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 our newsletter team (look-in@christchurchuxbridge.org.uk).
This will be our last newsletter of the year and we would like to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. From the new year, our newsletter will be sent out by post and email only due to limited capacity within our newsletter team. We will continue to keep our website updated with service details and occasional items of church news. If you currently keep updated with church news via our online newsletter and would like to be included in our mailing list, please contact the newsletter team.
Opening Prayer
Lord help us, today and always,
to find and understand the peace that you give.
May we become channels of your peace to others.
Amen.
(Taken from Roots)
Reflection from 15 December
Readings – Luke 1: 26-38, Matthew 1: 18-25 & Luke 2: 1-20
‘O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing!’. ‘Hush the noise’ is the name of this year’s Methodist Christmas campaign which focuses on stepping away from the noise and distraction of this time of year and take time to focus on what Christmas is really about. Christmas is a noisy time – walking through town, there are the noises of people talking as they go about their Christmas shopping, the Christmas music being played on various speakers in the shops. Our minds are often noisy too at this time of year, going over all the things that need to be done – presents to be bought and wrapped, cards to be sent, food to be ordered. It’s so easy to get caught up in it all – the hecticness and the overwhelm – and focus on the noise rather than stopping and listening to God’s voice amongst it all, and the message that God might be giving to us at this time.
For me, coming to a carol service like this gives that opportunity to stop and switch my focus from the busyness of Christmas and just be still and focus on God. Admittedly not so much today when I’m doing more than being, but when I go to a carol service elsewhere, which I do most years, it gives me that opportunity to be still and reflect and know that Christmas is about love and joy and peace, and a God who loves us and came to be among us through Jesus.
The carol we just sang with its reminder to hush the noise was written in 1849 but many of its words are just as relevant now, 175 years later. The words of the third verse especially: “beneath the angel strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong. And man, at war with man, hears not the love-song which they bring. O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing!’
We live in a noisy world. A world where there is so much wrong, where there is war and unrest; a world that is so far removed from what we would like it to be. How wonderful it would be to be able to really hush the noise, hush the sounds of war and devastation, the sounds of hunger and despair, and for a moment have a world where there is peace. But while we don’t have peace in our world, we do have hope and Advent is very much about hope. It’s a time when we look ahead to Christmas, to the hope that we hear in the Nativity stories, the hope of a new life, a new start, God with us. In the Christmas story, that hope comes in the most unexpected of places – in a child born to a poor couple.
It’s a common theme in the Bible – finding God in unexpected places. In the still small voice rather than the roar of the wind, or the earthquake or in the fire. God speaks to us in the quiet moments. And in amongst all the noise and hecticness that comes with the Christmas season, may we find moments when we can stop and hush the noise, if only for a moment, and hear God’s message to us. May we be reminded that in amongst the noises of anger and hurt, hatred and despair, there are the quiet voices of love and peace and hope which might be found in the most unexpected places.
Louise George
Readings for 22 December
Luke 1: 39-45
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!”
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- Micah 5: 2-5a
- Luke 1: 46-55
- Hebrews 10: 5-10
Readings for 25 December
John 1: 1-14
The Word Became Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- Isaiah 52: 7-10
- Psalm 98
- Hebrews 1: 1-4
Readings for 29 December
Luke 2: 41-52
The Boy Jesus at the Temple
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they travelled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
Further readings from the lectionary this week are as follows:
- 1 Samuel 2: 19-20, 26
- Psalm 148
- Colossians 3: 12-17
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 our 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.
Please note that our Christmas Day service will start at 10.30am.
Forthcoming services
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)
12 January – Revd Wilbert Sayimani – parade service
Carol services
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 – answers
Here are the answers to the anagrams shared in last week’s Look-In. The top 10 Christmas carols from Christ Church between 2020 and 2024 are as follows:
- In the bleak midwinter
- Hark! The herald angels sing
- Once in royal David’s city
- O come all ye faithful
- O little town of Bethlehem
- Come and join the celebration
- Joy to the world
- See him lying in a bed of straw
- Silent night
- It came upon the midnight clear
From the Circuit
Circuit office Christmas closing
The Circuit Office will be closed from Thursday 19th December and reopens on Monday 6th January 2025.
Superintendent Minister’s Christmas Letter
Dear Friends,
At the end of this calendar year, I would like to thank all of you for your hard work and dedication in your churches and in the circuit.
May Christmas be a blessed time, reminding us that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and that the darkness will never extinguish that light. My special prayers are for those who have lost loved ones during the year and for whom it will be the first Christmas without them.
With warm greetings and blessings for 2025,
Revd Lynita Conradie
Superintendent Minister
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 | |
| 22 December | Carol service at Ickenham URC |
| 25 December | Christmas Day service |
| 2025 | |
| 8 January | Welcome Wednesday |
| 22 January | Welcome Wednesday |
| 5 February | Welcome Wednesday |
| 16 February | Annual Congregational Meeting |
| 19 February | Welcome Wednesday |
| 5 March | Welcome Wednesday |
| 19 March | Welcome Wednesday |
| 2 April | Welcome Wednesday |
| 16 April | Welcome Wednesday |
| 30 April | Welcome Wednesday |
| 25 May | Congregational Meeting |
| 14 September | Congregational Meeting |
| 23 November | Congregational Meeting |
Praying for other churches
Over the next two weeks we are holding the following in our prayers:
- Harrow and Hillingdon Methodist Circuit
- URC North Thames Synod
- All churches in Uxbridge
Closing prayer
May the joy of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
the worship of the wise men,
and the peace of the Christ child
be yours this Christmas.
Amen.
