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Celebration of Marcia Merry’s Last Sunday

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Umbrella and Hats Sunday and

Celebration of Marcia Merry’s Last Day

Bring your lawn chairs, a beach umbrella, and wear your favorite hat!
8:00 am Service
We will have an 8:00 am service (forecast temperature is 74 degrees with partly cloudy skies).
9:30 am Service (moved from 10:00 am, now and ongoing)
We will change the worship time to 9:30 am for this Sunday and all future Sundays so that it is a bit cooler than 10:00 am. (Forecast temperature is 78 degrees with partly cloudy skies this Sunday).
(If you want to set up a pop-up canopy tent for Sunday, you can come on Saturday night or before services on Sunday morning and set it up.)
Marcia Merry’s Last Sunday, July 26
Marcia Merry has been with us for 20 years. She was instrumental in providing an opportunity to have a pipe organ in our sanctuary, a true blessing to all of us. She has been an influential presence that invited people to come and share their musical talents and live out their faith in Jesus Christ here at Holy Trinity. Yes, she has definitely been a minister of music.
On Sunday, we will thank her for sharing her faith and talents with us all these years. We thank her for all of the musical presentations and her friendly invitation to make something special happen through music at our worship services.
Marcia will be given the title of Organist Emeritus, which means she will always be a part of us! She will stay with us to help arrange musical presentations with our gifted musicians in the years to come.
Thank you, Marcia. You have been a blessing to us all!

Drive-In Communion Sunday

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Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Holy Communion Sunday
June 28, 2020 at 11:00 AM
Many people have stated an interest in receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion during these times. We have a way to adhere to social distancing while providing the Holy Sacrament.
On Sunday, June 28, 2020, we will have an in-home Worship video celebrating the Second Sunday after Pentecost that will start at the usual 9:30 time. Then after the video, you may gather some communion elements (see below) and drive to church. You will be directed on where to park (every other space). Pastor will be on the side porch. You can get out of your car with your elements, and Pastor will say the words of institution, just like at worship. We will pray the Lord’s Prayer and receive Holy Communion. Then we will dismiss.
We will make every effort to maintain social distancing. If you want to stay in your car, that is fine, just hold up the elements at the time of institution. If there are more cars than places, we will have another service.
Everyone is welcome to participate.
Elements: The elements are bread and wine, but there is a great deal of flexibility in what is acceptable. My over-reaching rule of thumb is that the bread should be simple and not delicious or stale to be distracting from the reverence of Holy Communion. It can be any kind of bread or cracker or wafer. The wine should be wine or grape juice, although the requirements are very flexible. Also, Holy Communion does not need to be shared with two elements. So, if you only want to have bread that is fine. Under the circumstance, limiting to one element might be a good suggestion.
After communion, the leftovers are to be disposed of reverently. I would suggest keeping the portions small to minimize the leftovers. If there is some bread and drink leftover, try to consume it all. If there is leftover bread, it can be used in a meal. It should not be disposed of in a trash can. Leftover wine can be poured to the ground if it is not going to be consumed. If consuming the wine, please drink responsibly!

Coronavirus Update – June 6, 2020

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Dear Holy Trinity Family,

I hope you are continuing to stay safe and healthy as our area slowly begins to open up and return to a new version of normal. The Church Council met twice in the month of May to discuss our opening plans as we continue to monitor the climate and do our due diligence. As I’ve said in prior letters, our number one priority is the health and safety of our congregation and the other people using our building.

Northern Virginia officially entered Phase 1 on May 29, 2020. In the plans laid out by Governor Northam, this phase will last anywhere from 2-4 weeks. In early May, the Church Council voted to align our church re-opening with when our area enters Phase 2. At our meeting last week, we also had a
lengthy discussion on how worship will look when we re-open. The Council
decided to purchase a large tent, similar to what would be used for an outdoor
wedding, so that we can hold a full worship service outside on our lawn
(weather permitting). We will also hold multiple services so as to keep our
gathering small, and we will send out additional details (worship times, safety
procedures, etc.) in the near future. In order for proper planning time and
delivery of the new tent, the Council voted to set a tentative start for these
new outdoor worship services for Sunday, July 5, 2020.

This opening date also impacts our scheduled Spring/Summer Congregation Meeting that was originally to be held in June. The new date for this Meeting will be Sunday, July 12, 2020, with an inclement weather date of July 19, 2020. This Meeting is important to our congregation for many reasons, but most notably because this is the time we elect new Council members to replace those whose terms expire on June 30. As this pandemic and church closure is such an unprecedented event, the Council has made the decision to extend the current Council terms by one month. This will prevent a lapse in leadership should something happen that needs leadership review or approval. With the new Congregation Meeting date(s), we will be able to have the newly-elected members at our July Council Meeting (July 21, 2020) and then install the new Council during worship service.

I realize that this is a lot of information, and some of it may not be how you envisioned, but I assure you that the entire Church Council is making each decision with the well-being of our congregation and community at heart. We are blessed that we have been able to continue worshiping with today’s amazing technology. Our drive-in communion services have been a wonderful opportunity to gather in a socially distanced way and feel the love and presence of Jesus in our community.

I am thankful for the flexibility of our Pastor, Staff, Church Council, and the entire congregation as we navigate this new terrain. Our shared devotion and faith in Jesus Christ never cease to amaze me.

In Christ’s name,

Stephanie Bollinger

President of the Church Council

Important – Group Leaders and Mission Partners!

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March 19, 2020

Once again, we are faced with the difficult decision to comply with request of our state and local governments to minimize meetings and activities. We understand how important your meeting times are to keep your group together, but we also understand the urgency of the preventive social distancing measures brought by the COVID-19 virus.

Therefore, Church Council has made the decision that our Sunday Worship service on March 22, 2020 will be cancelled and that our building will continue to be closed for all activities through March 28, 2020. We are taking a week-by-week approach in announcing any cancellations so that we ensure we are going by the most current information and are deliberate in making these difficult decisions.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause to your group. We invite your comments and suggestions as we both go down this uncertain path together. We pray for you and your groups and hope that the situation shows some positive signs soon.

Group Coronavirus Letter

Sunday Parking Lot Service

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“Drive In” Outside Service
Radio Transmitted in the Parking Lot
with Holy Communion
We use radio frequency 100.9 FM to transmit our service to all those who are in their vehicles in the parking lot (the signal will not go much further than that). You will get a bulletin and a host when you arrive and we transmit from the Side Porch where the glass doors are. We have music and an abbreviated service, with Holy Communion.
Starting Feb 28, In Person Worship in the sanctuary with Safety Protocols will resume. For the time being, these services will also be broadcast on HTLC radio 100.9FM from inside the sanctuary for those who prefer to attend from the parking lot.
 We are so excited to provide this as an option for worship service because it is important for those who want to come. If Jesus can come to us in a manger, we can spread His Word over the air waves in our parking lot!

Rise against hunger

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On Sunday, February 16, at 12:00, we prepared and packaged food to make 10,000 meals for starving children and adults around the world. Over 100 volunteers gathered to make this happen.  Thank you to all!
 

Men’s Retreat

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Our retreat is scheduled for March 13-15, 2020 at the Buttonwood Lodge. The plan is to meet in the late afternoon on Friday, March 13 and conclude by noon on Sunday, March 15.
We will have time for fellowship, learning, prayer and reflection.
As you may know, Chef Geyser will be in the house spear-heading meals fit for men and, no one will go hungry for sustenance, both in food and faith. There is a sign-up list at the Welcome Center and of course you can always reach out directly to Mike Geyser or Pastor Gerry. The agenda and further details will be forthcoming

Women’s Retreat

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Holy Trinity’s
Annual Women’s Retreat
…is scheduled for the weekend of Friday-Sunday, March 27-29, 2020 at Signal Knob Retreat Center near Strasburg, VA.
This year’s topic will be:
“Let. It. Go.”, a study from author and popular speaker Karen Ehman. It gives women practical, biblically based steps for letting go of the need to control, dictate, and even manipulate the people and situations around them, and instead, trust that God has their best interests in mind.
The total cost for the weekend will be $125 for the full weekend, $75 for one night or $25 for Saturday only. A sign-up sheet is located at the Welcome Center in the Gathering Area.
Watch the ’This Week’ announcements and Tidings for additional information as we get closer to the retreat date. Plan now to become a part of this growing community of faith!
Please contact Sandy Johnson or Gretchen Luebbe with any questions.