Welcome to Holy Trinity

Facing our fearsPosted: 3rd February 2012

Dear friends

Welcome to our special service today for ‘Education Sunday’. It strikes me that part of the process of education is to help us develop confidence in our abilities so that we can reach our full potential. ‘Fear’ in one form or another can often be the obstacle. But by offering support and gentle encouragement we can be helped to grow through our fears so that they no longer inhibit us.

Texan Pastor and radio personality, Ed Young writes in his book, ‘Know Fear’, ‘Fear is an unavoidable part of the human experience. Anxiety, fear and phobia threaten to encompass us…Because we are taught that it is weak to show fear, that cowards are despised, and that being a hero knows... CONTINUE READING

January 2012Posted: 6th January 2012

Dear friends

May I begin by wishing you and those you love much joy and peace in this New Year. There has been much to celebrate and rejoice in during the Christmas season. A big thank you to all who contributed in so many ways to the ministry of this church as together we declared the Good News of a Saviour’s birth. There were so many wonderful worship opportunities, so many guests, so many parents and children from the local schools. Thank you too to all those who gave up their Christmas Day to join the Churches Together team in providing a Christmas lunch to those on their own and those who participated in the Christmas lunch for the elderly last Thursday. 

The sacrificial... CONTINUE READING

Jesus, the gift of HopePosted: 23rd December 2011

Dear friends 

Welcome to our family celebration on this Christmas Day as we rejoice at the wonderful news of a Saviour’s birth, and worship together with joy and thanksgiving for all that this means to us and to all people. 

It’s a message that will ring out from the heart of our capital city and in particular, St Paul’s Cathedral, which has become in recent months the location of a campsite and a focal point for media attention. Whatever you make of the camp or the protests of the organisers, there’s something wonderfully symbolic about it as people gather at the doors of the church to express their concerns, their fears and their anger. 

We’re living in days of extraordinary... CONTINUE READING

Celebrating what God has donePosted: 2nd December 2011

Dear friends 

Today we celebrate the re-opening of the balcony following the project to re-order it which began last year with the Gift Day. After endless consultations with various ‘interested parties’ permission was finally granted by the Diocese and the work commenced in October with the removal of the original pews. We give glory to God who alone has enabled us with His provision to undertake these two substantial projects this year: the new boiler and improved heating system and more usable space in the balcony.  I would like to extend my thanks to all of you who have given sacrificially to enable this work to proceed, to the Church Wardens for their oversight and to the small... CONTINUE READING

TransformationalPosted: 28th October 2011

Dear friends 

Victor Hugo wrote: ‘The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved’. Love has the power to change us. Love motivates, compels, energises and empowers. It inspires others to sacrifice self interest in the pursuit of a greater good. 

On our recent visit to Uganda, we were inspired by all that Jenny has achieved with her vision to see the lives of babies saved through the ministry of the Potter’s village. We also met others serving the people of Uganda, including one lady in her 70s. We were struck by some of the stories they shared of the lives they live. It was clear to us that their service involved a considerable cost to them in comfort, security,... CONTINUE READING

'Keep taking the Medicine'Posted: 30th September 2011

Dear friends

‘This pain started twelve years ago. After joining the Royal Marines it became extremely bad. I had seen the top physiotherapist in the Armed Forces but with no successful result. The cartilage below the knee cap was completely gone. Hence, there was bone on bone and that was very painful. This injury has caused a massive set back in my life. Last year was the worst when the ligaments and the tendons were torn and the knee cap went in a 45 degree angle. It has been a long and painful journey. I could not sit or stand for long. 

Cut a long story short, I decided to try God and try Alpha. I got back from the Alpha weekend and I heard people testifying and I was... CONTINUE READING

Posted: 1st September 2011

Dear friends

‘God is more interested in our character than our comfort’ is a phrase I picked up recently and which I believe helps us understand who God is and why we sometimes wrestle with unresolved issues. 

A story is told of a farmer who placed a weather vane inscribed with the words ‘God is Love’ on top of his barn. One day a traveller stopped by the farm and watched the weather vane moving with the breeze. Then with a smirk on his face, he asked, ‘Do you mean to say that your God is as changeable as the wind?’ The farmer shook his head and replied; ‘No. What I mean to say is that no matter which way the wind blows, God is Love’. 

We know that the experience of living... CONTINUE READING

Posted: 5th August 2011

As I write this today, the newspaper headlines report the tragic death of 27 year old Amy Winehouse, after a suspected drink and drugs binge. The popular singer who has spent years battling heroin and alcohol addiction was found collapsed in her flat in north London. On the next page of the newspaper in a two page spread is the story of former Eastenders star, Daniella Westbrook. The headlines read: ‘I used to worship Gucci and Prada....now I’ve given my life to God’. Daniella recounts how the drug, cocaine, nearly destroyed her life, costing her approximately £250,000 and leaving a gaping hole in her nose requiring reconstructive surgery. 

‘Ten years ago, her idea of a good night... CONTINUE READING

Prayer changes thingsPosted: 1st July 2011

John Humphries, the television newsreader describes himself as a ‘failed atheist’. Long after he left the church he grew up in, he writes, ‘I continued to pray. I prayed every single night without fail for half a century…The problem was that I had absolutely no notion of the God to whom I was supposed to be praying, nor for that matter, why I was praying.’ Surveys have shown that three quarters of the population of sceptical, secular Britain admit to praying at least once a week. In fact prayer is regaining popularity in our very modern post-Christian society in the West.

At the recent Armed Forces Day service I spoke on Prayer beginning with the often quoted statement: ‘there are... CONTINUE READING

Contentment and Peace in Times of TroublePosted: 3rd June 2011

Dear friends 

When World War II erupted, Corrie Ten Boom and her sister, Betsie, middle aged Christian women in Holland, resolved to conceal fleeing Jewish people from the Nazi’s. They saved many. But they were ultimately arrested and taken to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Betsie died, but Corrie miraculously survived to witness to the way God can save, heal and forgive. Their experience in the concentration camp contending with fleas, hunger and hardship served to test their faith and confidence in God. Trying to learn the secret of being content, as St Paul describes it (Philippians 4:12), even in those dreadful circumstances was not easy. Yet despite everything they knew God’s... CONTINUE READING

New Life, New HopePosted: 28th April 2011

Dear friends

 Nicky Gumbel tells the story of a member of his congregation at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton who worked in the library of a national newspaper.  This newspaper kept files of old newspaper cuttings about every well known person. The files were kept in rows of long shelves and separated into ‘living people’ and ‘dead people’.  

One day, the young man was looking through the files of dead people and came across a large file marked ‘Jesus Christ’. He glanced over his shoulder to check that no one was looking and immediately moved the file from the ‘dead people’ section to the ‘living people’ section. Jesus Christ is alive. He is risen from the dead. His file was in the... CONTINUE READING

Vicar's Report - Annual Parochial Church Meeting 7/04/11Posted: 11th April 2011

‘Loyalty, Love and Faithfulness’

In 2007 a group of South Korean missionaries were captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. They were terrified. There were twenty three of them at the start – the Taliban separated them, isolated them, and confiscated everything. One of the Korean women managed to hold on to her Bible. She ripped it into twenty-three pieces and gave each of them a portion of the Scriptures so that wherever they were they could always read a portion of scripture when no one was watching.  They knew the Taliban had decided to kill them, one at a time. One at a time the missionaries surrendered their lives again to Jesus saying, ‘Lord, if you want me to die for your sake... CONTINUE READING

Does God Care?Posted: 1st April 2011

Tsunamis in Japan, earthquakes in New Zealand, civil war in Libya – is there no end to the unremitting news of disaster and tragedy? It seems as though the world bounces from one crisis to another (remember Haiti?) with yet more images on our TV screens of the effect on traumatised families. Where is God in all this? Does he even care? These might be questions we ask ourselves when we experience suffering, tragedy and loss in our own lives.  The pain of heart break and bereavement is real and affects us deeply. The question is often voiced out of a sense of anger and frustration that life is not as orderly and ‘safe’ as we would like it to be. We believe it to be our right to enjoy a way... CONTINUE READING

Imitators of GodPosted: 1st April 2011

It is said that over time dogs and their owners strike up a remarkable resemblance! Children too grow up not only with the physical likeness of their parents but they also imitate them. A child will watch, observe and copy what their parent does or says and so imitate their behaviour and habits for good or for ill.

The apostle Paul writes, ‘Be imitators of God’ (Ephesians 5:1) having spelled out what it might mean to look like Jesus, ‘and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’. To imitate God is to live a life of love. Jesus Christ set the supreme example of love by giving up his life for us. It is from the cross... CONTINUE READING

Real CommunionPosted: 25th February 2011

 Vicar’s Letter - March

‘Imitators of God’ 

Dear friends

It is said that over time dogs and their owners strike up a remarkable resemblance!

Children too grow up not only with the physical likeness of their parents but they also imitate them. A child will watch, observe and copy what their parent does or says and so imitate their behaviour and habits for good or for ill.

The apostle Paul writes, ‘Be imitators of God’ (Ephesians 5:1) having spelled out what it might mean to look like Jesus, ‘and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’. To imitate God is to live a life of love. Jesus Christ set the supreme... CONTINUE READING

Just 10Posted: 4th February 2011

Thousands of years ago, God revealed the framework for life as it should be. Simple values for daily living that provide the foundations of our laws and principles. Despite the surge of secular values threatening to wash away the historic links between Christianity and culture, one of the few bridges remaining above the floodwaters is that of the Ten Commandments. Although most people would struggle to name more than two or three of them, they know they exist and probably deep down think that they are generally good for the well ordering of society. Furthermore, there may be a recognition that the Ten Commandments gave previous generations a moral certainty that our own age so... CONTINUE READING