Hazelwell Weekly Contact July 30th 2023

Prayers will be requested each week for residents of 2 roads in the parish as we used to do a number of years ago. Thus over a period of time the whole parish will have been prayed for.

Food Bank

The demand for help from foodbanks continues to rise and will be even higher with the onset of Summer Holidays. We continue to collect food for The Spearhead Trust. Please consider bringing donations with you on Sunday and leave on the table at the back of church.

Alternatively, consider donating to a local foodbank in the course of your

weekly shop via local supermarket collection.

Reflection on Matthew 13:vs 1-9, 18-23 from “The Working Preacher”

Extravagant SowingIt is not difficult to find contemporary examples of the various responses to the word depicted in Jesus’ parable. Having the word choked out by “the cares of the world and the lure of wealth” seems to be a particular problem in North America. One should be careful, however, to avoid equating the various types of soil with a particular person or group, and especially to avoid equating oneself or one’s community with the good soil.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can probably find evidence of several kinds of soil in our lives and in our congregations on any given day. It is noteworthy that Jesus does not use the parable to exhort hearers to “be good soil,” as though we could make that happen. If there is any hope for the unproductive soil, it is that the sower keeps sowing generously, extravagantly, even in the least promising places. Jesus’ investment in his disciples shows that he simply will not give up on them, in spite of their many failings. We trust that he will not give up on us either, but will keep working on whatever is hardened, rocky, or thorny within and among us. We trust in his promise to be with us to the end of the age.

As those entrusted with Jesus’ mission today, we might consider the implications of this parable for how we engage in mission. Too often we play it safe, sowing the word only where we are confident it will be well received, and only where those who receive it are likely to become contributing members of our congregations. In the name of stewardship, we hold tightly to our resources, wanting to make sure that nothing is wasted. We stifle creativity and energy for mission, resisting new ideas for fear they might not work — as though mistakes or failure were to be avoided at all costs.

Jesus’ approach to mission is quite at odds with our play-it-safe instincts. He gives us freedom to take risks for the sake of the gospel. He endorses extravagant generosity in sowing the word, even in perilous places. Though we may wonder about the wisdom or efficiency of his methods, Jesus promises that the end result will be a bumper crop.

Hazelwell Weekly Contact July 9th 2023

6 Jul 2023 • Weekly Notices

Good deeds should be done with intention, not for attention

Hazelwell Weekly Contact July 2nd 2023

29 Jun 2023 • Weekly Notices

You + God = Majority

Hazelwell Weekly Contact June 25th 2023

22 Jun 2023 • Weekly Notices

So do not be afraid; you are all of more value.

Hazelwell Weekly Contact June 18th 2023

16 Jun 2023 • Weekly Notices

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few

Hazelwell Weekly Contact June 11th 2023

8 Jun 2023 • Weekly Notices

Friends come and go but Jesus stays

Hazelwell Weekly Contact June 4th 2023

1 Jun 2023 • Weekly Notices

Hazelwell Weekly Contact June 4^th 2023

Trinity Sunday 10.00am

Hazelwell Special Parade service

Led by Val Harris

All who have ever been members of the scout or guide groups and those who have served as their leaders.
Teachers and young people currently involved in public examinations.
Please remember in your prayers Anna, Stewart, Patricia, Joy and Pat

Now might be the time to consider the plant stall – if you are potting on seedlings or dividing perenials.

Clearing out? Books, Toys and Bric-a-brac always needed

Cakes for the cake stall needed on the day

Food Bank The Spearhead Trust has been grateful for contributions to their foodbank, collected at Hazelwell. Please bring your donations and leave on the table at the back of church.

Alternatively, consider donating to a local foodbank in the course of your weekly shop via local supermarket collection.

Reflection on theTrinity by Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch St. Andrew's URC Ealing

The Trinity is more than a doctrine, it’s a way of seeing God

1stly, there was the Creator God who brought all life into being, the God we read about at the beginning of Genesis, the God who is sovereign and yet who has placed responsibility for the earth in human hands. It’s this same God whom Jesus knew in his boyhood and ministry in a close personal relationship as Father.

2ndly, there was the incarnate God, Jesus the Son, who shared our human life, in all its frailty and vulnerability and fragility, even to the point of death itself. And then he was raised from the dead for the life of the world.

3rdly, running through the history of the people of God, there is the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit breathed over the waters of creation at the beginning of time, hovered over Jesus at his baptism, was poured out on the people of God at Pentecost. The Spirit – as wild as wind and fire and as gentle as a dove, opens us up to understand one another in different languages.

The Trinity reminds us of the different faces of God, yet the way in which these are held together in the one God..

At the heart of the Trinity lies the significance of what I refer to as ‘relational identity’. The three persons within God are their own persons, but they only exist in relation to one another. It’s not possible to so separate them out that they are different beings, each going in their own direction.

I believe that for our current age, and all that we are going through, relationality and mutual belonging are hugely important.

As Christians, when we participate in Christ, we share in that relationship with God. It’s not just an individual matter. By being taken into relationship with God, we are taken into relationship with each other.

One of the key challenges today is that of individuality – when ‘I’ comes first, without thought of the other. I’m not surprised that we have lonely young people and lonely elderly people; it’s not surprising we have racist divisions – if ‘I’ is all that matters, I don’t need to worry about connecting to anyone else, or understanding anyone else, or being on the side of anyone else.

Thinking about the Trinity brings us into a different way of thinking about ourselves and the world. Because we’re drawn into the relationship of love, the only way we can find fullness of life is to live in that relationship, especially with those who we might think are different from us – because they are older, because they are younger, because they’re a different gender, because they are of a different ethnicity. The Black Lives Matter protests comes as a reminder that there is no one group of people who are seen as of less value by God. When we enter into the mystery of the relationality of the Trinity, we can no longer exclude people. All are equally loved and valued by God.

The role of the church is to live fully in the life of the Trinity, in modelling a loving relationality and living this out in the whole of God’s world.

The good news is that we are not left alone in all the ups and downs that faithful obedience brings. When Jesus commissions his disciples, he also promises his presence.

In these challenging and changing times in which we live, let us hold on to the truth and presence of the loving God in every part of our lives and the life of the world.

Amen.