice of someone crying somewhere, will you please bring that man here?” and the people there had no choice because their world had stopped as well.
Sometimes if we keep enjoying the blessings that God gave us and he’s giving us more, we may not realise that there is someone who is crying out there, but this time Jesus stopped it for a moment until the people there had no choice but to say to this man, “my friend, get up, Jesus is calling you,” something they never thought they would do. They are even surprised here that a man that they considered useless all along has now taken all of Jesus’s attention and I believe that we also can be surprised one day when the world around us stops until we do something to a voice that’s crying somewhere.
It’s us, it’s those people who had to bid this man to rise and to go to Christ. God wants us to do something and help a crying voice meet God. At least these people here had repented, they realised that they had stopped or blocked this man for too long and it was time to help him: “sorry, my friend, get up go to Jesus, because he is calling you” and maybe God wants us to pause for a moment and think of all the people we have not given the attention that they need, and point them to Christ. We are not being asked to do much, but if I think of someone who might benefit from the love of God, God is simply saying, “point them to me, bring that man to me and God will do the rest.”
People in the Middle East, in Rwanda, in Ukraine now, there is not much that we can do, but to point them to Christ. Christ is here and he’s calling you. They need to forget about their challenges and their surroundings. When Christ calls you, he wants you to come just as you are, with your challenges, with your problems, just get up and go to him, and he will do the rest. The sick, the hungry, and those suffering for crimes that they did not commit, they are stuck in prison, and some of them have now been silenced and made to accept their fate. They don’t think, they just sit there with no hope that their lives can ever change, and to people like this let me just conclude by pointing at what Bartimaeus did here.
He refused to be silent and he continued shouting and crying out to God, and it is very interesting here to see what happened when this request was granted, and I’m also touched by the request that Bartimaeus is making. If you read again, Bartimaeus’s initial request had nothing to do with his blindness. This is a condition that he had lived with, and many of us have probably accepted our conditions, but Bartimaeus here is simply asking for mercy: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” That word in the Old Testament understanding referred to that undeserved kindness bestowed by God on his people which stood at the centre of the Covenant relationship, not so different from the Agape or unconditional love. This is all that this man is asking for: “I am blind, yes, and I’ve been here for a long time, yes, but what I need now is mercy.” He is simply asking for love.
Sometimes the people we pass by on the streets or in different places are not even asking for much from us, but just for love. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” and when this was granted, Bartimaeus rejoiced, and he took off his coat, that coat which had become everything to him, a cushion on a hard surface and a blanket in cold winter nights. It was precious, but because Christ has called him, he is now taking off that coat, throwing it away, and jumping on to Christ. I’m sure he did this trusting and believing that Jesus could grant something new and different.
Why don your old garments, style and habits when Christ is bidding you to come? in Christ all things become new. This is what the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “the old things will pass away and everything becomes new” and Bartimaeus is aware of that. He doesn’t need this old coat anymore, because Christ is going to cover him with his grace. There are things that we need to let go of because Christ called us, but it’s so sad that even when Christ calls us, sometimes we come still holding on to our old habits, hatred, resentment, jealousy, all sorts of things can still be found amongst the people of God, but not on Bartimaeus. He had to take all that off, threw it away and went to meet his Lord.
Holding on to your past will inhibit you from receiving the new things, the new life that Christ is giving. Bartimaeus left everything and my prayer is that God will take us on that path where we will look into our lives and if there’s anything that we’re still holding on, maybe things that have been so precious to us, our pride, everything that was important to us, if God can help us to point at something that we need to let go of, we need to take that off, throw it away and jump to the news that Christ is giving.
Revd Wilbert Sayimani
Reflection from 3 November
Readings – Isaiah 25: 6-9, Revelation 21: 1-6a and John 11: 32-44
A People Place – William J. Crocker
“If this is not a place where tears are understood,
Where do I go to cry?
If this is not a place where my spirits can take wing,
Where do I go to fly?
If this is not a place where my questions can be asked,
Where do I go to seek?
If this is not a place where my feelings can be heard,
Where do I go to speak?
If this is not a place where you’ll accept me as I am,
Where can I go to be?
If this is not a place where I can try to learn and grow,
Where can I be just me?”
The poem I’ve shared asks very appropriate questions for us as a church. If this isn’t a place when we can come as we are, with all our joys, sorrows, questions, quirks and searching, then where can we go? And in times of sorrow, or confusion, or pain – in moments when we are desperately searching for answers, for hope, the church can be a place that we turn to to try and seek those answers, and that hope. Sometimes we come away with the answers we are seeking, with the hope we need, and sometimes we are just left with questions and a faith that may well be shattered. Sometimes there are no clear answers. Sometimes all we can do is try to hold on to our faith and hope as best we can, and lean on the support of those around us, and the community that comes with being part of church, and remind ourselves that here is a place where we can just be.
‘If this is not a place where tears are understood
Where can I go to cry?’
Weeping is a common theme in our Bible passages today and something that all of us do at times. It’s not something that we may do easily – some of us may have been brought up as part of a ‘stiff-upper-lip’ kind of culture, where tears are something to be held back if possible, whereas others may be moved to tears more easily and may be more comfortably with crying openly. I suspect most of us are somewhere in the middle. Today, when we are reflecting on love and loss, on those we have loved who have died, may bring those emotions closer to the surface. It is okay to cry, and I hope you feel that this is safe space to do so if you need to.
Our first reading, from Isaiah, comes at a time of despair for the people of Israel who have been carried away into exile in Babylon and Assyria, separated from their homeland, from the life they knew before. It’s a time when they needed words of hope – as we all do in times of despair, to know that this isn’t the end, that there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Isaiah’s words, telling them a day will come when God will “destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples” are just what they want to hear and believe. And while these verses spell hope and restoration for Israel, they are not exclusive – the feast on the mountain will be for “all peoples”, “all nations” are to be rescued and redeemed. Israel’s disgrace will be taken away.
Verse 8 tells us, “‘Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces”, words that are echoed in our second reading from Revelation. To wipe away someone’s tears is a powerful, tender and intimate gesture; something we would only do to someone that we are very close to, someone that we care deeply about. It’s something a parent might do to a child. Both these readings – Isaiah and Revelation – speak of God wiping away every tear from all faces.
The reading from Revelation is a well-known one because it’s a reading that gives hope. In a world where there is so much pain and despair, so much hatred, war, conflict, death, disease etc., we need words of hope. To have the hope that a time will come when everything is put right again.
Tears are also mentioned in our third reading from John, in the verse that is well-known for being the shortest in the Bible – “Jesus wept”. Jesus is weeping with his friends, Mary and Martha, as they mourn the death of Lazarus. Jesus knew grief and loss, just as we do.
The second major theme which connects all these passages is that death, whilst a very real experience for us now, will not always have the upper hand. Death will be defeated. In Isaiah, we have the words “The Lord of hosts… will swallow up death for ever”; in Revelation, “Death will be no more” and in John, “Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him and let him go’.”
Death will be no more; death will be destroyed. I don’t know about you, but I often struggle with this particular message, perhaps because it brings about so many questions. What does it mean that death will be destroyed? I’d like to think that it means that one day I’ll see those who I’ve loved and lost once again, that we’ll be reunited, but none of us know for sure, do we?
The final common theme of these readings is that each of them have a time of waiting. While the hope of a new beginning is there, it does not come straight away. In the story of Lazarus, there is a delay between Jesus hearing that Lazarus is ill and Jesus heading to Bethany. By the time he gets there, Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days. In John 11, both Mary and Martha say the same thing to Jesus, when they see him for the first time following Lazarus’s death: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
“If you had been here”. “If only”. Words that I think many of us can relate to us when it comes to loss, and particularly in the early, raw days of grief. “Where were you, God? Why didn’t you prevent this?” “If only things had happened differently, if only things had been picked up sooner, if only there had been a different outcome.
If only you had been here, Jesus, all this could have been avoided. All this weeping, mourning. All this pain, this suffering. Why did you not prevent it? Why God, do we have to suffer this pain? Have you ever asked those kind of questions? I know I’ve screamed them out, in the depths of raw, agonising grief. They are questions that come back again and again. And they are questions that don’t have any easy answers, and questions that I don’t feel I can even begin to try to answer in this service. Sometimes there just aren’t clear answers. Sometimes we just don’t know why things happen as they do. People often say “everything happens for a reason” but sometimes there are no reasons that seem valid enough to justify the pain.
I don’t think our readings today really give us answers to those soul-searing, agonising questions either. But they tell us one thing – that we will have to wait for those kind of answers. We don’t know why things happen the way they do, but we are given hope that this is not the end; that the story is not yet finished. “God will wipe away every tear; there will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain.”
Words of hope. They don’t take away the pain of loss in the here and now, but they give us hope that it will not always be this way.
Louise George
Readings for 10 November
Mark 12: 38-44
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
The Widow’s Offering
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- 1 Kings 17: 8-16
- Psalm 146
- Hebrews 9: 24-28
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 our Remembrance Sunday service and will be led by Methodist minister Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler. Please note that this service will start at the earlier time of 10.50am to allow for the Act of Remembrance at 11am. 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
10 November – Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler (Methodist minister) – Remembrance Sunday (10.50am)
17 November – Neil Mackin (Christ Church member and trainee URC lay preacher)
24 November – Revd Wilbert Sayimani – Holy Communion
1 December – Christ Church worship group
From the Circuit
RAF Community Concert at Ruislip Methodist Church
Tuesday 10th December, 7.30pm
The RAF Central Band will be back at Ruislip Methodist Church performing a free community concert on Tuesday 10th December at 7:30pm. Refreshments will be available during the interval, and people are free to make charitable donations if they wish. There is free parking at the church car park. If you are a wheelchair user please contact Karen Macaulay (A1macaulay@aol.com) and Terry Dean (famdean@blueyonder.co.uk) to arrange accessible seating. All are welcome to come along and enjoy the performance.
Salvation Army Christmas Fayre
Saturday 16th November, 11am – 2pm
Salvation Army, 16b Cowley Road, Uxbridge
The Salvation Army are holding a Christmas Fayre on 16th November, 11am – 2pm. There will be fancy goods, bric-a-brac, produce, clothes, cakes, refreshments and Santa.
Assisted Dying
We have a very valuable opportunity always to read sermons that have been preached at Christ Church. It enables us to think forensically about what has been said if our attention drifted during the service. I always hope that preachers will voice some of the things that we ought to be thinking about. Not to tell us what to think but to focus our attention and send us home to think.
We have an ongoing national conversation about assisted dying and Parliament is soon to debate it. The debate has already revealed entrenched positions but perhaps what is needed is a willingness to listen to each other. To date, the issue seems not to have been central to the thinking of Christ Church preachers! I wonder why!
Howard Cooper
Children’s Corner
Dates for your diary
| 2024 | |
| 13 November | Welcome Wednesday |
| 24 November | Congregational Meeting |
| 27 November | Welcome Wednesday |
| 11 December | Welcome Wednesday |
| 18 December | Carols and mince pies |
| 2025 | |
| 8 January | Welcome Wednesday |
| 22 January | Welcome Wednesday |
Praying for other churches
This week we hold the following churches in our prayers
- Ruislip Methodist
- Brentford Free Church (URC/Baptist)
- Our Lady of Lourdes & St Michael, Uxbridge
Closing prayer
God of all grace,
Show me how to use the resources I have,
The blessings you have given to me, to each of us,
To transform society and bring peace and justice,
In the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
(Taken from The Vine)
