CCW News: Christ Church Woodford News Update
27th February 2025
Last Sunday (a reminder/reflection on Sunday’s sermon): Hebrews 11:1-2, 23-29 & Deuteronomy 34
Moses’ example of what the Bible (and Hebrews 11 in particular) means by faith was the subject of Sunday’s sermon. We saw that Moses’ faith meant that he had: A right fear (a reverence for the Lord, not Pharaoh, 11:23&27); he made right choices (to align himself with the Lord and His people, 11:24-25); he had right vision (looking to his future heavenly reward, 11:26-27); and he had right behaviour (he believed the Lord, so he obeyed the Lord, and so he was rescued by the Lord, 11:28-29).
We then saw how those ideas were perfectly fulfilled in the Lord Jesus – the point made in Hebrews 12:1-2. After that we saw why the original recipients of the letter - ‘Hebrews’ being a letter written to Christians who were being persecuted – needed to be reminded to also have a right fear, make right choices, have a right vision and live rightly (obediently trusting in and following Jesus). The temptation when persecuted for our faith is to ‘go quiet’ and ‘blend in’ with society, but the author of Hebrews pleads with his recipients not to do that.
And then we related this to our lives today. We too must have a right fear (respecting and reverencing the Lord, not the world), make right choices (to align ourselves with the Lord Jesus and His people), to have a right vision (looking to our heavenly reward) and live rightly (obediently following Jesus). Living with those truths in mind, are signs of true Christian faith.
In conclusion, we asked the question: whose view matters more to us, that of the world around us, or the Lord’s?
A Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me, come what may, to fix my eyes on you, to holdfast to you and to seek to faithfully follow you all my life, irrespective of what the people around me think of you, or of me. Amen
Forthcoming dates:
Tues 4th Mar, 6.30pm: Watoto Choir at St Michaels
Wed 5th Mar, 7.30pm: Ash Wednesday Service
Tues 11th Mar, 7pm: CAMEO with Chief Inspector Peter Butters (Rtd)
Tues 18th Mar, 7pm: PCC Meeting in the Hall
Renewal of Electoral Roll
David Copner our Electoral Roll Officer writes: “In accordance with Church of England regulations, this year we have to prepare a new Electoral Roll. This new Roll is now being prepared. This will be a completely new Roll and even those whose names are on the previous Roll will need to reapply.” Please pick up a form from Church, or speak with David, and please note the qualifying requirements for membership. Thank you all.
Watoto Children’s Choir concert: Tues 4th March, 6.30pm at St Michael’s, Bramhall
Churches Together are hosting this concert which features music from the choir’s new album ‘Better Days -There is Hope.’ The children, coming all the way from Uganda, will, as the publicity (fliers are in Church) states ‘sing, dance, and share their stories of restoration and hope.’ If you would like attend this free concert, then you need to book. As you know, I don’t put web-links into this email, so I recommend contacting St Michael’s directly for guidance on that on 0161 439 3989.
Next CAMEO Tuesday, 11th March, 7pm in the Hall: Retired Police Chief Inspector
Ian Casson writes: “On March 11th, Peter Butters, retired Chief Inspector of the Manchester Police Force, will educate, entertain, excite, and possibly even horrify us, with tales of his exploits and experiences in the many and diverse areas of his long and fulfilling career as a Police Officer.” Please do come along and join us, and our thanks to Ian and Clare for all they are doing for CAMEO.Next once-a-month Prayer Meeting: Sat 29th March, 9-10am in Church Hall
Our new once-a-month Saturday Prayer Meeting, will next be on Sat 29th March at 9am. Please do come along! Just a reminder: Many of you will be aware that I am deeply committed to us coming together specifically to pray – to pray for the life of our Church and our mission, and for our community and the world. Prayer Meetings are nothing to fear! They are just us coming together to pray. Some people will pray out loud ‘off the cuff,’ maybe some people will read out prayers they have prepared in advance, and many will pray quietly in their own heads and hearts. I’ve wanted to make it possible for people who aren’t able to make our monthly Wednesday evening Prayer Meeting to come on another day, so I’ve chosen the last Saturday of the month, from 9-10am. Hopefully that timing will leave plenty of room for our usual Saturday activities.
Church Lunches: 12noon in the Hall: Next one: Wednesday 26th March
Our thanks to Vicky Ackers and her team for all they do each month for our Church Lunches. The next lunch is on Wed 26th March (an MAF fundraiser). And the rest of the dates for the first half of the year are: 30th April, 14th May (a fundraiser during Christian Aid week) and 25th June.
The team are looking for people who may want to make a donation or contribution of some kind; soup, cake, crackers, cheese etc. More generally, if you are able to help with the team, please let Vicky know.
Good Book Groups: Monday 24th March, 2.30pm & Wednesday 26th March, 7.30pm
In Our Good Book Groups we continue our journey through John’s Gospel and in March we’ll be looking at John 19 where we see the events leading up to the Lord Jesus’ death. The timing of our studies works well in relation to Lent and Easter as we’ll be spending some time looking at these moving events which are of such great significance. John 20 and 21 are about Jesus’ resurrection. And we’ll be looking at one chapter per month. As ever, the Monday afternoon session is repeated on the Wednesday evening. All sessions are held at the Vicarage, and please do come along – whether or not you’ve joineus before.
The planned dates for the sessions are:
Mondays at 2.30pm: 24 March & 28th April
Wednesdays at 7.30pm: 26 March, 30th April
Press to continue to next page
