Trinity Episcopal Church

Transcription

1 Trinity Episcopal Church 218 East Benton Street Aurora, Il Serving Aurora's Faithful since 1849 Volume 14 Issue 6 (630) June, 2014 From Father Rosa Dear Friends, Welcome to the Season of Ordinary Time! The Summer and Fall gives the Church opportunity to delve into Gospel according to Matthew along with readings from the Epistles of St. Paul and assorted Old Testament excepts in our preaching and study. For many reasons, including the hot summer weather, our worship service, adapts to our needs. Vacationing, outdoor activities and events, and longer days of nice weather, means we redirect our energies. Yet we still need (yes, need) to give thanks to God every week together at Church. If you are traveling, please make every effort to attend an Episcopal Church. Bring back a bulletin that we may talk about From the Junior Warden It s been a while since you ve last heard from the Jr. Warden. For a while I ve been on a self-imposed hiatus from many things, including church. The reasons are too numerous to go into. Needless to say, but just as I had seen the light shining through and was getting the urge to walk through Trinity s doors on some fine Sunday, my phone rang and it was Deacon the variations you experienced. Who knows, we might discover helpful things to use at Trinity. Also help us keep financially well balanced by paying your pledge or giving amount in advance. The cost of keeping Trinity Church going doesn t stop when you are gone, obviously. It also demonstrates that you put God first in your plans. You need to know that the clergy and staff are busy everyday on behalf of the congregation. Members, community workers, those seeking immigration issues assistance, also walk through our doors daily. And we continue to feed our Sandwich Board community every Thursday. I suggest showing up to help anytime to serve and discover that you can also John calling. We talked about a good many things and at the end of the conversation he mentioned that I was missed at Trinity. It felt good to hear, but the jaded, less than optimistic side in me wondered if it was just a marketing ploy to get me through the doors. As it turned out, I didn t make it to church that Sunday, or a few more after that. Just couldn t do it. Also during this be nurtured by the fellowship and gratitude of those on site. The Vestry, Transition Committee, Pastoral Care team of Lay Eucharistic Visitors, and clergy carry out their duties faithful during the summertime. We are reminded that there are duties of membership as well. We are to worship God every Sunday and work, pray and give for the spread of God s Message of Hope and Salvation. The mystical verse, The Hound of Heaven written in 1893 by Francis Thompson is worth a visit as it so well describes God s yearning to Love and embrace us intimately forever. Here is a introduction. You can find the whole poem online through Wikipedia. (Cont Pg 2) hiatus a couple fellow parishioners dropped me some goodies in the mail for no good reason but to say they were thinking of me. Another sent encouraging s without knowing what was going on with me but hadn t seen me around. I know there are others who do the same around Trinity, but it was nice to hear from people whom I don t hear from on a regular basis checking (Cont Pg 5) Inside this Issue Father Rosa (Continues) Bishop Lee s Summer Sabbatical Stuff you didn t know you didn t know Financial Snapshot Building and Grounds Symbols of Trinity From the Parish Administrator. Old Friends Sandwich Board News From the Junior Warden (Cont) Page 2 Pg 3 Pg 4 Pg 5 Monthly Calendar Pg 6 Special points of interest:! Trinity Picnic is June 29th, 2014 at Austin Park in Montgomery, Illinois. The Park is just South of Elmer s Doghouse Restaurant by the tennis courts. Bring a dish to pass. Meat provided. Starting after Church at around 11:00 to 12:00. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Conversations Questionnaire - Results coming soon!

2 Page 2 Volume 14 Issue 6 More details anyone? Father Rosa (Cont) "The name is strange. It startles one at first. It is so bold, so new, so fearless. It does not attract, rather the reverse. But when one reads the poem this strangeness disappears. The meaning is understood. As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit." The Neumann Press Book of Verse, 1988 [2] Peace and Grace be with you. Thomas+, your priest Bishop Jeffrey Lee's Summer Sabbatical Bishop Jeffrey is praying for our Diocese and for all of us during his three month sabbatical this summer. His travels will take him first to The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Then to Italy (where he will be engaged in a cookery class...he is a lover of good food). Then, on to France to visit the famous Taize Community. Taize is an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of more than one hundred brothers, from Protestant and Catholic traditions, who originate from about thirty countries across the world. Bishop Jeffrey will then visit the Community of Jerusalem, again in France. This is a community that is attracting a large number of young people. As he journeys, our Bishop will be praying constantly for an end to violence in the world, for the project Crosswalk to work and all other endeavors to reduce violence. Bishop Jeffrey makes the point that we need to promote jobs and education, both of which "slow the flight of a bullet'. He urges us this Summer to explore our own gifts, our own creativity so as together we may build up the body of Christ. These could not be more appropriate words for our Trinity Church that we love so dearly. Deacon John Remember this? Stuff you didn't know you didn't know Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better. Coca-Cola was originally green. It is impossible to lick your elbow. The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...) The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38% The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $ 16,400 The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour: 61,000 Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair. The first novel ever written on a typewriter, Tom Sawyer. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David Hearts - Charlemagne Clubs - Alexander, the Great Diamonds - Julius Caesar 111,111,111 X 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321 If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died because of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

3 Volume 14 Issue 6 Page 3 Financial Snapshot Year to Date as of 5/31/2013 Income: Pledge and Plate $8,581 Total Income $40,925 Expense Building and Grounds $16,860 Clergy Expense $8,581 Office & Admin $ Loan Repayment $ 4,500 Capital Improvements $ * Total Expense $52,441 Net Income -$11,516 Amount owed on our loan against the Endowment $28,403 Notes: *We have spent $17,473 on Capital Improvements this year from the Memorial Fund. See the detail in the Building and Grounds Report. The Memorial Fund has generated $16,575 in revenue and increased valuation this year so our net expense is $898. While pledge and plate is low, we are expecting donations from our quarterly and semiannual donors in June. Pence Pigs were turned in on Trinity Sunday if you forgot, please feel free to turn them in at any time! Our next goal in reducing our loan against the Endowment is $20,000 by the end of the year! Buildings and Grounds Capital Expenditures this year $4,800 Church Cushions $5,923 Organ update $ 500 ComEd upgrade of lighting system $ 200 Striping of the Parking lot $ 875 Removal of 2 trees $5,175 Roof Repair Still pending are repairs to plaster in the Parish Hall and upgrade of our sound system in the Church. We are also anxiously awaiting the tearing down of the derelict house across the street. Gary is about halfway done with the repainting of the Parish Hall looks like it really needed it! Late Breaking news! Project Green was here today installing our two seven day programmable thermostats for the Parish Hall and the Church! No more all night warm ups or forgotten turn downs we should save $$ Holy Trinity - Images (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) One of these pictures is from our Church; Do you know which one? Where is it at? On June 15th we celebrated Trinity Sunday. Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one unifying and Holy being through which all things were and are and will be!

4 Page 4 Volume 14 Issue 6 From the Parish Administrator BAPTIZED: Jason D. and Ashton J. Gutierrez were baptized on Sunday, June 8, 2014 during the Pentecost service. Parents are Jason T. and Amanda. God Parents are Margie Perez and Jaime Noyola (for Jason) and Margie Perez and John Paul Goodman (for Ashton). You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ s own for ever. Amen. HOSPITALIZED: Gloria Maudsley was recently a patient at Presence Mercy and is now at Tillers Rehabilitation Center, Oswego. Our prayers are with you. THANK YOU: Fr. Rosa has been de-cluttering the basement area and the area under the Parish Hall. He was helped by Jason and Angel Gutierrez. It s a dirty job, and thanks for your help! CROP Walk: I am still looking for some help with this event to be held on October 12 th. We are one of two agencies that will benefit from the walk. What is needed is the following: someone who can attend a meeting in August; walkers, donations, etc. If you can volunteer for this event, please call the office and talk with Linda. June 29: Our picnic will be at Austin Park in Montgomery. A sign-up sheet and map are available in the Parish Hall. We pray for our parish friends in need: Mitch, Michael, John, Sarah, Pearl, Naomi, Brian, Malcolm, Gloria, Hannah, Fr. Leswing, Jackie, Fritz, and Lee. Old Friends Ties to Trinity Church for many families go back generations. We keep records of all baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials in our parish register which go back over 100 years. A recent example was a call from the State of Georgia by Bill and Ann Fogerty. His family lived on West Garfield Ave in the 1940 s and his parents were married Sandwich Board News at Trinity and he was baptized here too. Clare Louise (Lavis) Fogerty was a 1937 graduate of Aurora University and was a teacher in area schools. She passed away ten years ago in Massachusetts. Bill and Ann have set up a scholarship in her memory at the University. While touring the Church on Trinity Sunday, an entry in the Trinity s Memorial Book indicated A few years ago, we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Sandwich Board, Trinity s weekly Soup kitchen. So say it s been 27 years. 27 years times 52 meals equals 1,404 Thursday meals to Aurora s less fortunate. If we averaged 71 people per week that s over 100,000 meals that we have served! It couldn t be done without the help of our Sister Episcopal Churches: St. Andrew (Downers Grove), St. Charles (St. Charles), St. Mark (Geneva), St. Barnabas (Glen Ellyn), and St. John (Naperville),Grace (Hinsdale), St. David s (Aurora) and us. It couldn t be done without the dedication of our own Gale Blogg and Linda Barber. It couldn t be done without the support of the N0rthern She and her husband donated brass candlesticks and a cross to the baptistry. Amazing connections tie us all together in marvelous ways even with those of the parish s past. It too bad that in our mobile society, people move away from places of birth as careers develop. Just think of how large Trinity membership would be if they stayed here! Illinois Food bank and our many Community Servie workers. But even more important are our volunteers people who have come to us as guests, neighbors and people who have experienced what we do and come back, over and over and over! God s Blessings continue to shine on Trinity and its community.

5 Trinity Episcopal Church 218 East Benton Street Aurora, Il Phone: (630) Fax: (630) Web Site: Serving God and God s People Since 1849 Trinity is a community that strives to be a thriving, vibrant, diverse community of hope that, with God s help, heartily welcomes the stranger, joyously worships the Lord in the beauty of holiness, and lovingly serves the least of these, a church that changes people s lives for the better. From the Junior Warden (Cont) in on me. And all of this was coming at the right time for me. So, like all things that are cyclical, spring threatened to make its appearance, days were getting brighter, and my attitude was getting a little better. A few weeks ago I went to church. Yes, yes, many of our familiar faces were there smiling as always. A few new faces too. I didn t know if some were new that Sunday, or, in my absence were a new addition to our congregation, but good to see nonetheless. There was no big fanfare when I walked through the door which I appreciated just a warm proverbial embrace that we do well at Trinity. As the service progressed I believe Deacon John s smile widened when he saw me in the pews as I m sure he realized all the struggles it took for me to overcome to be there. At least I d like to think that was one of the reasons his smile widened. My point of all this is, whether or not we are physically present at Trinity, we are still thought of, missed, and wished well. It s just nice to be reminded once in a while. So for those out there who already touch base with each other, keep doing it, you don t know how good it feels to be thought of spontaneously. And for someone like me, I m going to remember how it feels to have someone touch my heart when I m least expecting it so that when others cross my mind, I m not going to leave them there, I m going to call, e -mail, send a note to them because maybe they need kind words at that moment, just like I did from Deacon John and a handful of other parishioners. It s good to pay it forward. And as the saying goes, God works in mysterious ways. Trinity Vestry Senior Warden: Rob Borchert Junior Warden: Alex Adams Richard Blogg Marilou Clohessy Chireen DeKing John Heath John Kuney Ken Palmquist Linda Barber, Clerk

6 MONTH of JULY Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 Staff Meeting at 9 am 2 Morning Prayer at 8 am followed by Bible Study 3 Sandwich We cook! 4 5 Jim Fauth 6 9a.m. 7 KAREN & JOHN DOLAN 8 Staff Meeting at 9 am 9 Morning Prayer at 8 am followed by Bible Study 10 Sandwich St. Andrew Dick Blogg, Ryan Cooney Ethan Lantgen 13 9a.m Staff Meeting at 9 am Vestry at 6pm 16 Morning Prayer at 8 am followed by Bible Study DOLORES & KEN PALMQUIST 17 Sandwich St. Mark 18 JACKLYNN & JASON LANT- GEN a.m. with Healing Staff Meeting at 9 am Walker Eilert Linboom 23 Morning Prayer at 8 am followed by Bible Study DEBBIE & RICH- ARD ABNER 24 Sandwich St. Charles 25 St. James the Apostle a.m. 28 Northern Illinois Food Bank Staff Meeting at 9 am Cathie Patterson 30 Morning Prayer at 8 am followed by Bible Study 31 Sandwich St. David Elidia Gutierrez