Vol. 1 No. 01 Lent 2018 Trinity United Church The Life and Work of Trinity United Church, Wallaceburg, Ontario Visit us at: http://trinity.mnsi.net Email: trinity@mnsi.net ~ 519-627-1472 Like us on Facebook Season of Lent Lent is a time of reflection, a time to travel the Lenten road together. A time of meditation. Lent began on Ash Wednesday, February 14 th Palms from 2017 were burned and ashes used in our first Service in Lent. Holy Week Services will be held at Bethel Pentecostal Church 35 McNaughton Ave, Wallaceburg, 12:10 each day with a light lunch to follow. Freewill offering supporting various Ministerial local designations. Cheryl Kirk will be speaking Thursday March 29 th. (See page 4) Palm Sunday Brunch Sunday, March 25 th Our Choir invites you to join us for Brunch following the Palm Sunday Service on March 25 th. Stay after Service and enjoy Brunch with family & friends! Please join us. 11:30 am 1:00 pm Cost: Adult ~ $6 Child (6-12 yrs.) ~ $3 Children 5 & under. ~ Free We HOPE to see you there!! Trinity Lent Services Palm Sunday, March 25 Good Friday, March 30 Easter Sunday, April 1 All Trinity services start at 10:30 am Community Meals are for EVERYONE in the community! Anyone--singles, parents, kids, teens, neighbours and friends. Invite a friend and come out for our FREE full course meal and fellowship. Upcoming Community Meals: March 23 rd, April 27 th, May 25 th, June 23 rd
2 P a g e Lent 2018 Musings.. Dear Trinity Friends, We are well into the 40 days of the Season of Lent. Our theme this year is Show Me. Rather than focusing on things that Jesus said (which was my original intention), we are holding our looking glass up to see what Jesus did. We are looking at Jesus actions to see what they teach us about how to live a life that is pleasing to God and which leads us into the ways of the Kingdom of love and justice which Jesus talked about so much. I assume that you have heard the saying, ACTIONS speak louder than words. So our focus is on actions that speak loudly about living in God s Way. If you are unable to be with us for worship, I invite you to join in the theme anyway. Simply pull out your Bible, pick a gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) and begin to read. Pay attention to what Jesus does. How do his actions speak about what he values and what he believes he is called to do? Try to hear the message of his actions. Then go to the Show Me part of the focus. Try to do deeds similar to what Jesus did. Show what you believe in your actions. Easter Sunday this year falls on April 1 st which is April Fool s Day. It seems to be a coincidence too delightful to ignore. So to mark both days, we are going to bring back an old custom. Easter is a day for rejoicing in the power of resurrection and new life. Please bring your bonnet or chapeau in a bag. At a special moment in the service, we will don our hats! Being Fools for Christ is scriptural (points if you can find that reference!). Come join the fun and celebrate New Life!! Do you remember the Easter Bonnets that we used to wear many years ago? We are bringing them back. You are encouraged to bring an Easter Bonnet to church on April 1 st. You might make one and decorate it with Easter Symbols, or simply wear a favourite hat that you love to wear because it makes you happy. Gentlemen, if you cannot get your head around wearing a bonnet, you can don a chapeau (hat) of any type or an Easter/Resurrection tie. The idea is to have some fun! Cheryl
3 P a g e Lent 2018 From the Desk of Sandra I wait. My fingers are poised over the keyboard anticipating a tumble of words. I wait. Nothing. I tune in to the rhythm of my breath. Rising. Falling. Rising. Falling. I melt into this wave of rhythm. I hear the wave of sound outside my office as it swells, crests and dies away with each passing car. It too rising and falling. I become aware of time passing in this way. The day begins, builds and falls away. Each week, each month, each season begins and builds to fall away. Our lives move into a crest of busyness, sometimes turmoil and trouble, sometimes excitement and joy and then lull. The cycle of life. So often we get caught up in the center of that cycle. We either worry it will never end or we want it to go on forever. But it can t the cycle of life. This can be a comfort knowing this too shall pass. Other times there is a sadness or grief. I am reminded of a poem: I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. WENDELL BERRY, The Peace of Wild Things As we move through lent I hope we can all find the peace of wild things, the peace of the moment, the still water, the ever present light, the grace of God and freedom. Pastoral Care: Yoga classes will be running through March until Easter. All are welcome to join our yoga class for physical, mental and spiritual balance. The chime sessions at Fairfield are still going well. We are looking forward to learning some new Easter hymns. The widow s group is strong and growing. I would like to share some feedback I received: "Thank you for arranging these events... I am so glad that there are so many getting together. It s a different kind of life after loss. We adjust. With God's love and guidance, we move ahead. It helps to meet with others that have experienced the same. Enjoying lunch and attending events in groups brings purpose and fun!" Youth: We have had a great time at our games night and trying out pickle ball. Thank you to Herb Dejong for his time and expertise showing us how play. It s been nice to have parents join us as well for some of the events! We have a record breaking number of Kraft Dinner boxes, we are almost up to 1200! (just 33 more) The kids had a great time constructing the castle. This will be sure to stock the Salvation Army shelves! We are planning an excursion for an Escape Room challenge coming up later this month. I am excited for this trip and hope we can get lots out. Peace to you, Sandra Maltby-Mills, Pastoral Care and Youth Ministry
4 P a g e Lent 2018 HOLY WEEK SERVICES Wallaceburg & District Ministerial invite you to Holy Week Services 12:10-12:30 pm, at Bethel Pentecostal Church followed by a light lunch each day. Speakers: March 26 Chuck Wilson Bethel March 27 Mark Aarssen New St. Andrews Presbyterian (Dover) March 28 Josh Tuininga Christian Reformed March 29 Cheryl Kirk Trinity United The Services give us a brief time for daily reflection during Lent. A time to observe our Lenten journey together. Freewill offering accepted during Services and will be directed to local needs. All welcome. Consider going on PAR (Pre-Authorized Remittance) Many people find that arranging an automatic debit from their bank account is a convenient way to give regularly to Trinity. Contact the church office @ 519-627-1472 Trinity participates in the "direct debit" program administered by the national church. This allows people to support our church through an automatic monthly withdrawal from their bank account. On the 20th of each month (or the next business day if the 20th falls on a weekend) your individual bank account will be debited the amount of your choosing and the lump sum of all people on PAR is credited to our congregational account. In 2017, Trinity had 122 identifiable givers with 26 of those givers on PAR. The PAR program costs our local congregation 50 cents per giver, per month. 21% of our givers are on PAR. The PAR program ensures regular monthly giving to pay church expenses and the more people on the program, the more valuable and viable it is. You choose your monthly donation amount and designate how much goes to local expenses and how much goes to the Mission and Service Fund. It s a quick and easy way to ensure your donations are used to their full potential. Something to think about A great way to support your Church is through donations that you make at the time of someone s death. You can choose where your donations go Why not choose your church? Also, won t you consider naming Trinity United Church as one of your charities for memorial donations for your funeral. It is a way to make a lasting gift to your Church.
5 P a g e Lent 2018 Well Done Trinity!!! The Mission & Outreach Committee would like to thank the congregation and the community for their tremendous support towards the 2017 Snowflake Tree. With your generous donations we were able to purchase 4 gifts each for 65 local children. Thank you for your continuous support! Trinity s Peace Garden There are still stones available in the Peace Garden. Wish to honour a loved one? Want to have your name or your family named on the walkway as a sign that you are a part of the Trinity Family? Cost for an 8x8 stone, engraving and installation is a minimum donation of $125. The Wallaceburg Adult Activity Centre has started a fitness class in Trinity Hall to accommodate their large number of participants. Although this is being done on a trial basis, the likelihood for an extension is expected. Welcome In the fall of 2017, Envision came to Trinity requesting the use of private, safe, quiet space. Envision is a women s support group which meets one afternoon a week. This group is an extension of The House of Sophrosyne. They are committed to offering supportive services to women in an allfemale holistic environment, and they help women initiate and sustain the process of recovery from substance misuse and chemical dependency. CANADIAN TIRE MONEY We started saving and collecting CT Money to use for snowflake gifts and we thank everyone who donated some. Canadian Tire is pushing the use of a card to replace the paper money. A card is set up under Trinity s name so that anyone who does not collect for themselves can just give the church s phone number 519-627-1472 and the Money On The Card will be used for snowflake gifts again this year. Contact the office for details. Its all about the. The Wallaceburg and District Council for the Arts has brought the sounds of the ukulele into Trinity s choir room Thursday mornings. Barry Betts, a retired music teacher has taken on this free community project with a great deal of public interest. We hope Barry and his students will share their gift of music with the congregation as part of their community program. POP CANS.POP CANS...POP CANS... Trinity continues to collect pop cans either at the church or dropped off at 66 Napier St. The money received from the scrap yard goes toward the expense of the monthly community meals. If you can help out with this worthwhile project, we appreciate your help. Many thanks to everyone who has been saving their cans all these years.
6 P a g e Lent 2018 A Special Thanks.. As many of you may know, my final days in the office at Trinity are coming upon us. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for accepting me into your Church Family both personally and professionally. Although you may not see me in the office, reassure yourself that I will always be a part of Trinity United Church. Thanks for everything, Heather Upcoming Events at Trinity Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday March March March March March March March 11 Lent IV 13 14 15 18 Lent V 12 Yoga 19 Yoga 20 21 Trinity Council 22 23 Community Meal 16 17 Kitchen Booked St Patrick s Day 24 Kitchen Booked 25 Palm Sunday Brunch 26 Last Yoga 27 28 29 30 Good Friday Service 10:30 31 April April April April April April April 1 Easter Sunday Communion 2 Office Closed Easter Monday 3 Presbytery 4 5 6 7 8 9 15 16 Book Group Seniors Group 10 17 11 18 12 19 13 20 14 21 22 23 24 25 26 Sandra Returns 27 Community Meal 28 29 Chatham Concert Band 30 * 930-1130 Mon & Thurs * 11:00-12:00 Tues 1:30-3:30 Wed 10:00-12:00 Thurs