Category: News

Sunday’s Gospel reading is perhaps Jesus’ most famous parable, that of the Prodigal Son. The late Henri Nouwen, Dutch Roman Catholic priest, writer and theologian authored “The Return of the Prodigal Son”. It offers an extended reflection on the Rembrandt picture housed in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The picture depicts the moment the prodigal son returns and is embraced by the father – while the elder brother watches from the shadows. Nouwen invites his readers to consider which character in the story we most identify with. He further suggests that at different stages in our lives, we can/may display the characteristics of all three.

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Friends,

Over thirty years ago, when I was first ordained, I knew a lovely lady who had a very hard life. Yet somehow she remained strong, a real matriarch, holding her troubled family together. Sometimes, when a new problem arose, she would sigh and say, “I don’t know what I’m paying for, but I hope it was worth it!” Of course it’s an age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”.

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Friends,

From the Old Testament’s Second Book of Kings comes the tale of “passing the mantle” – the symbolic handing of the prophet’s task and talent, from Elijah to Elisha. While the former departs heavenward in a chariot of fire, the latter, who has earlier requested a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, collects the discarded cloak and uses it to cross the Jordan again on dry land. This week the there was another passing of the mantle (or apron). St Columba’s elder Ben Gourlay stepped down from his role after twelve years as Hospitality Convener and some five decades of providing hospitality at St Columba’s. A contribution beyond measure.

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Friends,

We are now at the time of year the church calls “Lent” when we remember how after his baptism and the affirmation of his identity as God’s Son, Jesus was led into the wilderness. There, for 40 days, he was tempted by the devil who questioned his very identity. Jesus confidently countered these questions by quoting Scripture, and after that the devil left him alone. The wilderness is traditionally the place of testing, formation, new beginnings and encounters with God. In the Old Testament, it is in the wilderness that the people of God learn, through trying and failing, through instruction and practice, through encounter and through experience over 40 years, to live in God’s way.

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“Silence – a meeting place where I am looking for God’s love, and God is looking for mine.”

Friends,

Next week begins the season of Lent. This potentially profound, “set-aside” time, begins with a reminder of our mortality. In many churches the Ash Wednesday custom is to mark the forehead with the sign of the Cross. Traditionally, the ashes are made from burning the palm crosses of the previous year, symbolically linking from the outset, the Lent journey with the Easter story. As the ashes are daubed the priest says: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” Ash Wednesday is designed to be an honest stripping away of illusions. It can be the overture to a season of serious reflection on ourselves, our lives, our priorities and our faith. At St Columba’s we mark Ash Wednesday, not with ashes, but with a service of communion in the London Scottish Chapel (1pm, Wednesday 5th March.) It is an intentional beginning to use the time ahead well and wisely. In the forty days of Lent that follow – echo of Jesus’ time in the wilderness – the intent is not to be gloomy. If we choose to give something up, it is in the hope that by doing so, we make room for something more precious.

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Friends,

The story of Joseph, part of which we read this week, has been familiar to many of us since our days in Sunday School. It comes early on in the Old Testament story of the people of God, in Genesis chapters 37-50. Joseph is an important figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam but different versions of the story have become known to a wider audience thanks to the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat” and the animated film “The Prince of Egypt”.

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It is hard to believe that it is almost twenty years since the publication of the Church Hymnary, Fourth Edition (CH4) in July 2005. Although I was not directly involved in the project, several friends of mine were, and I know how much thought and care went into the preparation of the book over 11 years. It is in the nature of such publications that we will miss old favourites from earlier hymn books but the vast majority of church members would agree that CH4 has enriched the worship of the church with songs old and new from around the world and many different denominations as well as the traditional psalms, paraphrases and spiritual songs with which we are familiar.

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He claimed to have been arrested 24 times, chased by an elephant in Tanzania, a crocodile in Zimbabwe, a green mamba in Ghana, and in Morocco, men with stones. Someone tried to set his cross on fire in Indiana and a group of men on motorcycles stole it in Assisi. In America, he was shot at several times. Following the Spirit could be dangerous. “I have preached in houses of prostitution, Hell’s Angels camps, rock festivals, in bars, nightclubs, go-go clubs, nude clubs, love-ins, on the streets, on sidewalks, on porches, in football stadiums, at automobile races, wrestling matches, dirty movie-porno clubs … even an occasional church!”

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Friends,

Last Sunday we heard from St. Luke’s gospel how Jesus read from the book of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth at the beginning of his public ministry.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the  captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free”.
(Isaiah 61: 1-2)

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‘The Imitation of Christ’ by Thomas à Kempis, is regarded as a spiritual classic. Recently a friend drew attention to the section of the book which highlights the importance/significance of the sacrament of bread and wine. In his chapter on ‘That Holy Communion is not to be Lightly Foregone’, à Kempis wrote: “For your old Enemy knows well the abundant fruit and powerful remedy contained in Holy Communion, and tries by every means in his power to discourage and prevent the faithful and devout from receiving it.”

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Friends,

It was a pleasure to welcome our friend and neighbour Bishop James Curry to St. Columba’s last week when he spoke to us of the Baptism of the Lord and our shared baptism. This week we read the story of Jesus’ first miracle which he performed at the Wedding at Cana (St. John 2:1-11). While Jesus and his mother Mary were at a wedding party the wine ran out; imagine the embarrassment of the newly married couple – their reputation as hosts would be forever tarnished! Jesus was encouraged by Mary to solve the problem and he instructed the staff to fill six jugs with water. Each jug contained twenty to thirty gallons. Much to everyone’s astonishment, as the liquid was poured out of the jugs, what emerged was the very best quality wine and we are told “his disciples believed in him” (2:11).

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Friends,
To those of you I have not already seen, may I wish you a very Happy New Year.

Later this month we will mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 18-25 January. This Octave of Prayer for Unity was first held in 1908 and reflects Jesus’ own prayer for his followers “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (St. John 17: 21). So the world may believe that you have sent me… The call to unity and the missionary imperative are one. Someone once put it in much more earthy terms when they said that “for a divided church to preach unity to the world is as effective as a bald man selling hair restorer!”. It is no coincidence that the modern ecumenical movement grew out of the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910, leading to the eventual creation of the World Council of Churches, of which the Church of Scotland was a founder member.

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Friends,

A Very Happy New Year to you. May 2025 be a year of many blessings for all who know and are connected to St Columba’s. To start, or summon us to all that lies ahead, A New Year’s Poem, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)

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Friends,

A popular interpretation of the 4 Sundays of Advent runs thus –

1) The people of God waiting for the Messiah

2) The Prophets foretell his coming

3) John the Baptist prepares the way

4) The Virgin Mary

Now it seems to me that in our Reformed tradition Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Christ, is rarely given the place she deserves. This may be an understandable reaction to the excesses of the medieval church which ascribed to her a place to which she never aspired, but the fact remains that without her simple “Yes” to God, the incarnation would not have been possible. Nazareth was a backwater in a remote province of the Roman Empire; the Jewish people said, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” and the people there lived in caves on the hillside. And yet, it was to a young girl in Nazareth that the Angel Gabriel appeared and foretold the birth of Jesus. Think how scared and confused she must have been! An unmarried mother might well be the object of gossip and scandal in the village but despite everything Mary said, “let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). So, Mary became the first Christian, the first to accept Christ into her heart and into her life.

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“The Spirit of the Beans” supplied the guardian angel at the recent families’ outing to Jack & the Beanstalk pantomime at Wimbledon Theatre – in contrast to the Giant’s wife – who arrived, on and off stage, to loud boos from a galvanised audience. Panto-land serving us an annual, ancient tale of good and evil – fortunately with a happy ending – in the case of SW19, the villainess played by Sandra Burke (winner of the X-Factor) succumbing to a sudden and complete conversion to “niceness,” sealed/proved by breaking into her iconic version of “Hallelujah.” Very satisfactory! Many of our young people who enjoyed the pantomime, will be up front on Sunday as they lead our worship, via the “It’s a Party” Nativity story. Along with their adult helpers they have been rehearsing over recent Sundays. Do come and encourage them with your presence and appreciation this Sunday. Also, with us on Sunday we will hear from Liz Burrell, Church Engagement and Fundraising Officer for North London, representing Christian Aid. Liz will talk about the situation, and the Christian Aid response, in South Sudan; an important reminder at this time of year of a wider perspective for our shared faith.

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“She loved Paris, and she passed on that love to her family.” Words spoken at a recent St Columba’s funeral. The French capital has been spotlighted recently with the unveiling of the magnificently restored Notre Dame. A thousand French oaks felled and shaped with axes, as they were eight centuries before. Sculptural masons and C21st computer imagery making eroded gargoyles scowl again; 7,982 organ pipes and 13 bells cleaned. That’s some Fabric Committee commitment!

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