Trinity Newsletter for January 20, 2021

January 20, 2021

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.

WELCOME, MOTHER CYNTHIA!

The month of January ushers in the new calendar year, and, in 2021, indeed today, a new beginning in the form of the nation’s inauguration of our president and vice president – an event that is significant this year in many extraordinary ways. For Trinitarians, this week brings yet another profound beginning – one of love, hope, and promise - the Reverend Cynthia McKenna is now Trinity’s rector!

Cynthia’s love of Christ, her warmth, and caring for her flock were evident from the beginning of our discernment together. Through our many months along that journey of discernment, we came to more fully appreciate each other and to understand that Cynthia should be the next shepherd to lead Trinity.

To make her portentous journey from Texas to Virginia even more memorable, she traveled the last leg from eastern Tennessee to our area in torrential rains and arrived safely on New Year’s Day. In the last two weeks since arriving in the Fredericksburg area, Cynthia has been busy, not only starting to get acclimated to the area but also in preparing for her start as rector. Although on vacation until her official start at Trinity on January 19, Cynthia, upon learning of committee co-chair Alda White’s sudden medical setback, wasted no time in reaching out to Alda. (Thankfully, Alda is at home and continues to improve!) Cynthia also has been busy contacting various staff and program leaders in preparation for her start this week, and she is looking forward to meeting and getting to know the entire parish and the community beyond.

As we had come to know on our journey together, Cynthia is all in when it comes to ministering and caring for her flock. We are thrilled to have Cynthia as Trinity’s new shepherd to lead and care for us!

Trinity Discernment Committee

TRINITY NEWS

To my Dear Trinitarian friends,

This past Sunday, your executive committee came to my front porch. They came bearing amazing gifts. They gave me a stunning chalice and paten with a card that brought me to tears. They brought me a beautiful arrangement of flowers. And then they gave me a basket filled with cards and letters. And as I have been reading these notes, I have been brought to tears again.

It has been my joy to be among you these past months. I will always consider Trinity my spiritual home. No one of us knew when we started our journey together that we would find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic. But we did, and we all did our part to keep our community together. And, yes, I will be glad to reclaim my dining room table!

Until I get to the pearly gates, the red doors of Trinity are as close as I will get this side of heaven. Thank you for your love. Know you will always have mine.

Faithfully and gratefully,

Bambi

Join Mother Cynthia for Morning Prayer, Rite II, at 6:30AM weekdays

Live on Trinity's Facebook page

The Book of Common Prayer can be found here.

Our LENTEN SERIES this year will be a parish-wide read of Bishop Michael Curry’s latest book, Love is the Way; Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times. The book may be purchased from Amazon and from Barnes and Noble. More information coming soon, watch this space! If you have any questions, or need assistance purchasing a book, please contact Mother Cynthia at cmckenna@trinity-fredericksburg.org or Sam Burton at sburton@trinity-fredericksburg.org.

REGISTERING FOR THE COVID-19 VACCINE

The Rappahannock Area Health Department is currently planning for vaccination of Tier 1B eligible essential workers, people age 65 and older, and those with medical conditions within our jurisdiction (City of Fredericksburg or Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford Counties.)

If you fall into this category, please follow these guidelines or if you have friends or family, please spread the word.

For people age 65 and older: Please fill out this form to receive updates and notifications on vaccination scheduling. https://redcap.vdh.virginia.gov/surveys/?s=P3XR4WPEDC

For people age 65 and older and homebound: Please contact the RAHD Call Center at 540-899-4797 for more guidance.

For people not in Tier 1B: It will take some time before all in our district who wish to be fully vaccinated can be. RAHD is committed to moving as efficiently as possible through this arduous process. In the meantime, we implore all of you to be patient and continue and in some cases, increase, safety mitigations. For more updates, please visit https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/rappahannock/covid-19-vaccination-information/.

Please be patient! It will take some time to get everyone vaccinated!

Thank you for volunteering to protect Virginia's health!

The Health Ministry Committee encourages parishioners to register as soon as they become eligible. Right now you must be at least 65 years old or meet one of the other requirements. If you are a little technically challenged and need some help signing up online, please call Brenda Chase (540-226-2628) and she or another member of the committee will assist you with the process.

TIME CHANGE

FOR VIRTUAL COFFEE HOUR ON SUNDAYS!

We will now gather for virtual fellowship at 9:00 AM via Zoom. The 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!

Do you have an address, phone number or email address change? Please remember to notify the office so we can keep in touch! Email Denise at dsymonds@trinity-fredericksburg.org

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 at sburton@trinity-fredericksburg.org.

The YOUTH GROUP will meet this Sunday, January 24, via Zoom from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. We will watch a short video on climate change and have a discussion. Afterwards we will play games. Trusted friends may be invited to participate in the Zoom meeting as well, just forward Friday’s email to them. To sign up for the meeting, or for more information, please contact Sam Burton.

"From Many, One: Conversations Across Difference”

Starting January 18 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), The Episcopal Church launches "From Many, One: Conversations Across Difference,” a campaign urging Episcopalians and our neighbors to engage in the spiritual practice of listening and honest conversation across the many differences that separate us, starting with four simple questions:

1. What do you love?

2. What have you lost?

3. Where does it hurt?

4. What do you dream?