Trinity Topics December 6, 2024

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DEAR FRIENDS

Dear Friends,

Clergy are notorious bibliophiles. We buy books. We are given books as gifts. And we inherit books from older priests or their surviving spouses. We read a lot of the books that we have – or at least parts of them. The rest of the books serve as backdrops in our offices; as we sit in front of them, they make us appear more learned than perhaps we really are. Back in the day, clergy had “studies” where they read and contemplated. One of the gifts my father gave me after I was ordained was a hand-carved wooden sign that reads, “Parson’s Study.” Now, more often than not, we clergy have “offices,” suggesting that what we do is more managerial than it is pastoral. Since words matter, the change in terminology is worth pondering.

Over the last several years, I’ve drastically reduced my library. Part of the reason is that I move every year or two, and books are heavy! Part of the reason is that I no longer kid myself that I’m going to read or refer to most of them. The books I have kept are the ones I go back to again and again.

Every Advent, I take one particular book down from the shelf and read an excerpt from it every day. The book’s title is Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. Just like Advent calendars, Watch for the Light gives me something to open every day – short pieces by some of the great spiritual writers. Some are from the distant past, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux and John Donne, and some are from more recent times, like Kathleen Norris and Madeleine L’Engle. One of my favorites is by J.B. Phillips called “The Dangers of Advent.” Phillips was an Anglican clergyman and a pioneering Bible translator best known for his The New Testament in Modern English, a translation that had its start during World War II, while he was vicar of the Church of the Good Shepherd in London. He found the young people in his church did not understand the King James Version of the Bible, so he used the time he spent in the bomb shelters during the London Blitz to begin a translation of the New Testament into modern English.

Here’s how “The Dangers of Advent” begins: “By far the most important and significant event in the whole course of human history will be celebrated, with or without understanding, at the end of this season, Advent. The towering miracle of God’s visit to this planet on which we live will be glossed over, brushed aside or rendered impotent by over-familiarity.”

Further on the in article, he continues, “The particular danger which faces us as Christmas approaches is unlikely to be contempt for the sacred season, but nevertheless our familiarity with it may easily produce in us a kind of indifference.”

Indifference due to over-familiarity. I don’t know if that’s a problem for you. I know it sometimes is for me. So I count on J.B. Phillips to remind me every Advent that the coming of Jesus at Christmas is – in his words – a “towering miracle.”

“The Dangers of Advent” is too long a piece for me to include here. So, in addition to the brief snippets I’ve already shared, let me close this Dear Friends letter with the words Phillips uses to close his article. He writes: “. . . behind all our fun and games at Christmastime, we should not try to escape a sense of awe, almost a sense of fright, at what God has done. We must never allow anything to blind us to the true significance of what happened at Bethlehem so long ago. Nothing can alter the fact that we live on a visited planet.”

We live on a visited planet. What an extraordinary thing to realize! I can’t possibly become overly familiar with the idea, or indifferent to it either. How about you?

Blessings,
Stephen Applegate

GREENING OF CHURCH

Saturday, December 7 at 9:30. Sign up and save the date!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B084AADAC23A0FD0-53044906-greening

YEAR END GIVING NOTICE

The end of the year is rapidly approaching, and with it comes an annual list of reminders.

First, thanks to all who have paid or continue to pay your pledges faithfully! Please help us stay on budget by paying your 2024 pledge before the year ends.

Now the reminders:

If you are paying your pledge via gift of appreciated stock, please allow plenty of time for that transaction. You are encouraged to make your gift early so that we can produce year-end statements on time. Be sure to call or e-mail Heather Meyer, Director of Operations, regarding the type of stock you are donating. Please do not rely on your broker to inform Trinity of your gift – they often don’t. Please call Heather at (419) 243-1231, or email her heather@trinitytoledo.org
If you are mailing your donation, it must be postmarked by Tuesday, December 31.
Be sure to indicate your gift designation on the memo line of your check, i.e., 2024 pledge, 2025 pre-paid pledge, Christmas offering, debt reduction, etc. If no designation is made, your gift will be automatically applied to your current year pledge, or if there is no pledge, to un-pledged gifts for 2024.
If you have not yet made your pledge for 2025, Trinity encourages you to do so before year-end. Please prayerfully consider making an appropriate pledge for your household. If you do not have a pledge card handy, you may make your pledge online at https://www.trinitytoledo.org/pledge/

As always, your generosity in giving is much appreciated and helps support the mission and ministry of our progressive, inclusive, creative community of faith. Thank you.

CHRISTMAS "Advent" SING-ALONG!

Crafts, Snacks and Songs Wednesday, December 11th, 2024 @ 7:00 pm

Join your Trinity Musicians as we sing the night away with our favorite CHRISTMAS SONGS! Featuring music like "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer," an interactive "Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman," just to name a few. Lyrics, snacks, crafts and songs will be provided. FREE EVENT.

CASTING CALL: TRINITY CHRISTMAS PAGEANT Rehearsal after church December 22nd, and performed December 24^th @ 4:00 pm

Trinity's calling all theatre enthusiasts and performers to sign up to participate in this year's Christmas Pageant! With a script written by Chelsie and Grace, you can trust it will be fun, joyful, and have a great message. (And, you'll have a great time!) While preference will be given to our youngest actors, all are welcome. We'll find a part for you. Click the sign-up genius to learn more about how you can get involved. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/christmaspageant24

After an incredibly successful and flavorful Thanksgiving meal, we are excited to announce we are seeking volunteers for our Christmas Eve Luncheon. Immediately following our 12pm service, we will host a lunch in My Brother’s Place. It will be very similar to our Thanksgiving setup, and we are asking for 15-20 volunteers willing to help cook, clean, and host. Set up begins at 10am, and we’ll pause for service by 12pm. Lunch will be served from 1-2pm, and we hope to be all cleaned up by 2:30pm. Sign up Genius Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B084AADAC23A0FD0-53729393-christmas#/

Our big winners from Sunday's Dips! Dips! Dips! Bake Off have new trophies to decorate for Christmas. J. Michael Hull, 1^st place; Bradley Baker, 2nd place and Lexi Haas, 3rd place. Well done, cooks!

Today, I want to share an update with you about changes that occurred this past year in Trinity’s worship service.

Trinity’s Sunday liturgy is part of our identity: it’s one of the many ways we practice being progressive, inclusive, and creative. Bishop Anne requested that all parishes in her diocese use only worship resources authorized by the Episcopal Church in the spring of 2024. Her request had a significant impact on Trinity. The bishop was willing to listen to our concerns about the changes, and she asked Trinity to form a team and formally present feedback.

And we did.

Gathering a diverse group of people at Trinity was important, especially people with varied church experience. Trinity assembled a group of nine individuals to represent the parish: LaVonda Josett, Megan Simmons, Kyle Grefe, Becky Koskinen, J. Michael Hull, Jason Rahe, Brian Ingman, Allen Santiago and Mary Beroske.

The Liturgy Working Group at Trinity met twice to participate in a study consisting of four workbooks and one overall review of worship at Trinity. Each workbook compared authorized versus unauthorized sources for different parts of our worship service, and the final review offered additional feedback on how the overall worship experience has changed. The group had engaged and challenging discussions where group members felt safe authentically expressing different points of view. The second meeting included reviewing the data collected in the previous session and ensuring the letter we composed for the Bishop accurately reflected the thoughts and feelings of the Trinity congregation’s representatives.

We are confident we have created work that honestly reflects the overall reactions and feelings of the Trinity congregation. Our letter was respectful of Bishop Anne’s authority and reflected a true desire to collaborate. We want to be a church that is a part of a bigger system while ministering to our congregation; a congregation full of people of the LGBTQIA+ community and others who have experienced church-related trauma. Using varying forms of traditional words helps to heal broken spirits and facilitate faith in a way that using only traditional forms of liturgy cannot. We look forward to hearing back from Bishop Anne and Canon Koch, the diocesan liturgist, in the near future.

With an immense amount of love,

Chelsie Cree, Director of Music and the Arts

Christmas Memorial Poinsettia Sale

Christmas Memorial Poinsettias are on sale - you can order your poinsettia by filling out our online form, or you can find order forms at the Parish Life Table in the back of the Sanctuary. When filling out your form, please be sure to include your first and last name, phone number and quantity. If you are requesting a plant in honor or memory of a loved one, please include their first and last name(s) which we will list in our Christmas Eve bulletin.

The poinsettias will be 6 1/2" with multiple blooms, for $12.00 each. Flowers can be taken home after our 11pm Christmas Eve service. Orders are due by Tuesday, December 17th!

CHORAL CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT TRINITY

Saturday, December 14th, 2024 @ 7:00 pm

The Northwest Ohio Vocal Arts Ensemble, NOVA, celebrates the wonder of the nativity story with a musical journey through time. Through medieval chant, early Renaissance, and rich 20th century settings, this program of beautiful choral selections is sure to bring a sense of mystery and awe to your holiday season. A free-will offering will be taken with a suggested donation of $30. Program is approximately 1 hour, without intermission.

BOOK CLUB

We will take a pause for the cause and meet on January 19 at 6:30pm via Zoom to discuss our next selection: "There Are Rivers In The Sky" by Elif Shafak. From the Booker Prize finalist, author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two great rivers, all connected by a single drop of water. Zoom meet up details coming soon.

TRINITY@HOME LIVE-STREAM

Trinity@Home is now a live-stream of Trinity’s 10:00 am in-person service with an interactive chat.

www.trinitytoledo.org/live

EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE

Scientist Katharine Hayhoe discusses climate change during Los Angeles diocese’s webinar

[Diocese of Los Angeles] One of the most effective ways people of faith can help combat climate change is to start talking about it, in ways that connect people’s personal […]

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe leads first House of Bishops meeting, talks of supporting dioceses

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Dec. 4 chaired his first meeting of the House of Bishops since taking over as the denomination leader a month ago. Afterward, Rowe […]

Episcopal delegates leave UN climate change conference disappointed yet determined

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal delegates left the United Nations’ 29th annual climate change conference disappointed with the end results, but they are determined more than ever to continue advocating for […]

Welsh churches create warm hub to bring soup and cheer through the winter

[Church in Wales] A new warm space café in Dolgellau is helping the community combat the triple challenge of winter fuel costs, food poverty and social isolation. Clwb Cawl, launched by […]