2 December

Holy Communion

Rev Jon Salmon

8.00am

Advent 1

Advent Parade &
Toy Service & Baptism

Rev Jon Salmon & NCH

10.00am

Evening Worship

Terence Rowell

6.00pm

5 December

Nursery Service

2.00pm

9 December

Advent 2

Holy Communion & Healing

Rev Jon Salmon

10.00am

Evening Worship

David Wise

6.00pm

12 December

Nursery Service

2.00pm

16 December

Holy Communion

Rev Jon Salmon

8.00am

Advent 3

Family Worship

Rev Nina Mead

10.00am

Christingle Service

Rev Jon Salmon

4.00pm

19 December

Nursery Christmas Praise Party

2.00pm

23 December

Holy Communion

Rev Jon Salmon

10.00am

Advent 4

Junior Church Christmas Praise Party

10.15am

Carol Service

Rev Jon Salmon

6.00pm

24 December

Crib Service

Giles Murphy

4.00pm

Christmas Eve

Midnight Communion

Rev Jon Salmon

11.30pm

25 December

Christmas Day

Family Worship

Rev Jon Salmon

10.00am

30 December

Family Communion

Rev Nina Mead

10.00am

Please note that there is a Nursery Service every Wednesday during termtime.

A Time of Prayer:

Every Sunday, 9.30-9.45am, in the Crèche Room

WEEKLY PRAYERS:

9.45am Wednesdays (Communion 4th Wed)

JANUARY 2008

6 January

Holy Communion

Rev Jon Salmon

8.00am

Epiphany

Family Worship & Baptism

Rev Jon Salmon

10.00am

Evening Worship

Kate Robinson

6.00pm

9 January

Nursery Service

2.00pm

13 January

Covenant Sunday

Holy Communion, Healing & Covenant Service

Rev Jon Salmon

10.00am

Evening Worship

Local arrangement

6.00pm

16 January

Nursery Service

2.00pm

20 January

Holy Communion

Rev Jon Salmon

8.00am

Week of Prayer for

Family Worship

Rev Jon Salmon

10.00am

Christian Unity

CTEER Joint Service at Brookside Church

6.00pm

23 January

Nursery Service

2.00pm

27 January

Family Worship

Rev Jon Salmon

10.00am

Holy Communion

Local arrangement

6.00pm

30 January

Nursery Service

2.00pm

3 February

Holy Communion

Rev Jon Salmon

8.00am

Family Worship & Baptism

Rev Nina Mead

10.00am

Evening Worship

Local arrangement

6.00pm

6 February

Nursery Service

2.00pm

Please note that there is a Nursery Service every Wednesday during termtime.

A Time of Prayer:

Every Sunday, 9.30-9.45am, in the Crèche Room

WEEKLY PRAYERS:

9.45am Wednesdays (Communion 4th Wed)

Minister’s Letter

Well, it’s Christmas time again, and then another new year will get underway. What a weird time of year but what a fab time of year too. I love Christmas but I do understand that, for some, it can be a tough time, and often very lonely. However Christmas may have treated you in the past, I want to encourage us all to focus on what Christmas is really celebrating. It’s uncanny how this seems to get increasingly lost in our post modern, commercialised and supposedly more even-handed approach to life. A think tank has recently said Christmas should be down-graded to ensure equal recognition to minority cultures and traditions. When we lived in Bradford , the City Council were reluctant to allow a large “Happy Christmas” banner to be put up on City Hall. I don’t know whether it’s similar in Reading . The interesting thing was that Muslim leaders encouraged the Christians in Bradford to stand up for their faith – if it’s worth believing in, it’s worth standing up for. Even handedness is right and proper but surely, when three out of four employers in 2006 didn’t put up Christmas decorations in the work place in case they offended staff of other cultures, something is wrong.

Generally speaking, there seems to be no shortage of Christmas decorations inside and increasingly on the outside of homes, buildings and shops. But I can’t say I see Jesus featuring to any great extent – in fact rarely, if ever. So, at Trinity this year, can we continue to play our part in putting Jesus back into Christmas? We’ve got our usual menu of events which are being advertised and which Jo and I are looking forward to. I hope you come along to as many events as possible and bring friends and family if you can. I hope we can have loads of fun and really celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Thanks in advance to all of you who do come and to all who put in lots of work to make everything happen. And then, as individuals, let’s enter into the Christmas spirit but let’s stand against the denigration of Christmas in prayer and, where possible, in action.

Before we know it, Christmas will be behind us, we’ll be grimacing as we board the scales and begin planning our diets, and 2008 will be a reality. 2008 is going to be an exciting year of stepping out in faith to see where the Lord wants to take us. Although we’re tweaking the final snags with the building project, we can get on with working out how to reach out into the community. Our new membership cards will have on them the following verse from 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline”. What does this mean for us at Trinity and what might our vision for the future look like? We’ll start to get stuck into this in 2008. Please be praying now that we can really hear God and then be prepared to follow.

Just a final couple of practical things. Firstly, we’re taking seriously which orientation works most effectively in the sanctuary. The feedback since the Open Weekend about the alternative orientation has been pretty positive. There are some practical implications if we want to go for that one, so we’re working on the way forward. And secondly, we’re not planning to leave the chapel open to the public because few people would just come in. However, we’re wanting to explore putting on some activities/exhibitions…. each with a Christian theme or focus. A photographic exhibition has been suggested, for instance. If you have ideas, please do let me know.

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRIST-FILLED CHRISTMAS AND THEN A FABULOUS CHRIST-FILLED 2008.

Every blessing.

Jon

“Why do the chairs keep moving around?!”

Having the main entrance in a corner of the church means that we now have a choice over where the back of the sanctuary should be. So, since the Open Weekend, we have been trying a few variations and are working on finding the arrangement that feels and works the best. Although the seats are currently not very different to the old arrangement, we haven’t finished experimenting yet!

If and when we think a long-term substantial change would be good, Church Meeting will be asked to decide. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the unpredictability(!) but please tell us (ministers and stewards) what you think.

Richard Cocks

Churchwarden/Senior Steward

Christmas Offerings

The Bethany Children’s Trust

March 2007 saw the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Many people from Trinity joined with other local churches at Park URC to help mark the occasion and hear the director of The Bethany Children’s Trust speak. She told how there are more people held in slavery today than there were 200 years ago. An estimated 8.4 million children are in slavery, direct trafficking, debt bondage, forced armed conflict, prostitution and pornography.

To mark this bicentenary year, it has been decided to give this year’s Christmas offerings to The Bethany Children’s Trust, to help with their work in trying to eradicate modern day slavery. Below are a few brief details of two of the projects with which the trust is working.

Global Care works with communities in northern Uganda who have been traumatised by the rebel group Lord's Resistance Army - many children have been abducted and forced to be child soldiers or sex slaves. Others have siblings who have been abducted. A number of children have been released or managed to escape and Global Care are helping them, their families and communities to rebuild their lives.

Vinodi supports children living in extreme poverty - some live in family contexts and some live on the streets. Children on the streets are very vulnerable to being enticed or forced into the sex trade or into forced labour. There have also been cases of desperately poor parents sending young children away to another city to live with relatives, but the children being used for domestic labour by these relatives. So, Vinodi is also dealing with situations of 'modern day slavery'.

We are hoping to have a 20 minute DVD highlighting other aspects of the Trust’s work and, if anyone would like to borrow it, please see Barbara Carrick.

December Church Meeting

The December Church Meeting will be held on Monday 10December at Trinity Church at 8.00pm. The formal agenda is included below. If any church member wishes to include other business in the meeting, they should notify the Church Secretary as soon as possible (preferably by email).

Children and Young People

The main focus of the meeting will be on our work with children and young people, and the meeting will receive short presentations about the work at Trinity of Junior Church, Pilots, Boys’ Brigade and Earley Youth Net.

Communion Proposal

A formal proposal that, in future, the invitation to join in communion shall include everyone, with no age restrictions, will be considered at the Church Meeting. Church Council have approved the form of the proposal, which is included in full in this magazine.

Vacancies

There are ongoing vacancies for Church Stewards and for representatives to the Deanery Synod. Nominations should be made to the Church Secretary.

The following appointments have vacancies at this time, and anyone interested should talk with Roger Mead, Richard Cocks or Jon Salmon:

Pilot Captain

Worship Secretary

Assistant Treasurer

Christian Aid Representative

Organists’ Rota Co-ordinator

Finance Committee member

Roger Mead

Church Secretary

TRINITY CHURCH MEETING

MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2007

AGENDA

8.00 OPENING WORSHIP

8.10 MINUTES of LAST CHURCH MEETING (17 September)

MATTERS ARISING

8.15 ANY OTHER BUSINESS

8.20 ANNUAL REPORTS:

Junior