The United Reformed Church Chesham

From the Elders, December 2024

We are approaching the end of our Tercentenary year. What a year it has been, we started the year with a special Covenant Service in January. In April we adopted 3 saplings in a local wood. In May we had a 300 cup cake and plant sale. In June we had Midsummer Melodies showcasing the talents of our congregation. In July we had an inspiring service which included 300 verses of scripture. In September we celebrated Heritage weekend and harvest, with our overhead projector repaired just in time to present a visual summary of our 300 years complementing a wonderful display which included a model of the first church building. In October, Revd George Watt, our Synod Moderator led an inspiring celebratory all age service which was followed by a lunch. At the end of October our service marked the 301st day of the year. In December, Revd Adrian Bulley, our Minister 30 years ago led our worship. After ‘Singing on the Steps’ we will mark the end of the year with a Carolathon singing 300 verses of Carols.

I am deeply grateful to all those who have firstly thought of these events and then worked so hard to make them so successful. Through it all, we have been aware of God’s providence, enabling these events which celebrated 300 years of God’s providence enabling the work and witness of this church, and inspiring so many people who have shared the worship and witness for 300 years.

I was very aware of God’s providence when I travelled through Valencia in Spain on an afternoon in October, and saw on the news that evening the result of the terrible floods that had occurred later that day, destroying vehicles and taking many lives.

Now, we look to the future, in our witness. We work in partnership with the other Christian Churches in Chesham, including an inspiring service, jointly led, on Good Friday, followed by the Walk of Witness. An interesting recent development in Chesham is “Beyond Difference” involving Jews, Christians and Muslims. At the recent meeting in the Mosque, we looked at the call of Moses in the Hebrew Bible and in the Quran, and the call of Saul/Paul in the New Testament. It was interesting to see how similar the two accounts are. What I saw for the first time was how the writer of the call of Saul clearly writes it in a way that reflects the call of Moses, a bush aflame becomes a light from heaven: the voice that said “Moses, Moses” now says “Saul, Saul”. Moses asked for a name and was given “I am who I am”. Saul asks “Who are you?” and was answered “I am Jesus”.

Those three words “I am Jesus” summarise the historical event that brought our Christian faith into being and inspire our worship and witness together into the future.

Alan Callow