Thank you so much to all of you who filled in the questionnaire or sent us your thoughts on how we open up TRINITY as we come out of restrictions. As you can imagine a huge amount of work, time, and prayer has gone into planning how we do this and it has been really helpful to have your thoughts. The Leadership Team and Church Wardens have sought to take on board hugely varied views and responses to the questionnaire, alongside balancing the resources we have available to lead and preach at services at this point, provision for youth and children’s work, and available volunteers. Having looked at all the key areas, we believe that the planned Sunday morning provision is the only viable way forward in the short term.
However these decisions are also not set in stone, or setting a precedent, and initially cover the period from September – December. We fully expect to be able to come further out of restrictions as time goes on, but we will also continue to monitor Government and Church of England guidance, as well as monitoring local conditions. We also expect that our new Rector (whenever that may be) will want to make decisions for themselves.
With all this in mind from Sunday 8 August these changes will take place:
At all locations:
- Masks – We ask you to continue wear a mask unless seated.
- Seat booking – will not be required, but we will keep QR codes at all locations for those who wish to check in.
- Socially distanced seating – there will be an area of socially distanced seating at all locations for those who would prefer to be more spaced out.
- Cards will also be available – indicating you wish to keep a seat empty next to you.
- Congregational singing – will be allowed at all services without masks.
Service Timing
- The BCP service will remain on Wednesday at 9am at Southover
- South Malling will revert to 9.30am
- The online service and Southover will remain at 10.30am
- The 4.30 at St John sub Castro will continue at this time on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month
- Youth and children’s work will remain at 10.30am, centralised at one site, and to be hosted at St John sub Castro from September
Phase 2/ From September onwards
- It was clear from the questionnaire that communion in two kinds and more frequent live sermons were important to many of you. We are still planning on how we might allow both of these to happen, logistically
- Refreshments and fellowship time will be allowed at all locations as soon as possible, but we will need a bit of time to rebuild rotas and in some cases find new volunteers.
- We will restart a Sunday morning service at St John sub Castro, at 10.30am
- We aim to transition from an online pre-recorded service to a live stream
Thank you for your grace and patience as we have grappled with these decisions.
With every blessings,
The TRINITY Leadership team & Church Wardens
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.
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.
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.
“Men simple in wit can be well built up to heavenly living by the reading and knowing of the old testament.
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: 
Eleven of us met at Church End, and set off for south
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.
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.
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 
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?
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.
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,
John Norris is an aspiring part time metal sculptor from Hurstpierpoint. He bought a welder in December 2018 and started tinkering in his spare time. He dreams of one day being able to make a full time career out of metal sculpting. The pieces on display at the Lewes Art Wave festival are still some of his very first creations!
Martina is an artist and theology student with a background in professional photography and this is her second time exhibiting at TRINITY. Her photographic work this year considers how experiencing the world through digital media has changed our perception of it, while her community sculpture project invites to look inward and explore themes of holiness and wholeness.
Sarah is an award-winning Illustrator, author and painter. With an illustration career spanning 18 years, Sarah has illustrated for many clients including Kew Gardens, IKEA and The Guardian. Her staple work comes from illustrating funny children’s books. Her latest book CHARLIE CHANGES INTO A CHICKEN is the best selling debut middle grade book of 2019.
Suzanne is a semi-abstract, contemporary landscape painter and a teacher. She is inspired by the land, sea and big skies. She paints in oils and mixed-media from memory and experience, and her work is developed using artistic intuition. She says ‘my greatest loves are atmospheric weather and fleeting light and this I try to capture in my work, through my own emotional response.
Jo Marks is a British figurative artist. Using graphic lines, her chalk and charcoal drawings are developed from a fascination with the human form.
Her unedited marks reflect the energy and urgency with which the subject was observed. Whether these marks are intuitively abstract or more true to life, they always express an authentic understanding of form.
While Jo tries to reflect this sense of dichotomy in her carefully balanced compositions, she also aims to ensure her work brings a sense of peace. “Knowing when to stop is a huge challenge, I never want to over-bake my pieces but instead reflect the joy with which they were made.”
Martina was struck by the stories of pain, suffering and incredible strength and integrity she discovered just among friends and family. All hidden behind the socially acceptable facade of: ‘I’m fine’.
For this series she has photographed women with a hidden illness or trauma. The women choose a flower, branch or other foliage to represent the fact that there is more to discover than can be seen on the outside. The choice of foliage or its positioning may reveal something about their illness or struggle and how it affects their relationships and identity.
Although I have been sculpting in clay for many years, it was as a mature student that I went to study ceramics at Falmouth College of Art. Returning to Sussex I set up my own studio producing figurative stoneware sculpture. Singers, dancers, performers, some written over with sonnets or songs, my work reflects my love of literature and my early career in the theatre. I constantly go back to basics, which for me is an endless exploration of the human form.
The theme of Communication for this exhibition is a broad one. Visibly, verbally and tangibly, art is the great communicator, giving us fresh insight into the human condition. I like the image in the bible of the body being the temple of the soul. I hope these quiet abstract nudes have a meditative quality - meditation being perhaps one of the purest forms of communication.
The other two figures were inspired by events in the life of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, but they are very modern tragedies. A Syrian refugee, her child in her arms and her possessions on her back, flees her country. A mother cradles her son after violence on a Hackney street. Only you, the viewer can say what, if anything they communicate, but if you have paused to look and wonder for a moment why these things happen, then thank you.
Suzanne Hennegrave is a semi-abstract, contemporary landscape painter and a teacher. She is inspired by the land, sea and big skies. She paints in oils and mixed-media from memory and experience and her work is developed using artistic intuition.
