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Ash Wednesday & Lent

We all hoped we would be back meeting together on site for worship and church activities by now, but as we approach Lent we still find ourselves in restrictions. Here are a few suggestions for ideas that might help you focus on your faith this Lent.

Ash Wednesday

We’ll be holding our Ash Wednesday service on Zoom (please contact us for the link). The service outline is available below. If you are not able to join Zoom you might still like to read and pray through this service by yourself or over the phone with a friend.

Friday reflections

On Friday evenings through Lent members of TRINITY will share a short reflection on a passage of scripture. Find them on our website HERE, YouTube and Facebook.

Lent idea sheet

If you’d like some suggestions of things you could do, whatever your age, to help focus on your faith, have a look at the ideas on the sheet, all based around key Christian themes (& put together by a member of clergy from another church).

Children’s resources and bags

Are being put together by Emma and team – if you’d like to receive them please contact emma@trinitylewes.org

Churches Together Lent Course

Churches Together in Lewes are offering a Lent course called ‘Caring for Creation’. It will be run via Zoom on five Tuesday evenings, starting on 23 February from 7.15-8.45pm, all are welcome. For more information & to join the course contact Gretel Scott: gretel.scott@btinternet.com

Lent Books

If you’d like some Lent reading we’d recommend any of these new books:

Living His Story by Hannah Steele (£9.99), looks at revealing the extraordinary love of God in ordinary ways and is The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for this year. 

Lent Reflections on Life and in Christ by The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally (£9.99), explores the ways in which we can live the Christian life to the full today.

Candles in the Dark: Faith, Hope and Love in a Time of Pandemic

By Rowan Williams (£9.99) offers comfort, hope and encouragement for the troubled times of coronavirus.

Daily encouragement from SPCK

Sign up here for a daily email reflection: https://spckpublishing.co.uk/bible-studies-and-group-resources/lent

Share the Hope is an Advent calendar for the digital age (without the chocolate!). It’s about hearing hope and sharing hope, especially in this strange and difficult season we are all living through, because Advent is really less about chocolate and all about hope – the hope we find in Jesus.

Join us here each day between 1-24 December and you’ll find a daily dose of hope, including a reflection, a bit of the Christmas story and something to share. All the posts will appear here and on our Facebook page, or you can sign up to receive them via email direct to your inbox – click here.

Join us for our annual service as we remember our loved ones. Online, Sun 6th December, 3pm.

Each year TRINITY works in partnership with Cooper & Son Funeral Directors, to offer an opportunity to remember our loved ones who are no longer with us. Although Covid19 restrictions mean that we can’t run the service as we usually do, we still feel it is really important to offer those who are grieving, no matter how long ago your loved one died, the opportunity to join us to remember.

Although it will be a bit different we are going to run an online service that will be available to view online here and on our Facebook page here. Join us on Sunday 6th December at 3pm.

The darkest and the coldest time

Is also the best time

…….

At the departing times

The coldest times

of our lives;

 At the times of excitement

and the times of expectance.

At the times of intersection

when hard choices

have to be made.

Be with us

Prince of peace.

Kate Mcllhagga

 

 

We are now coming to the time of year, when the light disappears from our land. The bright sunlight of summer has been subsumed into the glorious colours of a riotous feast of autumn colour.

 

Slowly now the leaves are falling from the trees and bowled down the streets by strong gusts of equinoxal gales, and as the leaves fall bare branches are exposed and all the colours slowly fade into a uniform grey. Life withdraws into the earth and the very pulse of life slows down.

 

As a special holy gift for this time of year we are given the fast of advent.

 

Sadly, this gift has been lost in this culture as an all intrusive commercialism seeks to extend Christmas ever earlier into a feast and frenzy of consumer spending.

 

 

Advent is a time of quietly awaiting the coming of Christ, it is a time of withdrawing our energy from the mad treadmill of busy life and to make room in the darkness to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming king. A time to attune our bodies to the slowing rhythms of the natural world around us, A time to say no to our bodies and yes to the coming Christ. A time to stand on tiptoe eagerly awaiting the time when not only our bodies but the whole of creation will be redeemed and made new.

 

We wait for a God who does not stay aloof of His creation but enters in to all the mess and chaos we have made of His beautiful world. He enters this world as a weak and vulnerable baby to redeem it, and at His perfect time He will enter as conquering Lamb to overcome everything which spoils our world to remake heaven and earth as the perfect dwelling place where He rules in the midst of His people.

 

Most of all Christ wants a personal advent into the hearts and lives of each of His children, Christ breaks through to shine His light into our personal darkness to make His dwelling in the very centre of our lives.

 

Advent is a time of special rhythms of prayer so join us in St John’s at 8 am on a Friday as we spend an hour simply listening to what God is saying to us, or read through one of the many excellent Advent mediations which are readily available.

 

Ian Hempshall

englishpoughboythykingdomcome

Recently I went to the Premier Digital Conference in London, and the overarching theme of the day was digital evangelism: sharing our faith online.

It’s always an inspiring conference but I was particularly challenged this time when Rachel Jordan Wolf, Head of mission and evangelism for the Church of England, raised the need for a movement of people online -for us all to be the people who God made us to be kin the digital world. How many of us talk about our faith online? How many of us actually consider whether we are representing Jesus on our social media? Imagine how much of an impact we could all have if we shared a few thoughts or comments every now and then?

 

So if you’ve not considered it, or if you’re wondering how you can share your faith on your social media, or how to start, here’s a few tips & thoughts on how to get going.

 

1. Firstly, friend or follow non Christians! How can you share The Word if all you do is follow people who have already accepted it! Rachel Jordan Wolf shared these stats at the conference:

 

67% of the population knows someone who is a Christian

43% of the population believe Jesus rose from the dead

20% of those who have had a conversation with a Christian, want to know more.

 

So there are a lot of people out there who genuinely would be open to hearing about faith! Get following some of them!

 

2. Don’t be afraid. What’s the worst that can happen? A few negative comments or an ‘unfriending’? Isn’t Jesus worth more than that? And anyway his word talks a lot about not fearing, so trust and go for it!

(also it’s worth having a standard response ready in case you think you are going to get negative feedback, like: ‘thanks for that, I’m not going to engage with that online but have a great day, bless you’) which gives you an out if you need it.

 

3. Start simple.You don’t have to go all out JESUS JESUS JESUS! You can retweet a faith filled tweet, or a scripture graphic from another user; or you could join in with an online initiative like Thy Kingdom Come, or 40 Acts; or perhaps simply mention that you have been to church this weekend…

 

4.  Use themes that are accessible, like spirituality, mindfulness, or prayer. These can often create an opening to talk/ comment further. For example, mention you have had a ‘quiet time’, or have been praying for something.

 

5. Be you in the way you interact online – don’t try and be holy and perfect! Also think about what are you good at? How can you use that for God’s glory online?

Maybe you love walking on the Downs? So share some pics with the hashtag #GodsCreation or mention how creation brings you closer to God.

 

 

6. 6. Create opportunities for people to respond. Ask questions.

Eg: ‘just off to pray for friends and family, can I pray for you today?’

‘Loved church this morning, challenging and uplifting. If you ever want to come with me, let me know!’

And then make sure you respond if someone comments or replies!

 

 

7. Share your story. How is Jesus at work in your life? Can you share how you became a Christian (in short form – social media is not the place for an essay!) but also think about the every day, how has prayer helped you recently? Has a scripture really stood out to you today? The word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) so believe that it can work in people’s hearts – even online!

 

8. Always remember who you represent (goes for real life too!). None of us are perfect of course, but try and post with grace and humility. You might be the one Christian someone knows. Getting ranty or cross with someone on Facebook might not be entirely helpful, but being someone who brings a peaceful approach to difficult conversations can really have an impact.

Some good advice I received was: never post on social media, after 9pm, after an alcoholic drink, or when at emotional extremes. All of these can affect your ability to post with reason and with love. Step away from the keyboard or turn off your phone, and come back to it another time.

 

9. Use images and videos, people love something to look at. Use your own or check out some of the Christian resources for image and video that are available. Using Facebook Live means it is automatically highlighted in your friends feeds, so why not be brave and do a quick live piece about why you are a Christian?! Videoing on a smart phone is really easy and super easy to share too.

 

10. Resources and hashtags

 

Hashtags help your posts to be seen by people interested in a particular topic so use an existing one like #LoveMyChurch or #TeamJesus and it will help people to see your posts more, or invent your own!

 

There are masses of resources to help you share your faith online too. For example, check out YesHeIs   (https://uk.yesheis.com/en/) Go Chatter Videos (https://gochattervideos.com)  and Speak Life to name just a few (https://speaklife.org.uk)

 

 

 

“Men simple in wit can be well built up to heavenly living by the reading and knowing of the old testament.

For in the beginning of Genesis they can know, how God made heaven and earth and all creatures out of nothing, and made man to his own image and likeness, and to have bliss in body and soul without end.” From Chapter 3 of Wycliffe’s prologue to the bible.

 

In the Sunday morning services at TRINITY we have been studying the book of Revelation. One thing that has been plainly obvious is that it is a book that is impossible to understand without a thorough grasp and knowledge of the Old Testament. In fact, one Old Testament scholar, JA Motyer would start his lectures by telling us to open our bibles and tear out the separating pages between the Old and New Testaments. There are 933 quotes and allusions to the Old Testament within the New Testament.

 

Many people’s idea of the God of the Old Testament is as a vengeful God of hell fire and the God of the New Testament as the gentle Jesus full of love, this just proves they have never really read or understood the bible at all.  If you do a bible search for “hell fire” you only get three hits; all in the gospels, from the mouth of Jesus. As Christians we aspire to love and grow more like Jesus as we live our Christian lives. So how do get to know love and understand Yahweh (Jehovah), the great I am of the old testament. As always Jesus is a good starting point. Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the father. John 14:9

 

In the Old Testament, we see the Fathers heart in the tender love that Yahweh has for the people that He has called, even when they are continually sinning and turning away to other gods. He sends His prophets to call them back, only if they refuse to repent, and turn back to Him are they finally sent into exile so they can learn that total love and dependence on Him is the only way to live. This is particularly seen in books like Hosea: Hosea 2 and Isaiah: Isaiah 40.

 

So how do we get into the enormous body of writings of the Bible? One good place to start is the Daily bible Readings that we are following as a community at TRINITY. They also have a section where you can read through the bible in a year, reading two chapters on the old testament and one of the new. This is a tremendous way of getting a feel for the whole bible and how the books relate to each other.

 

At New wine this year I discovered a new way, that is using Bible hub. This is a tremendous resource, for instance, look up Micah 6:8 click on Interlinear and you find some key old testament words “hesed” (meaning: covenant love, mercy and kindness) and “Mishpat” (meaning justice and right standing before God), click on the words and you get a concordance with a link to every other occurrence of these words.

 

Remember that when Paul said that all scripture is inspired by God 2 Timothy 3:16 he was talking about his bible!

Eleven of us met at Church End, and set off for southLondon,in a minibus, ably driven by David Melville. 

We arrived at Wolf Fields, a three-acre site which was once a rubbish dump, a wasteland and a drug den, and is now a nature reserve, owned and managed by A Rocha, in Southall..  We had an introductory talk from Kailean Khongsai, next to the shipping container, which stores tools and equipment for maintenance of the area, with a mural painted by local children. 

 

David showed us around the area, which includes a community allotment,which is fully organic and produces food all year round, a community orchard, which will contain more than 30 different native varieties of fruit trees and bushes.  Some people did some planting in the sensory garden, which was designed by a seven-year-old child from a local school, and a volunteer landscaper from the Eden Project did a drawing from the design.  It has been planted in the shape of a five-petal flower, to celebrate each of the senses.

 

We had a delicious Indian meal in the Wolf Lounge, a pub next to Wolf’s Field.  It was run by a group of very friendly Indians and West Indians (it has had good reviews on Trip Advisor!). This was an excellent accompaniment to the Royal wedding, going out live on the TV, which included our very own Karen Gibson conducting the Kingdom Choir!,

 

After lunch, we visited a Sikh temple, which was opened by HRH Prince Charles in 2003.  It is a very large building – it can seat up to 3,000 worshippers in the main hall, and a multi-activity hall  (seating up to 1000 worshippers).  The women went in one door, and the men in another.  We donned headscarves, took our shoes off and washed our hands.  We walked up to the top floor of the temple, while a woman behind a glass partition read scripture.  Back on the ground floor, we had some milky chai tea.  Other people were sitting on the ground, eating from plates.  I caught one lady’s eye, and she offered me some of her food!  The place had a very restful atmosphere.

 

Our next port of call was Minet Country Park, a 90-acre site (30 times the size of Wolf’s Field!).  It was opened to the public in 2003, and it contains a cycle circuit, a playground, picnic sites, grasslands, ponds and wildlife areas – very much cherished by the local community.  David described the “Bear Hunt” he does with four-year-olds from a local school (from the well-known story “We’re going on a bear hunt”)! There were many lovely paths and trees – we could have been deep in the countryside, especially as it was a particularly warm and sunny day.

 

 

A small group of us from TRINITY recently made a trip to Rwanda.

We were looking at water harvesting projects and visiting various potential recipients. We also went to monitor a micro finance project.

 

The thing that really stands out for me is the warmth of welcome that we always receive and the depth of friendship with anyone we have met before. The great gift which we are always given is that of welcome into their community.

 

What was really noticeable on this occasion was that the poorer the community in material wealth the more generous was the welcome and hospitality. While in the West there is the cult of the individual in Rwanda life is lived in community.

 

How do we form Christian community? It is a group of loving individuals mirroring the mutual self-abasing love which is expressed between the persons of the Trinity. We see this perfectly expressed in the person of Jesus and His relationship with His Father and the Spirit. Our Christian relationships should have the same mindset as Jesus; Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, Phil 2:6-7.

 

When we become Christians, we are united with Christ in His death and resurrection so we are all adopted into the body and family of Christ. As we submit our wills to the gentle wind of the Spirit blowing into our lives we are slowly changed into the likeness of Christ.  We learn to walk in love with one another just as Christ loved us. We submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. As we advance in our walk with Christ we learn that we must become lower as He becomes higher, the road on which we walk is the Calvary Rd, as we are reminded in a little book by Roy Hession with that title.

 

The Christian community should be made up of individuals all submitted to Christ and submitted to each other in mutual love. As we are all sinful individuals then this only becomes possible through mutual confession and forgiveness. As we eat our communion meal regularly together we are reminded of the completed work of Jesus in dying and rising for us, and His action in washing His disciples’ feet, that we are able to wash one another’s feet. This is the miracle of the love we should show for each other that we have been learning about in 1 John

 

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:16

You say; I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing, not realising that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. REV 3:17

We live in a society where we are bombarded every moment of the day with subtle often unnoticed inducements to buy stuff. Our every whim and desire can be purchased with a few key strokes of our computers without us even venturing from our armchairs. Our lives are spent earning enough money to buy everything we feel we need.

 

Our idols are our possessions and our pride in them; also, our need for endless connections on social media.

 

The question we must ask ourselves is where is our first love? Do we spend more time in front of a screen than we do in prayer, worship and bible study?

 

Recently we have been studying the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation.

 

Each letter highlights the good points and the often-hidden problem areas which characterises each church, I think the largely unrecognised problem in the Western church is our reliance on wealth and not on the faithfulness of God.

 

What we forget is that any idol is of no use in eternity, Jeremiah wonderfully lampoons idols when he describes them as worthless as scarecrows in a cucumber field.

 

Jesus underlines this problem on the sermon on the mount when he tells us that we can either serve God or money. Matthew 6 19-24

 

The sad reality is that we no longer just own our possessions but they actually own us. For example, two lovers sitting across a candle-lit table and staring into their mobile phones instead of each other’s eyes.

 

Remember the story of the rich young man who wants to follow Jesus, only to go away sorrowful unable to fulfil Jesus’ request to sell all that he had and give to the poor. Jesus commentary on the story is another wonderful hyperbole. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven. Luke 18:18-30

 

So how do we avoid the traps of materialism which are very powerful always waiting to ensnare us?  For us it seems nigh impossible but as Jesus says with God everything is possible.

 

It can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives to help us to focus on the love of Jesus. All our desires have to be on Him, as the old hymn says,

 

” Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”

 

As many of us have found a trip to a third world country helps us to realise that money does not buy the wonderful blessings of a loving community and helps us to have compassion for the poor, and the evils of hoarding wealth for ourselves when so much could be done with our money to bring real benefits to the poor. Love of money will be replaced by compassion for the poor, as Scrooge discovered in the well-known Dickens tale.

 

So as Jesus says, let us store up treasures in heaven.

Last month as part of Thy Kingdom Come and the Diocesan Year of Prayer we were praying in our new prayer room at The TRINITY Centre, 24 hours a day for 4 days. It was wonderful to take the time out to seek God for those we love, for the town we love, and the world we love.

 

Then a chance conversation about prayer reminded me that prayer is so many different things to different people. Some time ago I was seeking God to help me write a preach on the theme of prayer and I was struggling to pull it all together so I just sat down and waited on God. These are the words that came.

 

Prayer

 

Prayer is a conversation.
not one way, but feels a lot like that sometimes.

 

Prayer is having Gods undivided attention. Not engaged, not on hold, not the 27th person in the queue, prayer is getting straight through when the line doesn’t even ring.

 

Prayer is solid, dependable, words on a page, liturgical, lyrical, it’s rhythmic, routine.

 

It’s out of kilter, out of line, stand up on the restaurant table and shout at the top of your voice.

 

Prayer is a weapon, a fighting tool… 
a comfort blanket, a hot water bottle, 

 

It’s rough and ready, its harsh, it’s loud angry shouting, 
it’s quiet and soft, whispering in the ear of a loved one, it’s gentle singing, it’s worshipping the most amazing wonderful person that one could ever even begin to imagine.

 

Prayer is being tucked up under the duvet, needing a fix to even move one toe out into the cold harsh world.

 

Prayer is a longing, a desire, an unquenchable fire burning within and unable to get out.

 

 

Prayer is in the mud, in the dirt, getting covered from head to toe, in the grime, in the gutter, a desperate plea, just a few words uttered,

 

help me.

 

Prayer is stepping out of those grubby clothes, in a warm bath, bubbles, rose petals, it’s soothing, it’s gentle, soaking. 

 

Prayer is the beautiful tune of a lover singing to their beloved.  
It’s the most intimate thoughts that we share with no one. It’s the things that shame us, the things that define us, the things that no other living soul knows.

 

Prayer is the most dramatic, fantastic, all consuming, loving welcome: come on in, this house is your house, kick back, enjoy…

 

 

Prayer is a child curled up on their dads lap, arms encircling, loving, blessing, soothing, warming.

 

Prayer is crying out together in defiance. in pain, in love, in desperation. It’s standing alongside each other, battling, warriors, in unison in our pain.

 

Prayer is angry, ‘what do you want from me’, where are you?, why have you forsaken me? 

 

Prayer is sobbing, streaming, making a scene, it’s unattractive.

 

Prayer is laughter, hysterical, screaming, uncontrollable, giggling.

 

It’s wailing, longing, seeking, needing, begging…

 

Prayer is indulgent, it’s selfish, self seeking, self-serving, 
It’s soaking, enjoying, drowning in love, like a depth of love you have never known

 

Prayer is burning desire, unquenchable, out of control.

 

It’s like breathing, like water, it’s daily bread.

 

Prayer is being at one. being at peace.  

 

Prayer is: encountering God.