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.

God’s Work. Our Hands.

Sunday, September 12th

God's Work. Our Hands.

Save the date!

God's Work.  Our Hands.  is an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor.

Service activities offer an opportunity for us to explore one of our most basic convictions as Lutherans: that all of life in Jesus Christ – every act of service, in every daily calling, in every corner of life – flows freely from a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

Each fall we join with Lutherans all over America to do God's Work.  Our Hands.   We hope you enjoy these photos from our last event.

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

Holy Week & Easter

Holy Week & Easter Schedule at Holy Trinity

Good Friday: April 2nd at 7:00pm
Indoor Service
Easter Sunday: April 4th at 8:30am & 10:30am
Indoor Services in the Sanctuary
Radio Drive-In Worship Service
with Holy Communion
********************************
Plan to arrive early to make sure you get a seat. We have a capacity limit based on our COVID safety plan.
(We do have an overflow contingency plan)
********************************
Easter Egg Hunt at 12:30pm (weather permitting)
(*All Indoor Services will also be broadcast on FM100.9 for those preferring to remain in their cars.*)

Wednesday Night Lenten Series

Amidst Our Neighbors

Don’t forget to tune in for our weekly Lenten Bible Study Series called
“Amidst Our Neighbors” on Wednesday nights at 7:00pm.
Next week’s theme on March 24th will be:
“Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love.”
Please join us for the Zoom Meeting or view the video on YouTube at Pastor Gerry’s YouTube page sometime during the week. We hope that the time we spend together edifies our faith in Jesus Christ as we learn from him how to live amidst our neighbors.

A note from Pastor Gerry:

I never knew when the first time I ate crabs. I was young and I remember people telling me how to open a crab, but exactly how old I was, I do not know. I do know that we were not wealthy so it was not a common treat. It was a very special treat and one that was usually a special occasion that we were invited to. My dad’s company had a company crab feast at Sandy Point which was circled on our calendar each year.

I do know that I grew up around people that loved crabs. When they were in front of a bushel, you couldn’t get them to move from the table. Everyone, everyone was a crab lover. So I guess I just went along with the crowd. By High School age, I was taken with the sum- mer ritual of eating crabs and I would whenever I could (maybe once a year). But there was nothing like it. A friend of mine had a wedding reception crab feast. What can I say?

In my lifetime, I saw on TV and read in the papers the “I have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King, JFK assassination, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Martin Luther King’s assassination, the Baltimore riots, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, and school bussing, all in the context of the Vietnam War that was very close to sucking me in.

The struggle of civil rights took on many different phases all during my life. There were times I didn’t understand it. There were times I fought with it. There are times I embraced it. But the time I learned the most was when I was a sophomore in high school and a camp counselor at St. Vincent De Paul’s summer camp in Annapolis for Baltimore City children. It was to give the poor children a summer vacation. While my heart went out to those kids, it didn’t mean I knew everything about civil rights or racism meant. I was just there.

“Amidst Our Neighbor” is to talk about these types of experiences. Just like eating crabs, our response to race has been groomed in us. For some of us that has been good and for some of us not so good. Amidst Our Neighbor is not to criticize that but to open up our heart to the stories and experiences and give us more information to head in the best direction. Please join us on Zoom on Wednesday night or on video at YouTube at Gerry Johnson.

Pastor Gerry

For more information contact Gerry Johnson Pastorgfj@gmail.com

Book Club

April 15, 2021
at 7:00pm
Mark your calendars
and save the date –
Book Club is coming
up next month!!
Grab a copy of our
next selection and
join us in April.
Meeting codes will be
provided as it gets closer!
The Next Book is:
Such a Fun Age
by Kiley Reid