Hi everyone and happy new year.
I would just like to start this year by thanking everyone who contributed to making our Advent and Christmas season such a wonderful time. We had lots of great public events and celebrations, we filled our churches in fantastic public focused services and we showed true worship in loving and serving people in our local communities with practical help and generous gifts as well as raising funds for local and national charities. It felt like a real time of growth and deepening of the character of our churches.
This coming year we will be pushing more towards this idea of ‘going in peace to love and serve’ along with a renewed focus on prayer and understanding the Bible. To this end we will have our first prayer meeting of the year this Sunday 7th at 8pm in Holy Trinity Paulton. If you feel called to join us we will be praying for the work of God in our churches and communities as we continue to grow and reach out.
For those who recently completed the Alpha course, and anyone else who still finds the Bible a bit confusing to read or wants to dig into questions they have, we will have a monthly Bible study and question time starting on Tuesday 23rd of January at 7.30pm.
This Sunday will be the first of Epiphany and we will spend the month exploring a few of the big ideas of the faith that can fuel our ability to go out and love in the world, starting this week with the Holy Spirit.
All of our other groups will be back to normal this week and next so I hope to see you all around the place soon enough.
Sermon Audio
If you want to continue tracking with some of the sermon ideas as they develop I have included some more links to useful content that can help to keep us on the same 'wavelength'. This week, Tom Wright briefly explains the work of the Holy Spirit:
Understanding the Holy Spirit
Zagazoo
Advent Poems (Worship in the waiting)
Christian Philosophical Diagrams
What's the future of nudge?
Your Bias is...
Intro to Hegel (& Progressive Politics)
Rory Stewart Attempts to Explain the History of Israel-Palestine in 10 Minutes
Youversion Bible app
Turning Point: 9/11 and the war on terror
David dances
Politics on the Edge
The Status Game - Will Storr
There She Goes: 414
Into The Silent Land: The Practice of Contemplation [Paperback] by Martin Laird
NSQ: How Do You Deal With Big Life Changes?
End State by James Plunkett - 9 Ways society is broken and how we fix it
Best of IdeaCast: Escape Your Comfort ZoneThe Archbishop Interviews
The Archbishop Interviews
Black praise in white pews: When your church doesn't love you back
For You When I Am Gone - TWELVE ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO TELL A LIFE STORY - By Steve Leder
Maslow's 'Hierarchy of needs'
YANSS 232 – Think Again – Adam GrantDo You Have a Scarcity Mindset or an Abundance Mindset?
Is Economic Growth the Wrong Goal?
YANSS - What Do You Mean? - Celeste Kidd
PIMA - Rick Ruben's creative philosophy
Genesis 1.1-5, Acts 19.1-7 and Mark 1.4-11, Genesis 1.1-5, Acts 19.1-7 and Mark 1.4-11
See all below for all the other details of our groups and upcoming events.
Next Sunday we will be meeting at 9.30 in High Littleton and 11am at in Paulton
If you want to access resources in the meantime, we have a wealth of materials available.
You can use the YouTube link to get yourself tuned up and ready to sing with us on Sunday.
If you don't feel able to attend in person, we will continue to provide online worship options as well. The link to Twitch is at the bottom of this email.
Knit and Natter meet in the back room of Paulton church on the first Wednesday of each month from 2 to 4pm. The next meeting is on February 7th 2024.
Everyone is welcome to come along and join the group, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and a cake and have a good natter!
TGIF is on every Friday and Monday from 10am to 11.30am for coffee, cake, playtime and good chatting - you can find the latest details on Facebook here. (Not during the school holidays)
Morning prayer is taking place at 9.30am Wednesday in Paulton and Thursday in High Littleton. It begins with 15 minutes of quiet reflection, followed by Common Worship morning prayer.
The Church of England have updated their Morning Prayer APP. You can now listen to morning prayer from the app. I would encourage you all to take this up as a daily practice, it is a great way to grow a pattern of prayer and learn the rhythm of responses each day.
You can download the app here: https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/apps/daily-prayer
view the live service and re-watch previous services here: https://www.twitch.tv/holytrinitychurchpaulton
Every blessing to you all.
Adam
