Holy Trinity Church, Frome

Dear friends,
I write this as I am just about off to visit one of my sons in Texas.  God willing, by the time you read this I will be back among you all.  At the APCM last night (and if you weren’t there, you missed a great meeting!), I had the honour of presenting the report from the Searchlight Team concerned with ‘Care, Encouragement and Practical Help’.  At the end of the presentation, Mike Adams asked me something to the effect of ‘why so many folk in Trinity were interested in getting involved with that team?’  My reply did not fully reflect what was in my heart, so I wish to add the following personal perspective.

Without wishing to appear to put down any of the other Searchlight Teams, all of whom had valuable insights to help our church life, our team’s subjects are what all of us can easily identify with.  All of us need care – even carers, and we have a lot of good ones in Trinity.  All of us work better with a little encouragement, don’t we!  And most of us need some practical help, another pair of hands to assist us at times in our daily lives.  Whatever anyone else may say, which may be open to interpretation or disputed, and I can’t really speak for others, so let me tell what I have found.  God has led me to Trinity, and your love and care for me has kept me there. I am aware that my resources, both spiritual and physical, are limited.  With the help of the holy spirit working in me, I will become more loving, more caring, more encouraging, and more able to offer practical help to others in need.  But I am very well aware that I cannot do it on my own, we need each other!  The verses I quoted from John 13, 34 & 35 are a constant reminder to me – Jesus said, “A new command I give you.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

 
For me that means loving (caring or whatever you may call it), everyone whom I meet in my life, wherever I go.  It starts within the church, where that love is built up on faith, and the love I receive from God and you, just overflows out into the community around me.  If I am to show that love, and begin to care more, encourage more, and offer more practical help to those in need, I need that from you – we need each other don’t we?  Because God has showed his love for me in so many ways, often through my fellowship with you, I am just filled to overflowing with that.  As part of the body of Christ, his church, I hope I am becoming a little more like him every day.  I will always need your help to do that please.  

How about you?  Try sharing that difficulty you are having, or a little of that joy you feel, with someone else in Trinity.  I have begun to do so, and it is amazing how God is working through that.  Who knows I may even begin to share more with folk outside the church too?  Let the spirit flow!   

Wishing you all every blessing.

Don