Trinity Tidings Thursday 13. July 2017 Trinity welcomes all to a community in Christ; serving others, growing in faith, living in hope, and reaching out in love. Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 16. July 2017 10:00 am Holy Communion Behold, a sower went out to sow... Matthew 13:3 Trinity Lutheran Church 11200 Old Georgetown Rd. North Bethesda, MD 20852 Phone 301.881.7275 E-Mail office@trinityelca.org Web TrinityELCA.org Facebook facebook.com/trinityelca A Reconciling in Christ and a Stephen Ministry congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Next Reformation 500 Event This Saturday 15. July at 6:30 pm we will be showing the movie Luther (2003, 120 min.), with Joseph Fiennes as Martin Luther and Peter Ustinov as Frederick the Wise. Bring your favorite hot or cold appetizers, sandwiches, or sweets; drinks will be provided. Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 16. July 2017 Assisting Us in the Liturgy This Sunday 10:00 am Next Week 10:00 am Acolytes Anjali A Linnea S Assist. Ministers Robert M Leslie C Children's Church Margaret F David C Greeters Diana M Keith & Lily C Lectors David C Greg F Ushers Thor & Nancy N Nancy & Tom M Coffee Hour Trevor H & Diana M Nancy & Tom M Altar Custodian Miriam M & Carol B Miriam M & Carol B Bulletin Assembly Noralyn D Tellers Margaret & Greg F Annie A & Mina
Stewardship Update as of 9. July 61 families have pledged $286,440 to our annual stewardship campaign. 65 families have pledged $481,440 to our 3 year mission appeal, and $287,552 has been contributed to BTAB! If you have returned your commitment cards, THANK YOU! If you have not returned your commitment cards for Grace Changes Everything and BIGGER than a Building!, please prayerfully consider the blessings God has given you and respond generously. The information for our annual stewardship program and our special mission appeal are on the Trinity web page under the Giving tab. Thank you and God bless you in your generosity! Summer Music 2017 Do you sing? Play an instrument? Or have a son, daughter, friend who does? Solo? Duet? Trio? Ensemble? We would love to hear you (or yours) during worship during the offering or during the Communion at 10:00 am. Sing or play your favorite piece, hymn, or anthem. If you (or yours) can play or sing at a summer service in July, August, or Labor Day weekend, please sign up on the sheet located on the Bulletin Board near the Social Hall Kitchen for one or more Sundays this summer. Living Lutheran magazine (July issue) is on the coffee table in the Lounge. Please take one to read, and return it if you wish. The Word in Season for July-Sept 2017 is in the tract rack in the Social Hall. Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 16. July 2017 Isaiah 55: 10-13 Psalm 65:9-13 Romans 8:1-11 Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 Undeterred Sower Near the edge of the Sea of Galilee rest the ruins of the little fishing village of Capernaum. Ancient olive presses and grinding stones linger among black stone footprints of villagers' homes (including, many believe, Peter's) and the remnants of Capernaum's synagogue. Rising from the village is an unremarkable hillside. Jesus knew the place well. Today, if you can find your way through a rusted gate, a twisting, dusty, hard-worn path reveals itself on that hill beside the sea. Camouflaged by untamed thistles and shrubs, it meanders along stony ground accented with twenty-first-century litter. Birds perch beneath unsteady shade on scaly limbs of scrubby trees. Small patches of coppery-green grain fields wave in muggy breezes. It takes very little effort to imagine Jesus using the familiar landscape as inspiration to spin a parable. But this parable is not told to teach anyone then or now about the terrain. It is a story about the sower and about the seed he sows. So what do you make of a sower who throws costly seed around with such reckless abandon? Over rocks, onto scabby, crusted ground, into brambles and thorns the seeds fly. It seems the sower is a wasteful fool. Does that sower have so much seed that there are no limits to the scattering? Why do the pecking birds give him no hesitation? Has he, perhaps, seen plants bear fruit in surprising places where birds dropped what they had snatched? Might this sower be thinking of all the times he noticed life that, beyond all reason, cracked stone and rose from behind rock? Was he picturing beauty in thistles that bloomed brave flowers? The sower, risking the outcome, wasting seed, is up to something unpredictably grace-full among snatchers and takers, stubborn blockheads and encroaching bullies and brutes. God's grace has an infinitely wide reach, accomplishing more than we can imagine. May you find great joy in that good news today. Reprinted from Words for Worship, 2016 Augsburg Fortress. Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress. 2
Remember in Your Prayers... the church our synod & bishops Bishops Elizabeth Eaton and Richard Graham our missionaries Stephen Deal & Marta Giron, Central America our congregation Trinity Church... the nations Afghanistan, Central African Rep., Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Liberia, Libya, Myanmar, Namibia, North Korea, Palestine, the Philippines, Russia, Somalia, South Korea, Sudan (Darfur), Syria, the United States, Yemen, and Zimbabwe... the sick and suffering hospital Elaine D, Shady Grove Adventist nursing/rehabilitation center Margaret B, Ashleigh at Lansdowne Ray H, National Lutheran Home Bruce S, Sunrise of McLean Philip T, Manor Care Potomac John W, Sunrise of Rockville home Reid D Fred K June L Esther M Craig O Dianez S Rob W family and friends* Joyce C, mother of Mary M Betty & Willie H, friends of Louise G Joel K, friend of Joe Chacon Howard M, friend of Margaret F Mark O B, friend of Margaret F Karen O, friend of Joe C Lisa S, sister of James T Amy S, friend of Thor & Nancy N *For the family and friends, prayer requests will be kept on the list for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, please complete another prayer card. Thank you. Birthdays 19 July Henry C 20 Esther M Anniversaries 17 July Sabrina R & Mark L 22 David & Lineth S This Week at Trinity Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 16. July 2017 School Supplies Drive 10:00 am Holy Communion 11:15 am Social Ministry Comm. Tues 1:45 pm Bethesda H&R Parish Life 11:15 am Staff Meeting 7:00 pm Stephen Ministry Supv. Next Sunday 23. July Seventh Sunday after Pentecost School Supplies Drive 10:00 am Holy Communion Looking Ahead at Trinity 25 July Mission Endow. Comm, 7:30 pm 30 Visit to A Wider Circle, 12:00 pm 15 Aug Trinitarian Deadline 20 Katie Luther Live!, 10:00 am Baptismal Days 20 July Joshua B 21 Jane F, Miriam M Ordination Anniversary 20 July Robert M Volunteers for A Wider Circle Sunday 30. July The Social Ministry Committee has organized our next volunteer visit for Sunday, 30. July from 12-2 pm. All ages are welcome to help. If you are interested, please let Margaret F know so she can provide the necessary paperwork. If you are not able to volunteer, but have some household items or professional clothes you would like donated, bring them to Trinity on 30. July and the group will take the items to AWC. Lastly, AWC collects other items to be distributed to families picking up furniture. If you would like to donate any of these items, please feel to bring them in on 30. July as well. Items needed: Laundry Detergent Toilet Paper & Tissues Cleaning Supplies & Paper Towels Diapers & Baby Wipes Personal Toiletries (even the small travel sizes from hotels) Sheets, towels & blankets 3
Trinity Supper Club will be starting up again this fall. We ll organize groups of about 8 people to gather for dinner each month. In the past, the groups met at a different house each time with the host providing a main dish and others contributing sides & drinks. Of course, each group can decide together on the schedule, rotation, and responsibilities that work best for those involved, so don t feel left out if you aren t in a position to host or the thought of cooking a big meal terrifies you! This is a chance to meet new people, deepen relationships, enjoy good food, and share whatever gifts you can bring to the table. If you are interested in learning more or have questions, suggestions, or special concerns to be considered, you can either email Luke (luke@trinityelca.org) or look for the info sign-up sheet in the foyer on Sunday mornings. Where will YOU be this summer? This year, in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the Children and Youth Team is sponsoring Flat Martin Luther cut outs, available in the Social Hall. Please take one with you throughout the summer near and far. Snap a photo and email it back to T r i n i t y (aksmallin@gmail.com) with the subject line: Flat Martin. When traveling, we challenge you to go to church and take a picture of flat Martin with the pastor at a church you are visiting, or that speaks to what your faith means to you. (See pictures of Flat Martin on p. 6!) Project Promise School Kits Beginning in July and continuing throughout the summer, Trinity will collect the school supplies listed below. On God's Work Our Hands Sunday, 10. September, Trinity will assemble the items into school kits during an Intergenerational Sunday School. Please place donations in the bins in the Social Hall. Here are the total items needed to complete Trinity's goal of 120 kits: Number needed Item 480 70-sheet notebooks of wide- or college-ruled paper approximately 8" X 10½"; no loose-leaf paper; 120 30-centimeter rulers or rulers with centimeters on one side and inches on the other; 120 Pencil sharpeners; 120 Blunt scissors; 600 Unsharpened #2 pencils with erasers; 600 Black or blue ballpoint pens (no gel ink); 120 Boxes of 16 or 24 crayons (1); 120 2½" erasers Please note: LWR asks that all kit items be new and have no religious symbols, messages, or patriotic or military symbols. Please contact Kathy T at 301-675-6987 with any questions. Note: Amazon and Staples are having great back-to-school sales now! Refugee Sponsorship Update On Monday, 19. June at 7:00 pm, the refugee co-sponsorship team met for an important planning meeting. Watch for more information and ways you can help in the July-August Trinitarian and future issues of the Tidings. P l e a s e c o n t a c t K a t h y T (kthrower24@gmail.com) with any questions. 4
Lutherans in Social Service Care for the poor and those in dire need has been a Lutheran concern from the beginning of the Reformation. In 1522, only five years after the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses, the reformers issued the Wittenberg Church Order, something of an outline for how a reshaped church community was to conduct itself. And part of that document was the call for a common or community chest a fund that would, among other things, provide for poor orphans and children of poor people, provide refinancing of high-interest loans at 4 percent for those who were in financial trouble, and underwrite education or training for poor children. (Tellingly, Luther was challenged on the possibility of abuse, and he responded, He who has nothing to live on should be aided. If he deceives us, what then? He must be aided again. ) These ideas were soon being put into practice not just in Wittenberg, but in other cities as far away as Strasbourg. When the pastor of St. Mary s Church in Wittenberg, Johannes Bugenhagen, became involved, the church orders also took up the cause of health care. From that time on, Lutherans have keenly felt the responsibility to care for those in need, and that has been addressed in ways suitable for the time. An important step was taken by nineteenth-century German pastor Theodor Fliedner. Assigned to a poor town called Kaiserswerth (now part of Düsseldorf), he began working with inmates in the dilapidated prison there. Once he got a chaplain assigned to that prison, his focus shifted to caring for inmates, especially women, after their release. This, in turn, led to his development of a plan whereby young women would be trained to care for the sick, since there were few hospitals at that time. In 1836 he opened both a hospital and a school for training women in theology and nursing. He called these women deaconesses. One of the graduates of that school was Mother Katinka Guldberg, who established a deaconess house in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, where one of her students was a young Elisabeth Fedde. After working for a time in northern Norway, Fedde moved to New York City to begin ministry there. In short order, she founded or cofounded the Norwegian Relief Society, a deaconess house, and a small hospital that eventually became the Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn. After a few years, she moved to Minneapolis, where again she founded a deaconess center and a hospital that has now become part of the Hennepin County Medical Center. Hospitals in Chicago and Grand Forks, North Dakota, can also be traced to her work. Other important activity in social services was propelled by Pastor William Passavant. These days Lutheran care for the needy can readily be seen in the work of Lutheran service organizations across the country, often among the most active such agencies in any given area. Worldwide, Lutheran World Relief is known and respected not only for showing up where needed, but for staying there even after the news reports fade away. In 2015 Lutheran World Relief touched over four million people in thirty-six countries. Copyright 2016 Augsburg Fortress. Permission is granted for congregations to reproduce these pages provided copies are for local use only and this copyright notice appears. 5
Flat Martin Luther goes with Trinity Members This Summer In honor of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the Children and Youth Team is sponsoring Flat Martin Luther cut outs for members and friends to take with them on their travels this summer. Here are where he was recently spotted: At a TV Tower in Berlin At Sacre Coeur, Paris With Jake the dog in Ohio With the S family in Berlin At Nats Park, DC 6