New! Small Group Ministry

Posted on August 7, 2018August 7, 2018 by Leesa Bell

The key to being a church is having spiritual relationships. We are to help each other along the faith journey. We all are at different places and have different experiences and needs. But as a church we should value the times we get to- gether as a church to help everyone along.

Many churches including a large percent of growing churches proclaim that small group ministry is what helped the church strengthen its mission, and in many cases, grow. People who have been involved with small group ministries have also shared that their faith and connection to the church and to God was strengthened by small group ministry. Pastor Gerry and Sandy are veterans of the success of the small groups.

What are small groups? They are weekday meetings at someone’s house for bible study, prayer concerns, and fellowship. The meetings are time specific and don’t run late. The format is pretty easy and light and the group grows.

Why are small groups important?

) There is more opportunity to talk and share faith journey and experiences (if the people want to).
) Group members realize that they are not alone in their faith journey and the way they live out their faith.
) People use their gifts and talents to live out their faith helping each other. It is not all about the pastor. People can be helpful to each other and support each other.
) Small group members encourage each other in their faith. They become better skilled in the practices of praying and thinking about God in their lives.
) Small group members encourage each other to grow. They provide the support that makes reaching out in faith less daunting or insurmountable. They also hold each other accountable in a good way.
) People in small groups pray for each other. They learn to care and part of the support is to pray for each other.
) People are able to practice what they learn in the small group and in their life with the support of the small group.
) Friendships are fostered in the trusting environment of small groups. People will also get more out of worship because they check in with their small group members.

These benefits are for each individual. In order to want these benefits, you must want to grow and you must make a commitment to the group. People have said that the group meant that they had to make room for it in their life, but once they did, their life changed and the rest of the week became richer and fuller too.

Think about it for you. Pray about it for you and for others in the congregation. This is a great opportunity to get and give the support you need to grow in faith in Jesus Christ. We are planning to start a small group ministry in the fall. Keep posted for more information.

Pastor Gerry

Bread

Posted on August 5, 2018August 5, 2018 by Leesa Bell

The Gospel according to John 6:24-35

²⁴When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were [beside the sea,] they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” ³²Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

If you go on a diet, one of the first things dietitians say is eliminate or moderate eating bread. The dietitians will tell you, bread is full of carbs. And if you don’t burn it off, it will stick with you as body fat. So, I hear in one ear: “Don’t eat bread!” and I hear in the other ear: “I am the bread of life!” Truly, I get a little confused.

If you are confused too, here is what make sense to me: Bread is full of carbs. In fact, it is a good amount of carb energy. So, if you ate bread and you worked the fields or some other type of labor, you would need the high level of carbs. You would burn them off during the day. Bread is not a bad food, in fact it is the best food loaded with energy producing carbs that will sustain physical activity all day long. To say it another way, if you could eat one thing and you wanted to get the best energy possible from what you ate, you would be alright if you chose bread.

When Jesus says he is the bread of life. He is saying he is the best food to give you the most energy or “spiritual understanding” that you are going to get. Jesus is the bread that sustains us and helps us grow. Jesus is the spiritual root of who we are. When we listen to him, we are the best we can be as a human person. We are more compassionate and emphatic. We are humbler and more gracious. We are more selfless and generous. We are more Christlike.

God sent Jesus to us to show us a new way to connect with him. Jesus announces the forgiveness of God; he announces that God loves us and wants a relationship with us. These messages from Jesus sustain us, give us energy, and help our faith to grow. Just like bread does for our bodies, Jesus does for our minds and hearts.

So today, know how fundamentally important it is to have Jesus in our life. He gives us the energy to live a life in Jesus’ name.

Pastor Gerry

Backpack Buddies

Posted on August 5, 2018August 6, 2018 by Leesa Bell

Over 14,000 children in Loudoun County, Virginia are food insecure. That means their families may not know where their next meal is coming from. The Backpack Buddies program provides
weekend and holiday meal packs to help meet the nutritional needs of children
when they are not in school.

The Backpack Buddies partnership between Holy Trinity and Frederick Douglass Elementary will continue into the school year 2018-19. Donations of money or grocery store gift cards are also very welcome and we will do the shopping for you! It is also possible to set up a monthly delivery to Holy Trinity through Amazon.com. (Remember to use Amazon Smiles!)

Our Backpack Buddies shopping cart is ready for your donations, and can accept them at any time. These items are delivered to Frederick Douglass Elementary during the school hours. We are looking for more people to join who can be part of our delivery team. Please contact Pat Bailey at baileyva@mac.com for more information. Adding one or two items to your shopping list helps to feed the hungry children in our community. A list with the needed foods is on the poster next to the shopping cart. Examples include:

Small cans of chicken or tuna
Individual cups of ravioli or spaghetti
Easy Mac & Cheese cups
100% fruit juice boxes
Cereal bars
Individual cereal boxes or cups
Individual instant oatmeal packets or cups
Rice Krispie Treats
Individual fruit or applesauce cups
Individual bags of cookies, goldfish crackers

(Please no items containing nut products.)

Childhood hunger is a very real problem in Loudoun County and Holy Trinity CAN make a difference each week with our food donations.

What do you like to eat?

Posted on July 28, 2018July 28, 2018 by Leesa Bell

Would this meal make you smile? Or would salmon, or pork, or even a crab cake be your culinary delight? We all may have different taste and mealtime desires, but one thing is for certain, there are things that we like to eat and when we do, they bring a smile to our face (and maybe an ache to our belly).

When we talk about being fed, we usually talk about food. Are there other ways that we are fed? Can we be fed emotionally, professionally, or even spiritually? An extrovert is fed by being around people. He or she gets energy from that. On the other hand, an introvert gets fed being by themselves. He or she gets energy from that. If our boss gives us a compliment in front of others, especially our peers or our employees, we are fed by that.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus feeds a multitude with five barley loves and two fish. Jesus performs a miracle and stretched that small amount of food to feed the whole multitude of people. But maybe the real miracle is that Jesus’ message was so powerful that they didn’t want to leave him. Maybe the miracle was that Jesus fed them in another way—a spiritual way.

What do you need to hear this morning? What will feed you, nurture you, make you stronger, more hopeful, more caring, or simply more alive? What could possibly be said that you would want more? That you would feel like you have been given a special gift. That you have been lifted up. Let us hope and pray that message is what you hear this morning.

Amen!

Posted on July 20, 2018July 20, 2018 by Leesa Bell

Children are a special gift from God. They have come to be with us every day this week, bringing their smile and good nature and willingness to do whatever we have prepared for them. They really don’t care if it is to eat a graham cracker with blue icing or thread a necklace. They know that whatever we do, we do for them. They know that everyone of our staff cares for them. As a staff, that trust makes it super fun because it opens doors and allows everyone to sing or dance or try new things or learn new stories. It is that care and concern that opens doors.

We want to mirror the care and concern that God has for us. We don’t get weighed down in dogmas or judgments. We just welcome every child like God has welcomed us. We tell them Bible stories and stories of Jesus love for us. We share some fun and enjoy the gifts the children bring to us and share the gifts we have for them.

But we need to trust too. We need to trust that the seeds of God’s love that we planted will grow. That somewhere somehow, God’s love will make a difference for this child as he/she grows up. We pray for that.

As this week ends, we at Holy Trinity have had a wonderful week of Vacation Bible School. We have been blessed with the children. We have been blessed with the energy that our talented staff brings and the willingness of so many people to be a part of this. We have been blessed with the good-natured fun and trusting relationships. This will be a summer to remember for a long time. No doubt; because of him we can say, Amen: Amen!

New Date – Habitat for Humanity

Posted on July 5, 2018October 5, 2018 by Leesa Bell

Holy Trinity is signed up to participate in the Fed By Faith program. This is where churches go out and serve lunch to volunteers of Habitat for Humanity at a build site. We will be serving about 20 volunteers by 11:20 the morning of Saturday, August 11, at a site in Hamilton, VA, right up the road. We are looking for anyone who would like to help to prepare lunches on Friday, August 10, around 12:30, and/or deliver and serve lunches on Saturday, August 11. This would be a great activity youth, and as always, ALL ARE WELCOME! For more information, please contact Jodie Allen at jodieaallen@gmail.com (two aa in middle!)

Youth Gathering

Posted on June 25, 2018July 6, 2018 by Leesa Bell

The Obvious

Posted on June 1, 2018June 1, 2018 by Leesa Bell

Sometimes we need to say things that are obvious.

As a church, children are a blessing to us. When they are baptized, we promise, with their parents, to live among them with God’s faithful people, to bring them to the word and the holy supper, teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the creeds, and the Ten Commandments, and place in their hands the holy scriptures. We nurture them in faith. It sounds like a daunting task.

But while we do these things, children in our church community bless us with an opportunity to share our faith. They provide life and joy from their participation with us. They make special occasions like Christmas (Advent) and Easter (Lent) so special and meaningful for us. Their honesty and candidness at children’s sermons liven up our worship. Their special musical presentations are so pure and holy and help us remember our own childhood memories of church. The children are a blessing and help us re-enforce our faith.

Today, the children have been practicing for months to provide a worshipful presentation with their spunk and character which is enjoyable and cute (you’ll see). But in the process, they have learned something special. They have learned that Jesus wants us to love above all else. The children remind us of that all the time. That loud child in the pew behind us (and the embarrassed mom); the dis-engaged teenager who required the strength of Jehovah to get them here; or the enthusiastic child that is antsy for the children’s sermon, all are a blessing to us because they are part of the family of God that we see. We can love with a Hi, with a smile, sharing kindnesses, or a conversation. That is what church friends do. That restless child behind you is our child. That confirmand is our child. The singers this morning are our children.

Today we are blessed with their musical, Judge Julie Truly, as it parallels the gospel story of the Jesus healing the Paralytic that was lowered from the roof by four loyal friends. The children are excited to share the story with us. As they do, think of our relationship with them. We may not know their name, but we know who they are. We may have taught them in Sunday school or VBS. We may have shared a pastry or fruit with them after worship. They are our kids. We learn how to love by them just being with us. Enjoy the children and the message.

Holy Trinity Sunday

Posted on May 25, 2018May 25, 2018 by Leesa Bell

The classic line about the Trinity is don’t try to understand it, our minds just can’t make sense of it; but God who is infinitely wiser knows how he can be one God in three persons. I don’t like to dismiss our seeking some understanding of the essence of God so quickly. The easiest explanation is that they all three have specific jobs or functions. That is known as modalism taught by Sabellius in Rome in the 3^rd century. This belief was determined to be heresy in the early church.

So how do we theologize about the Trinity? First, it is important to have some idea of the essence of God. Moses’ first question to God was “What is your name?” or what is your essence? I think it is normal to want to know more about the essence of God (how God exists). That is why I like this picture. We know the three persons from the Bible, but there is a great deal hidden by the light. They all radiate with light together and separately. They share a joint concern (love) for their creation. But they maintain a mysterious aura. They reveal some things but not all. The reason for that is their secret. So perhaps, God does not want his total essence to be known. Except to say that there are three persons in one God.

Throughout Church history, holy people referred to as saints, sought a closer relationship with God. In their quest and in their writings was the consistent proclamation of the three persons in one God. So, we can just thank God for his creation, for his redeeming, and for his perpetual guidance. We receive joy in the ways that God shares his love in our world. We look with joy for the constant presents of God in our lives.

Pastor Gerry

Sunday School for all Ages

Posted on May 18, 2018May 25, 2018 by Leesa Bell

Ages 3 to Grade 5: Lydia

PreK through Grade 6 meet in the sanctuary for opening activities

Grade 6: Lydia

Grades 7-12: Meet in Youth room

Adults: The early church handbook for people to become followers of Jesus Christ: The Didache. It is written by Justin Martyr. It should be an interesting journey as we walk through this early church handbook.

Author Archive: Leesa Bell