Past, Present and Future
Saturday May 10th - the day of Trinity’s ‘Forty Years On’ finally dawns - after all the months of preparation and planning, this is it! And the weather is glorious - clear, blue skies and a forecast temperature of around 80F! After unlocking the church at 9 a.m. I go for my early morning 3 mile jog and notice some early arrivals setting up, as I trundle past Trinity.
By the time I return to the church around 2 o’clock, everything seem to be in place - although I do wonder about some young local residents, who appear to have stationed themselves on chairs and tables under the trees, where some of the outdoor games are scheduled to take place. However, all is well, as they are only waiting for other friends and all move off, before we get properly started.
The afternoon turns out to be a great success - crowds of people, indoors and out and every ‘attraction’ attracts. The final gathering in the church at 5 o’clock brings together various members of our ‘building users’ and is the perfect way to end what has been a tiring, but memorable day.
Sunday May 11th - our regular morning service, but for our anniversary we have Rev. Dr Raymond Brown (known to Trinity as ‘Ray’) as our guest preacher, and who does not disappoint. We round everything off with a magnificent lunch, arriving home some time around 3 o’clock, weary but content.
Friday May 16th and Saturday May 17th - my birthday - an overnight stop in the Midlands to see the family, receive gifts and to enjoy crawling around on the floor with our twin grandchildren.
Sunday May 18th - we drive to Essex and back to our first church near Chelmsford, where we spent 9 happy years until our move in 1998. I have been invited to preach at their anniversary service - it’s great to meet up with old friends again. But even better is to see so many young families and to experience the vibrancy of the worship and fellowship.
After a church lunch we call in at a local inn to meet up with our daughter - thus seeing all the family over the course of my memorable birthday weekend.
‘Past, Present and Future’ represented in just a few crowded days in our diary. But also a reminder of the God whom we worship and whose salvation we know - as past event, present reality - and future hope.
Thanks be to Him.
