From Christoph: Holy Week – So What?

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(Isenheim Altar Piece by Matthias Grünewald)

Dear friends,

A few days ago was Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. In a world that is increasingly losing its grounding in the biblical story, many people wonder what Holy Week is all about. So here is a brief explanation – may it inspire us to make the Holy Week journey a priority and invite others to experience it!
(What follows is from an article by James Emery White.)

“Maundy Thursday denotes when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet during what is known as the Last Supper on the night He was betrayed. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word for “command.” When Jesus washed their feet, He said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). It’s why some churches actually have a feet-washing ceremony or service on Maundy Thursday.”

Please join us for our Maundy Thursday Holy Communion at St Mary’s, starting at 7.30pm. We won’t offer a foot washing, but the washing of your hands as you come in, to remind us of Jesus’ beautiful act of service and example. At the end of the service the front of the church will be stripped bare to signify the desolation of Jesus as he was arrested and led away, and to prepare us for Good Friday.

“Good Friday is the day we mark the anniversary of when Jesus was crucified. I know, the word “good” is a misnomer.
Or is it?
Sin is not good. Suffering is not good. But what Jesus did for us, what His death accomplished on our behalf—that was good. Good because He took on our sins, and then hung in our place, paying the price for our sins so that we can be forgiven.”

Please join us for “An Hour at the Cross” on Good Friday at St Mary’s, starting at 10.30am (click here for a live stream of this service…). We will read the account of Jesus’ suffering, sing hymns and listen to choir pieces reflecting on the significance of Jesus’ death. As part of the service, a cross will be carried to the front of the church and set up there. I will be reflecting with you on the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died at the hands of his Nazi executioners 80 years ago.

This is a reflective service, not designed for children, but there will be a “Children’s Hour at the Cross” at the same time in our Vestry, helping children to understand what happened on Good Friday.

“And then, of course, comes Easter Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus—a day that so altered human history we are still talking about it and marking it 2,000 years later.
Each day is rich with meaning, significance and spiritual admonishment.
On Palm Sunday the crowds shouted ‘Hosanna!’ but just a few days later they cried ‘Crucify!’ Not willing to succumb to a celebrity culture, Jesus made it clear what the demands of following Him would entail. That’s what changed ‘Hosanna’ into ‘crucify.’ People were confronted with the weight and consequence of God. They had to choose: a tame God or a real God.
And now it plays out again, not in human history, but rather in our lives.
Every day.
Welcome to Holy Week.”

On Easter Sunday we will have a 9am Holy Communion service.

Then, at 10am our big Easter Egg Hunt for children is starting – all around St Mary’s Church. Don’t be late as most eggs will probably have been found by 10.15am.

This is followed by the Easter Day Family Service at 10.30am, featuring our Kids’ Choir. As part of the service all ages will celebrate Holy Communion together. (Click here for a live stream of this service…)

You are invited to bring fresh flowers to our Easter services, to turn the bare cross from Good Friday into a living cross, representing new life in Jesus.

A Life-Saving Defibrillator for Denham Green

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New Defibrillator in Denham Green and Free Emergency First Aid Training

Denham Parish Church are delighted to report that there is a new Automated Emergency Defibrillator (AED) on the outside wall of St Mark’s House, Green Tiles Lane, Denham Green which is next to St Mark’s Hall. The defibrillator, along with training, has been purchased as a joint venture with the charity AEDdonate, The Community Board of Denham, Gerrards Cross and the Chalfonts (Buckinghamshire Council) and Denham Parish Church.

The AED will serve as a vital device for the local community and allow a rapid response to anyone nearby who has a sudden cardiac arrest. The device is also registered with our local Ambulance Trust for use in an emergency.

Free training on how to use the AED defibrillator and also in CPR and other emergency first aid will be held at St Mark’s Hall, Green Tiles Lane, Denham Green UB9 5HT.

  • Would you know how to recognise if someone’s heart has stopped?
  • Do you want to learn CPR and how to use a defibrillator to help them?
  • Learn how to deal with someone choking, adults, children and babies
  • How to recognise strokes using FAST test
  • How do you support a person having a diabetic emergency?
  • Supporting an unconscious person.

Final opportunity to join a training course:

Friday 9th February 10am-1pm. Click here to book your place…

To book your free training place, please click on the links above or contact the Church Office: 01895 832771

Praying Together: How should we respond to Israel and Gaza?

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As we follow the harrowing news about conflict in Israel and Gaza, our friends from LICC are giving us helpful pointers in how we should respond:

https://licc.org.uk/resources/israel-and-gaza-how-should-we-respond-blog/

 

Understanding the deep symbolism of the coronation service

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To many modern eyes the coronation service which is rooted in the Bible and centuries of history looks strange and is “like seeing a dinosaur still alive in a Zoo.” Tom Holland on Seen&Unseen
Read more or listen to the podcast:
“The United Kingdom is the only country which still marks the accession of a new monarch with a coronation.”
Find out more about the symbols of the coronation:

The Future of Denham Village Fayre

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Many people have asked whether the Fayre will be back this year.

Please read this page to find out more…

Or download it as a PDF…

Remembering Mike and Pam Dymott

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Today, 14 February, is the funeral of Pam Dymott. To thank God for her and her husband Mike and to remember them, you can download an article here from 2020 about their 60th wedding anniversary.

Click here or on the photo below to download the article…

How to disagree well

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On Sunday, 19 February, we will be thinking about Jesus’ difficult teaching on loving our enemies (Matthew 5.43-48).

Disagreeing well is getting harder in the age of social media. Here are some helpful principles:

  • Talk face to face as full human beings whenever possible. Try to build a relationship
  • Acknowledge differences. Stand up for what you believe but treat the other person’s view with respect.
  • You may win an argument but lose a friend! Be willing to say, “I don’t know the answer.” Our confidence is in the love of Jesus, not our perfect arguments.
  • Learn to listen well. Make sure you understand the other person’s viewpoint.
  • Jesus didn’t say “Go and sock it to them!” but “Love your enemies”. Remember that God loves this person and that Jesus died for them.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

This post is based on a conversation between Justin Brierley and Cris Rogers. You can watch it here:

 

Why do bad things happen to good people?

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(This article was first printed in Denham Parish News at Christmas 2018.)

By James Leach

‘Here’s something that happens all the time and makes no sense at all: Good people get what’s coming to the wicked, and bad people get what’s coming to the good. I tell you, this makes no sense. It’s smoke.’ (Ecclesiastes 8:14, The Message)

As this quote from the book of Ecclesiastes shows, the writers of the Bible were well aware of the theological questions raised by suffering. Bad things happen to good people and it seems to make no sense. We see it in the world around us all of the time, in the news headlines and closer to home. So, can we make sense of these things from a Christian perspective?

Ultimately, all suffering results from the fact that we live in a world that has been broken by humankind’s rebellion against God, what the Bible calls “sin”. In Genesis chapter 3 and Romans chapter 8 we see that this has affected the whole of creation in a way that seems to include natural disasters and disease. We also read, in Ephesians 6 and elsewhere, of spiritual forces that are opposed to God and which cause suffering in the world.

While all suffering has its roots in the effects of sin, the Bible explains particular instances of suffering in different ways. Occasionally, it comes to individuals as a punishment for particular sins (think of David’s adultery in 2 Samuel 11 or the lying of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5), but this is by no means always, or even usually, the case. In the Old Testament book of Job, Job is a good man who suffers terribly, losing wealth, status, family members and his health. Is this God’s punishment for some sin he has committed? His friends say yes, because that’s how they understand the world to work. Job is adamant that this is not so, and in the end he is vindicated (though, interestingly, he never does find out why he has suffered so much).

Sometimes God allows suffering in order to develop perseverance or humility in the life of a believer (Paul describes this in his own experience in 2 Corinthians 12). And sometimes suffering is the direct result of living faithfully as a follower of Christ, as in the case of persecution. Sometimes both of these things will be going on, or something else entirely. On the other hand, we also see occasions where God intervenes miraculously to end suffering, for example when Jesus heals people in the gospels and when similar healings, as well as miraculous escapes from prison, happen in the life of the early church in Acts.

In the final analysis, when we see someone suffer, or when we suffer ourselves, there is often no easy explanation. We know we live in a broken world, but why this particular person and this particular suffering? We may simply not know. But we can, and should, respond with compassion and practical help and prayer to a God who has demonstrated that he loves us more than we could possibly imagine. In fact, when we look at what God has done, and is doing, to remove suffering in the world we realise that none of us gets what we deserve. In the light of eternity (and we have to see things in that perspective for suffering to make any sense at all) we get far more than we deserve.

You see, God’s response to his world being broken is not to destroy it and start again but to let sin run its course, while at the same time working to rescue the world from the inside. He starts with Abraham and his descendants and his work reaches its climax when he comes to earth himself in the person of Jesus and takes the brokenness, the sin and suffering of the world, on himself on the cross. God has shared our suffering. And when Jesus rises from the dead it shows that the days of sin and suffering are numbered. Their power has been defeated and we can look forward to the day when Jesus will return, sin and suffering will be eliminated completely, and we can live with God in a renewed, suffering-free world.

When it comes to suffering, we do not know all the answers. But we do know The Answer. He is the one who says ‘I am coming soon’, to which we reply, ‘Amen. Come Lord Jesus’ (Revelation 22:20).

 

Revd Dr James Leach is the Vicar of St Mary’s, Whitchurch and St John’s Whitchurch Hill.

Our Faithful Queen

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As we mourn the death of Her Majesty the Queen, we are bringing back some of the articles from our Jubilee edition earlier this year. We hope you enjoy them. Here, we explore her 70 years of faith and service.

 

Click here to read the article…

A Winsome Life

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Excellent obituary by Mark Greene:
 
“Brilliantly, in an age that is on the one hand increasingly secular, and on the other, fraught by religious conflicts, the Queen’s approach was winsomely inclusive. She pointed to Jesus and how he expanded her capacity to love people with different beliefs. Her approach was testimonial, not argumentative. She told the world the inspiration that Jesus had been in her own life and left the world to decide if they were interested in being inspired themselves:
 
‘I hope that, like me, you will be comforted by the example of Jesus of Nazareth who, often in circumstances of great adversity, managed to live an outgoing, unselfish and sacrificial life. Countless millions of people around the world continue to celebrate his birthday at Christmas, inspired by his teaching. He makes it clear that genuine human happiness and satisfaction lie more in giving than receiving; more in serving than in being served. We can surely be grateful that, two thousand years after the birth of Jesus, so many of us are able to draw inspiration from his life and message, and to find in him a source of strength and courage.’ “