Trinity Anglican Parish

August Parish Newsletter

The Rector’s Reflections

Looking Ahead

According to Janie, “After July 4^th, Summer is over.”  That may sound a little premature on the surface, but what occupies your thoughts this time of year?  If you have children in school, you are working on wardrobes and supplies for the coming year.  If you are a teacher, you are working on next semester’s classes.  If you are an accountant, it is time to work on next year’s budget.  If you are in retail, this is just one of several seasons for which you prepare special displays.  Janie is right.  “Mentally, summer is over.”

In addition to our individual preparations for fall and new beginnings, the church also is preparing for the future.  In just a few weeks, our Vacation Bible School will end and we’ll start several new classes.  A Confirmation class will be held at 09:00 am Sunday mornings starting on September 12^th.  A new Adult Education class will be held at 09:00 am Sunday mornings starting on September 12^th.  Our weekday Adult Bible Study will be held at 11:00 am Wednesday mornings starting on September 8^th.  Just having so many classes in progress at the same time is a new beginning for Trinity.  It shows the desire to educate everyone in the ways of our Lord.  It shows the dedication of those preparing and offering the classes.  It shows our faith in the future.

The musical side of Trinity is not idle either.  The Choir is beginning to think about the special music that must be ready by Advent and Christmas.  Again, it sounds premature, but these things don’t just happen by themselves in the right season.  There is a great deal of effort expended behind the scenes before we hear the beautiful results.

The Building and Grounds Committee is looking ahead to make sure we are properly prepared should the next winter be as challenging as this spring.  Snow plows don’t just appear when we need them.

The Finance Committee is entering a time of preparation as well.  By the time we hold our Annual Parish Meeting in November, they will have prepared a proposed budget for 2011 and have the vestry’s blessing on their recommendation.  This too is not an easy task.  Trinity takes their budget seriously and has never had a deficit.  This is due to three efforts that fall primarily on the Finance Committee.  First, they do a diligent job of predicting expenses.  Second, they execute the stewardship drive to provide the pledges on which our final budget can be based.  Third, monthly reports keep the vestry aware of our standing with income, expenses and the budget.

As we busy ourselves in preparation for the fall, it is a good time to recognize those whose efforts are so automatic, they become transparent.  First we should recognize those involved in the worship service itself.  The liturgical staff – priests, deacons, lay readers acolytes and Margaret Jenkins – plan each month for the coming services.  Margaret Jenkins selects and prepares both Hymns and Service music for each Sunday and selected evening services during the week.  The Altar guild prepares and cleans up the Altar after both Sunday Eucharists as well as the Prayer Book Holy Days throughout the week.  Greeters are on hand to welcome visitors and make their first visit more enjoyable.  A youth Sunday school is taught each Sunday.  We have a nursery to watch those too young to participate in the service.

In addition, there are many things occurring behind the scenes.  The Vestry meets monthly to review our business needs and plan for the future.  They are provided reports from the Advertising, Building and Grounds, Clergy, Education, Finance, Memorials, Music, and Parish Development Committees as well as the Ladies of Trinity.  Each of those groups has their own responsibilities and their own efforts that are often “invisible” to many in the congregation.  There is a Parish Secretary who takes notes and reports on Vestry and Parish meetings.  That includes responsibility for safekeeping all the parish records.  There is a Parish Treasurer who records contributions by parishioners so accurate statements of gifts can be prepared for tax reporting.  Other responsibilities include collecting and depositing all contributions, paying the bills and tracking the investment accounts and designated funds.

As we ramp up for the new season of classes and the beginning of a new liturgical year at Advent, we must pause to recognize those whose efforts keep us moving ahead and help us build our future.  It is also a good time to review how we each individually offer our “time, talent and treasure” to spreading the “good news”.  We have a lot going on and we don’t want to wear anybody out.  The best way to avoid that is to distribute the work load amongst all of us.  Pray with me for guidance as we look for contributions we each can make to our church family.

Fr. Forrest

 

        Anniversaries                           Birthdays                 

Deacon's Diary

Meditation on the Feast of the Transfiguration

 During each Liturgical Year, on 6 August, we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, a feast of great beauty and richness. (Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36)  This feast is a source for endless writing and meditation, and is best approached in a spirit of prayer, and profound awe.  Among many topics we might consider, we can reflect on;  Jesus’ incarnation; the wonder of Him, true God, and true man.

We see him as God, wonderfully "wrapped in light as in a robe".  The event on the mountain of Tabor is a window into the divinity of Jesus Christ, surrounded with the glory, intensely white.  Jesus is God, and in his presence we worship in silence.  Once before, Moses and Elijah worshipped God on the mount, and in silence fell on their faces before God.  Here, now however, they are speaking with Jesus.  "...and they were talking with Jesus."

What were they discussing, what were they speaking about?  Matthew, and Mark, are silent, but Luke tells us they “spake of his decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (King James); or from another version, “spoke of His exodus that He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (New American Bible).  Their conversation was about the coming Passion of Christ, the suffering, the trial, the cross and the tomb.  If Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were speaking about the coming passion, perhaps Christ is also showing something of his human nature, even as he reveals his divine nature?  For a human being lives in relation with others, and has a need to put into words the events and mysteries of the past, the present, and the future.  Before any important moment, do not we turn to our spouse, our family, our friends, and together seek to understand the presence of God and His will?  In this way, perhaps Moses and Elijah ministered unto Christ?  Each had spoken to God intimately and with boldness before.  Is it surprising that Christ would call upon them now as 'friends of God', friends of His, to speak of the coming Passover?  The Lord acts naturally as a human being, and humbly converses with his friends about the coming trial, even as His divinity is wondrously revealed to the Apostles.  The use of the word ‘exodus’ in the New American Bible to describe Jesus’ going to Jerusalem is interesting.  It calls to mind the Israelite Exodus from Egypt to the promised land.  Our Lord’s last week of His life is also is a journey through hardship, persecution and danger, with its end the promised land of Heaven.

The union of Christ's humanity and divinity is complete and full, and as we meditate upon the feasts of the Lord's life we always benefit by focusing on this wonderful unity in his person.  Let us, as Peter, James and John, bask in the brightness of this mystery, begging our Savior God to reveal himself more fully to us.  For what we see is beautiful and alluring.

Dcn. Michael

We pray for those in the Military

We pray for those in Adversity

Music at Trinity

Our Choir will take a well-earned vacation during the month of August.  The singers will continue to be in place to lead singing at our worship services; however, there will be no rehearsals during August.

Ryan Harris, who has sung at many of our services since his undergraduate years at St. Mary’s University, will be our soloist on August 15^th.  Ryan had been scheduled to sing for us on Christmas morning (which was cancelled), and was gracious enough to schedule two more services (which also were cancelled.)  It was, as you remember, a very unusual December and January!  Now, with no snow and ice in the forecast, Ryan expects to try again.  We look forward to his special music on the fifteenth.  Please plan to visit with him during the coffee hour to wish him well;  he will be leaving in the near future for an extended tour of duty with the U. S. Army in Japan.

Looking ahead to Fall, the choir will begin rehearsals again on September 5^th.  Several anthems are already prepared, so we look forward to a full month of special music.  One very special performance has been scheduled for September 19^th (the third Sunday in the month) when flautist Lisa Erickson will join the choir for “Beautiful Savior”, an anthem by composer Robert Hobby.  Based on the familiar hymn in our hymnal, it features organ and flute accompaniment.

News from the choir 

Each month, in this column, I like to call attention to a member of our choir – sort of a “singer of the month”.  Steve Talbot has certainly earned a spot as a special member of our group, not only joining with the tenor section as one of our three fine tenors on anthems and hymns, but inspiring us with beautiful solos.  Steve, who by the way keeps our rehearsals enlivened with quite a bit of humor, is studying for the CPA examination in the near future, and so is a natural for the auditing he has been doing for Trinity.  So many talents!  As I always say, the members of our choir are pretty special people.

Margaret Jenkins

                                Altar Guild                                    Color            Greeters

Clerical Assignments

Confirmation Class

A confirmation class will be held this fall starting on September 12^th.  The classes will be conducted by Dcn. Michael Grear and Janie Burgett at 09:00 am each Sunday in the Undercroft.  See Fr. Burgett to save your seat in this class.

Landscaping Volunteers

We have a number of challenges on our property.  The Redbud tree at the Undercroft door is threatening to drop branches on the roof over that door.  We also need dirt along the foundation on the south side of the building.  It would be nice to have the ground and lawn meet the top of our curbs.  There are probably more challenges that I haven't noticed.  If you have some talents in this area and some time to donate, we'd love to have your help.

Summer Schedule

Applies to June, July & August

The Adult Education class on Anglican Faith & Practice will conclude in May.  Throughout the summer, we will conduct an Adult Forum as we did last year.  We are discussing World religions and comparing their practices and beliefs to our own.  Members of the class are volunteering to present the religion they choose and the whole class will discuss the comparison.  We will again start the formal class in September.  Dr. Russ Hobbs will be presenting the class on St. John's Gospel.

The Wednesday Bible Study class on the Acts of the Apostles will conclude in May.  I will continue to hold that time available to anyone who wishes to discuss any issue throughout the summer.  We will again start the formal class in September and the subject will be Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

The Ladies of Trinity will not meet in June, July & August.  They will start again in September at 11:00 am on the third Monday of the month.

The Parish Development Meetings will not meet in June, July & August.  They will start again in September at 07:00 pm on the last Monday of the month.

The Vestry will not take a holiday during the summer.  They will continue to meet after Evening Prayer at 6:30 pm on the second Monday of the month.

Special Notice

A Vacation Bible School will be conducted at 09:00 am on Sundays from July 25th through August 5th.  Please see Faith Hobbs for the details

Last Updated 07/18/2010 10:32 AM