Weekly Email w/b 9th January 2023

Last Sunday night, Phil began our ‘Love Actually’ series reflecting on those amazing verses from 1 Corinthians 13 that tell us what love looks like. This week we’ll be thinking about friendship, and I’ve been reflecting that this is an area where Christian teaching has often been lacking. Do we take friendship for granted?

A 2019 YouGov poll reported that 1 in 3 young adults are lonely, and 1 in 4 say they have no friends at all. These statistics are pre-pandemic and, as we know, COVID tended to accelerate and compound already existing trends. In a world of increasing digital interconnectedness, we seem to be losing something really precious.

The Bible tells us that the perfect example of what it means to be human, Jesus Christ, had friends. Bibles for children often describe the disciples as ‘the friends of Jesus’. In the gospels we see examples of both commitment and disappointment in friendship. Yet nothing can disguise the fact that we are made for community.

I don’t know whether reading this makes you grateful for the precious friendships you have, or whether it intensifies your sense of loneliness. Please do come and speak to one of us if you would find this helpful. But I would love to leave us this week with the words of an old hymn, written originally by a young man as a poem to comfort his mother while she was at home in Ireland and he was away in Canada. Its words reflect a deep truth and encouragement for us all.

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!

Fi Iddon, Associate Vicar

This Sunday we’re meeting as usual across the four congregations at Trinity as well as continuing to serve our neighbouring parish of Belle Vue. Phil Cansdale will be speaking at the 9am, 10.30am and 11am gatherings, whilst Gareth Evans is speaking at HTBV. In the evening we’ll be on week Two of “Made for Relationship” as Fi Iddon opens up the theme of friendships. Over the next few days we’ll be making some resources available online to accompany this which we hope you might find helpful, alongside the audio from the talks given at 6.30pm.

Activities for 0s-18s continue with Trinity Kids and Trinity Youth taking place at the 11am gathering.

We are now TWO WEEKS away from Jonathan Veira‘s concert on Saturday 28th January. This promises to be a fantastic evening of live music, stories, and a lot of laughter. Tickets are £10 from the Church Office, or direct from the website. All profits from the concert will go towards the Cost of Living Fund.

An evening with Jonathan Veira – 28th Jan 2023

Want to join a group who get together every couple of months to share a meal and “do life” together? Suitable for all ages and ‘stages’, and whether old-timer or newcomer, you’d be very welcome at the next “Big Sunday lunch” taking place on Sunday 5th February. For those already in a group then details should be winging their way to you over the next few days. And if you’d like to join a group – and make the most of opportunities of getting to know other people at Trinity – then let us know and we’ll find some space around a Sunday lunch table near you!

The BIG Sunday Lunch – 5th February

Looking across Spring 2023 in the morning services we’re going to be looking at the book of Isaiah. We’re going try and get the big picture of chapters 40-66, and as the new year begins we’re going to allow some of these amazing passages speak to us as a Church. How can we know strength and hope? What “new things” might be bubbling up? How can we step forward and serve in Christ-like ways? What is God’s invitation to us in 2023?

In the evenings at the 6.30pm congregation we’re going to be looking at some of the big issues around “life, love and everything in between.” We’ll begin with some really crucial themes of friendship and family, and how we can flourish in the many relational contexts we find ourselves in. We’ll then be looking at some of the more topical and perhaps more controversial themes around marriage, sexuality and identity. We’ll be developing part of the website with some resources to help people listen further and reflect on some of these big themes, as well as some time for Q&A after at least one of the services later in the series. If you don’t usually attend the evening service then why not come and join in for this season?

The Wellbeing Journey

The Bible Course

Our new Trinity Life was published last weekend. You’ll find the usual update on life together here at Trinity, including Sundays, midweek, Cafe, Trinity etc. There’s an update on “Blessed to be a Blessing”, as well as the usual snippets of news and views across the parish and beyond. Pick up a copy wherever you are worshipping this weekend, or take a sneak preview online by clicking below.

Trinity Life – Jan and Feb 2023