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Holy Trinity Church Blog
Jon Dennis Jan 31, 2013
Hello Holy Trinity (and friends),
Thanks for being willing to pray. Just a heads up. We will be praying for 28 days together. Here is what the next seven days look like.
Study Title
Date
Vision – God-given Direction for Our Lives
Feb. 1
Vision – Worshipping the King Forever
Feb. 2
Vision – Jesus’ Vision for His Church: Discipleship
Feb. 3
Faith for the Vision – “By faith”: Believing in God’s Promises
Feb. 4
Faith for the Vision – “By faith”: Growing through Tests and Trials
Feb. 5
Faith for the Vision – “By faith”: Running with Endurance
Feb. 6
Resourcing the Vision ...
Tom Barrett Jan 30, 2013
Our February prayer commitment is at the heart of the final stage of the Vision Campaign leading up to the public launch on March 3. There will be several ways which you can find out more about the campaign and wrestle with how God wants you to be involved. Beginning in early February, our Community Groups will gather for five studies related to our Vision Campaign; four of those studies will be connected to the message preached the previous Sunday. By now you should have received a packet of information, which contains a Vision Campaign brochure explaining the details of the campaign. After each Sunday service in February, Elders from your congregation will be available to answer any questions you may have. We are also launching a website dedicated to the campaign at www.growingtoserve.net; we will update this site in the months and years ahead as God works through us in response to our commitments made as part of the Vision Campaign.
How to ...
Jon Dennis Jan 27, 2013
Dear Holy Trinity Church Family and Friends,
As we near our 15th anniversary of serving our city, Holy Trinity is renewing our commitment to bring hope to Chicagoans with the gospel. I’m writing now to joyfully tell you about an exciting season in our life together.
Over the last 14 months our elders have prayerfully considered what might be next for us as a church for the next three to five years. We have prayed frequently, discussed widely and interacted with more than ninety of the leaders and members of Holy Trinity. We are excited to share the results of that process with you!
The vision initiative is called Vision 2018: Growing to Serve and will launch a three-year plan to make disciples and strengthen the base of Holy Trinity Church in all four congregations. I am confident that as a result of Growing to Serve new doors of opportunity will open for Holy Trinity in Chicago and beyond. By God’s ...
Matt and Rachel Ashcraft Jan 25, 2013
Hello again! We made it through all of the holidays. As Americans living in Spain, it seems like the holidays are double. We start with Thanksgiving and end on January 6 with the spanish holiday, King's Day. I guess that means double the blessings and double the fun!
In our last letter, we shared about "Business as Mission." Matt started a window-washing business in order to reach out and share Christ with people in our area. Here are some of Matt's stories:
"I wash the windows of a Doctor’s office and every time I go, there are no patients, but Dr. Cesar is there doing office work. It’s always interesting for me to learn about people as I wash, either listening to conversations, seeing the pictures on the walls or the books on the shelves. Dr. Cesar has a wide variety of books dealing with transcendent issues, so we ended up talking about his beliefs. He’s mostly Buddhist, he even ...
Will Pareja Jun 15, 2012
In Psalm 130:7 (part of the songs of Ascents section), the Psalmist says: "O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption." Verse 8 continues: "And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities."
Fast forward hundreds of years after God's chosen people who by their own sin brought on the covenant curses and thus suffered the oppression of brutal deportations. As the star of a new era was about to rise over a tiny barn in a no-name Israelite village, an angel came to Joseph to reveal his special role in the fulfillment of the covenant promises. Matthew 1:20-21 relates: "'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.'"
What Israel needed more than physical land, great rulers and religion was personal rescue from ...
Joseph Kim Apr 07, 2012
Day 40 Saturday, April 07, 2012 Matthew 27:62-66 "I will rise." (v.63) My father died several years ago from an accident. He had challenges in his life and he was not perfect. But he was my dad and I love him. I was unable to be there when he passed in the hospital room. I heard the whole thing over the phone. It was surreal. It was terrible. I lost my father.
My son was born several years ago. I married later in life and I was eagerly anticipating holding him in my arms. My wife was busy with work and pregnant; she could not travel with me to see my father in intensive care because of she was near full term. While back home on my emergency trip, she called me to say that she had fallen on the ice. She was OK. Was my preborn son OK? How could I care for my dying father and be concerned about my pregnant wife and our child?
I lost my father and became a father within two weeks several ...
Joseph Kim Apr 06, 2012
Day 39 Friday, April 6, 2012 Matthew 27:45-56 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (v.46) I have always thought that the strongest argument against the Gospel was the problem of pain. That God would allow suffering—especially that which seems inexplicably unwarranted is both the most profound and most emotional issue one can ponder. There's a sense of thinking about such matters in an other-wordly sense, Why?, far above our pay grade. But, at the same time, there is a sense that the problem of pain is absolutely concrete and deeply personal. Is there any other intersection with such ferocity?
I can't ignore the pain—both global and widespread, regional, and, of course, personal. Platitudes, theologizing, and a clinical examination of the Scriptural text will not bring resolution. Jesus had and was the key to life itself. He actually knew the right interpretation of the text. He had a deep intimacy with the ...
Joseph Kim Apr 05, 2012
Day 38Thursday, April 05, 2012Mark 14:66-72“he broke down and wept” (v.72)Denial. There are many things we can deny in life; losing the game, taxes, aging, even death. But denying someone you love and loves you is a black hole of anguish that is hard to escape. Peter’s denial of Jesus after his arrest was such darkness that led to bitter weeping. He had followed Jesus, loved him, tripped over his own foot caught in his mouth—and Jesus loved and disciple him with grace to be his primus inter pares upon his departure. The denial is all too real for me. How many times have I been Peter and denied my Lord? How many times have I hid in shame? How many times have I not boldly proclaimed my association with him? How many times have I acted like he made no difference in my life? How many times? Probably, at least three. Peter’s denial was bitter because his defensiveness ...
Joseph Kim Apr 04, 2012
Day 37Wednesday, April 04, 2012John 13:1-17“Do you understand what I have done to you?” (v.12)Maybe it was the racism or maybe it was moving neighborhoods every 2-3 years. But, growing up, I’ve always had a wariness of new groups of people in new situations. Not a paralyzing fear—from the outside you wouldn’t have been able to tell—but, rather, a sense of self-protectiveness just to be able to adapt in not so friendly environments. It’s a subtle, internal thing. You’re less transparent, you’re less yourself, you’re more sensitive in some ways, less in others. And, you’re more eager to belong. Nothing traumatic here—everyone has some level of self-protectiveness in their bones, I see it all the time manifest from shyness to bravado. Everyone has vulnerability inside—no one is exempt, no not one. To grow in maturity in the New Kingdom, it seems to me, is grow in ...
Joseph Kim Apr 03, 2012
Day 36Tuesday, April 03, 2012Luke 19:45-48“My house shall be a house of prayer”There are plenty of things I get angry about. I don’t like traffic; it’s a waste of time and one of the reasons I don’t have a car. I don’t like bullying; ever since my son was born, this particular indignation has hit the roof for me. I don’t like prejudice, especially the kind that is self-unaware. I don’t like snobbery. I don’t like making bad decisions. I can respond in numerous ways—raise my voice, write a letter, stew inside, complain to my wife, go for a walk, watch television, and, when it is desperate, pray. Whatever the case, what makes you angry probably says something about my heart, and how I respond to it probably says something about you as well. When Jesus was angry about the way that the Temple in Jerusalem was become a platform for money changing/pigeon selling apps, he ...
