Trinity Presbyterian
Location: College Road, Timaru
Denomination: Presbyterian
Website:
www.presbyterian.org.nz
Church Services: Trinity West, 9.30 am and 5 pm. College Road 10 am and 7 pm
Groups:
My own visit
Date: 19 December 2004Service: 10 am Combined communion service at College Road
The building: Clearly a church of the 20th century, it nevertheless incorporates traditional elements with its tower and massive frontage of red brick. It is a combination of an auditorium and a traditional church. Along the frontage windows extend over the entire height framed by white vertical borders. Windows along the sides allow ample light into the building. The church is some distance from the street. The church hall and a carpark cover the area in between.
The décor: Large church with high ceiling, panelled with wood and sound absorption material. Fans descend on poles and hum away to circulate the air. Lights recessed into the ceiling give a comfortable atmosphere. The windows are set into the white side walls. The back and front of the church is panelled with wood, however the raised sanctuary is backed by whitestone. The altar forms the centre of the sanctuary with an imposing roofed pulpit to the side. It is reminiscent of the old structures from which learned preachers proclaimed the Word of God. It seems mainly to be used these days to display a world map, complete with reports on mission activities. Being Christmas time, a big card-board manger scene took up a considerable part of the sanctuary.
Black and cream vinyl tiles covered the floor, though the aisles were carpeted – red with patterns in yellow. The long wooden pews had cushions and were quite comfortable.
Smiling face at the door: I certainly got a smile, but maybe more of surprise to see me than of expectant welcome.
Start of service: A prayer remembering what God had done at Christmas started the worship. This was followed by two carols.
Congregation (approx) 0-12: 10; 13-20: 0; 20-40: 5; 40-60: 8; 60+: 35
Liturgy: Some liturgy was used for communion, but it sounded rather more casual than poetic.
Music: At this time of the year, Christmas carols, both old and new, formed the main part of the musical content of the service. The organist also played a few as postlude and a granddaughter of the man baptised also performed a few carols. A relatively modern communion hymn was sung just before communion. Generally the tempo of the singing and accompaniment was quite slow.
Instruments: Organ – and one of the better ones around in Timaru.
Children’s Talk: The children went out to activities and then showed what they had done at end of service.
Sermon:
-Length: 15 minutes
-Method: Most of the sermon was
spent on introductory stories and examples. The preacher
stood at the lectern to deliver the sermon. He had a nice
and comfortable voice and even though not excited, tried to
convey some of his enthusiasm.
-Bible reading: Luke 1:1-4; 1:26-38; 2:1-7
-Content: Recently read a report about relics of Luke in Padua and Prague. Of course at some time in Europe there were enough wood pieces from the cross of Jesus to build an entire house or more. Therefore one has to be very careful about any claims about relics. Nevertheless recently scientists opened the caskets and did DNA tests on the bones in Padua and the skull in Prague on the relics from Luke. From these tests and historical information one can indeed conclude that these are the bones of Luke the writer of the gospel. Indeed Luke seems to have been a very careful man, gathering all the evidence and presenting in this account.
In the readings we hear how God acted.
The man baptised is a man of action. This was shown not the least by his work on the waterfront. Think of the waterfront! Before the ship comes in and when it is alongside all the planning gets done and the supervisor instructs the gangs. Then it is time to put all this planning into action and get the cargo discharged and into the warehouses.
Think of the landing of the Allies in Europe. They had prepared and planned for this day for well over a year. Troops had been trained around the world, weapons and machinery manufactured in factories in Britain and the US. And then it was time to put it into action.
In this community we think at the moment about the Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden. A lot of planning has gone into it. And now again, as many roses seem to have been killed by herbicide, more planning will have to be done, with action to follow.
The planning of God for Christmas started a long time ago with his people. He loved them, he was a father to them. Then it was time to act.
Jesus was born in a turbulent time. The people were oppressed and hoped for something better. God chose this point in history. The planning was done, the love was overflowing. It is the same with the baptised. He is a man of the family. With all this love there had to be a day of action. This is his baptism.
Christmas is a time when we just love to sing. It is a time when we want to hear from people we know all around the world. When visiting some pensioners recently, they were out in their gardens, preparing it for Christmas. With all this planning there has to be a time of action. What could we do on such a day? Yes, praise God and enjoy our families, but also some very concrete action which shows that we understand what God has done for us. We too have to act.
Other Highlights:
Baptism of a grandfather surrounded by his family. He is quite
involved in the church. His wife had suggested baptism and
he agreed to go ahead with it.
A letter from missionaries in Japan was read after
the sermon. They serve by their very practical work, especially
building projects.
Communion was served in the pews.
Wrap-up: The children came back and showed their creations. They also each got a present. We than sang “Silent Night” before the blessing.
After the service: People flocked out of the church pretty quickly, I shook the minister’s hand before had to go to a meeting about the sound system pretty promptly.
Quality of morning tea: There was no invitation to morning tea or any sign of it, and people seemed to leave the church grounds at once.
Reflection:
The whole atmosphere was very comfortable, so comfortable indeed
that I had to fight not nodding off. But the fact that I was down
at the waterfront until the wee hours of the morning might
have contributed to that in no small degree.
This was a combined service of the two churches of the parish, so
one might presume that normally about ¾ of the people
are present.
It seems that the children that come to church are taken
very seriously and a lot of things done to encourage them.
The sermon seems to express a good salvation history
understanding. I think that it is a very important point of
difference in current theological debates whether we see God as
someone who plans and works out his purposes on earth or more as
the inspiration behind human action. It may not be apparent at
once, but it affects our whole worldview.
4 questions:
a) is very doubtful. There are facets of truth in all other
statements. But if one had to choose b) would be the prominent
answer.
Yes. They are essentially about our relationship with God and with others.
It comes down to a discernment of people’s gifts. Usually people are approached by the minister, but sometimes they also offer for a specific task.
Doubt it. Probably no.