The Holy Trinity South Woodford Podcast

As we begin a new term we go back to the beginning of Jesus’ teaching ministry, the Sermon on the mount. Rev. Abi Todd, our vicar, starts us off looking at the beatitudes, what does it truly mean to be blessed, as it’s not what we might imagine. Jesus starts with His disciples, not with the crowds who had begun to follow Him, because through this sermon He teaches some hard truths because only tho...

Over summer we have been looking at ‘FRIENDS OF GOD’ as we find them in the gospel of Mark. This week reaches a climax with Jesus and His friends sharing the Last Supper together. Rev. Abi Todd, our vicar, looks at this important event and what Jesus accomplishes through it. The disciples were a foundation for the church, they were each different but, in many ways the same, younger, Jewish men. Th...

Over summer we are looking at ‘FRIENDS OF GOD’ as we find them in the gospel of Mark. The story this week picks up from the feeding of the 5000, as Jesus sends His disciples ahead in the boat and then later in the night comes to them walking on the water. David Binns shares three truths that God would teach us through this passage. The disciples back in the boat, crowd dismissed with full hearts a...

Over summer we are looking at ‘FRIENDS OF GOD’ as we find them in the gospel of Mark. This week Tracy Bishop looks at the well-known miracle, which is the only one to appear in all four Gospels, where Jesus and the disciples feed the 5000 (plus women and children). The disciples have returned from their missions, excited by all they had seen and done, bubbling over with the stories of God working...

Over summer we will be looking at ‘FRIENDS OF GOD’ as we find them in the gospel of Mark. Our vicar, Rev. Abi Todd, fresh back from New Wine looks at what happened when Jesus sends out the twelve disciples to spread His message throughout the region.. Going to the New Wine conference, just for a week, required taking so much stuff, but that was very different to Jesus sending the disciples out on...

Over summer we will be looking at ‘FRIENDS OF GOD’ as we find them in the gospel of Mark. The Venerable Mike Power, Archdeacon of West Ham, continues the series by looking at that dramatic miracle when Jesus calms the storm. What happens when the storms of life break over us? Where is Jesus? Mike explains how Jesus is in the same boat, in the same storm. He is right there with us. Jesus brings pea...

Over summer we will be looking at ‘FRIENDS OF GOD’ as we find them in the gospel of Mark. Our Vicar, Rev. Abi Todd, begins the series by looking at the calling of the disciples. More than half of the passage is a list of the disciples’ names, but there is much more to it than that. The passage has much to say about what a disciple is. A disciple is a follower, one who spends time with his rabbi, b...

Our Vicar, Rev. Abi Todd, completes our series in 2 Timothy focussing on Paul’s request to Timothy, ‘come before winter.’ The teaching here points us toward how we should manage ‘time’ in our lives. Time is part of God’s creation, given to us to measure seasons and ages. As Paul closes out this letter with mention of seventeen different people, he points us to a key use of our time. Building and s...

Rev. Abi Todd, our Vicar, continues in 2 Timothy with Paul declaring, ‘Dare to be different’. Paul’s motif phrase ‘But as for you’ appears three times in this section. Our calling is to keep moving forward in a direction different to the world around us. It matters that we move forward. Sometimes when we run, we slow down and walk or even pause to rest, the key thing is not to move backwards. We n...

Rev. Abi Todd, our Vicar, moves on with the series on 2 Timothy to the middle section of chapter 2, ‘Stay true to the message of Jesus’.  Paul encapsulates the gospel he preaches in a simple phrase ‘Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David’. Our job in sharing the gospel is all about remembering Jesus. That He was raised from the dead implies His birth, life and death on t...

David Binns, one of our Churchwardens, continues with the series exploring Paul’s second letter to Timothy. ‘Guard the good deposit’.  Looking first at what this ‘good deposit’, our salvation or the gospel message itself. And then going on to look at how we can guard it, examining the three analogies Paul uses of the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer.   The reading is from Timothy 1:13-2:7 Ther...

Our vicar, Rev. Abi Todd, introduces a series of messages exploring the relevance of Paul’s second letter to Timothy. ‘But as for you…” Timothy’s calling is to live according to a different drumbeat than those around him and that different drumbeat still echoes for us today.  The first point Paul stresses ‘don’t be ashamed of the gospel’. What is this ‘gospel’? That Jesus is the only way, that Jes...

In the second of this two-part series our vicar, Rev. Abi Todd, moves on to what happens next following Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Jesus has gone … and now the Holy Spirit comes, “it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Spirit won’t come” John 16:7. Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit, God’s glory is no longer fixed to a place or to one person, but with us and in us. The disc...

The oldest human alive is … Jesus ... now over 2000 years old, Rev. Abi Todd, our vicar, looks at what Jesus’ ascension into heaven means for us. The King is on the throne and we are His ambassadors and He will make all things good. God welcomes humans into heaven, Jesus was the first but many others follow because God loves people and He loves His material creation. And Jesus isn’t sitting idly o...

Today we conclude our series on the prophet Jonah, Rev. Abi Todd, our vicar, moves from Jonah and the Whale to Jonah and the Worm. Here in chapter 4 we find Jonah absolutely furious. God has done what Jonah predicted, He had mercy on the Ninevites when they repented. So Jonah is off in the desert sulking. Abi sets out for us a useful acronym which applies to Jonah’s situation but so often can appl...

Today as we continue our series on the prophet Jonah, Wayne Bishop looks at chapter 3 and explains the extent of the challenge which faced Jonah as he reluctantly obeys God’s instruction to go to Nineveh. But Jonah is not alone, he has the Holy Spirit with him and Wayne shows how we too can make a real difference when the Holy Spirit is with us.   The reading is from Jonah 3:1-10 This message was...

Today we continue our short series on the prophet Jonah. Rev. Abi Todd, our vicar, explores the meaning and application of Jonah chapter 2. Jonah's just been vomitted up by the big fish onto the beach, so where now? Abi explores Jonah's response to pressure, will he continue to act like an orphan or can he accept his true identity as a child of God. Can he 'Get Real, 'Get Right' and 'Get Ready', b...

Today we begin a short series on the prophet Jonah. Rev. Marcus Giddy, curate at All Saints Woodford Wells, talks to us about Jonah chapter 1. What do we know of Jonah? Big fish. Coward. Sulking. This morning we want to consider three other words Obedience, Mercy and Second-chances. Listen with us to this ‘whale’ of an adventure.   The reading is from Jonah 1:1-17 This message was first preached o...

On this wonderful Easter Day, Abi Todd, our vicar, celebrates the reality of the resurrection, the awe and wonder of the women who first heard the good news and asks what is the type of soil our lives consist of, in relation to the parable of the sower. Come celebrate with us and let Jesus work in our lives to bring out a harvest.   The readings are Acts 10:34-43 & Luke 24:1-12 This message wa...

Revd. Abi Todd, our vicar, considers how Jesus transforms a night of betrayal and denial into the giving of a new covenant and the command for us to love one another. We continue to focus on the events of Holy week and what it means for us for Jesus to be at work in our lives.   The reading is John 13:1-17 & 31-38 This message was first preached on 17/04/2025

David Glover, our Next Generations Pastor, asks the question what is ‘my’ city like and will Jesus be welcomed. As we look at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the start of the most crucial week of His life on earth, we focus on the start of Holy week and what it means to welcome Jesus in to our lives, and consider all that Jesus brings to us.   The reading is Luke 23:1-49

Wayne Bishop completes the series on the Servant Songs in Isaiah. Considering the Old Testament passage most quoted in the New Testament.  A message of hope to a broken and disappointed people. The servant displays an attitude of one who represents the highly exalted God of the universe despite the lack of acknowledgement and even rejection by the people who were waiting for the Messiah. But the p...

As we think about the different roles of mothers, our vicar, Abi Todd, considers the way mothers provide practical support like nourishment and shelter but go much further providing comfort and compassion. This passage in 2 Corinthians talks about how ‘the God of all comfort’ acts as a mother to all His children, and how through His comfort for us we can have compassion on others and comfort them...

David Binns moves on to the third of the Servant Songs in Isaiah. He considers again who the ‘mystery guest’ of Isaiah is and goes on to explore the comparison Isaiah makes between the servant, reliant on and obedient to God; and independent, rebellious Israel. This leads us to a conclusion that there is a choice to be made, obedience or rebellion, God’s way or your way, heaven or hell, life or de...

Our vicar, Abi Todd, continues the series looking at the Servant Songs in Isaiah. Today she asks, ‘where are you from?’ and shows us it doesn’t matter what your background is, whether it’s straightforward or whether you have an ‘interesting’ family story like Jesus. God sent his servant Jesus for you, and this Jesus can do “immeasurably more for you than you can ever ask or imagine”, and He wants...