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
Lord, we trust you,
you are our strength and salvation.
We trust in you and come to you for refreshing.
We will shout aloud, sing for joy
and tell everyone how great you are.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
Reflection from 8 December
Readings – Malachi 3: 1-4 and Luke 3: 1-6
The coming of God’s kingdom is what we are waiting for right here. Today is Advent 2 and Christmas and joy are in the air, cutting across the world with everyone expecting something. When a guest is coming, we prepare. The house is cleaned and my wife especially will clean everything and put on something clean and smart, because we are having a visitor. No visitor should come in our home when it’s not prepared. If it happens, my wife becomes uncomfortable, so whenever we are having a visitor, she makes sure that the house is in order and everything is clean.
This, I want to believe, is the spirit with which people are preparing for Christmas, and it must be what Christmas is all about: expecting a special guest into our homes and into our lives. How are we preparing for that to happen? You look around now: homes are decorated, streets are decorated, there are lights all over parks and even churches. Look at our church. Decorations are all over the place because we are expecting a special guest, but it’s so sad that not everyone is doing this for the same reason. Not everyone is doing all these preparations for the coming of Christ, let’s not take that for granted.
Christmas is one event that sadly has been commercialised so much in this life, to a point where people are losing the whole point of Christmas. The shops are decorated, yes, but maybe their reason is to simply point you to the best deals that they have so you can come and buy. We already have heard that there are people expecting presents. Our children here are expecting gifts and toys and as you walk around town each shop with gifts is trying to say, ‘hey, we have the best here, just look through the window, see what we are displaying here, we have what you want, come and buy,’ and we walk in there and buy and help them to maximize their returns. For them it’s business and nothing else, it’s not even about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we have heard already, there’s so much that excites people, especially children. There’s still a little child in me that gets excited when I walk into town at night and I see the glamour and the glitter of lights. It’s beautiful, it attracts me, and I tell you that children love that and so they walk out there and they see all this. Some people when Christmas is coming, they want to see the lights turning on. I remember a friend some years back saying to me, “let’s go to London and see the lights, they are much better there and exciting,” and for this person exciting things around Christmas had to do with the glitter and the glamour that the town would have.
Many years back, as I was growing up, another of my expectations was to get new clothes because Christmas was the only time my mother would buy us new clothes. We would never get them at any other time in the year and when they were bought we were not allowed to wear them until Christmas Day, so imagine the waiting as the days go by, you run into the wardrobe to look at your new clothes but you’re not allowed to have them yet. When Christmas Day came, we would all rush in and put on our new clothes and walk onto the streets, visiting our friends, inviting them to come and play so they can see how beautifully dressed we were on Christmas Day.
It was also the only time we would enjoy the best meals, and rice and chicken were usually the meals for Christmas, because we would not eat them any other time, so you can see why Christmas is something that everyone would want to come, not so much for the coming of Christ but there is a lot that Christmas is bringing to us. Nevertheless, it’s pointing to the fact that Christmas is coming with joy to the world. Everyone is going to be happy, maybe with no knowledge but that joy is coming because Christ has come, and because of this when we begin to lose the mark, we have the prophet Malachi in our reading today coming up with what I think is a wake-up call, calling us back to reality.
Malachi raises disturbing questions about what what’s happening today. Do you really know what you are doing when you are putting up decorations, when you are putting on new clothes, having a beautiful dinner? Do you really know what you’re doing, do you know why you are doing that? These are the questions that the prophet Micah is bringing to us this morning: are you truly ready for the coming of Christ, who really is going to endure the day of his coming, and do you really know or understand what this means?
The world at the moment is caught up on something that they probably do not fully understand, but listening to the questions that the prophet is posing here, I realise that there is more to Christmas than what meets the eyes. I rather see a revolutionary Christ who is coming to change things, systems, and even governments and kingdoms. Christ is coming to change all these things. Maybe there’s something wrong in what they are doing or what is happening in our world, but Christ is coming to change that and Malachi brings in a completely new perspective to the coming of Christ. His language and imagery is so strong, and it says that Christ’s coming is going to be “like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver” and I underlined there ‘he will purify the Levites’, the priests, those people in the church, the custodians of the gospel of Christ.
I see Christ coming, yes, and he is coming to work in the world, but starting with the church, the Levites, priests, and its members. Maybe there’s something we are not doing right, and I’ve always maintained that motto to say we will never stop learning. Now Christ is coming to make the world right it will be folly for us to still say it is right, or we don’t see anything that he must come and change or correct. I’m waiting for Christ to come so even my life can change, and the reason why he’s starting with the church, with the Levites, maybe it’s because of how the church and its members have also been compromised to a point of also losing or missing the point of Christmas.
The church of Malachi’s time was badly compromised and corrupted. Even Annas the high priest and Caiaphas had been illegally put into those positions by the Roman authorities and were constantly using their power to line their pockets, and to increase their power and authority. This is what was happening in the church. Corruption was no longer in the world alone, but also in the church and Annas the priest was even called a viper at times because of his hissing and whispers in the ears of judges and politicians in order to influence their decisions. The church had lost its way, and you can see here why it was necessary for Christ to come and start with the church. It was no longer different from the world, it had missed the mark as well.
I’m not so sure about the church today, are we there? Do we really know what we are doing, or maybe we are somewhere far or distanced from the mark? We watch in horror today the violence and destruction in the land which played host to the coming of Christ in the first place. As in so many other parts of the world, there is horror, violence and destruction, and there’s no better time for Christ to come than this. We all need Christ to come now and bring peace to our world, and John in our New Testament reading is urging us to be clear and well-pointed in our preparations for the coming of Christ: “make paths for him, every valley must be filled in, and every mountain and hill levelled,” and when I read this, I think of nothing but the wars and divisions that we keep building to divide ourselves from each other. These must go, and “the crooked roads shall become straight and the rough ways smooth, and all people will see God’s salvation.”
This is what we are all about and John is speaking here to a people like you and I, and he is also speaking to a people like Annas and Caiaphas, and the people of those days, so we all can revise our ways and make our Christmas preparations meaningful. Both Luke and Malachi here are bringing a message that provides for the church, the original and historic, proper and faithful worship and, in conclusion, we need to correct our ways, including our understanding of Christ Christmas and what we are doing during Advent. Failure to do this can only leave us to meet the fate of judgment on Judgement Day, and God is going to judge the world, make no mistake, and it’s said that sometimes people ignore the message because of where he’s coming from, but that that will not stop God from judging the world.
I’m encouraged in the readings we have had today that the people of John’s time did not do that, they did not care about where the message was coming from, they just listened to it. We are told that this man John was actually preaching and coming from the wilderness. This is a man who survived on wild honey and locusts. He did not have the luxury of a three-course meal that we sometimes have, he did not even know or have that, and I’ve learned here that if God could use such a man, he can also use you and I. Our God is no respecter of persons. He chose the simple, a man from the wilderness, and may God help us this morning to now go out there with courage and confidence to tell people the exact purpose and meaning of Christmas, to tell them what we are all excited about. It’s not all these things, but the coming of Christ. That young man told us exactly what I wanted to hear, and I didn’t know that this service was going to be about you telling us why we are here, and we must thank you, so when children speak, please listen. God can use them too, he has used them this morning, and may God bless you.
Revd Wilbert Sayimani
Readings for 15 December
Luke 3: 7-18
7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptised by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptised. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- Zephaniah 3: 14-20
- Isaiah 12: 2-6
- Philippians 4: 4-7
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 carol service, led by Christ Church members Joanne Mackin and 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
15 December – Christ Church worship group – carol service
22 December – Revd Wilbert Sayimani
25 December – Revd Wilbert Sayimani (10.30am)
29 December – Revd Wilbert Sayimani – Holy Communion
5 January – Richard Reid (Methodist local preacher)
Carol services
Christ Church – 15 December
Our carol service this year will be on 15 December.
Carols and mince pies – 18 December
This year’s carols and mince pies will be on Wednesday 18 December, 12noon in the chapel.
Candlelight Carol Service, Ickenham URC – 22 December, 6.30pm
We have been invited to join in with Ickenham URC for their candlelight carol service on 22 December at 6.30pm. If you would be interested in singing in the choir for this service, please let Louise know. There will be a rehearsal for the choir at Ickenham URC at 5pm on 22 December.
Church Office Christmas closing
The church office will be closed from 12noon on 24 December and will reopen on 2 January. The church will be open for the services on 25 December and 29 December.
Christ Church top 10 Christmas carols anagrams
These are the top 10 Christmas carols from Christ Church between 2020 and 2024. Can you work out what the carols are from the anagrams? Answers will be shared in next week’s Look-In.
- BLAND WINTERTIME HIKE
- GRAND LARKS ELATE HIGH HENS
- TODAY IN VOICE AND LYRICS
- COME OFF THY ALLELUIA
- THE TITLE OF HOMETOWN BELL
- MAJOR NONATHLETIC OBEDIENCE
- HOW DRY JET TOOL
- SING AWAY THE MORBID FELINES
- LET THINGS IN
- HUGE REDEMPTION CLAIM CHANT IT
From the Circuit
Circuit office Christmas closing
The Circuit Office will be closed from Thursday 19th December and reopens on Monday 6th January 2025.
Circuit Administrator Vacancy
The Circuit has room for another administrator! Click here to see the flyer for this role. If you’re interested, email cgm@hahcircuit.org.uk to apply! The closing date for applications is Sunday 19th January 2025.
The role is a part-time opportunity based at the Lighthouse Centre in South Ruislip. The main duties involve working as part of the Admin team, working closely with the Circuit on Safeguarding training and administration, and responsibility for lettings at the Lighthouse Centre.
Applicants are sought with relevant experience, computer literacy, and sympathy with the aims of the Church. Occasional evening or weekend working will be required; the role is part-time 20 hours a week with a starting salary between £15-17/hr depending on relevant experience.
Friendly Bible Study
7 January – 11 February
Tuesdays, 1.15pm – 2.15pm, Quaker Meeting House
Focusing on Song of Songs
“The Song of Solomon is a divine firework, a cascade of imagery, a blaze of emotion. It is the most passionate book in the Bible, and it is the most mysterious. It is a love poem, but it is also something more, something divine.” (C.S. Lewis)
All are welcome to join in with the Friendly Bible study sessions which start on 7 January and run on Tuesday afternoons, 1.15pm – 2.15pm.
Children’s Corner
Dates for your diary
| 2024 | |
| 18 December | Carols and mince pies |
| 22 December | Carol service at Ickenham URC |
| 25 December | Christmas Day service |
| 2025 | |
| 8 January | Welcome Wednesday |
| 22 January | Welcome Wednesday |
Praying for other churches
This week we hold the following churches in our prayers
- Yiewsley Methodist
- Ickenham URC
- All churches in Uxbridge
Closing prayer
Lord, may we go forward in hope, love and joy.
May our lives bring joy to you and to those around us.
Help us to change when we need to
and give us joy in repenting.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
