Please
note that there is a Nursery Service every Wednesday during termtime.
A
Time of Prayer: Every
Sunday, from 9.30am, in the Chapel,
before
the 10am service
WEEKLY
PRAYERS: 9.45am Wednesdays (Communion 4th Wed)
The Church Vestry is staffed on Saturdays between
9.30am and 11.00am.
If you would like to arrange a
Thanksgiving for the birth of a child,
a Baptism or a Marriage, or discuss
any pastoral matters, please come then,
or ring the Church Office on 0118 931 3124.
Jon’s day off is Friday.
You know how
frustrating it is when you get stuck behind a tractor on a winding road, or a
lorry you just can’t overtake. You’re
left following this vehicle for seemingly mile after mile.
There’s no choice but to follow, however good or bad you are at
dealing with how it makes you feel. You’re
stuck in its wake. Period.
We’re not, of course, forced to follow Jesus.
Rather, we’re invited to follow Him.
In John 10:3-4, we read, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads
them out… He goes ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know
his voice”. John Eldredge, in
his book “Walking with God”, says that taking up Jesus’ invitation to
follow him can lead to an intimacy with God which in turn means we can live
the kind of life God intended for us. Following
Jesus is NOTHING like being stuck behind that tractor on some windy road.
Rather, it is like the road opening up before you when you’re on that
big, powerful motorbike and you can just go …. You
simply yield to the speed and the exhilaration.
The thing is,
do we yield to Jesus? Do we follow
Him? Do we allow Him to lead?
Do we really know and believe in our hearts that He is going ahead of
us? Or, do we, in the busyness and
stress of our daily lives, keep control? What
about the details of our lives, the everyday events, the “in-between times”
as Eldredge calls them, when life is really being lived?
Do we make a conscious effort to follow Jesus then?
I believe God
is really challenging me at the moment about how I follow Jesus and how I can
better do this by becoming more intimate with Him.
I believe too that Jesus wants to challenge Trinity about this too –
as a church, and as individuals who come along.
At the recent Church Council Away Day at Douai Abbey, we spent some
time looking at discipleship and how Jesus encouraged his disciples and how
they followed Him. Can we learn
and become better followers? I
hope the current preaching “… And Me” series is being helpful at raising
some practical questions to help us apply our Christianity on a daily basis.
It’s encouraging too to hear that the mid-week groups are going
deeper with each other and supporting each other in all this.
How amazing to not only be a follower of Jesus, but to be really close
and intimate with Him?
At the Away
Day, we also spent a bit of time dreaming dreams for Trinity into the future.
It became clear that all the things we wanted to see happen require
time and effort – no surprise there. However,
we did take on board that we need to work out what our priorities are and that
this may mean taking some tough decisions at some point.
There are so many jobs and so many different activities but are they
the right jobs and right activities? It’ll
be interesting to see what develops over the next couple of years.
Of course, we all need to prioritise in our own lives.
If we’re following Jesus, what’s He saying about our individual
priorities? We need to ask Him and
encourage one another in this.
I’d like to
say a big THANK YOU to everyone who’s been involved in running recent
events. We had a great safari
supper, thank you Gemma and Joanna. Thanks
too to Andrew and his team for organising the Autumn Fayre and those involved
with the auction and Harvest Supper. And,
coming up, we have the Craft Fayre on 22 November.
I believe Joan and Karen are sorting this, so thank you in advance.
Apparently, we’re having a Dalek popping in – worth a visit!
Do come along and support this event.
Thanks too to the team who are operating the projector on Sundays.
I’m getting positive feedback which is good.
And whilst I’m flagging things up, our Christmas programme is just
about there, so do look out for this.
Please do pray
about the global financial crisis. And
do spare a prayer for Trinity’s finances.
As we’re budgeting, we’re seeing a good many essential costs on the
horizon.
Isaiah 50:4
says: “….He wakens me morning
by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”
Every
blessing,
Jon
As I wrote in the October magazine,
Fellowship Sunday Lunches are an opportunity for members of Trinity to get to
know one another better in an informal setting, while enjoying a meal
together. Joy and I hosted
the first lunch, and our group all commented not only on the meal, but on how
nice it was to have time to chat and relax together, how they enjoyed the
company and getting to know the other guests.
There were two other Fellowship Lunches
in October, hosted by Gordon & Joan Guile, and David & Jill Ramsden,
which I am sure will have received similar comments.
This month, there are three more Sundays
when you are invited to join a Fellowship Lunch:
16
November
Jill & David Ramsden
23
November
Gordon & Joan Guile
30
November
Phil & Joy Hooper
If you would like to have lunch on one of
these occasions, simply put your name on the list at the back of the church.
Normally, the invitation would be for four guests, with the occasional
possibility of five or six guests (eg if there is a family group, or a group
of friends).
Fellowship Sunday Lunches will not take
place during December, as it is such a busy month.
They will start again in the New Year, probably towards the end of
January, when hopefully we have recovered from the excesses of Christmas and
the New Year.
Phil Hooper
Church
Meeting – 8 December 2008
Why
not get more involved in the work of Trinity? If
you feel you would like to contribute more, please speak to the Church
Secretary (John Goddard) on goddard_john(at)hotmail.com. We are particularly
concerned to fill the following vacancies:
Property Group Member
Mission
Committee
Member
Office Equipment Supervisor
Boys’ Brigade Officer (Captain)*
*Leslie Bainton is currently the Captain
but would like to stand down but continue to provide assistance.
I would be glad to hear from anyone (male or female) who might consider
taking on this role. You need to
be at least 18 and keen to work with young people.
There is always a need for Sunday School
Teachers and Helpers. If you are
interested, please contact Sarah Moore. There
is also a continuing need for more leaders and helpers for Earley Youth Net.
If you might be interested, please contact me.
Members
holding the following posts may be elected for a further term of three years,
but you may seek appointment if you wish:
Church Treasurer
Communion Steward
Deanery Synod Representative
Churches Together in Earley and East
Reading Representative
If
you wish to seek election for any of the above posts could you please:
a)
Complete a
nomination form and place it in the Secretary’s Pigeonhole OR
b)
Send the
Secretary an email, copied to the 2 members nominating you OR
c)
Ring the
Church Secretary (John Goddard).
John Goddard
Church Secretary
Here are a few
more new books, with their subject codes:
Frost, R
Doing the right thing: 10
issues on which
Christians
may take a stand SOC
Etchells, R
Safer than a known way: personal prayers
PRA
Pritchard, J
Living Easter through the year
MED
Oakley, M
Readings for weddings
ANT
Bible
100-minute Bible: Large print edition
BIB
Druiff, P
When marriage breaks up
REL
Gunstone, J
Take heart: healing prayers …
PRA
And a reminder: Advent
is nearly upon us – yes, it’s that late! Some
people at Trinity like to follow a book of seasonal readings then. Among
the books in the MEDitation section are some books of readings not only on
Lent, but on Advent and Christmas too. Have
a browse.
Gaynor Davies
We
need more people to join the rota for giving people a lift to and from church
on a Sunday morning. If you think
you could help, please speak to John Goddard or email
goddard_john(at)hotmail.com.
On 27 September, around 26 members of the
church and other halves gathered for the Safari Supper.
For those readers who are unaware of how
a safari supper works and for future reference, when you sign up, you either
offer to host a starter or main course or to provide a pudding.
On the evening, at the starter and the main course there will typically
be the host couple and four guests. The
starter and main courses are hosted at different locations and each course
will have different hosts and different guests.
For the puddings, you all gather and get to meet up with all the people
who have been on the safari supper. Breaking
with tradition and trying something new this year, the puddings were in the
church hall.
The evening is a great way to get to know
and talk to people within the church community, especially as you are dining
with different people for the starter and main course.
On a personal level, having been a member of the church for 20 odd
years, it still provided me the opportunity to get to know people within the
church community and talk to people that I do not necessarily get to talk to
on a Sunday.
Both Joanna and I found that it was great
fun to organise and really enjoyed it. Finally,
we would like to thank all those who hosted either a starter or a main course
and for those of you who provided a lovely selection of puddings.
Gemma Keeley
“THE
SHACK“
by
Wm Paul Young
A
book recommendation
Where is God in a world so filled with
unbearable pain?
“The Shack” tells the story of how
one man accepts an invitation from God to meet with Him.
Filled with doubts, anger and the painful memories of the events
surrounding his daughter’s violent death, he goes to a shack in a remote
forest. There he confronts God
with his questions, fears and disappointments.
This
quickly became a book which I couldn’t put down.
“This
book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s
Progress’ did for his. It’s
that good” - Eugene Peterson
Buy
it for yourself or as a gift for a friend.
If you would like to know more about how
good this book is, please speak to Sarah Brayshaw or myself.
Margaret Evans
Administrator
Trinity
Nursery Service and Parent & Toddlers groups would be very grateful for
CDs of children’s songs to play during sessions. If
you have any you no longer need, please give them to one of the team leaders:
Ann Baker, Lisa Waite, Joan Guile or Jo Salmon or leave on Ann’s desk in the
photocopy room at Trinity.
Many
thanks!
Ann
Baker
It’s time again to put aside the
inhibitions and have some great fun singing for the Christmas services with
the singing group – back by popular demand I have to say!
This
is an early warning of key dates:
14
November: 8pm –
9pm practice
21
November: 8pm –
9pm practice
28
November: 8pm – 9pm
practice
5
December: 8pm
– 9pm practice
12
December: 8pm –
9pm practice
13
December Phil
& Joy Hooper’s Christmas evening
(timings to be confirmed)
19
December: 8pm –
9pm practice
21
December: 6pm –
Carol Service (warm up 5.30pm)
24
December: 11.30pm
– Midnight Christmas service (warm up 11pm)
All practices, unless otherwise stated,
will be in the main church.
As before, it would be great to have as
many people as possible for this. We
are going to be singing some great music. As
always, I encourage people to attend as many of the practices as possible. If
you have a problem with any of the practices, just let me know and we’ll see
what we can do. Again, if you can’t
make all the performances, that is not a fundamental problem. Just
let me know asap, so I can plan for it.
The best way to contact me is by email: andrew.rixon(at)microsoft.com
All comers welcome. No
ability to read music required.
Thanks, and I am looking forward to
seeing you for the first practice on Friday 14 November.
Regards.
Andrew Rixon
10.00am
Sunday 30 November
at
Trinity
Church
This will be a parade service as usual, which means
that only the under 7s go out to
Junior
Church
.
Elaine Allan from Action for Children’s Margaret
Wells-Furby Resource Centre (Bracknell) will be speaking on the work of the
centre.
This is where our toys will be going this year.
If you would like to donate a toy, it should be new,
suitable for under 5s and unwrapped.
Saturday
13 December 10am to 11am
Trinity Church Hall
Help needed to assemble Christingle oranges for the
service on Sunday 14 December.
Fun
for all ages!
More information from Kay Slack:
trinity.magazine(at)ntlworld.com
Those
interested in how we are going to try and reduce the damage we are doing to
God’s world will be excited to know that Reading University is investigating
the setting up of a wind farm within a mile of Trinity, just south of the
motorway. If you want to know
more, there will be an exhibition at the Crescent on 14 November, 2pm to 8pm,
and there’s a website, of course: www.rushy-mead.co.uk.
Richard Cocks
Thursdays from 2.00pm until 3.30pm Trinity Church Hall
Everyone
welcome.
Autumn Programme 2008
6
November Travels
in
Australia
-
Peter Harms
no jet lag for us!
13
November Chocolates
continental
Bob Whelpton
Delicious Gifts!
20
November The
Pre-Raphaelite Painters
John Brearley
a welcome return of
this excellent speaker & historian
27
November The
British Newspaper Library -
Tony Weston
the amazing time capsule everyone
can freely visit
4
December Christmas
Lunch
11
December Christmas
Entertainment
Phil & Joy Hooper
18
December Christmas
Praise
Jon Salmon
Graham Iles
Restarts 8 January 2009
Contact Rosemary Reece for more
details.
Youth
Net is for anyone aged between 11 to 18. It
is a chance to explore Christianity and what it means to you.
We
meet on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month from 7.15pm to 9.00pm. A
typical evening involves games, worship and small groups to explore the theme
of the evening in more depth.
For
more info, talk to Mike Bushnell, Martin Carrick or Bethan Jones.
AUTUMN MEETINGS:
12.11
Revelation 3:
Heaven and Hell
26.11
Drugs
10.12
Relationships
17.12
Rock
and Roll (SOS and talk)
"let
us not give up the habit of meeting together as some are doing"
(Hebrew 10:25)
We meet
each Wednesday at 8pm at
42 Clevedon Drive
.
We are
currently following Jon’s teaching material:
The “...
and Me” Series
For
further information, contact Christine and Robert.
The
Nursery Service at Trinity Church
begins
at 2pm and finishes around 3pm every Wednesday during the school term.
Dates:
5,
12, 19 & 26 November
3
& 10 December
Christmas
Praise Party: 17 December
For
further information, call Ann or Trinity Church Office on 0118 931 3124.
ETC
Thursday
evenings 8pm in the Chapel at Trinity
For
more details or for special events, please contact:
Gemma
Keeley or Laura Brannelly
Email:
etc.trinity(at)yahoo.co.uk
Prayer
& Praise
will
be held in the chapel for
a time of prayer, reflective praise and worship songs
Monday
10 November
Monday
24 November
at
8pm
ALL WELCOME.
Saturday
29 November Morning walk with pub lunch
led
by Kath & Mick Bedborough
Meet
at Trinity at 10am.
trading
for a fairer world
You
are invited to an
Open
House Day
at
5 Chetwode Close, Wokingham, RG40 2LL
on
FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER
any
time between 9.00am and 9.00pm.
On
sale will be:
fairly
traded crafts and jewellery;
foods,
teas and coffees;
recycled
paper products and
Christmas
cards, wrap and calendars.
Come
and support producers from
Bangladesh
to
Zambia
!
EVERYONE
WELCOME –
drop
in any time.
Coffee
on the go all day.
Bring
a friend.
Pam
Thompson
Saturday
22 November
1.00pm
to 4.00pm
£1
adult entrance fee
(Kids
free)
Trinity
Church
,
Lower Earley
Thomas
Tusser (1524 – 1580), English
author, poet, musician wrote…
“At
Christmas play and make good cheer,
For
Christmas comes but once a year."
Yes
it’s that time of year again, and we hope to get you into the Christmas
spirit, by “making good cheer” at yet another “Evening of Christmas
Readings and Music”. Once again,
the programme will contain some familiar and many new readings, all relating
to Christmas. Also performing
during the evening are the woodwind group “All Keyed Up”, and the Trinity
Singing Group. During the
interval, you can enjoy free mince pies and mulled juice.
While
the alterations and additions to Trinity have been completed, there is still a
need for further improvements to the church which were not covered by the
Building Fund. So, this year,
money raised will be used for these improvements.
This
event has no expenses, and all contributions go to the church.
So buy a ticket and make good cheer.
You could also provide some mince pies on the night or donate a quality
raffle prize. If you cannot come,
why not buy a ticket for a friend and give them some good cheer?
Phil
Hooper
An
Evening of Christmas Readings & Music
at
Trinity
Church
on
Saturday
13 December 2008 at 7.00pm
Festive
Refreshments will be served during the interval and there is a Raffle
Contributions
of £5.00 for adults & £2.00 children to Trinity Church
Tickets
will be on sale at Church Services.
Leading Worship
A
worship leader course is being held early in the New Year, beginning on Monday 2 February for approximately seven weeks. This
is open to all.
Contact
Sue Rowell for more information.
Thursday Afternoon Group
Christmas Craft Session
Thursday
6 November 1.30pm – 3pm at
19 Instow Road
. The Thursday Afternoon Small
Group invite you to join them – Cathy MacLennan will be guiding us in this
Christmas Craft session. All
welcome. All ages.
There will be toys for toddlers.
Ring
Vronwyn.
Prisons
Week
Prisons
Week is 16 – 22 November
2008. It was formed to pray
for and raise awareness of the needs of prisoners and their families, victims
of offenders, prison staff and all those who care. It
consists of representatives of Christian denominations and Christian
organisations. A special leaflet
has been designed with specific daily prayers.
For more information, contact Dave Little at Reading Prison on the
Prisons Week website: www.prisonsweek.org
Special
Kids, Special Needs
SSKIP
(Supporting Special Kids in Prayer) will be meeting on the last Monday of each
month at varied locations. Find
information, support and prayer at these meetings. Please
contact Karen Porter sandkporter(at)btinternet.com for details.
"Happiness & Economics: A Buddhist
Perspective"
Lunchtime
lecture by Dr Colin Ash, hosted by the Chaplaincy.
Tuesday 11 November, Palmer G01, 1pm.
Lunch provided.
Dr
Ash is a Senior Visiting Fellow in the
School
of
Economics
at
Reading
and a practising Buddhist. He will be discussing the relationship between
economics, religious belief and happiness.
"Faith in the Law? Beth
Din Courts & Sharia Law"
Lunchtime
lecture by Rabbi Alex Goldberg, hosted by the Chaplaincy.
Thursday 27 November, Palmer 105, 1pm.
Lunch provided.
Rabbi
Goldberg is Chaplain at the
University
of
Surrey
and Chief Executive of the London Jewish Forum. He
was called to the Bar in 2001 and was formerly the Community Issues Director
at the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Senior Policy Officer on Race
Relations at the Commission for Racial Equality.
Contact
for all of these: Rev Mark
Laynesmith, Anglican Chaplain, chaplaincy(at)reading.ac.uk. All
are free and open to all.
Baptisms
In
September:
Oliver
Alan, son of Claire & Jonathan Worth
In
October:
Joseph
Philip, son of Janette & Michael Bushnell
Kerry
Lindsay, daughter of Jill & Adam Davidson
Autumn
Grace, daughter of Jacqueline & Martin Pluves
Best
wishes
to
Emily Travers, who is moving to
Gillingham
to start a new job.
In
memoriam
Florence
Semper of
Liberty
of Earley.
Florence
was 89 and was a regular member of the monthly Holy Communion service at
Liberty
.
Florence
’s
funeral is on 28 November.
Kath
Codling's memorial service is at Trinity on 13 November at 11am.
Please pray for
·
Beryl Vest, who is currently in hospital.
·
Gordon Tucker, who has been having some medical
treatment.
·
All who are ill, disabled or in pain.
·
People with money worries.
·
People who are looking for work.
·
All those who have been bereaved recently.
·
People living in fear and those in dangerous
situations.
·
Those people starting new jobs.
·
People who are moving to a new area.
Please
pray this month for those who live and work in these parts of our parish:
Area
C
