Soup Kitchen

This morning the service was led by Revd. John Rowland (Kennington) with a talk by Mrs Smith from the Oxford Soup Kitchen.

About 20 years ago Mrs Smith saw a bright light, rather like Saint Paul. Out of the light she saw a man with with tattoes on his face, picking bits from the rubbish bin. She asked 'Lord what can I do' and she heard a voice or idea say 'Soup Kitchen' and so for 20 years she has run a soup kitchen for people who have nobody else to turn, those who society has given up on.

The John Rowland spoke powerfully on Costly Grace, quoting the bible and Dietrich Bonhoeffer ...

talk to Jesus

A very simple message today at church. All you have to do is believe. And what does it mean to believe. It means to wake up and talk with Jesus. It means through the day to talk with Jesus. It means at the end of the day to talk wth Jesus. Know that he is with you and share your life with him. He has loved you. He has saved you. Just believe.

Marthas Lot

Last Sunday Reverend Richard spoke on Work. He has been renovating the old chapel in Steventon and researching days long gone by, days in the early to mid 1900s when work was 7 days a week, and maybe 7am - 9pm, and for children too. Only in Victorian times did Sunday get set apart as a day of rest. So none of that was very Christian even though based on the Christian work effort.

Richard looked for examples of what Jesus said about work. The only one I recall now is that of Mary and Martha. Martha working hard. Mary sitting at Jesus feet. Martha complaining that her sister was not helping with all the many things to do. And Jesus saying Mary had chosen the better lot... I am such a Martha who tries and tries too hard but usually misses the big picture.

New Boilers

A pair of high efficiency condensing boilers are being installed. We will be warm again soon. It’s a hefty bill (>£30,000) which draws on our reserves.

Condemned Boiler and Connected Funerals

The term ‘the heat’s off’ is usually good news. Not so at Trinity. We now have to find someone to replace the heating system as the existing one has finally been condemned.

The funerals (in the cold, in the main) today were connected. By the time we’d got to the third funeral, it was obvious that all those who had died were connected - by friends and relatives. Perhaps the most poignant connection was that of Pauline Small (buried on Wednesday) and Joan Norton (buried earlier today); two close friends laid to rest only yards apart. Many turned up for both funerals.

One Song.

In his sermon, Revd Richard took us through our history from the first human descendents 1,000,000 years ago, to first language, to first abstract thought, to man creating gods like powerful versions of themselves controlling what man could not control, to One God, to Jesus teaching of a God of Love. The gaps between revolutions in thought get shorter and shorter. And the next revolution he said is to see all as one. One God: One Everything. One Universe - One Song.

The bible in five words

Revd Richard said that if the rest of the bible was lost that and these couple of verses were kept it would still be complete. And that he could end his sermon right at the beginning without saying any more because it has all been said in the few words of a couple of famous verses. Summed up those verses are... 'Love God. Everything else follows.'