Sunday 28 December 2025
1st Sunday after Christmas
Welcome!
Welcome to excerpts from the worship held within the newly formed Westhills Church of Scotland Congregation. We know that not all members of the congregation are able to be in church on Sunday morning; offering these excerpts from the Sunday morning service might help you feel included. Where we can, we offer parts of the service in text and audio, whichever works best for you.
If this post helps you explore what happens within an act of worship then please read on…
Your Weekly Church Notices
Scripture
Matthew 2: 13 – 23
Jeremiah 29: 11 – 13
Praise – As with gladness
Prayers
God of Lovingkindness, you come to us as the source and spark of all love and life and joy.
We come to You knowing that You have already approached us and knowing that You gather us in to community. We bring our hopes, our fears, our doubts and anxieties. We bring our limitations, our wounds, our shame and our sorrow for having been less than loving towards each other.
We come to You with confidence knowing that You have already come to us and that Your embrace holds us all, even the lost and weary; within your arms we find a safe place, a shelter and refuge.
Redeeming God, You seek us out, You gather us,
You bring us in, You hold us.
When we, Your people, so often seek to stray. We seek the lazy way.
We seek the way that benefits some at the expense of others.
Trusting in Your lovingkindness we come to You and ask that we might change
not just in words but in substance.
May we change to be seekers of justice, to be followers of truth, to be witnesses of Your salvation, to be the epitome of kindness in our world.
We ask this because we live in this beautiful world created by You, for us.
May we give to You our work, our words and our witness; our worship and our praise, our resources and our time, our talents and our energy; and seek nothing in return but the Glory of Your name.
Hear us as we join in the words of the Lord’s Prayer saying…
Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.
Address
Don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to get my head around the changes that are coming our way.
We’ve been involved in planning of some description for years. It took years to reach the place where a union of Greenhills and Westwood was the agreed route for us to travel. In April of 2024 Presbytery agreed that plan. Therefore, since April of 2024 we have been working out how we make that happen.
At times, I was anxious to press on feeling that time was short and there was lots to do. At other times I was content to stop and draw breath; and it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway… the members of the Working Group drawn from Westwood and Greenhills have been wonderful in their commitment, patience and wisdom to get us to this point where, just a few days from now, we will actually become Westhills Parish Church and Congregation. My deepest thanks to each member of the Working Group for getting us to this point.
Over the last 18 months we’ve held a number of united services both here and at Greenhills and they have been very successful. When the united services were held here, maybe I like you, felt that we were making guests from Greenhills welcome in our midst. But, in just a few days’ time they will no longer be guests but members of Westhills congregation, just as you and I will be, we will all be here on the same footing, with the same status, privileges and responsibilities of membership. Only that some will be less familiar with the surroundings of the church than others and we need to be aware of that. Some will be at a disadvantage not knowing the names and faces of those who carry out particular jobs around the church. It is a challenge for all of us not to make assumptions, nor yet inadvertently to be patronising in our responses. Just because this building is the place of worship does not mean that we are somehow better, more fortunate, or that we naturally should take the lead. We will be tempted to say, but cannot say “This is how we did it in Westwood Church!” We will be starting with a blank sheet, or as best we can, be starting with a blank sheet. And that is why we are to be holding on to our Working Group for a time yet. We need listening ears; we need familiar faces who can be approached with concerns when things are not going to plan. And it won’t all go to plan.
Then again, we don’t have a plan. We only have a starting point where Trustees are appointed and office bearers are given their tasks. And I’m OK with that. I’m OK about not having a plan because what we need more than anything is to build relationships, belonging, unity, identity; and that needs time, just time in each other’s company and the encouragement to take part. Westhills will be an opportunity for some to step forward into new ways of contributing to the life of the church, for others it will feel like the right time to step back. It will evolve, Westhills will evolve, and find its own new direction and purpose. While I hope those words are encouraging, I also realise that for many of us those words will speak about loss of the familiar. And I feel that too. 29 years ago, I was inducted as the Minister of Westwood Church. On 29 January I will be introduced as the Minister of Westhills Church and I don’t yet know what my relationship with Westhills Church is going to be like. So much is familiar, the place, the people, yet what is to come is not entirely defined and that creates a little uncertainty. As yet, I have not managed to get my head around all that it might mean.
What I look to; and what you can look to as well, is that God has a plan. A plan not yet fully revealed but it comes with a promise that we will prosper. God has a plan that will bring about the future we hope for. A plan founded on our faithful desire to seek Him with all our heart.
There is no disputing that the sweeping changes coming through the Church of Scotland are borne out of the negativity of decline; many have experienced hurt and division and negativity through the process of change.
Westwood and Greenhills have never engaged in such destructive patterns of division, hostility and negativity. Westhills begins its life from a good place; may God send His blessings upon us all as we seek him with all our heart and discern His plan to prosper us; one united, serving, worshiping community expressing faith in Jesus Christ.
Praise – Angels from the realms
Prayers for Others
Time to Linger, Time to Reflect
Why is it so Lord? Why do we spend so much time preparing for Christmas and then dismiss it in one short day? Help us to linger in the season of Christmas just a little longer and find time to reflect, time to ponder, time to think. Help us to learn from all that Mary did. After the shock, the excitement, the uncertainty, the celebration… Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.
While Shepherds made their way home exulting in all they had seen and heard, Mary took time to stop and think and take stock of what it all might mean and what it might mean for her and for others. Teach us Lord to make space to listen, to feel and reflect…
Emmanuel – God is with us
Father in Heaven, you sent your son into this world to be with us; to live this life. Emmanuel God is with us. We say these words, we pray these words, we sing these words, but it is only in times of uncertainty and change that they come alive to us.
Now, is such a time. At a year’s end and a year’s beginning. At the end of Westwood Church and Greenhills Church and the beginning of Westhills Church, we come seeking your guidance and reassurance. Whatever comes, we trust in You Lord, trust in Your wisdom, trust in your plan though it is hidden from our eyes. Lord be with us.
Give us faithful hearts that seek your will, prayerfully discerning Your leading, spirits that are open to Your spirit and hearts that are open to each other. Lord hear our prayers as we seek you with all our hearts…
Praise – Tell out my soul
The Grace
And now… May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love, now and for evermore. AMEN.