Throughout Christian history, one of the most consistent ways that the church has encountered Jesus is through Scripture.
We’re going to spend 2025 with a focus on reading Scripture, and we’re going to do it, together, aided by a tool called BREAD.
Whether it’s on a Sunday, or in your discipleship group, or in other Trinity events, we plan to spend more time encountering Jesus in Scripture and journeying together with Bread Journals.
This is neither a New Years’ Resolution nor a short sermon series—it’s part of what it is to participate in life at Trinity. You’re invited to join in!
Watch the video below as Jonny explains:
JOURNEYING WITH THE Bread Journal
Daily prayer, scripture, and reflection are core to how we do BREAD this year. An example of a daily journal entry can be found below, written by Tim Hughes (Gas Street Church). Let it inspire you for your own devotional time!
1st January 2025
Tim Hughes
Be Still: Lord, today open the eyes of my heart. Speak to me through your Word. Guide my steps and lead me in your everlasting ways. Amen
Read: Psalm 8
“…what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” v 4
Encounter: On the final day of each year, I try to take a moment to step outside at night, look up at the sky, take in the stars and reflect on the gift of life. Over the years I’ve taken in this view from a beach in Durban, a forest outside of Helsinki, a street in Atlanta, a garden in Birmingham. Each time the overwhelming feeling is the always the same … the universe is vast and I’m so small. Psalm 8, attributed to King David, captures this sense so beautifully. “What is mankind that you are mindful of them.”
Science is continually discovering the vastness of the universe. Until the end of 2016 it was believed that there were about 100-200 billion galaxies in the universe. Not only were astronomers wrong, but they were off by a factor of ten. New discoveries put the new estimated total at about 2 trillion galaxies. This figure may well in time also prove to be laughably small. The point is the scale of the universe takes us beyond human comprehension and yet this is all the work of God’s ‘fingers.’ It’s small fry to Him. But here’s the truly astounding reality -- this God, who is beyond our comprehension, is mindful of us. Even more than that, He cares for us! We are no cosmic fluke or mistake. We are created, known and loved by God Almighty.
Apply: The NKJV translates this verse as, ‘What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?’ Visit here means to ‘attend to, to observe, to oversee and care for.’ What an amazing thought at the start of a new year. I don’t know what emotions are swirling around your heart and mind this new day, but we can find incredible comfort and strength that regardless of how small and insignificant we may feel, the God of the Universe, the Beginning and the End, sees us and is mindful of us. Not only that, but He also wants to ‘visit’ us. He longs to draw near and walk with us.
We will see again in our readings tomorrow that God desires intimacy and friendship with us. So, as we start a new year, let’s believe -- as we seek to discover God in Scripture, as we create space for Him in our everyday living -- that we might experience God’s love and power in new and profound ways. The author A. W. Tozer writes, ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’ Today may our minds be filled with this true understanding of God, that He, sees, loves, and cares for us.
Devote: LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! At the start of this new year, fill my heart with wonder. Where I have reduced you to earthly standards, expand my thinking. Where I’ve assumed you are disinterested in me, consume my mind and heart with your extraordinary love. Reveal yourself and ‘visit’ me afresh this year.
BUY Bread Journals
Available for sale at the Auction House from 22nd December 2024 (while supplies last).
Buying them this way, it’s £8 or £15 for two for Adults, and £6 or £10 for two for Students & Youth