Sunday 19 October 2025
19th Sunday after Pentecost
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
Jeremiah 31: 27 – 34
Luke 18: 1 – 8
Praise – I the Lord of sea and sky
Prayers
Heavenly Father, enthroned afar, distant and untouchable, yet near to us, intimate, loving and kind, You invite us to draw close, to listen to Your Word, to wrestle with Your truth, and to rest in Your love. You are our help and our hope, our keeper and guide. In this time of worship, write Your ways on our hearts, shape us by Your Spirit, and send us out in Your name.
You are a God of justice, yet Your justice filled with mercy. We admit that we often give up too quickly, we don’t always use the gift of prayer to stay close to you, and when justice feels far off, we lose heart all to easily. We rely on our own strength, seeking solutions to our problems from within and forget to look outward and upward to You. Forgive us when we seek to avoid the ways you desire to shape us. Forgive us when we hear Your Word and choose not to live it out. Write Your grace on our hearts again, and renew us through the joy of knowing You.
Heavenly Father, you have given us the gift of yourself; you have made yourself known to us through your son Jesus Christ, and by your Spirit you have entered into our hearts and souls. We now offer our gift to you, offering our prayers, offering our songs of praise, offering our gifts but above all these things we offer you our hearts in adoration and loving service. As we give ourselves to you may we bring Glory to your name.
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
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge, 30th US President.
Well I’m not sure that I entirely agree with the words of Calvin Coolidge 30th President of the United States. Coolidge held office from 1923 to 1929. Coolidge had a reputation for being a decisive man of action. He got things done and restored confidence in the Whitehouse Administration after the scandals of his predecessor Warren Harding. “Press on” I can be pretty certain has not solved all the problems of the human race. At the same time, it is our persistence in the face of problems that helps us to overcome them.
When Jesus told his disciples a parable about a Judge and a widow he told a curious story to say the least.
To be appointed a Judge in Israel was to hold a position of real power. There were no juries, no court of appeal nor yet was there any sense in which the judge was accountable to the public. The judge’s decision was final. This judge did not fear God or respect his fellow man; he had absolute power and absolute power has a way of corrupting absolutely. He cared not about fairness or justice because there was no come back on him for the decisions he made. Should someone offer him a bribe to rule in their favour… well the Judge only had to name his price. Bad as he is a widow pesters him constantly looking for justice. I suppose the story implies that even though this judge is a bad person, one might say rotten to the core, he is still able to do the right thing for this widow. Not because it is the right thing to do but simply because the widow is such a nuisance. Now, that hardly sets a shinning example for us to follow; but in Jesus time this was a pretty standard argument used by teachers of the law that if something could be shown to be true in the small and mundane then how much more would it be true on a heavenly level. If a persistent widow can cajole justice from a corrupt and uncaring judge, how much more will a compassionate and caring God hear our cries?
The moral of the story… Pray constantly. Be persistent – just like the widow. And that must be the most obvious outcome to any story Jesus ever told. Maybe there is nothing more to say.
Or is there? Maybe this story is about power and powerlessness? About the power of a man and the powerlessness of a woman, in a society that stacked the cards in favour of men. The fact that she is a woman matters, and that she is a widow, for she did not have a man who could go to the judge on her behalf. No woman in the ancient world would have been able to seek justice for herself in the way that Jesus portrays. She breaks every social convention. She had no right to approach the judge in private or in public. Women had no access to legal recourse and were not recognised in a court before a judge, they could not testify in court as their word was regarded as unreliable. This story of a widow and a judge breaks so many of the moral and traditional rules of the time as to be a fantasy. The story on this level is difficult to understand, as it breaks so many of the moral and traditional rules of the time.
So, we are drawn back to the issue of persistence. Jesus concludes that if the unjust judge can grant justice in response to the widows persistence, how much more will God grant justice to those who cry out day and night. And God will respond quickly.
This is where it gets hard to accept. In our experience, it is not often the case that justice comes quickly, and it appears that prayer is not always answered in the way we want. In reality persistence is not a formula which typically rewards us with our desired outcome.
So we have an odd parable with odd characters, odd story, and odd dynamics. It reminds me on some of the sermons I wrote when I was still at university; they tried hard but were actually a bit rubbish! Yes, I know I still write sermons like that! If the parable is strange and disturbing, the last line is the oddest of all because it seems to come from nowhere. We are left with a question that does not quite fit. Luke places this question on Jesus lips, “But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?’
Why on earth did Jesus tell that parable and then ask that question? You’re guess is as good as mine!
But I sort of like that. I like the fact that it’s not a perfectly tidy little story in a neat little package because it reminds me that our Lord Jesus was as human as you and I and that sometimes the stories he told didn’t quite get there. Maybe his train of thought wandered off track a bit. And two thousand years later we are still able to discern truth in his less-polished sermons. Maybe then, there is hope for all of us who seek to communicate His love through imperfect sermons, stuttering prayers and imperfect lives.
Praise – O for a closer walk with God
Prayers for Others
Thanksgiving for the gift of God’s Love
Lord Jesus Christ, before we ever loved you, you loved us; before we ever looked for you, you were seeking us out; before we ever made a response, you were guiding our footsteps. Always you have been there taking the initiative, just as you did throughout your ministry and even at the time of your death. In love you offered your life and in love you continue to reach out, never resting until our journey is over and the race is won. Lord Jesus, we offer to you our prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of your love…
Thanksgiving for the gift of prayer
We thank you Lord, for this gift of prayer. The quiet moments where we bow our heads and close our eyes and focus our thoughts on you. May these be precious moments we come to treasure all our days. For in these moments, we can pour out our hearts to you, share our innermost thoughts and feelings with you; we can rejoice or shed our tears and be utterly ourselves without fear of comment or judgement or rejection. You love and forgive and lead us gently from the shadows into the light of your presence. You bring healing to broken hearts and wounded spirits. In these quiet moments Lord, we take hold of the gift of prayer and offer ourselves to you…
Prayers for Gaza Ceasefire
Lord and God, forgive us if we are persistent in our prayers, you encourage us to be persistent. And while we remain anxious that the ceasefire in Gaza is all too fragile what else can we do but bring our prayers to you. We hope and pray for tolerance when the repatriation of hostages takes longer and is more complex than anyone imagined. In cities razed to the ground the logistics are a nightmare. We pray that opposing sides might find a mutually acceptable way to achieve a common goal. Lord hear our prayers for a ceasefire to hold…
Praise – There is a Redeemer
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.