Sunday 26 January 2025

Third Sunday after Epiphany

Welcome!

We know not everyone who is part of Westwood Church is able to be in church on Sunday morning however, we thought it would be good to offer some excerpts from the Sunday morning service. Where we can, we offer parts of the service in text and audio, whichever works best for you. If you want to plug in headphones to your computer, tablet or mobile phone now is a good time to do it ! If you want to offer some comment or feedback just use the comment box at the end of this post.



Your Weekly Church Notices


Scripture

1 Corinthians 12: 12 – 20

Luke 4: 14 – 21


Praise – Do not be afraid


Prayers

Everlasting God, we celebrate your coming to our world as Jesus Christ, your light continues to shine in the darkness of our world.  We praise you for the way your love shone in so many lives during your ministry; through the healing you brought to the sick, comfort to the distressed, promise to the poor, and forgiveness to the lost.

We praise you for the light that has shone in so many lives since, the faith you have nurtured in innumerable hearts; new beginnings, new purpose, new life born within them.

We rejoice that you are at work in our lives here and now, inviting us to bring our hopes, fears and concerns before you in the knowledge that you will always meet our needs; there is no situation beyond your power to transform and redeem.

Eternal God, you took on our humanity so that you might experience our mortality.  Only by being one of us could you bridge the gap that separated us from our loving Heavenly Father.  You showed us the way of love and followed it to the end.  You proclaimed forgiveness and paid the price to make that forgiveness real.  In life you taught and instructed us in the ways of Grace that we might share the Grace of our Heavenly Father with all people.  Help us as we come before you in the reverence of worship to celebrate again everything that made you so special and so ordinary; eternal God and mortal man in one person.  May our celebration of Life be a celebration of life in all its fullness knowing in our hearts that the best is yet to come!

What can we offer to one who offers us so much? We bring what we can of our love and adoration, our service and worship and knowing it is anything but perfect we lay it at your feet that we and all we have and all we are might glorify you.

Hear us as we join in the words of the Lord’s Prayer saying…

Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name.  Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever.  Amen.


Address

On Monday of this last week Axel Rudakubana, 18 years old, pleaded guilty to murdering three girls, the attempted murder of 10 others, producing the toxin Ricin, possessing terrorist materials and possessing a knife.  His guilty plea saved family from going through a protracted trial where undoubtedly graphic detail of his murderous attack would have been aired. 

On Tuesday of this last week Leo Ross, just 12 years old was stabbed to death by a 14 year old assailant.

We could catalogue a number of similar attacks amongst young people, actually just children, that have taken place in recent times. And rightly we begin to question what is going on in society the length and breadth of the United Kingdom.  My examples may be from south of the border but the story is no different in Scotland.

When we bring our children into the world, we know nothing of what this life holds for them.  We wish the best for them, hope for the best for them, we’ll try to guide their ways, show them the right paths and pray that they comes to no harm in body, mind or spirit.  But what we hope for and the reality we are confronted with are two very different things.

We live in a world where we do not get all the things we want no matter how noble and true those things might be.  It seems to me that we can prepare our children for the struggles they will inevitably face OR we try to change the world in which we live so that it is a better place, OR we seek to do both.  Our hopes for our children need somehow to be expressed in a way that changes society, changes our lives, and changes relationships.  Hope that does not seek fulfilment is no more than a fantasy.

Maybe you are like me and enjoy a good disaster movie.   “The Poseidon Adventure” must be one of the best. At the very beginning of the film a Pastor is preaching the sermon at the morning service on the ship, “ Look for the God inside you, he says. God is not out there; god is in everyone one of us.  God looks after the strong, God helps the strong, those who look after themselves, who go and get what they want out of life.”  Later in the film the Pastor is talking with the ships Chaplain a Catholic Priest.  “You never told me what you thought about my sermon this morning.”  The priest replies, “What about the weak, who will look after them?” And the priest chooses to stay with the injured and dying on the sinking ship and so chooses to die with them.  In the remainder of the film the Pastor comes to realise the potential in those who are weak, they have courage and faith, qualities, which he does not possess.

I suppose the point is, who looks after the weak? Who cares for the prisoner, the hungry, the poor, the blind, the person who does not have the inner resources to change life?  If we all decide just to look after our own happiness, our own well-being and fulfilment, what kind of society will we become? What kind of society are we?

The Christian gospel is all about making a change, leaving our old ways behind and with God’s help taking a new and dynamic direction in life.  In Luke’s Gospel today we see Jesus embarking on a new direction in life.  In the space of 40 days or so he has left behind his life as a carpenter, gone through Baptism with John the Baptist, spent 40 days in the wilderness and returns from that place of struggle with a sense that God’s Spirit is upon him and that he has a message to preach.  And that message is our message too; to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives; recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.

Part of being in church whether that’s weekly, or occasionally, is acknowledging that we need to change our ways, reshaping our lives to fit in with God’s ways because sadly, no matter how hard we try we all fail to fulfil the good intentions we have.  Even those disciples who lived and worked with the Christ exhibited the same pattern despite their daily contact with Him.  They constantly needed to be called back, pulled up, reminded of the way Christ wanted them to be.  Even later on, after they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit, they still made mistakes, took wrong turns and constantly needed the renewing power of the Holy Spirit to bring them back to his ways.  So, there is nothing wrong, indeed, there is everything right about changing our ways, changing life for the better, changing society for the better.  And if, no when, we fail, faith gives us the courage to get up and try and try and try again because in Christ we know exactly what we are seeking to achieve.

Christ taught us about finding our happiness in looking after one another, about caring for those who are not strong, those who find it difficult or even impossible to bring about the change they need.  Christ calls us to the life that helps those in dire need in the developing world, to look after those who sleep rough in city centre doorways or in the woods along Mossneuk Road, to care for that grumpy ungrateful old neighbour who never has a good word to say about anyone, to nurture the young into ways of love and compassion.

Jesus Christ found fulfilment by acknowledging that the Spirit of God was upon him and obediently following out the calling that was upon him.  The same calling is upon us and we too will find fulfilment and happiness as we respond to it.  He has chosen us and called us to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken hearted and announce release to captives, freedom to those who are imprisoned.  He has sent us to proclaim that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.  The Spirit of God is upon us.


Praise – Spirit of God


Prayers for Others

Axel Rudakubana (knife crime amongst the young)

In a shock twist at the outset of the trial Axel Rudakubana pleads guilty to the killing of three young girls in a Southport Dance class.  We remember Bebe, Elsie and Alice and their families enduring grief that is not allowed to heal, grief that launches them into the spotlight in sometimes unwelcome ways.

But just as one violent young man is sentenced at the courts, we hear more news of knife crime amongst the young.  Nine year old Leo stabbed and killed by a 14 year old as he walked home through the park.  And yes, it is disturbing to learn of such acts of violence in children and young people, where has innocence and playfulness and childhood gone?  And yes, we are glad that government will do more to prevent the sale of knives to those underage; but we know there is more to it than that, more than just the accessibility of knives.  Something has changed in society; something has changed in us and we need to work out what that is.

Lord hear us in our prayers for those whose lives have been torn apart through knife crime.  Hear us in our prayers for agencies and authorities that miss the signs, the warnings, that fail to act on information, that fail to protect the innocent.  Hear us as we pray for society and who it is we think we want to be as a nation.  Lord hear our prayers…

Israel / Hamas Ceasefire

It’s taken time, too long a time, to reach a point of ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.  Hostages released, people returning home to Gaza’s ruins, the dead buried beneath the rubble – no dignity in death.  Just how do people grieve such devastation without it turning to anger and retaliation.  Just how easily it can all re-ignite.  Isn’t that the way it’s been for so long now the constant tit for tat fighting.  We give thanks for the ceasefire yet pray for the future.  Lord hear us in our prayers for Israel and Gaza…


Praise – Spirit of God come dwell within me


The Grace

And now… May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love, now and for evermore. AMEN.

2 Replies to “Sunday 26 January 2025”

  1. Rhea

    This message is both uplifting and inspiring. It’s a powerful reminder that just as Jesus embraced his calling, we too are called to bring hope, healing, and freedom to others. Recognizing the Spirit of God within us can lead to true fulfillment and purpose.

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