Dear Friends

Rather than a word to us in the middle of Holy Week, I thought I’d write to you at the beginning, commending to us the Lord’s prayer (with added commentary regarding seeking and living out God's justice) that was shared at the end of our final sermon encouraging us to embrace justice. Perhaps as a preparation for Easter, you might like to join me in praying the prayer wherever we find ourselves, each day at noon?  

Our Father In Heaven
who embraces your broken, sinful and suffering people
Hallowed be your name
a name that speaks of justice, peace and compassion
Your kingdom come
a kingdom of justice and peace, may it bring down oppressive empires of our making
Your will be done
and may we recognize when we confuse our will with yours
on earth as it is in heaven
and may we discern and nurture the seeds of your Kingdom already among us
Give us today our daily bread
help us to take only what is ours, so that we do not hoard for tomorrow the bread that our neighbour needs today
..and open the eyes of those who have much, that all may have bread and none go hungry
Forgive us our sins 
our greed, our unwillingness to see and love our neighbour, 
all the things we do not even know about ourselves, our communities and our world
as we forgive those who sin against us
Help us work towards justice and not revenge, 
and show us how grace can transform both ourselves, and the ones we cannot bear to love
Lead us not into temptation
the temptation to exploit or condemn, 
the temptation to dehumanise those we despise or disagree with, 
the temptation to ask more of the other than we ask of ourselves 
but deliver us from evil 
deliver us from the evil we visit on others, 
deliver us from all the evils of slavery,
of exploitation.
of dehumanisation,
of discrimination in all its forms
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,forever and ever Amen!

Keep safe
Keep in touch
Keep the faith.

Simon

Dear Friends 

There uses to be a TV programme entitled “That Was The Week That Was”. As I sit in the relative quiet of the church office, I’ve had the chance to reflect on what has been an amazing week in the life of our church. Saturday’s 'Sportstacular 2' was an amazing activity filled day, where amongst all the busyness it was important to pause and acknowledge with thanks, the generosity of so many that have enabled the blessing of of our refurbished hall. This was followed with our All Age service on the Sunday, which included a link up with Operation Restoration, the school in Jamaica that we support, whereby in turn, we were able to bless their ministry to the tune of £10,000 which has been given through the generosity of church members as a thank offering for the completion of our building. We have been blessed, both in what we have received, as well as what we have been able to give.

I’ve been musing on the phrase “it is more blessed to give than receive”. It’s a phrase that St Paul (when addressing the Ephesian elders as recorded in Acts) attributes to Jesus – although there is no recording of this actual phrase when looking at the gospels. I wonder whether rather than a blanket statement for all time, it is more important to look at the context, as here Paul would clearly had in mind the generous gifts that had both been collected and given. Just as I believe we are called at different times to be guest or host, so in a similar way in the economy of God, we are sometimes called to be givers and sometimes receivers  

As one who is sometimes challenged by northern pride and a reluctance to be in anyone’s debt, for me the act of receiving is often harder to sit with. But if no-one is ever prepared to receive, then of course no givers can be blessed, and equally if no one is prepared to give, then no one will be blessed in receiving! Clearly we need both at different times, and so we are more blessed to give and receive, than to do neither.

Of course these thoughts are timely as we approach the beginning of Holy Week and look ahead at journeying with Jesus through to Easter Sunday. As we reflect on the passion of Jesus concerning all that was given up for our sake; that offer of new life that we might receive, won for us at huge cost by our Lord, we are obliged to acknowledge that this amazing grace filled gift is just that; a gift that once received we can never fully pay back. Any subsequent giving back to Jesus, can't ever match the value of that which we have received. In the end, He is the supreme giver, and perhaps we are more blessed in our receiving, than in any subsequent giving out that we might subsequently be able to offer others. 

May our generous God, indeed continue to bless us richly in both our giving and receiving! 

Keep safe
Keep in touch
Keep the faith.

Simon

Dear friends,

Hope you all are doing well, reflecting on Lent season and looking forward for the resurrection day/ Easter Day. Just wanted to share with you some thoughts I got from one of the prayer resources I used for years as my daily devotion and reflection time with God. This is from Lectio 365. It is based on Matthew 26:69-72.

Peter’s Denial of Jesus

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Galilean.’ But he denied it before all of them, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’ When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ Again, he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’

Throughout the Gospels, Peter has been this passionate, all-or-nothing man of action, always up for it; often willing to take risks. He was the only disciple who got out of the boat in a storm to walk on water with Jesus. But now fear and pressure descend on Peter, and he seems to forget who he really is. He does what he promised with Jesus he would never do in his life. Peter must have been feeling not just frightened, but shocked and confused. This is not what Peter expected to happen to the Messiah. He expected Jesus to take a physical throne and overthrow Israel’s oppressors. Now here everything Peter believed, was being shaken.

Yes, Peter denied Jesus, but according to Matthew 26:73-75. Peter went outside and wept bitterly. Peter’s tears are a beautiful reflection of his deep love for Jesus, even in his weakness and fear. It is a devastating movement of coming face to face with himself. Yet Peter must have allowed this experience to shape and transformed him deeply, because in the future it is his courage and boldness that cause people to recognise him as a man who had been with Jesus.

So, that was Peter he is one out of many favourite disciples, now the thought was for me or for all of us that are we feeling under pressure or fearful in any area of our life? In that fear is that leading us to speak or act differently from who God made us to be? We think now of those who we know well around our community or who live in places around the world where they are living in fear, oppressed, and persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Let’s pray for ourselves and for others that may, Lord gives us power of His Holy Spirit that we may overcome from any fear we have in our lives. And always remember to come to the Lord with our guilt like Peter, as his tears transformed his life.  Our gracious God is always ready to accept us as we are. So, let's come to the Lord as we are. Amen.

Lots of love and blessings.

Rev Kathreen Shahbaz

Dear Friends 

I have declared (in my head!) that it is officially spring, and as such, I am currently typing at my lap top, both sitting outdoors, and wearing shorts for work for the first time this year! As one who revels in the sun and daylight whenever possible, it feels good to be back outdoors, and back in the old routine!
In many other ways, life seems to be getting back on track too. Yesterday I bade farewell to a cohort of 3rd year curates whose learning I have been responsible for nurturing and facilitating. The group in the early years had to operate entirely through zoom – not the best medium to develop relationships and shared learning. Later on we ventured nervously (to a degree) into church here at Brunswick, finding plenty of safe space in which we could meet up. For our final session, our church hub was buzzing, with so much activity going on, that we chose to gather around the wooden table in our newly fenced-off church garden. All commentated on how encouraging it was to experience a church so active and energetic in reaching out to its community.

The buzz of the Tuesday was preceded (for me) by the equal delight in having a good number worshipping with us in person last Sunday morning. In our largest (not that numbers are everything) congregation since the onset of Covid, it was great to see so many in church, not least those whose entry points have been through our daytime Positive Steps ministry and activity – an affirmation of the links and interdependence between the two. 

Whilst things may never be quite the same again, (I have a sad reminder in the Covid related funeral I am preparing to take later in the week), things do seem to be on the up, reminding me of the old refrain;

“God is good, all of the time. All of the time, God is good!” 

And the ‘buzz’ continues over the next week or so. Please consider joining us for this coming Sunday worship (after putting your clocks forward an hour!), or by attending and helping out at our much anticipated hall re-opening at our “Sportstacular2” event the following Saturday. Until then...

Keep safe
Keep in touch
Keep the faith.

Simon

Dear friends,

Sunshine is coming more and more out and inside of our homes, doors and windows, and everyone seems happy that spring is here. Also, we are in Lenten season as well as spring. I am very grateful to God for this house, when I open my door and windows, I can see the beautiful view of the park with the beautiful and colourful flowers are popping out from the ground. Few weeks ago, there wasn’t any signs of that beauty we can see now. I was really struck and thought that our lives are just like this ground. When the ground accepts the light comes into the soil, it will break the barrier of the ground and come out with the beautiful and colourful flowers.

If we wait patiently, walk, and hope in Christ and let God’s light comes in our life for good things no one can stop us to achieve what we believe. Things can be very tricky and seem hard at times but once we achieve what we hope and believe then the tear of joy just comes automatically. In John’s gospel chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 tell us.

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

We know the darkness of this broken world, and of course we know the reasons as well. If we don’t switch on the light in our room, we will live in the dark because the ON/OFF button is in our control. There is electricity available in our home but to get the benefit from electricity we need to do some action and hit the ON button. Open the windows and pull the curtains to get the sunshine in. We need to take the barrier away and accept the light of Christ in our hearts, in our lives, in our community and in our dark world because we know that the light shines in the darkness. If we live in darkness how come, we will have hope to bring the light into our dark world. In this Lent may we reflect in our personal life and pray that this one of my favourites prayer of St. Francis of Assisi’s pray become true meaning in our lives and we all take part to bring peace, love, hope, joy, and light in the darkness.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love; 
where there is injury, pardon; 
where there is doubt, faith; 
where there is despair, hope; 
where there is darkness, light; 
where there is sadness, joy. 
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek 
to be consoled as to console, 
to be understood as to understand, 
to be loved as to love. 
For it is in giving that we receive, 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Lots of love and blessings.

Rev Kathreen Shahbaz