Author Archive: Leesa Bell
New Members
When visitors come and ask how they can join the church, Pastor usually says, just join right in with what is going on. Meet the people. Share the mission. Then at some time (usually twice a year) we gather people to formally become members of the congregation. We have not had a new members group for over a year due to the pandemic. But now we will!
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! A New Members Group is forming. We will have a New Members’ Meeting on Sunday March 6, at 12:00 (after the 11:00 AM service). This will be an opportunity to learn about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. We hope it will be a joyful and informative meeting.
New members will be installed on Sunday March 23, 2022. If you are considering membership or know of someone who is, please contact the church office. If you can’t make the meeting, let us know and we can work something out.
If you are interested or know of someone who is interested please contact Pastor Gerry at PastorGFJ@gmail.com.
A service of lessons and carols
Sunday, December 26th:
Lessons and Carols Service
Only One Service at 9:30am
This is a beautiful service of Christmas Carols and Lessons that is accented by the songs telling the Christmas Story. There are five readings and MANY beautiful carols, in lieu of a sermon. It is a very nice and reflective moment in our Christmas Celebration.
Please come join us!
Christmas Eve Schedule
We are so excited to be able to worship together on Christmas Eve this year!
5:00pm – Children’s Christmas Eve Service with Masks
This service will be a Christmas Eve Service designed to engage the children with costumed solos, chidlren responses, paraphrased Gospel, children’s sermon, singing, and a (battery-operated) candlelit parade. We will have Holy Communion. As a COVID [precaution, we ask participants to wear a mask.
6:15pm – Protected Service with Masks
This service will employ the strictest mitigation techniques to enable immune – sensitive people toe opportunity to attend a Christmas Eve Service. The 6:15pm service will be limited to 30 people, with social distancing, required face masks, solo musical presentations, and limited singing. In order to attend you must make a reservation on https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4BA9AF2EAAFB6-christmas3 If the interest for this service exceeds 30 participants, we are willing to schedule another service on Christmas Day in the afternoon. (Please see the link for more information.)
7:30 pm – Candlelight Service with Masks
This service will be our Traditional Candlelight Christmas Eve Vigil. There will be singing, handbells, Holy Communion and a candlelight sharing. As a COVID precaution, we ask participants to wear a mask.
9:00pm – Candlelight Service WITHOUT Masks
This service will be our Traditional Candlelight Christmas Eve Vigil. There will be singing, handbells, Holy Communion and a candlelight sharing. There will be no face mask requirement.
We at Holy Trinity are so excited to be able to have a Christmas Eve Service this year. We are doing everything possible to keep the special nature of the joyous celebration and the traditions that we follow at the birth of our Savior on Christmas Eve. However, we must be safe about what we do, and to that end, here are all the things we plan to do to ensure the safety of the people at our Christmas Eve Services.
What is Holy Trinity doing to manage COVID for our Christmas Eve Services?
Managing the spread of COVID is not one single activity.
It is a collection of activities that are analyzed and modified so that we can reduce the risk of the virus spreading.
Here are the strategies that we will be employing on Christmas Eve:
1) We will ask that attendants be masked at the 5:00pm, 6:15pm, 7:30pm
service. The 9:00pm service will not have a mask requirement.
2) We will have a special protected service at 6:15pm. We will limit the seating
to 30 people and reservations will need to be made by going online to the
or you can contact the church office. There will be social distancing as
people will be able to spread out in the sanctuary. The other strategies listed
will be employed for this service.
3) We will have fewer Christmas Carols sung by the congregation. We will
include musical presentations and we will reduce the verses sung for each
Carol.
4) We will distribute Holy Communion in one form, a wafer, that each person
will receive at the door and hold up at the words of institution, and self-
commune. This will eliminate walking out of your place for Holy
Communion, handling of the host by others, and will reduce the worship
service time all of which will have a positive impact on virus curtailment.
5) The Candlelight ceremony will be simple and short. We will have just the
ushers light candles from the center isle and the light passed along the pew.
6) We have two powerful air purifying systems suitable for our space that will
be continually filtering the air in the sanctuary.
7) The Children’s Sermon will be giving with the children remaining in the
pews.
8) We will be very conscious of worship service time. We plan for the service to
be shorter, approximately 45-50 minutes in total.
We all look forward to having a safe and holy Christmas season!
Sunday School Updates
Thank you to all who have completed their Sunday School Registration for 2021-2022!
If you have already registered, there is one slight change, Sunday School will run from 9:45 – 10:45am. This allows for better transition time to and from worship!
We are very excited to welcome everyone back to in-person Sunday School!
Classes started Sunday, September 19th, but there’s still time to sign up!
If you prefer a completely Virtual option, there is an opportunity to sign up for that too on the registration form
ELCA Youth Gathering 2022
THE ELCA YOUTH GATHERING IS COMING IN 2022!!
MINNEAPOLIS JULY 24 – 28TH, 2022
The Youth Gathering is a combination of classy faith presentations in the evening with nationally known speakers, civic service to the community, and interactive displays and informational booths surrounded by arcade and team games in a massive civic arena.
The whole event is well-planned and designed to meet high schoolers where they are at and nurture their faith in Jesus Christ and curiosity toward their many possible responses to it.
ELCA YOUTH GATHERING
INFORMATION FORUM
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17th, 2021
Want to know more about the ELCA Youth Gathering?
We will have a forum on the ELCA Youth Gathering Sunday, October 17th during the Sunday School Hour for parents and students. (This is for students who are in high school)
At this meeting, Ann Keigher will share her experience of when she attended the 1999 ELCA Youth Gathering in St. Louis. We will also talk about all aspects of the gathering and why it’s worth our effort to have our youth attend. Also, Nancy Fox will share her plans regarding Youth Ministry on Sunday Nights in the months ahead.
Please stop by if you have any interest to learn more about one of our best activities as a church or if you have youth who would like to attend.
October Festival & Baked Goods
Saturday, October 16, 2021 from 12:00 AM-5:00 PM
Holy Trinity will be hosting our Fourth annual October Festival.
Children’s Games and activities
Leesburg Fire Truck
Music
Beer
Pretzels
All are welcome!
We are in need of bakers for our October Festival:
If you would like to provide a baked good, please feel free to bring it to the church next week and leave it in the Big Kitchen, OR bring it on the day of the Festival, no later than 11:00 am. We thank you in advance for your support.
Carpool Fleet
Do you have a car and some spare time?
HTLC is looking for volunteer drivers to help get some of our congregation members back and forth to services on Sunday mornings, appointments etc. If you would like to be added to our Carpool Fleet List as a volunteer driver, please contact Adrienne Elko at the Church Office and she can coordinate with the members who are in need of a ride.
703-777-4912