Dear friends,
Light in the Darkness
I’m writing this letter just before 4 o’clock and it’s getting dark already! At this time of the year in the UK, we often only have 7 or 8 hours of daylight every day. Oh, how it makes me crave the long, light nights of summer.
However, this darkness pales in comparison when we acknowledge the darkness of the news: where we see and hear the ongoing wars and conflicts; the destructiveness of climate change, the suffering of refugees on unsafe boats and in camps or hotels. There is also the darkness in our lives: in the midst of illness and grief; poverty, cuts in disability benefits.
And yet in our darkness, God will meet us there. In our darkness, God is present. A God of faith, hope and love. A God revealed in Jesus. A God who intimately understands our vulnerability because Jesus came to earth a helpless new-born baby.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus was born into a world characterised by the occupation and oppression of the Roman Empire. An Empire which impacted on so many parts of a person’s life and must have felt like it could last forever.
We talk about Jesus’ coming into the world, as light shining in darkness. The light of Jesus reveals how darkness in our lives and world can be overcome. To quote one of the Gospel writers, John: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it”.
Christmas is about Jesus Christ entering the pain and darkness of every time and place, including ours, to bring light. A light of faith, hope and love that each and every one of us, can share with our families, our communities, our world.
So, my hope and prayer is that Jesus’ light can provide each and every one of us with peace and hope this Christmas.
Nicola
| CALENDAR | |||
| DECEMBER | |||
| 1st | Monday | 11.00am | Advent Course – ‘God is in the Manger’, URC South Leeds |
| 3rd | Wednesday | 7.30pm | Advent Course on Zoom |
| 4th | Thursday | 1.30pm | Advent Course, Stainbeck Church, LS7 2PP |
| 4th | Thursday | 7.30pm | Blue Christmas Service |
| 7th | SUNDAY | 10.45am | Second Sunday in Advent. Morning Worship led by Rev Phil Chilvers |
| 4.00pm | Leeds Partnership Carol Service at St Andrew’s Roundhay, LS8 1DS | ||
| 9th | Tuesday | 12.30pm | Guild Christmas Lunch |
| 14th | SUNDAY | 9.30am | Christmas Carol Service. A joint Service at Headingley Methodist Church |
| 21st | SUNDAY | 10.45am | Fourth Sunday in Advent. Morning Worship led by Rev Phil Chilvers We shall be joined by our friends from Headingley Methodist Church |
| 25th | Thursday | 10.30am | CHRISTMAS DAY. A Service of celebration led by our Minister Rev Dr Nicola Robinson |
| 28th | SUNDAY | Partnership Worship Sunday. (No service at Headingley St Columba.) | |
CHRISTMAS GIFT SERVICE
A reminder that our Gift Service will be held on Sunday 30th November. As in previous years we shall be supporting Leeds Women’s Aid and the Salvation Army. Monetary donations, toiletries or toys would be welcome. Teenagers are the age group usually missed out so anything suitable for that age group would be most welcome.
Cheques should be made out to either Leeds Women’s Aid or the Salvation Army and handed to Susan Bollon by 7th December please.
LEEDS URC BLUE CHRISTMAS SERVICE
On Zoom
Thursday, 4th December at 7.30pm
A gentle, reflective service for anyone who finds this time of year difficult, who misses someone, or who wants to spend some time remembering.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7019277749
PARTNERSHIP ADVENT COURSE
GOD IS IN THE MANGER: Reflections on Advent and Christmas.
The course will start the week beginning 1st December and will run for 3 weeks:
Mondays at URC in South Leeds at 11am. (1st, 8th,15th Dec.)
Wednesdays on Zoom at 7:30pm. (3rd, 10th, 17th Dec.)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7019277749
Thursdays at Stainbeck Church at 1:30pm. (5th, 12th, 19th Dec.)
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows and strands of twinkling lights,
but do not show love, I’m just another decorator.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity
but do not show love, it profits me nothing,
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend myriad holiday parties and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though tired.
Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has co-ordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust,
but giving the gift of love will endure.
As the poet Christina Rossetti pointed out, ‘Love came down at Christmas.’
Anon
With thanks to Sue Bollon for sending in these thoughtful words.
CHRISTMAS LUNCH
We shall be holding our Christmas Lunch on Tuesday, 9th December. Our monthly lunches started as part of the Women’s Guild, but are now a Church lunch to which all are invited.
We celebrate Christmas with a festive lunch to which you are welcome; just let us know you would like to join us. The cost of this lunch will be £6.
BORN IN A STABLE
Three little girls live next door. With Christmas approaching and the schools gearing up for Nativity Plays, I asked their dad if he had any angels at home. ‘No’, he said, ‘but we do have a camel. A shame really, because we had a sheep last year and we still have the costume’.
I expect there are sheep, camels, oxen and asses all over the land.
It is Luke who gives us the most detailed story of the nativity, telling us that the infant was ‘laid in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.’ The word for inn is the same as used for a guest-room and also for the ‘upper room’ Christ chose for the Last Supper. So, although there is no mention of a stable perhaps there was no room in the house of a relative and Mary and Joseph took shelter in the room used to shelter the animals in winter. This was often a cave under the house.
There is no mention of the animals in the stable either but traditionally the ox and ass are there. Early theologians saw the Old Testament as the story of the long wait for the coming of the Messiah – the expression of God’s boundless divine love. There were many pointers to the manner of his coming and Isaiah tells of the ox and ass knowing their master although he was unrecognised by Israel.
Their presence became integral to the depiction of the Christmas story and it is not a bad thing for us to be reminded that Christ came into the world as all creatures do, but he also comes to us as the Lord of all Creation.
The painting of the Nativity is by Lorenzo Monaco. (c1370 -1425)
Rev Robert Way
It was not possible for everyone who wished to attend the funeral of Rev Robert Way at St. John’s Church, Adel to do so. Not surprisingly, it was a moving service which reflected a man of learning who was humble and compassionate by nature. The Rev Alison Battye, who took the service has kindly given her permission to share her eulogy through the newsletter, so you may, at least, learn more of his long and interesting Christian life.
“When I was appointed to the post of Rector, a friend who had covered services here told me of ‘a wonderful retired Presbyterian minister who leads Evensong.’ I looked forward to hearing Robert preach, but COVID struck, and by the time we reopened, Robert was too frail.
I did, however, benefit from his encouraging, if somewhat daunting presence at Lent and Advent study groups. I remember a discussion of a challenging Old Testament passage where we were trying to tame the story, fit it with our idea of God. Robert didn’t correct us, but gently suggested that sometimes we have to remember God is beyond our understanding, and sometimes we just have to let God be God.
The reading (Isaiah 30:18 – 21) Ian chose speaks of trust in God even in adversity. I guess it was this trust that, despite his enormous scholarship, allowed Robert to leave things unanswered ‘let God be God’ and follow where he was called.
Robert Way was born in 1934 in Finchley, London, where he grew up with his parents and older sister. Robert’s early school days were affected by the blitz; the sadness of arriving to be informed of the deaths of fellow pupils; and a brief period as an evacuee, during which he enjoyed helping on a milk round!
His parents loved sport…golf, tennis and badminton…which suited his sister, but not Robert. Luckily, his grandfather believed in putting money into education and paid for Robert to attend Haberdasher’s school where he thrived. He enjoyed the boys brigade, acting…including the part of Ophelia, and studying languages at which he excelled.
At 18, with his eye already on becoming a minister, Robert went to St Andrew’s university to read Hebrew and Arabic. His 5 years there were some of his happiest.
Robert’s next move was to Westminster College, Cambridge, to train as a Presbyterian minister, followed by a period of assisting the minister in the leafy suburb of Northwood. After this, his first parish, in a challenging area of Sunderland may have come as a bit of a shock. Robert though, was always a pastor as well as a scholar, and threw himself into the work.
One Sunday a new young lady appeared in the congregation. A teacher, and an Anglican, Stella was attending the church to develop a connection with one of her pupils. She says that when Robert came out to greet the congregation, she was attracted by his bearing and his complete focus on the task in hand.
She must also have made an impression on him, as he later came visiting…Stella was a little disappointed to find Robert didn’t like dancing, but they both loved walking and music and their relationship grew.
Robert and Stella were married in Sunderland in 1968, and today we give thanks for that marriage and all it meant to them both. Robert was a committed and determined priest, whose ministry benefitted many, but this was made possible by Stella’s loyal support. It was typical of Robert that their honeymoon was a working trip to the Holy Land!
Unable to have children of their own, Stella and Robert adopted a 3-week-old baby, Sarah. In 1973, the family moved to Leeds as Robert became minister of St Columba’s Presbyterian church in Headingley.
The Presbyterian and congregational churches in England and Wales were in the process of merging and Robert was the youngest member of the national board appointed to consider all the legal and practical implications. In January 1979, two churches merged to become Headingley St Columba United Reformed Church, with Robert as minister.
Unsurprisingly, Robert took his duties seriously, spending time visiting and studying, opening his home to those in need. Cards of condolence have mentioned his faith, scholarship and friendship; his support in bereavement; his thoughtful guidance.
However, there was also often a twinkle in Robert’s eye, and Stella remembers him once surprising a church community with a dramatic recital of Lewis Carrol’s Jabberwocky!
Robert enjoyed his time at St Columba’s, despite facing various medical problems. He stayed until his retirement in 1999.”
We were pleased to be able to host a gathering after the Funeral service where memories of Robert could be shared by friends and family.