St James Church Mangotsfield

3 days ago

MESSAGE FROM REVD TERESA TAYLOR - taken from our weekly newsletter:

The Christmas adverts have begun and our supermarkets are already selling Christmas produce and the displays are ready in the shops that will remain closed until Lockdown is lifted, waiting, hopeful, for Christmas shoppers to begin catching up with purchases. There is so much talk and hype in the media about how we will be allowed to spend Christmas and indeed how safe it will be to mix with family members. There is a large question mark that hangs over Christmas 2020, and that is of course reflected in how we may or may not be able to “do” church.

There was an even greater question over the first Christmas. For the preceding hundreds of years, God’s people had been waiting for the promised Messiah, they were expecting him to arrive with much pomp and royal circumstance………………..and what happened, relatively quietly in an outbuilding, in poverty and probable disgrace a tiny baby was born, destined to be the Saviour of the world. This Sunday, the last Sunday in the Christian calendar, the whole message comes together as we celebrate Jesus as King, Jesus who from those humble beginnings in human form, grew to lead us back to God , both by example and ultimately death on the cross. And now the bible tells us Jesus resides in heaven as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but the Jesus who reigns in glory also bears the scars of the crucifixion within his resurrection body and this is why he is often referred to as The Servant King.

In John’s Gospel, just before his arrest, Jesus demonstrated the greatest humility by washing the disciples’ feet and commanding us do likewise. We too are called to serve with humility as we follow in Christ’s way. As I prepared this week, the words of this old hymn came to me and I offer it as a reflection for the coming days.

May God bless you all,

Teresa ><>

1 May the mind of Christ, my Saviour,
live in me from day to day,
by his love and pow'r controlling
all I do and say.
2 May the Word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph
only through his pow'r.
3 May the peace of God my Father
rule my life in ev'rything,
that I may be calm to comfort
sick and sorrowing.
4 May the love of Jesus fill me
as the waters fill the sea;
him exalting, self-abasing:
this is victory.
5 May I run the race before me,
strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus
as I onward go.
6 May his beauty rest upon me
as I seek the lost to win,
and may they forget the channel,
seeing only him.

Kate Barclay Williams 1859 ... See MoreSee Less