07/16/20 Tidings

Dear Trinity,

When we worship in person again, we will pray, hear scripture and preaching, and receive communion. Our musicians will also gift us with beautiful music. In this new format, you can expect worship to be 30-45 minutes. Here are some other things you might be wondering about:

Wear Masks – If you don’t have one, we will provide one.
Clapping – This isn’t our Lutheran strong suit, but without singing we will find NEW ways of expressing praise and joy!
Communion – We will bring communion to you in your pews.
Projectors – Instead of bulletins, we will project the order of service on the wall up front.
Sign Up – We’ll start sign ups on 7/27. Sign ups are by telephone only and during specified times.
We chose a variety of times to account for working, lunch hours, and breaks. Staff will take your sign ups Mondays 2 p.m.-4 p.m.; Tuesday 12:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.; Wednesday 9 a.m.-11 a.m.; Thursday 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Please do not leave a message. We chose to take sign ups this way in order to provide equal opportunity for everyone.
Offerings – Please place your offering in the plate in the Narthex.

If you are not comfortable coming to worship, I respect and honor that. Please know that:

Online worship will be available.
Drive thru communion will continue.
You may mail in your offering anytime

Thank you to those who’ve provided feedback to me with online worship. While we were under Safer at Home, I led worship from my home to reflect that, except for Holy Week and Easter. Once that order lifted, it took us a while to determine how to film from the Sanctuary in a high-quality way with sound, video, and lighting. When I filmed from my laptop, lighting was a big challenge but Pastor Dan and I rigged something up. The camera in the sanctuary is overdue to be replaced because the quality isn’t the best and, yes, we’re working on that. We’ve ended up using my personal DSLR camera for now as it provides the best video quality but the sound on it is terrible. Sound in an empty sanctuary is very echoey. So although it seems like it would be simple, it’s taken a lot of creativity, coordination, and two people to film and mix sound. Thank you for bearing with us. Thank you to my children, Anderson and Carter, who are knowledgeable, creative, and AVAILABLE to me!

I hope you are all well. I pray for you daily and count you among my blessings.

Please call if you need anything or want to talk.

With Grace + Peace,
Pastor Amy

Will you help in worship? Call Pastor Amy or sign up here for a
training. https://forms.gle/MC1GjgGgY7vfNrLp6

Worship FAQs

Communion?

Yep. At every service. AND drive-thru too!

Why no singing?

Covid thrives on droplets and singing projects farther, faster. We’ll still get to hear our beloved musicians play and pray together!

One Sunday Service?

For now, yes. We’ll start small. To add more, we’ll need volunteers to sanitize between services.

What about the park?

The task force chose to tackle meeting in the church with precautions and modifications.

Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee is one of the most important committees of the
congregation. Their job is to enter into prayer together and then to seek out
leaders who will guide a congregation to fulfill its mission of Jesus Christ. While using a Nominating Committee is new to Trinity, it is part of our constitution and regularly used throughout ELCA congregations.

This year, we are using this model. The Nominating Committee members are
invited to this work and include a current and outgoing council member, staff, and a non-council member. This year our Nominating Committee members are: Matt Evenson, Sheryl McCarthy, Randy Recob, Kitty Sawyer, and Pastor Amy.

The Nominating Committee met on 7/14 and saw an abundance of candidates! Right now, the Committee is in the process of approaching selected candidates and asking them to prayerfully consider serving in this way. If you feel a stirring to serve on council, please share that with any member of the Nominating Committee throughout the upcoming year.

This year we will fill three positions on council. Sheryl McCarthy has completed two terms on council and is ineligible to stand for a third, consecutive at this time. Craig Gierzak has completed one term on council and has chosen not to stand for a second term at this time. Vicki Steinke has completed an interim term on council and has chosen not to stand for a term. We thank Sheryl, Craig, and Vicki for their honest work and faithful commitment to God’s work in Trinity Lutheran Church!

We hope to have a slate of candidates and their information to you in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please take time to pray for this group, for the work of the Spirit, and for Trinity:

Gracious God, We give you thanks for those who serve on the Nominating Committee. Inspire and guide candidates as they prayerfully consider becoming a council member. Open all of our hearts to serve you as leaders and to support those called to lead. In Christ, we pray. Amen

School Kits for Lutheran World Relief

Ruth Circle will be collecting school kits, supplies and or a monetary donation towards needed supplies again this year for Lutheran World Relief. We ask that if you feel comfortable shopping for the supplies that you would make a
complete kit and bring to the church on drive thru communion Sunday. Ruth Circle deeply appreciates your help in providing these much needed school kits. It has been a difficult year in every sense for our communities locally nationally and globally.

School Kit items:

16/24 Count Crayons
4-70 country spiral notebooks
1 ruler with centimeters
1 pencil sharpener
1 blunt scissors
5 unsharpened pencils with eraser
5 black or blue pens
1 2 1/2 inch eraser

Again, thank you for your help. If you have questions, contact Stephanie Beran at sfberan@charter.net.

Drive-Thru Communion

Drive Through Communion: Sunday, 7/26 , 9 – 10 a.m. at Trinity!
Communion is a sacred gift to us from God. Jesus commanded that we “do this to remember” him and still serves as the host of this meal. Come. Receive this gift, be strengthened by the love and sacrifice of Jesus, be renewed. To prepare yourself for receiving communion, please worship online with us at 8 a.m.

Enter parking lot on Lincoln Street
Volunteers will direct you around the building
Roll down your window to receive communion
Gluten-free wafers available

Heart Chain Project

Thank you Sharon Armstrong for sharing your Heart Chain project with us! Everyday, she adds a heart to the chain until we gather again for worship. It’s not too late to start your own Heart Chain Project!

Prayers Requested for…

Judy Almquist, Marsha Anderson, Sandy Anderson, Nick Bee, Linda Doerr, Melissa Endl, Kim Hannan, Phyllis Hulstein, Renee Jensen, Ron Kemmerling, Pr. Rebecca Iverson, Bob Kyle, Phyllis Lang, Steffani Liebel, Rick Liebel, Jane Milan, Dan Morrow, Pam Nicholas, Debbie Pierce, Tom Pomraning, Violet Prust, Paul Reed, John Satterlee, Tim Sawyer, Shelley Scheurm, Ruth Smithback, Karen Weber, Donna Weeks, Aryzone Zick, Donald Zuehlke.

Do you have a prayer concern? Email the prayer force at
prayerforcetlc@gmail.com. People will gladly pray for you with their whole
hearts!