Sunday, November 27, 2016

Christ at the Centre of our Personal Lives


We have started to put recordings of our servivces online. There is now a recording of last week's services available ...



Text of the Week: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. Ephesians 2:19-20 

Welcome to our services on the first Sunday in Advent and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. It’s the vision we have for our church … but what happens when you put it into practice? That’s the question we’ll be asking through Advent as we seek to put Christ at the centre of our own lives, of our church life together and of our involvement with the world around us. We begin today by reflecting together on the way we can put Christ at the centre of our own lives. Through the year we have been reading the Bible together with the help of the IBRA notes, Fresh from the Word. If you would like to order notes for 2017 please add your name to the list or have a word with Rachel Jacques. Our Bible reading plan takes us in Advent through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Having Christ at the centre of our lives is for Paul the richest of all blessings as it unlocks for us what our lives are all about: it gives us an identity and a purpose for the living of our lives. This Thursday at our Church Meeting we will explore ways in which we can ensure that Christ is at the centre of our Church life together. Do join us as we then focus in our meeting on the children and young people in our church family. 

Welcome and Call to Worship
Praise and Worship with Hy-Spirit
Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
The First Advent Candle
Reading: John 10:9 and 11
The Good Shepherd

As we light the first of our Advent candles our prayers are with those of our church family who are awaiting treatment in hospital. As we put Christ at the centre of our lives we look to him as the Gate through which we enter into the presence of the love of God and as the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost, binds up those who are hurting and lays his life down for his sheep.

I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

A Japanese Christian once reflected on what was needed in the tiger economies of the far East where in the drive for efficiency and growth people work all hours and children are pressured to reach targets in demanding exams. He concluded that what was needed was a water buffalo theology that slowed life down.

The Gospel of Christ brings with it a slowness that brings peace beyond all our understanding.

At our Messy Church last week we reflected on the Good Shepherd and for the meal had place mats with different versions of the 23rd Psalm.

This is one that is special.

Toki Miyashina

The Lord is my Pace Setter, I shall not rush,
He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals,
He provides me with images of stillness,
Which restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency,
through calmness of mind; and his guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day,
I will not fret, for his presence is here.
His timelessness, his all-importance will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity,
by anointing my head with his oils of tranquility,
My cup of joyous energy overflows.
Surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruit of my hours,
For I shall walk in the pace of my Lord,
and dwell in his house for ever.


A Hy-Spirit Song
Activities for all over 3
Christ at the Centre or our lives

To me it matters.

Having that other dimension in your life that is more than the material things we can see and posess.

Something that makes sense of life.

I guess for me that’s where religion comes in.

There is a God dimension in the world that somehow fills a God-shaped hole in my make-up.

Think of that the other way round – it’s as if there’s a God dimension inside me that makes a difference and is all important to me.

Maybe it’s a Goddimension that’s simply there something of God in everonee

I love exploring the thinking of that and what’s important.

I guess that’s what makes me a religious person.

But I find there’s more than that.

From simply acknowledging a religious dimension in my life I then feel I want to be aware of that – I want to bring that dimension to the surface as it were.

That’s where I value having as one part of what makes me a spirituality. That seems to me more than simply being religious.

In a very real sense that religious dimension can be felt, can be sensed but it is a matter of faith – and I recognize all sorts of relifioous people with all sorts of faith backgrounds and all sorts of faith.

Somehow having something to believe in is important.

It is often said – it’s important to believe in something – that’s the important thing.

It’s somethiing many people have an awareness of. Taking funerals you encounter all sorts of people with all sorts of ways of thinking – they will have involvd me in taking a funeral because they want something religious – and I think it’s one of the big priviledge I have that I am asked to share at an important oint in people’s lives.

You recognize and I hoonour somehow an innate sense of god – and a sense also of the spiritual.

But I feel thre’s a value in bringing it into life now.

Many peole sense the religious and are drawn to some kind of spirituality – a practice of meditation – the popularity of Mind and  Spirit sections in bookshops – outweighing the religious sections.

I sense a need people sense of doing something spiritual.  Different thjings come and go.  At the moment it is mindfulness That involves deliberately being mindful of this present moment – and focusing on this moment.

Putting away thoughts of what has happened putting away thoughts of foreboding about what might happen and being mindful in the present.

Of tremendous value – and has made a difference I can see.

But something is missing for me.


The different religions share common values and I want to take a common stand on common ground – but those different religions are different. They have different focal points. And what you focus on seems to me to matter.

Yes I honour the right for everyone to believe as they see fit. But it’s not true to say that it’s ok so long as you believe in something. The outcome of this week’s court case was the declaration that the murder of Jo Cox was a terrorist murder – there are -isms people pin their whole lives to that are massively damaging and corrupting. What you believe matters.

What you focus on in the practice of your spirituatlity can make a difference too.

So how does all this work out for me as a Christian?

Increasingly I sense the importance of not just the Christian religion, not just faith in Christ, or the practice of prayer the Christian way – what is important to me is Jesus Christ – what counts is putting him at the centre of the living of my life.

Not as one interesting thing among others but as the One who makes sense of everything else.

What does it look like to put Christ at the centre of our personal lives?

Paul was a very religious person.
Paul had a very strong faith
He practiced a strong spirituality

But then something happened to make sense of the rest of his life.

An encounter with Jesus Christ.

He ended his life in prison where he wrote letters of support to churches he had visited and founded.

Among them was the church in Ephesus. The letter we have is the inspiration of what Paul had to share with that church  - we are going to be reading Ephesians through Advent in Fresh from the Word.

Do order your new copies of Fresh from the Word from Rachel for 2017 and we shall continue reading together.

What does putting Jesus at the centre of our own personal lives mean/

This is what Paul addresses in Ephesians 1:3-14.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.


AS the stories of Christmas unfold and we focus again on the coming of Christ we can dig into the story of Jesus and see all he did – but as we touch Jesus we touch something beyond – the glory of God in all his glory.

There is a sense of touching the God who is love – and so these spiritual blessings draw us to the God who is love.

This is something that goes to the heart of the teaching of Jesaus it goes to the heart of all that Jesus means – it goes to the heart of all that we are.


 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

That wonderful swense of being family

 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.

It’s a setting free – jesus who maps out the way we should follow but brings forgiveness as we fail to follow that path and thereby strengthens to keep at it.


With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.


It is not just about following a person with a particular set of values – it is about transforming the whole of creation.

This is a dimension to Christ that makes us steward the wonder of God’s creation.


 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.

A wonderful sense of purpose through Christ.


 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.


Hear the word of truth – the gospel of your salvation
Believe in him
Marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit – that strength from beyond ourselves – the pledge of our inheritance – the down payment.

We can only rise to the call Christ gives and put him at the centre of our personal lives as we draw on a strength from beyond ourselves, the strength that is given in the Holy Spirit.

For me one way to bring that sense of the presence of Christ with us is to read the words of Psalm 23. I love the Authorised version which somehow captures the rhythms of spoken English that gives it a heart beat that touches our innermost being.

Words that are well worth committing to memory.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.


Song: The Lord’s my shepherd
Prayers of Concern
Longing for light,

Words of Blessing

Sunday, November 20, 2016

One with all God's people - especially in Syria and Iraq

Text of the Week: Then afterwards I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.  Joel 2:28

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. This morning is a Sunday Special. That means our children and young people are going to meet together in the first part of the service and then come through to church. In that first part of the service we will all of us, young and old alike, be preparing for our time of communion. In prayer and praise, in Bible reading and reflection, in preparing the table and in baking the bread we will be preparing to share in something that goes right back to Jesus and that night of his betrayal when he shared the Passover with his closest friends. The Passover meal is a family occasion in which the youngest member of the family has one of the most significant parts to play. As we gather around the table our younger members have something to give for all of us to receive. We invite all who love the Lord Jesus Christ to share with us in breaking bread and sharing the cup. Today is also a day when we join with Open Doors in praying for persecuted Christians in Syria and Iraq. Please sign the petition that is available at church.


Morning Worship
Welcome and Call to Worship
STL 40 Lord we have come
Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. This morning is a Sunday Special. That means our children and young people are going to meet together in the first part of the service and then come through to church. In that first part of the service we will all of us, young and old alike, be preparing for our time of communion. In prayer and praise, in Bible reading and reflection, in preparing the table and in baking the bread we will be preparing to share in something that goes right back to Jesus and that night of his betrayal when he shared the Passover with his closest friends. The Passover meal is a family occasion in which the youngest member of the family has one of the most significant parts to play. As we gather around the table our younger members have something to give for all of us to receive. We invite all who love the Lord Jesus Christ to share with us in breaking bread and sharing the cup.

As we come together in a service that comes to its climax in the sharing of bread and the taking of the cup the first part of our service is a time of preparation – our children and young people are sharing in a time of preparation and then in the spirit of that family gathering they are going to share with us around the table.

Our preparation begins in praise of God.

The glory of God in creation. Think of one of those wonderful moments when there is that wonderful sense of the glory of God in creation. Maybe a mountop, maybe a coastal place, maybe the beauty of a flower, maybe the setting sun, caught here by Cynthia on Priory Terrace overlooking the church.

And glory in the God of creation.

There is much to praise God for.

It is this God who cares for each one of us, in this moment, here and now. As Jane Gonzalez reminded us in yesterday’s readings from Fresh from the Word, God holds us in his hands and cares for us. Julian of Norwich lived in the time of the plague, the black death, at a time of wawr and yet ~”she had utter faith in God’s loving providence. God loves us as a mother does her child, totally, completely, without string. God made us, he loves us and therefore he keeps us – treasured, safe, held in his loving hands.”

Julian of Norwich invites us to take a hazelnut and hold it in the palm of our hands – imagine you are holding something such as that.

And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.' I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.

In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it. But what is this to me? Truly, the Creator, the Keeper, the Lover.

It is in Jesus that that love becomes most real – God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

In this is love not that we lovd God but that he loved us and gave his son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

God is love.

It is that love of God, that love that will not let us go that is in the words of a Psalm that was one of the great Psalms of Praise used at Passover – the great hallelujah Psalm. As we read these words, let’s make them our own.

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

Let Israel say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
Let the house of Aaron say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
Let those who fear the Lord say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
   the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
   What can mortals do to me?
The Lord is on my side to help me;
   I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to put confidence in mortals.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to put confidence in princes.

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
   but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
   the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
   the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’
I shall not die, but I shall live,
   and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely,
   but he did not give me over to death.

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord;
   the righteous shall enter through it.

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
   O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
   We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
   and he has given us light.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
   you are my God, I will extol you.

O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER!

Let’s join in celebrating the wonder of the God who loves us with a love that will not let us go, the God who is Creator, Lover, Keeper.

A Hy-Spirit song

So much is involved in what we share aroiund the Table – modern theorists remind us that we take things in and learn by hearing, by seeing, and by doing. Jesus knew that instinctively.

Here at the table we hear words of promise from Jesus.

Come to me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

I am with you always to the end of the age.

Let’s hear those words and treasure them in our hearts.

We see – a table as it is being prepared for us, bread broken, a coup that has been poured out – and in our mind’s eye we see the body of Christ broken for us, the blood of Christ shed for us.  We look to the cross and see the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, that takes away the sin of each one of us and forgives and renews.

We see the bread cupped in our hands we see the fruit of the vine in the cup as we take it in our hands. As I hold the cup I see the beat of my pulse in the liquid in the glass – maybe that’s just me.

Then I do – I take the break, I drink the cup – and I sense this is real – just as the bread and the fruit of the vine is real so too the love of God in Christ is real – made real by the presence of God with us as we meet in the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit.

As we have heard and seen and done … so too then there is an invitation to put into action the things that we have heard and seen and done in the living of our lives.

Reading: John 13:3-5,12-15, 34-35

And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

STL 29 Jesu, Jesu

One more thing is real to me as we gather here together.  It is that gathering together that is all important. It is not something we do on our own. It is the meeting together – people around us.

Jesus speaks of a new covenant in his blood. A Covenant is a partnership, a commitment, an agreement, a relationship – the story of the Bible is the story of God’s partnership, God’s commitment God’s relationship with all creation, with his people, with each of us.

The covenant with Noah is a Covenant of Peace with All Creation
(Genesis 9:8-17) that reminds us of God’s care for all creation and our responsibility to care for all creation.

The covenant with Abraham is a Covenant of Blessing for all Peoples
(Genesis 15:1-6) that reminds us that our relationship with God is built on faith and for the good of others

The covenant with Moses is a Covenant of Commitment sealed in blood (Exodus 24:1-11) and reminds us of God’s way for us to follow in the world and our commitment to follow the way of life he maps out for us.

The covenant with David is a a Covenant of Commitment to God’s Way (II Samuel 7:1-17) that is expected by God of those in power and gives them a responsibility to work for righteousness and justice.

The tragedy of the Old Testament is the tragedy of history and in a sense the tragedy of humanity: it’s the failure of people to keep their part of the covenant relationship. It is at the moment of greatest collapse that there is a vision shared by the pophets of that time.

They look to a new covenant that is written not on stone tablets but written in the heart.  (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It is a wonderful vision.

It’s that new covenant that is sealed by Jesus around the table in that supper – that new covenant that is written in our hearts as we are drawn into the closest of relationships with God in Jesus Christ by the unseen and yet so real power of the Holy Spirit.

To take the bread and drink of the cup is to re-commit ourselves to the partnership, the relationship, the covenant with God that is written in our hearts – that’s

·         a covenant of Peace with all creation
·         a covenant of Blessing for all peoples
·         a covenant of Commitment sealed in Christ’s blood
·         a covenant of Commitment to the God’s Way, Christ’s way of justice, peace and love.

That new covenant relationship binds us with each other.  We do not break bread and take the cup in isolation, on our own, in our own place. We come together with those we share a commitment to, those we know, those we are in that covenant partnership with.

It binds us together with all God’s people wherever they may be. A sense of togetherness in Christ.

Earlier in the year we had a time when we focused on the persecuted church and thought especially of our brothers and sisters in Christ facing persecution. Churches up and down the country and across the world are today especially remembering the Christians of Iraq and Syria with Open Doors.

PRAY AS NEVER BEFORE

Islamic extremists are intent on eradicating the church in the Middle East, but many courageous Christians are determined to stay and serve their communities. They're crying out to us - their global church family - for support.

"We need prayer, every day," says a church leader, speaking on behalf of displaced families in Iraq. "When we see pictures of IS (Islamic State) on the television, we're afraid. When we hear that IS has been driven back, we regain hope. Every day our feelings change. So please pray for us every day."

Christians in Iraq and Syria need our prayers and support more than ever before – and Sunday 20 November, the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church - provides a great opportunity to bring them hope.


Two things to take with us from this service – that little nut to remind us that we are in God’s hands, Created, Loved, Kept by God.

And a prayer by a Syrian Christian – and photos of Christians in Iraq and Syria. These are the people we are in that covenant with as we break bread and take of the cup.

Prayer by a Syrian Christian – Open Doors

Thank you, Lord,
For all that you have done and are still doing.
I trust your will is always good and finally
you will turn evil to good.
I know you are not silent, but patient…
But how long will it take, Lord?
I am looking forward to a new beginning
amongst my people.
My own desire is that evil will stop
and that we see your glory shine again in
the darkness.
I’m longing for healing, for restoration.
I cry out to you, Lord.
I’m longing for a new generation to take
their place in your kingdom,
To be the light and salt of this nation.
Help me to see my role in this
transformation.
Protect me and be with me.
Carry me, day by day.

And something for us to do





The powerfully moving words at the end of that prayer

Protect me and be with me.
Carry me, day by day.  Amen.

That love knows no limits.

It was most moving on Thursday to join in the University with people from other faith communities in Cheltenham where across the faith communities we share in a commitment to bring help and care and love to people whose lives are being damaged by those same extremists of all faiths in that region. Most moving to hear a refugee from Syria speaking of how much she treasured the wrlcome given here in Cheltenham to her family.

481 Love is his word

Prayers of Concern

480 Lord God your love has called us here

We share in communion

Communion Offering & Dedication

Praise and worship with Hy-Spirit

Words of Blessing

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Encourage one Another - a Service for Remembrance Sunday

Text of the Week: Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any who are worshipping with us for the first time. During our morning service we shall share in our Act of Remembrance and observe two minutes of silence at 11- 00. Each of us will have different things that we ‘remember’ during those two minutes of silence. Many of those ‘memories’ will have been passed on to us. Some may be ‘memories’ of our own. In the first part of the service there will be an opportunity for people to share what it is they ‘remember’ and things that prompt those memories to stay alive. You could say that in the first part of our service we will be ‘remembering backwards’. I well remember meeting with people who had been in the horror of the first world war. After our Act of Remembrance we will then reflect on the call to ‘remember forwards’. Those who have been caught up in the horror of war share the hope that it will end. We honour their memory by also recalling today their longing for peace. It is as we ‘remember forwards’ and pledge ourselves to the task of ‘making peace’ in our generation that we honour the memory of those who lost their lives in the wars of the last hundred years and more.

This is a recording of our evening service ...



It included a video clip I made a few years ago at the Cheltenham War Memorial ...




Welcome and Call to Worship
37 Our God, our help in ages past
Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Remembrance is done in many different settings from the Football Stadium to the shop on the High Street to the Cenotaph in London to the War Memorial in Cheltenham. We ‘do’ our remembrance today as we gather together in Church in the name of Jesus Christ and claim that promise he gives that where two or three gather together in his name he is there in the midst of them. And so we turn to one of the most familiar of Christmas readings and discover it has an appropriateness on Remembrance Sunday. At Christmas we will recall that Jesus was born into a world that knew only too well war and the rumour of war – it was a cruel world which led to the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem and the flight of Mary, Joseph and Jesus across the Sinai desert to Egypt. The prophets who looked to the coming of a Messiah lived in times of war and the rumour of war. These words from Isaiah 9 speak of the promise of a Messiah who will come into a war-torn land of conflict. This is the Jesus we who is at the heart of our worship today.

Reading Isaiah 9:2-7

The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
   on them light has shined.

You have multiplied the nation,
   you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
   as with joy at the harvest,
   as people exult when dividing plunder. 

For the yoke of their burden,
   and the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor,
   you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For all the boots of the tramping warriors
   and all the garments rolled in blood
   shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually,
   and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.

   He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
   from this time onwards and for evermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 

So, a task to do for any of the younger members who want to – some pictures, colouring, based on Remembrance and the words of that reading.

MTS 16 My Jesus, my Saviour

Remembering Backwards

On Remembrance Sunday what is it that you are remembering?

A time to share

By 10-50 – Vic’s Remembrance

https://youtu.be/iBAe0CKAQtk

About seven years ago I asked one of our members who had been in the Second World War to share his remembrances – Lorraine’s Dad, Vic – well loved in all the church family, not least by the children. He wouldn’t do it in person, but he did it in his own home. Lorraine asked if we could replay the clip of his remembrance.

We have had handed on to us an Act of Remembrance that we share each year in this church as we name.




Act of Remembrance

In a moment or two we shall stand to remember those who have lost their lives in war, particularly the wars our country has engaged in during the last Century and this:  the First World War, the Second World War, Korea, the Suez War, the end of Empire Conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, the Falklands War, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, the terrorist atrocities of 9/11 7/7 and since.

We make a special remembrance of those who lost their lives from this church, most young men in their teens and in their twenties.

Those who were in that First World War longed that it should  be the war to end all wards.  Those who were in the Second World War longed that it should be the war to tend all wars … as we remember, let us honour their memory in our commitment to work by all means possible for that peace which they longed to pass on to future generations, a peace we pray for in a world that in so many places is still at war.

Will you please stand.

We remember all those who have lost their lives in war … particularly do we remember those connected with this fellowship, Highbury Congregational Church who lost their lives:



W.G. Bowles
DM Brown
G Clayton
C Coles
F Cooper


F Gill
K Gurney
HG Marshall
J Phillips
J Saunders


W Stephens
F Warren
CW Winterbottom
H Woodward


And Paul Chadwick who lost his life in Iraq.

They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

2 Minutes Silence and then Prayer

S 19 Make me a channel of your peace

Activities for all over 3

Remembering Forwards

When I was getting ready for today’s service I came across a hymn that was written specially for Remembrance Sunday by a modern hymn writer, Fred Kaan. It comes to an end with an invitation

May we, im-passioned by your living Word,
            remember forward to a world restored.

I like that phrase.

Much of what we do on Remembrance Sunday is ‘remembring backwards’. I am of the immediate post war generation. I do not have memories of my own but I do have memories that were passed on to me by my parents. In the early years of my ministry I got to know many people who had fought in the First World War and then those who had been in the second world war. The one thing that sticks in my mind is especially those from the first world war did not want to talk about their experiences. In what they did recall, they would without exception recall the longing they had for the war to end and for them to get back to their loved ones. They would recall their longing for peace.

If we remember backwards to their time we should remember what they were looking forward to, what they were working towards. We honour their memory by pledging ourselves to work for that peace they longed for.

It is one of the tragedies of the wars we do remember that all too often the ending of a war has sown the seeds of further conflict. The harsh reparations imposed at the end of the first world war contributed to the rise of Nazism and so the second world war. The straight lines drawn in the sand by Sykes and Picot and then imposed around the Middle East at the end of the first world war contribute still to the conflict that rages in the Middle East today.

It is a tragedy that is unfolding before our eyes that in the wars against Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya that we have fought in recent years no attention was given to building the peace afterwards and we see how that failure has contributed among other things to the rise of daeash, ISIS and so much that is going on now.

But fort all that in our remembering we can remember the efforts that were made for peace – not least in the wake of the Second World War to introduce institutions that would enable the world to work for peace and not be at war.

Maybe it is our responsibility not only to remember backwards but also remember forwards. What is our task today.

I have a feeling we are in need of some encouragement. The text of the week is not out of place at all.  Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

In the first part of our service we read that passage from Isaiah that speaks of the coming of Christ but against a backdrop of war and the rumour of war.

The book of Revelation is written as a letter from John the Divine who is the victim of the violence of repression and persecution to people who are all too aware of war and the rumour of war in the face of Roman might at its worst.

It is a word of encouragement that’s built about remembering forward.

It presents us with a vision of glory in the eternity of God’s love.

Take encouragement from the vision. Keep at it. But more than that. Remember forwards.

Draw down into the present what the vision is about and make that the task to follow.

Reading: Revelation 21:1-4,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

‘See, the home of God is among ordinary people.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

If God will wipe every tear from their eyes then our task here and now is to wipe away tears, bring comfort to those who mourn, alleviate the suffering of those who cry and are in pain.

Wipe away tears, alleviate suffering, bring comfort. The very specific detailed things we do this week matter: they count. American Novelist, Richard Ford, writing in the paper this week quoted William Blake: “He who would do good for another must do it in minute particulars … General good is the plea of the scoundrel, the hypocrite and the flatterer.”

But the small detail is part of a bigger picture. The vision goes on …

Revelation 21: 22-24;

I saw no temple in the city,
for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
he nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 

If nations will walk by the light of God in Jesus Christ that is why it is so important to work out and apply Christian values in the life of the nations. It is our responsibility to seek to work out Christian values in the life of the nation.

And one more part to the vision …

Revelation 22:1-5

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life,
bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 
through the middle of the street of the city.
On either side of the river is the tree of life 
with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month;
and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

 Nothing accursed will be found there any more.
But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,
and his servants will worship him; 
they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 
And there will be no more night;
they need no light of lamp or sun,
for the Lord God will be their light,
and they will reign for ever and ever.

It’s a wonderful vision of God’s glory. One to hold on to in the middle of dark times. But remembering forwards to those leaves that are for the healing of the nations gives us a responsibility to be concerned internationally for healing in the nations of the world.

It is no coincidence that out of the aftermath of the Second World war came the churches response to bring healing to the nations in Christian Aid – how vital that work is now not just giving aid, but also helping to shape what should be done to bring healing to the nations.
May we, im-passioned by your living Word,
            remember forward to a world restored.

There was one more part to that conversation I had with Vic Lewis. The conversation moved on to what Vic did next – coming out of the experience of war he felt called to the service of others and devoted a large part of his life to the small detail of doing good through the Order of St John and the work of St John Ambulance.

Remembering forwards – Vic’s thoughts on the service of others and the importance of prayer.



Hymn: God! As with silent hearts

1          God! As with silent hearts we bring to mind
            how hate and war diminish humankind,
            we pause - and seek in worship to increase
            our knowledge of the things that make for peace.

2          Hallow our will as humbly we recall
            the lives of those who gave and give their all.
            We thank you, Lord, for women, children, men
            who seek to serve in love, today as then.
           
3          Give us deep faith to comfort those who mourn,
            high hope to share with all the newly born,
            strong love in our pursuit of human worth:
            'lest we forget' the future of this earth.

4          So, Prince of Peace, disarm our trust in power,
            teach us to coax the plant of peace to flower.
            May we, im-passioned by your living Word,
            remember forward to a world restored.

Fred Kaan (1929-2009)          

Prayers of Concern

521 Tell all the world of Jesus

Words of Blessing

Retiring Collection






So much to pass on at Highbury

If you give a little love you can get a little love of your own

A blessing shared at Highbury

Now and the Future at Highbury

Dreaming Dreams Sharing Visions at Highbury

Dreaming Dreams Sharing Visions

Darkness into Light