After nine lessons and carols Francis brought a short message on Jesus as the true light.

It’s Advent 4 and we are ready to hear the beginnings of the birth narratives. Today Francis considered what Incarnation as a human baby required of God in Christ as described in Philippians 2.5-11. This is a key part of the Whole Gospel and commended as the mind appropriate to those who hold Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

It’s Advent on 1 December. What is Advent really all about? How does the Gospel connect with this period before Christmas? This message is for people who want to enter Advent in ways set out by Jesus and St Paul. There is a specific application made to Trinity Church here and now.

At a baptism service we heard Luke’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion. This message picks up on the conversation reported between Jesus and two criminals as the three men were dying together. It’s a conversation that is repeated still today. One saw Jesus as reigning above the evil terror and the other saw Jesus as a hapless victim of it. One provides a model of faith in God’s enthroned king and the other those who simply cannot recognise him enthroned on a cross.

After offering many teachings and engaging incidents along the road south Jesus arrives in Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. In Jericho he surprises local tax administrator Zacchaeus with an unmerited offer of relationship and acceptance that melts the heart and transforms the mind of this legal crook. That’s the power of grace to lead people to salvation worked out in righteous repentance.

Two went to pray… What could be wrong with that? It all depends on what they pray and why. Francis draws out key Gospel issues from Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

Today we picked up the first verses of Paul’s tender letter to his young friend Timothy. Pastor Francis reads it as a letter of encouragement from which we might learn much both about bringing encouragement and receiving it. After an opening greeting and words of affirmation, Timothy is asked to reboot what God has given him.

Hsiang Ling opens up Jesus’ parable from Luke 17 of ‘The Richman and Lazarus’ in technicolour detail. She breaks through any assumed familiarity we may have about this to show how the human heart is rightly judged and draws us to reconsider the glories of God’s grace in Christ that lead to heaven.

Fresh from a tour of biblical sites in Israel, Francis looks at a key verse in the Gospels where the question of Jesus’ identity is addressed. This conversation took place in a setting with a lot of context to the point that the context is part of the message.

Today’s guest preacher was Paul Vrolijk our archdeacon. Paul spoke around Jesus’ story of lost sheep and the shepherd who went looking for it.