Trinity Office and Fax
Number: 456-1703
Pastors Cell Phone: 323-1679
Pastors Office: 452-4888
The mission of Trinity Lutheran Church is to share
the
Good News of Jesus Christ by inviting others into Gods family,
encouraging spiritual growth through Gods Word and Sacraments, and
caring for one another in the love of Christ.
Celebrating
with Thanks, Ablaze with Hope
128
Years of Ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church 1881 - 2009
Sunday Schedule for March
Sermon Series: Stages of Grief
10:15 AM Adult Bible Class (Subject: The Law and Gospel)
11:15 AM Traditional
Worship Service
Communion
1st and 3rd Sundays
6:00 PM Todays Praise
Worship Service
Communion
1st Sunday
Midweek Lenten Worship Services
6:30 PM ~
Every Wednesday evening
Theme:
Lenten Customs
(Ashes,
Fasting, Penitence, Foot Washing, the Veil, and Palms)
FROM THE PASTOR
I have to admit that my personal
devotional life is not as disciplined as I would like it to be. The season of Lent invites us all to try
again at spending more time with our Lord in His Word.
One of my favorite devotional aids
is Todays Light from Concordia Publishing House. It provides daily devotions by Jane Fryar (edited by Rev. Rodney
Rathmann) while reading through the Bible on a two-year schedule. The current bi-monthly issue began March 1
with Lamentations. This book was
written by the prophet Jeremiah, and expresses his profound grief over
the destruction of Jerusalem (as he had warned in the book that bears his
name.)
How timely, I thought, to read the
Lamentations of grief-stricken Jeremiah at the beginning of Lent. The reading for today, March 2 is chapters 2
& 3, or If time is short: focus on 3:22-26. When I opened my NKJV Inspirational Study Bible edited by
well-known Christian author, Max Lucado, I also found a devotional on grief
that he had excerpted from his book, No
Wonder They Call Him Savior. Let me share his thoughts on the fog of the
broken heart.
Its a dark fog that slyly imprisons the soul and refuses
easy escape. Its a silent mist that
eclipses the sun and beckons the darkness.
Its a heavy cloud that honors no hour and respects no person. Depression, discouragement, disappointment,
doubt
all are companions of this dreaded presence.
The fog of the broken heart disorients our life. It makes it hard to see the road. Dim your lights. Wipe off the windshield.
Slow down. Do what you wish,
nothing helps. When this fog encircles
us, our vision is blocked and tomorrow is a forever away. When this billowy blackness envelopes us,
the most earnest words of help and hope are but vacant phrases.
If you have been betrayed by a friend, you know what I
mean. If you have been dumped by a
spouse or abandoned by a parent, you have seen this fog. If you have ever placed a spade of dirt on a
loved ones casket or kept vigil at a dear ones bedside, you, too, recognize
the cloud.
If you have been in this fog, or are in it now, you can be
sure of one thing you are not alone.
Even the saltiest of sea captains have lost their bearings because of
the appearance of this unwanted cloud.
Think back over that last two or three months. How many broken hearts did you
encounter? How many wounded spirits did
you witness? How many stories of
tragedy did you read about?
The list goes on and on, doesnt it? Foggy tragedies. How they blind our vision and destroy our dreams. Forget any great hopes of reaching the
world. Forget any plans of changing
society. Forget any aspirations of
moving mountains. Forget all that. Just help me make it through the night!
The suffering of the broken heart
Seeing God
does wonders for our own suffering. God was never more human than at this
hour. God was never nearer to us than
when He hurt. The incarnation was never
so fulfilled as in the Garden [of Gethsemane].
As a result, time spent in the fog of pain could be Gods
greatest gift. It could be the closest
youll ever get to God. Watch
closely. It could very well be that the
hand that extends itself to lead you out of the fog is the Pierced One.
What a great inspirational writer
Max Lucado is! He describes a condition
of the heart where many of us have recently been or perhaps still are. Of course, Jeremiah also gives us words of
encouragement from his time of grief: Because of the Lords great love we are
not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for Him. The
Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is
good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
As you wait, do so in the sure and
certain hope of our Lords mercy and love.
He will show you His compassion afresh each day.
Pastor Fred Poeppel
Good news! The editing of the DVD of Pastor
Sallachs funeral is almost complete so watch the next couple of
bulletins for more information as to when copies will be ready for distribution!
And its not too late to order a
DVD! They are still available for
purchase at a cost of $5 each. If you
are interested in purchasing a copy, please contact our church secretary at
814-456-1703 or email her at tlcerie@verizon.net. Please include your name, telephone number and the number of
copies you wish to purchase.
Audiocassette recordings, as well as
CDs, of Pastor Sallachs Thanksgiving Service and his last sermon can still be
requested as well. Just call our
secretary at 814-456-1703 or email her at tlcerie@verizon.net. Be sure to include the following
information: your name, telephone
number, service(s) desired, number of copies desired AND whether you prefer the
copies to be on audiocassette or on CD.
The SUNDAY morning Adult study
group, meeting at church in the first main floor classroom before worship
is now working through a study series entitled, the Law and Gospel.
All are welcome to begin their day
of worship in this study, meeting at 10:15 am.
Led by Millis Parshall.
The members of Thrivent will
meet will be on Sunday, March 8 following the morning worship
service in the Stephen Ministry room.
We will adopt our annual plans at that meeting. All Thrivent members are encouraged and
welcome to attend!
Please
remember our elderly and others who do not get out much with notes, cards, visits
in person or telephone calls, as well as remembering them in your prayers.
At Independence Court: Ted Steinbarth
At Manchester Presbyterian: George Hill
At Presbyterian Lodge (on Elmwood): Hilda Papesch
Rouse-Warren County Home: Gerda Mushrush
At
Sarah Reed: Amy Mares
At
Sunrise on the Bay: Mary Lynch
At
Village at Luther Square: Bill Guerdon
The next meeting of Trinity
Seniors will be Wednesday, March 11, at 12:00 pm at
church.
This is a catered meal and
reservations are to be made for the dinner price is $7.00. Deadline for purchasing tickets is
Sunday, March 8.
Committee #3 Lois
and Dick Yeager and Nancy Rusnak will be in charge of the dining room.
Our program will be a video
presentation by Rev. Dave Mumford - A Journey to Israel - please
plan to join us!
The Lutheran
Womens Missionary League asks you to pray for missions every Monday at
noon. No matter where you are,
please take a moment to pray for missions work around the world, for missionary
families, for financial support of outreach through our church body and any
other work of the LWML. Remember to
pray especially for our missionaries, the Esalas. Thank you.
The Spring
Board Meeting of the LWML will take place on Saturday, April 4 at
St. Pauls Lutheran Church in North East.
Be sure to mark your calendar and watch upcoming newsletters and bulletins
for more details!
The LWML
Spring Rally will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, April 18
at Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, NY.
Mark your calendar for this get-together as well and keep an eye out for
more information as it becomes available!
Easter Lilies
will be available at a cost of $7.00 each. Place orders in a well-marked envelope and drop it in the
offering plate. Include information as
to in memory of or in honor of, if desired. Checks should be made out to Joann Kaufer.
Order deadline is
Sunday, March 29.
The Trinity Shawl Ministry Group will dedicate shawls during the March 29 morning worship service. Please
have all your completed shawls in the Shawl Ministry room by Saturday, March 28 before so they are available to be put in
the sanctuary for dedication.
It was a
joy for us to being sending shawls to
families of fallen solders. The first one
went to a young widow in Tacoma, Washington. Our sincere thank you to all who are a part
of this special project. God bless you for
being a blessing to others!
Also, we
are increasingly
discovering ways that non-knitters (or crocheters) can be a part of this
ministry also.
For information, please contact Trudy Sallach.
And mark
your calendar!! The next meeting of the
Trinity Shawl Ministry Group will be on Saturday, May 16 at 11:00 am.
·
Ladies Aid will meet on Thursday, March
12 at 6:00 pm for a tureen dinner, which is open to all spouses and
members of Trinity.
Please bring a dish to share with about six people and plan
to join us! Paper products and
silverware will be provided.
Our hostess for that evening will be Joyce Baird
and our devotion will be given by Luanne May.
·
Ladies Aid is still collecting small to
medium sized boxes that bracelets, earrings etc. sometimes come in. We are unable to use cardboard boxes,
but rather the boxes that are usually hinged, and are fabric (velveteen)
covered. A collection box with a
display of the types of boxes we need is on a table in the narthex. Thank you for your assistance.
·
Thank you so very much for the donation
of baked goods, the donation of
time, and the donation of money to the Ladies Aid at our recent
Bake Sale on February 22. We
definitely appreciate the excellent bakers we have! The next scheduled Bake Sales after the morning services
are: April 5 and May 3. Plan to come to church and find your
favorites to take home!
·
In April we meet on the first Thursday of the
month (due to Maundy Thursday.) So,
please plan to come for our 7:00 pm meeting with Bunco on April 2!!!! An inexpensive prize should be brought along
to add to the fun!
·
Wed love to see more ladies come to our meetings! Consider joining us! Coming up will be a Creative Hat Party; a
Crafty session; a Picnic at the Mays house; School Supply Kit packages;
Anniversary Plans; and so on
As Lent begins, remember to
sacrifice in remembrance of Jesus Christs sacrifice to save our souls.
March 1 Terry and Brenda Lawrence in praise to
God for grandchildren.
March 8 Shirley Bleil
in memory of her husband, William Bleil.
March 15 Joe and Maggie
Balter in honor of their loved ones.
CHURCH COUNCIL AND VOTERS
Pastor Poeppel is on board now serving as our
Vacancy / Interim Pastor. It is good to
have him here! Communion is once again
being offered on a regular basis; confirmation classes for our youth have
resumed; and mid-week Lenten services are being held.
Coming up next month
Rev. David Stechholz, our
District President
will be joining us!
Currently plans are underway to have him with us on Palm Sunday so be
sure to join us that day!
If you have any questions, please feel free to
address them to any of the Church Council members.
Please keep in mind that the church office only has the information that you have provided. Please update us as to any mistakes or omissions. Thank you.
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2 |
Brenda Lawrence |
16 |
Gertrude Weber, |
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4 |
Tim Baird, Kayla Surrena-Williams |
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Michael Yokoff (father) |
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5 |
Richard Wenger |
21 |
David Giles |
|
7 |
Neva Cunningham |
22 |
Amy Mares, Eric May |
|
9 |
Beverly Behringer |
24 |
Ed Fickenscher |
|
10 |
Mark May |
25 |
Anna Dzuricky, Danielle Pfeifle |
|
16 |
Maggie Balter, Joseph Sayre,
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29 |
Bryce Vinson |
|
3-9-1940 |
Elmer
and Helen Hoffman |
Dorcas
meets every Tuesday morning from 9:00 am to 11:00 am to trim stamps
for missions. Please save all
your stamps for us. Remember
one
pound of stamps equals one Bible to a third-world country in the language
of that country.
Lets be Ablaze for Sharing the Gospel of
Jesus Christ! Thats the
theme for many of our church bodys efforts this decade. Many people need to know the love and care
of our Lord Jesus Christ! We all
respond to the Gospel in a variety of ways.
Our responses can be in any of the identified ways, as on our banner at
church - LEARN, PRAY, GIVE, TELL, SEND, GO, and CELEBRATE.
Consider being involved in some manner with sharing
the Gospel with another person. We are
keeping a tally to join in with our national and international partners. You can add your witness events to the
total by filling out the orange cards available and submitting them to the box
in the church signed or unsigned.
ABLAZE
UPDATE:
International
Goal - 100,000,000 Latest
tally - 9,619,724 (as
of 2/27/2009)
Trinitys Goal - 4,400
Latest tally - 177 (as of 12/1/2008)
For information about the
movement, go to our church bodys website www.lcms.org
Here is a recent story
from the website:
Showing Love to Inmates at
a Jail in Preston, Minn.
John Boll, of St.
John Lutheran Church in Wykoff, Minn., along with others from his congregation,
shared the Gospel of the forgiveness available through Jesus Christ with
inmates at the Filmore County Jail in Preston, Minn.
On Christmas Eve, after our candlelight service at St. John
Lutheran Church in Wykoff, Minn., my wife and I, Pastor Pete and Elaine Sestak,
and Chuck and Betty Kaun held a special service at the Fillmore County Jail in
Preston, Minn. This was the
third year we have done this and shared the Christmas Gospel from Luke 2. We gave each participant a copy of John
3:16 with a blank space for them to put their individual names in place of the
word "world." We also
gave a Gideon New Testament to each inmate and went through the plan of
salvation with them. We sang
some carols, and provided goodies for the 16 inmates and three staff members.
The previous year, on Christmas
Eve 2007, Rich, one of the inmates, asked us to have his two girls, Chloe and
Sadie, baptized. The baptisms
were performed five days later on December 29 at St. John, just before Rich was
transported to the state penitentiary. This Christmas, those two girls were
part of the children's Christmas service at St. John. We don't know yet how the
Holy Spirit might move the hearts of the 16 people who we shared with this
year, but we know He can and will!
John Anderson is actively involved in the local chapter of the
Kairos Prison Ministry. This chapter
covers four facilities in our area including:
The mission of the Kairos Prison Ministry is
to bring Christ's love and forgiveness to all incarcerated individuals. Weekends are held to give inmates the
opportunity to experience a religious renewal and to accept God's
call to a life of Christianity as well as to witness and serve one another
through Christ both in and out of prison.
The next weekend is scheduled for March
19 through 22 at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut,
OH.
There are several ways in which
you can help this ministry including:
Baking Cookies
Approximately 2,000 dozen cookies
will be needed for this upcoming weekend.
If you like to bake and are willing to donate cookies, please keep the
following guidelines in mind:
·
NO nuts, raisins, or fruit are
allowed
·
NO powdered or sprinkled sugar on
top is allowed
·
NO candy type sprinkles on top are
allowed
Cookies that are very popular include chocolate chip,
peanut butter, no-bakes, etc. Extra
large cookies are difficult to pack and transport so please make them about
2-1/2 to 3 in diameter. Please pack
the cookies in non-returnable containers such as a sturdy box that has
been lined with plastic wrap or wax paper.
NO aluminum foil is allowed.
Cookie donations must be dropped off in the church library
by 6:00 pm on Wednesday, March 18.
Participating in a Prayer Vigil
The Kairos Prison Ministry likes to have a 24-hour
non-stop Prayer Vigil going throughout the retreat weekend. Please see the sign-up sheets on the two
main entrance bulletin boards and sign up for at least one time slot and
then dedicate that hour to pray for the prison ministry
that souls will come
to know Christs abundant love, mercy and grace.
Financial Contributions
Any financial contributions can be made by writing a check to the
Kairos Prison Ministry and placing it in the Kairos Ministry box in the
narthex.
Your time and effort in supporting this
ministry is greatly appreciated! God
bless you!
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March
2009 Trinity
Lutheran Church Calendar
of Events |
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SUNDAY |
MONDAY |
TUESDAY |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY |
|
1 10:15 am Adult Bible Study 11:15 am Traditional Service with Communion 1:00 pm Confirmation Class 6:00 pm Todays Praise with Communion |
2 |
3 9:00 am Dorcas |
4 6:30 pm Midweek Lenten Service 7:30 pm Choir Practice |
5 |
6 |
7 Daylight Savings Time
begins at 2:00 am |
|
8 10:15 am Adult Bible Study 11:15 am Traditional Service 12:15 pm Thrivent meeting 1:00 pm Confirmation Class 6:00 pm Todays Praise |
9 7:00 pm Church Board and Council Meetings <----- LAST DAY TO purchase tickets for Seniors Luncheon on Wednesday |
10 9:00 am Dorcas |
11 12:00 pm Trinity Seniors Luncheon 6:30 pm Midweek Lenten Service 7:30 pm Choir Practice |
12 6:00 pm Ladies Aid Tureen Dinner |
13 |
14 |
|
15 10:15 am Adult Bible Study 11:15 am Traditional Service with Communion 1:00 pm Confirmation Class 6:00 pm Todays Praise |
16 |
17 9:00 am Dorcas Happy St. Patricks Day |
18 6:00 pm Deadline for dropping off cookie donations for the Kairos Prison
Ministry weekend 6:30 pm Midweek Lenten Service 7:30 pm Choir Practice |
19 |
20 First day of Spring |
21 |
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22 10:15 am Adult Bible Study 11:15 am Traditional Service 1:00 pm Confirmation Class 6:00 pm Todays Praise |
23 |
24 9:00 am Dorcas Deadline for April Newsletter Articles!! |
25 6:30 pm Midweek Lenten Service 7:30 pm Choir Practice |
26 |
27 Last day to drop off |
28 |
|
29 10:15 am Adult Bible Study 11:15 am Traditional Service (including Shawl Dedication) 1:00 pm Confirmation Class 6:00 pm Todays Praise |
30 <----- LAST DAY TO place orders for |
31 9:00 am Dorcas |
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