Trinity Newsletter for December 30, 2020

December 30, 2020

The mission of Trinity Church is to share Christ's love and grace in a vibrant community whose joyful spirit empowers people to do God's work.

SENIOR WARDEN'S MESSAGE

It’s the little things that count.

I woke up this morning wishing I had a doughnut, missing my half-donut-a-week – and if I was there early enough, a pink one – from Trinity Café.

BJ’s smiling face would be greeting us; we would see Violet skipping in, the Gudowicz children running to hug Janet, and the Hosaflook and Jarvis kids enjoying an early breakfast. Many 8 o’clockers would be would be table-hopping to say hello to everyone. But we adapt and find new little things that count. I will continue to enjoy the Trinity Coffee Hour by zoom – even if I haven’t had a donut since March.

I miss going to the altar rail to receive communion with my Trinity family and hearing a meaningful sermon in the nave. I miss seeing our dear friend Waldo carefully negotiate the walk down the aisle on his cane and knowing he’s ok for another week. I really miss the hugs from wonderful friends when we pass the peace on Sunday morning. But I can tune in to spiritual communion, hear the music by our “substitute organist” Barry, and listen to or read a homily and prayers led by our priests and parishioners. Sam provided us all with an innovative and meaningful Zoom Christmas Eve pageant.

I miss going to GEMS meetings and the camaraderie of a shared meal and an engaging activity afterward. Thanks to Joan’s and Sug’s planning, we still managed to do our Toys for Tots Christmas project and collect things for Micah clients moving into apartments. I hear the laughter of the Brotherhood on Saturday mornings on their Zoom meetings and enjoyed my Christmas card from the Daughters. Santa visited the children by Zoom due to the ingenuity of those two groups.

Book group just isn’t the same when we don’t meet in person, but we had a lively Zoom discussion on God and the Pandemic led by our favorite guest, Dick Ayers, and explored the ideas of White Lies in another group. I read from the list of suggestions from the Task Force to Dismantle Racism.

I miss going to the hospital when it’s my week to be shepherd and I miss co-leading the caregivers’ group with Brenda and Randall. But we still maintain contact with parishioners who need our support and comfort, perhaps doing a better job with phone calls, emails and cards than we had done before. Randall and Ruth are offering their grief group by Zoom – Covid-style pastoral care.

I miss Tuesday night outreach, Micah breakfast, and my turn at the Micah cold-weather shelter. But we have fed schoolchildren, given food and money to food pantries still open, and Brenda, Kathleen, Selby and I, with Joanne’s help, are trying to figure out how to re-start Tuesday night outreach safely. The Daughters have supported the Lucca food pantry ministry. Patty takes donuts for Micah residents to eat for breakfast each Friday, Tom still represents us on the Micah board, I attend Micah clergy meetings, and Bill and Pat have led us in giving cold-weather-stocked backpacks to Micah residents. With Nancy Griswold’s leadership, we’ve very carefully, masked and distanced, resumed Blessings in a Backpack preparation and delivery. Elf Sunday got done through the creative leadership of Donna & Amanda Krauss and Jen Henderson.

I miss our giving rituals – handing in our annual Estimate of Giving cards, our United Thank offerings, hearing Meghann and her friends give us a sermon about Micah’s work. But Jeanie figured out how to do UTO on-line and we’ve dropped off our EOG cards to Val and Harry, as well as Elf gifts, Micah backpacks and supplies, Toys for Tots, and Lucca food in drive-by format, managing to snatch a quick chat – masked, of course – with each other at the same time.

I still miss my donuts. And Mother Cynthia, when you get here, the pink ones really are the best.

Claire Curcio, Senior Warden

TRINITY NEWS

MICAH AND COMMUNITY

CHRISTMAS SERVICE OF LESSONS & CAROLS

Martin Luther is credited with saying, “Next to the Word of God, the art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” The planning for today’s Micah service of Lessons and Carols originated in early October as a few clergy reflected on the challenges and gifts of ministry in a time of pandemic and anticipated what Christmas worship would look like. It was in that conversation that the Holy Spirit crafted an idea for the downtown churches to partner together for a Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols.

This service is a gift to the community from Micah Ecumenical Ministries and the Micah congregations in celebration and thanksgiving for God’s gift of the Christ-child. We especially want to thank the musicians and readers who proclaimed the good news in word and song, and Mitch Higgins for the offering of his time and artistic skill in creating the worship video.

Micah Street Church

Christ Lutheran Church

Fredericksburg Baptist Church

Fredericksburg United Methodist Church

Shiloh-Old Site

Shiloh- New Site

St. George’s Episcopal

St. Mary’s Catholic

The Presbyterian Church

Trinity Episcopal

We invite you to worship Christ the newborn king, the Lord of heaven and earth, who comes to us as a baby in the manger that we might approach the living God free of fear and trust in God’s great love for us and for all. May this service strengthen you to follow the Prince of Peace in the way of love by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Many thanks to The Rev. David Casey, and the Allison family

for representing us, both reading and singing beautifully.

It is a very moving service and includes readings and carols by participants of the

Street Church, the Micah clients who meet weekly in worship services.

MORE TRINITY NEWS & EVENTS

We give thanks for the life of BILL SHERMAN. Bill fought a courageous battle with cancer and succumbed to the disease on December 19th. Bill attended Trinity with his wife, Marne, and son, JT. Please keep them in your prayers. A Celebration of Life will be scheduled later in 2021. Donations in Bill’s name can be made to Rebuilding Together Fredericksburg, Moss Free Clinic, or a charity of your choice.

REVERSE ADVENT CALENDAR ITEM COLLECTION – If you collected items for the Reverse Advent Calendar to benefit Lucha Ministries please bring them to the circular driveway on the College Avenue side of the church TODAY, Wednesday, December 30 between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. If you have any questions, please contact Sam Burton.

OFFERING ENVELOPES - A drive-by to pick up your offering envelopes is scheduled for Sunday, January 3rd, from 10AM to 1PM. Michele Brantley or Val Folden will be at the church to pass out the envelopes. Can't make it on those Sundays? Denise will be in the office on Wednesdays from 9AM to 2PM. Please give her a call before you stop by - (540) 373-2996. Questions about your envelopes, please contact Val Folden.

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS/EPIPHANY IN A BAG – How have you used the items in your bag? Post a picture of you and an item from the bag that you found helpful or fun on the Trinity Religious Education FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/trinityflatjesus under the comments for Advent/Christmas/Epiphany Bag.

The new FORWARD DAY BY DAY for February/March/April is here! You may pick up your copy from the box outside the Ida Beck doors anytime! Please let us know if you take the last copy. There are plenty to go around!

CHRISTMAS AND THANKSGIVING SPECIAL OFFERINGS – The Vestry has designated the special offerings for Thanksgiving and Christmas to be split between the school at El Hogar and Micah Ecumenical Ministries. We have supported El Hogar for more than 25 years. Micah started in our Jamison Hall and continues to do great work getting homeless folks off the street. Please send a check to Trinity Church (825 College Ave., 22401) with Christmas or Thanksgiving offering in the memo space, use the special offering envelopes, or go to the Trinity website, pick Giving (at the bottom of the page), and select Christmas as the fund. Hopefully we can be generous in continuing our support for these programs in this time of great need.

There will be a VIRTUAL COFFEE HOUR this Sunday, January 3rd at 9:30 a.m. Zoom meeting ID # 441 267 3172 and the password is 6YiW22. This will be a recurring Zoom meeting with the same ID and password each Sunday. We ask that everyone mute their microphones when we start the Zoom meeting to minimize background noise. You can unmute when and if you want to speak. We look forward to seeing you!

Families with children are invited to join us for ONLINE SUNDAY SCHOOL this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. for a 40 to 50-minute Sunday school lesson on Zoom. Our time together will include a few minutes of social (gathering) time, some songs we all know, some prayer time, a story, and an easy craft response to the story. This will be geared for children ages 5 through fifth grade, but older and younger people are welcome too. Each child/person will need a pencil, a few sheets of paper, and some crayons or colored pencils. I will email additional materials to everyone on Friday. If you have not received emails in the past with the information to join the class meeting and would like for your child to participate, please contact Sam Burton.

YOUTH GROUP - Have you solved the Nativity Escape Room activity yet? Be sure to email Miss Sam the 4-digit answer code at sburton@trinity-fredericksburg.org as soon as you figure it out. One person has already claimed their prize! The next two people to contact Miss Sam with the answer code will also earn a prize. Our next meeting will be Sunday, January 10, 2021 from 2:00 to 3:00 via Zoom. Look for an email with sign-in information on Friday, January 8th.

CLUB 45 will have their first meeting of the new year on Sunday, January 17th from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. via Zoom. We will have a game day! An email will be sent on Friday, January 15th with the information needed to join the meeting and some attachments for playing games. I hope all Club 45ers can join us for some fun! Trusted friends may be invited to participate in the Zoom meeting as well, just forward Friday’s email to them. For more information, please contact Sam Burton.

Would you like to help Micah's "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR" campaign"? Click here or go to Twitter #loveyourneighbor for more details.

NEED AN ONLINE BIBLE STUDY? The GOOD BOOK CLUB picks up again on January 1 through Shrove Tuesday, February 16, with the Gospel of Mark. Since Mark is the gospel appointed for this lectionary year, you’ll have a chance to dive deep into the scripture through the Good Book Club and then spend time with Mark throughout 2021! We know you have a lot going on, so we wanted to make this year’s Good Book Club accessible and easy to participate. Along with partners from across the Episcopal Church, the Good Book Club offers daily podcasts of the readings and reflections, online book studies (live classes and pre-recorded), weekly preview emails, and different ways to participate via social media. Visit our resources page to learn more and sign up for classes.

NEWS FROM THE DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA

"A MEDITATION FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS" by Bishop Goff, can be found here.

PLEASE GIVE TO THE BISHOP'S APPEAL TO HELP COVID-RELIEF MINISTRIES - Your gift to the Bishop’s Appeal will help feed those who are hungry, without shelter, and provide access to other basic needs in communities of the Diocese of Virginia affected by the crisis. Through the generosity of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund all online donations up to $25,000 will be matched so your gift to help is doubled. Encourage friends, family and fellow parishioners to join you. Share on social media what our mission means to you. Use the special hashtag #OneTogether so we can harness the power of social media and connection to help share your story!

All the Ways to Give

Online: Make double the impact and help us meet our $25,000 match through your gift @ https://bit.ly/DOVGIVES
Mail: Send your check to Bishop’s Appeal, PO Box 27426, Richmond, VA 23261
Text: Text DIOVA APPEAL to 73256 to give to the DOV Appeal fund [Bishop’s Appeal] using your text messaging. Standard text messaging rates may apply.

TryTank presents: LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS, by the Virginia Theological Seminary. For almost 20 years, beginning just after 9/11, futurist Bob Johansen has been wrestling with the question of leadership profiles that will be required to thrive in the VUCA World (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous). He wrote a trilogy of books that share the profile he's convinced will work to help us get ready for the next future shock. Our new Rector encourages us to participate in this online webinar, January 13, 3-4PM. Find more information and register here.

NEWS FROM THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Tell Me Something Good, a new web series from The Episcopal Church, highlights positive stories from around the church through conversations with a variety of guests. New episodes of Tell Me Something Good will be released every two weeks. Episodes 1-3 are available for viewing on The Episcopal Church website here, on Facebook here, and on Instagram TV, @theepiscopalchurch. On Episode 3, Rebecca Hall visits with hosts Marcus Halley and Jerusalem Greer about her work with intentional small groups at The Abbey, and how they have blossomed during the pandemic in surprising ways. The Abbey, an extension of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, is a space for spiritual practitioners to meet, primarily online, for classes, groups, and retreats. They draw from both ancient and modern sources with a focus on contemplative practices. Although their particular path is Christian, they welcome all seekers with or without religious affiliation. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/y2rxzrjr

Season 4 of The Episcopal Church’s podcast The Way of Love with Bishop Michael Curry, is now available. In this episode, Bishop Curry talks with Bryan Stevenson – author, lawyer, and founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama – about what it means to remember, reorient, and renew an active faith in Jesus and his Way of Love.