Category Archives: Uncategorized

Crisis in Ukraine

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Lutheran World Relief received tremendous news this week:  Nelsonville Lutheran Church in Wisconsin will double all gifts from congregations – up to $100,000 – for our neighbors suffering in the Ukraine crisis.  Right now, Lutheran World Relief teams are working with partners in and around Ukraine.  Your congregation’s gift will deliver urgent support and care, like:  food, shelter and other critically needed items; Mission Quilts and Kits for families who fled their homes; and medicine and supplies for clinics.

 

Gifts will be matched through March 15.  You can give online at www.lwr.org/match

Sunday School for all ages

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Sunday School classes are available for children beginning at age 3 through adults.

Classes start: Sunday, September 17

8:45-9:45 AM

Please take a moment to register your child(ren) so that we can be prepared to welcome all on Sunday, September 17

Come and join us!

New Members

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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.

Farewell Message from Pastor Gerry

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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The hardest thing about parish ministry is leaving a church. I have left a parish ministry call three times. In all of them, the process of leaving has not been fun. While the circumstances were different with each call, there were always people who I have had a pastoral bond with that was broken when I left the call.

I know that is true here. I love this congregation stemming back from my seminary teaching parish assignment here some 25 years ago. Coming back as a pastor was easy and the skills you needed were some of the skills I had. Together we did Oktoberfests, Confirmation Classes, Small Groups, Spring Flings, Yard Sales, God’s Work Our Hands, Date Night for young parents, Classics, Youth Gathering, and the big one: COVID. We did sermon series, and Christmas Children’s Services, and Easter Children’s Services. I even had a bless your pet day.

But it was the ordinary Sunday that was so special. Each week started with know thing the readings and living with them all week. On Thursday I would write the sermon and would edit it numerous times before Sunday. But when Sunday came, it was great to see everyone again. It was great to worship with our leaders and to worship with our regulars, and to worship with our members and non-members, and to worship with and greet our guests. Yes, Sundays were fun, and in our midst, no matter what we have planned, the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt. There were many occasions when I would say to someone, “Today was a great day, did you feel God’s energy among us?” And there were days that people said that to me.

These are not my accomplishments. They are Our Lord’s presence in the efforts that you all have put forth. It could be being a reader, or singing in the choir, or planning a project, running a booth, or setting up tables. It is what you did that made a difference. It was you that made everything happen here, and it was Our Lord that made his presence known.

People say a church is where things happen in the name of the Lord. It is the work of the people. I think that is true. It is the work of the people and it is important to come together as much as we can in as many ways as we can.

It was a Sunday afternoon during Advent in 2018 or 2019 when we were hosting our Christmas Carol Sing-a- long. Honestly, I didn’t have much energy left after Sunday morning, but I decided to support Nancy Fox and Marcia Merry and so I attended. The church was packed! I thought to myself, for some of these people, this is worship. We don’t realize it but the things we do – when we gather – we are church, no matter what we do. Matthew 18:20 is true: “For when two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them.”

I celebrate the times that we gathered, and Our Lord was among us. I celebrate that at times, it was so easy and natural. I celebrate what those occasions did for me as a person, and I hope you celebrate what they did for you. While I move on (somewhat unwillingly to retirement) I treasure the times we had together, and I know you will have more of them. I celebrate the relationships we have formed. They held me up in faith and will al- ways be precious to me.

We were called to share this part of our spiritual journey together. I am better for it (much better) and I hope that you are better for it as well. As I walk into the adventures of retirement, my heart is less willing to move on, and I am sure that some of you feel the same way. But I leave happy because I am not leaving you in a lurch. I am leaving you with your having the promise of a new future just a couple weeks away. You will be building and growing and re-establishing new relation- ship and experiencing new gifts and leadership from a very capable pastor, Pastor Kristin, who is so happy to be coming here to be your pastor. My confidence and joy as a pastor has been called already, is not usual (but it should be).

Thank you all for the honor of being your pastor. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for sharing our spiritual journeys. It has been a great experience. May the grace of Our Lord continue to bless you richly.

In His service,

Pastor Gerry

A service of lessons and carols

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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

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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

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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

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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.