July 2024: VBS and the ELCA National Youth Gathering

Summertime is a special time to explore faith by participating in Vacation Bible School or church retreats. Pentecost brings us a familiar lectionary with favorite stories and lessons from Jesus’ ministry. It’s a time of reconnecting to Jesus: Teacher, Healer, and Friend. This summer has been an extra special summer for Holy Trinity and Imanuel as we endeavored to do two major undertakings in two short weeks. First, we engaged in our annual Vacation Bible School from July 7-10, learning how much “Jesus loves me!” This year, we realize we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of our congregations joining together for Vacation Bible School! What a remarkable history growing the faith of our children as one church family! By the effort of many individuals over the years, we have achieved this accomplishment. Thank you to all of you! This year, I especially want to thank everyone who participated in making VBS so much fun! I am grateful for the help of Bonnie and Larry Sanders, Somchai and Penny Williams, Ann and Naomi Stephen, Shirley Jackson, Jill and Hadley Larson, Ade and Tommy Monareh, their daughter, Annie, Ethmy, MacArthur, and Nico Pakasi, Abel Bororing, and Dan Scammon, as well as the Wednesday Barbecue crew, Scott and Leslie Carson, and their assistant Ethan. I am grateful for Pastor Luther and Pastor Esther, who both led us in special messages and prayer, as well as song and dance. What a gift to have your ministry here with us!

Holy Trinity and Imanuel also celebrated our third trip together to the ELCA National Youth Gathering last week in New Orleans, July 16-20, 2024. This was the first time young adults were invited to attend this event, which only meets every third year, but was canceled three years ago. The group included Lara Scammon, Stephanie Goupil, Anggiat Pandapotan, Anggrin Sihombing, Abel Bororing, Nathan Goupil, Nico Pakasi, Elianne Bororing, Kelly Mandagi, Avani Pakasi, Verabelle Pakasi, and Jeremiah Sihotang. With great spiritual and financial support from both Holy Trinity and Imanuel, and a kind sending prayer from Pastor Don Larsen, our group of twelve explored our Christian faith through interactive sessions and discussions about the kind of people God “created us to be.” Through personal testimonies and visits to booths set up to help us explore faith and learn about Lutheran service organizations, we discovered Christians who have had to be brave and remain authentic to the Christian faith in order to be free to work for the Lord’s purpose. This means remaining faithful to the Lord, even if serving Him disrupts aspects of the world which oppress people and limit their lives. We were encouraged to follow Jesus’ example to love others for who they are, to encourage people to keep going when life is difficult, and to work hard for all to be treated with dignity; as Jesus would do. Our youth packaged meals at the Second Harvest Food Bank for children in need, and our young adults painted inside the Bethlehem Lutheran church, or worked to clean up trash and serve sandwiches to the homeless. We return renewed in our resolve to live with God’s purpose leading us daily. The Lord showed us His mercy and love by sharing this trip with us and caring for our every need the whole way. This is His plan for all of us. God’s work will have its challenges, but the Lord will always be with us to complete His purpose for us.

For me this summer, these experiences have helped me renew joy in my circumstances. Jesus wants us to come to Him, spend time with Him, and learn from Him how much He loves all of us. Pastor Luther shared an important message about Jesus letting the little children come to Him at the Eucharist Service. He reminded us that the disciples thought the children should not bother Jesus, who was so busy with His important ministry. However, Jesus reminded them that the children are essential in God’s kingdom. We are all to be like a child in our faith, trusting in our loving Lord. At our baptism, we are promised by our church family to be nourished in our faith, and to be guided in our relationship with our Savior. We are all precious in His sight, and He delights in us growing closer to Him. God wants us to spend time with Him and to hear these Bible stories and lessons again and again, for they are ever new for all of us. We say “Word of God, Word of Life,” because the Lord knew we would need His Word to uplift and restore us for His purpose. These stories and lessons build my faith and trust in the Lord’s leading in my life. I pray that as you actively pursue this summertime season of Pentecost, you also will be renewed in your faith, filled with the Lord’s joy and peace, ready to trust Him in all of your circumstances. And perhaps, you also will be inspired in your own way to welcome the “little children” in your life to the Lord. May the peace of the Lord be with you! Lara Scammon

Photos of VBS 2024

Photos courtesy of Tomy Monareh and Lara Scammon

Photos from the ELCA National Youth Gathering

Photos courtesy of Lara Scammon

March 2020: Upcoming Events at Calumet & HTELC

Thank you to all who attended the Calumet youth ski trip last weekend. For 3rd-6th graders there is a Sunday School retreat at Calumet the weekend of March 27-29, please sign up on the sheet by the name tags. There is also a Calumet Work weekend May 1-3, register by calling Camp Calumet directly. This month at Holy Trinity, in between services we have Traveling Together Sunday on March 8th, Faith Learning Groups on March 15th and April 5th, also Service Sunday is March 29th. Our next Faith Formation Team meeting is Monday, April 6th at 5 pm, if you are interested in coming to learn about plans for VBS and next year.

-The Faith Formation Team

October 2019: Fall at Holy Trinity

Fall at Holy Trinity is a fun time to catch up with our church family after a busy summer, when so many of us are busy with our gardens and home projects, out enjoying favorite places, and coming together with friends and family. Fall is a celebration time for the harvest. This fall we celebrate Confirmation for three of our youth on Sunday, October 27th at the 8:30 service. We celebrate a new Wiggle Room for our young children and families. We celebrate coming together in faith formation learning groups to grow in relationship with our faithful God, who calls us to Him. We are investing time to know him better through Bible lessons, to serve him with God's work, Our Hands service projects, and to praise Him with uplifting worship.

In Faith Formation, our lessons in faith learning groups have shared the Bible adventures about Joseph and his journey to Egypt, as well as his reconciliation with his family. God was faithful to him and to all of his family, providing for their every need and staying close as Joseph endured the frightening trip to a foreign land away from the security of his own family. God was will Him through many years in prison, as well as carrying his family through the fear of famine. I often wonder how hard it must have been for Joseph to remain hopeful that God was still with him. How did he trust the Lord for every need when things seemed over in his life? And how was it for his father and his brothers? The grief and guilt they felt must have been so hard. I believe it was Joseph's faith formation in his home with his father's teaching that saw him through. We see how strong Joseph's faith was as he revealed to his family God's vision revealed in his dreams. In our world today, we have so much going on, but I believe that to be true of Joseph's family too. Keeping up with the herds of sheep and providing for such a large family must have had its challenges too. They still made time for the Lord. Under Jacob's leadership, and with Joseph's longing to know and serve the Lord, Joseph's faith was formed, and this faith helped him overcome the adversities of life. Our hope is that the programs we share together at Holy Trinity will provide all of us with fortitude in our faith, as well as inspiration for each of us to spend time each day with the Lord, praying for His guidance in our lives and reading the Bible to remember how God has always provided for the needs of his people. We are his people. He knows our joys and our sorrows, and everything in between. He loves us and blesses us with His word, so that we are uplifted and encouraged to continue trusting in our savior, Jesus. His word helps us to follow the Lord's leading through the Holy Spirit. His word helps us to respond to His call to serve Him in our lives, so that we may personally know His joy. The journey may seem long at times, but like Joseph, we will see the fulfillment of His plans in our lives. God's love is freely given for all of us. We pray that you will be blessed in every way in each of your lives, and we cherish each and every one of you in this precious family of God at Holy Trinity.

We pray for every blessing for you,

Lara Scammon and the Faith Formation Team

May 2019: a preview of Vacation Bible School

The Faith Formation Team would like to invite you to participate in the intergenerational activities planned for our Traveling Together Sunday this week at Holy Trinity on Mother’s Day, May 12th. The following week on May 19th, Pastor Tim will lead the Adult Forum discussion of spiritual practices to renew faith, and we will have an End of the Year Celebration for all ages, preschool through youth. We will preview this year’s Vacation Bible School program, “Roar,” which will take us on an African adventure to explore God’s goodness. We will have CDs & audio downloads available for a $5 donation for those who want to start singing the music.

VBS will also include a service project for Tanzania. The dates for VBS are Sunday, July 28 to Thursday, August 1, from 5:00-7:45 pm with dinner included. We are grateful to everyone who has volunteered to help. We still have some program needs, and could use a food coordinator. Please see Heidi Morrison, if you would like to help. Remember, Sunday, May 26th is Fellowship Sunday.

We would like to thank everyone who has planned, participated in, and prayed for the faith formation programs this year. It has been a joy to “come together, grow in faith, and serve the Lord.” We are grateful for this church family, and ask the Lord to bless each of you and keep you in His good care.

Lara Scammon & The Faith Formation Team

March 2019: Lent activities & Adult Forum

The Faith Formation Team has been discussing how we can provide for the needs of our church family. When life becomes challenging, the Lord uplifts us in many ways. Often, he sends people, especially our church family to remind us of His constant love and presence in our lives in spite of difficult circumstances. When we come together as a church to share in the joy of His promises, we are renewed and strengthened, and ready to follow the Lord’s leading through these trials. The Faith Formation Team recognizes that we all need to be continually equipped with God’s word. Life has a way of causing us to forget that Jesus promises to be there for us, providing for our every need. During Lent, we hope you will be able to be renewed by these promises. Please come join in the conversation we are having about how to continue practicing our Christian faith, even when our faith is shaken. This is occurring at the Adult Forum with Mark Edwards and Pastor Krick on March 17th and April 7th, and at the midweek Lenten services with Pastor Krick. For our children and youth, we will have a chance to consider the good news of the Easter story, and how this transforms us as Christians, and how Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us renewed hope and strength to live each day filled with His love, peace and joy.

Pastor Krick will meet with the Confirmation class for dinner and fun activities on Sunday, March 10th. If you have an interest is helping with Vacation Bible School, please speak with Heidi Morrison, our Faith Formation Coordinator. If you are new to Holy Trinity or you’ve been unable to come, please know that you are always welcome to join these programs at any time.

May the peace of the Lord be with you,

Lara Scammon and the Faith Formation Team

May 2018: This Little Light of Mine

Posted by Mark Donahue on Thursday, May 10, 2018 @ 3:12 PM

“Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good work and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

Remember that song many of us learned, probably as children? “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”! Our little lights have been shining in a myriad of ways from inside the walls of the church radiating out to our communities and beyond. For starters, we have been blessed with volunteers setting the stage for the faith-growth of youth of all ages from 3 to 93. A huge THANK YOU to each person who said “yes” and “I can help” through this past year which was filled with changes, challenges, bittersweet “goodbyes” and exciting “hellos”. You have said “yes” to taking charge of our Children’s Bell Choir, teaching our Confirmands, leading our All Ages Activities, organizing and preparing phenomenal coffee hour events, and creating fun-filled faith exploring opportunities for our children. Please plan to join us for Sundae Sunday on May 20 as we join with the Stewardship team between the services to celebrate how we live our faith out loud together!

This past weekend there were many little lights shining! A successful Saturday yard clean up outing at the Klein’s to benefit the youth was completed. Thank you Len and Jean for your dedication to our youth and their faith. Thank you to those who dedicated their Saturday to help. Rumor has it that lunch was the best part of the deal!

Another crew of folks headed to Camp Calumet Friday night and returned Sunday. (Check out the pictures here!) They came together with 100 volunteers to rake, clear trails, rake, clean the beach, rake, clean the Lakeside Dining Hall, rake, clear campsites, rake, move docks and boats, and RAKE! No shortage of leaves, pine needles and debris to be cleared. That being said, it was not all work! We ate amazing Calumet cuisine, played a few rousing games of Apples to Apples, ate, laughed, ate, sang at the campfire, and ATE! Sunday morning the Pastor reminded us that we are born or adopted into a family but that we choose our friends. In many ways, faith is the embodiment of those friendships as we “do” life together supporting one another in love as we strive to bring God’s love into the world around us. I believe we all left feeling blessed for the building of new friendships and the strengthening of existing friendships as we served our God together in faith. It was the perfect segue to officially “choosing” our new friends Sunday afternoon at Pastor Krick’s Installation! What a wonderful faith-filled weekend!

Speaking of Camp Calumet, who loves camp? Please remember that our church offers scholarships to help off-set the cost of Camp. Whether you have already signed up for camp (Day Camp or Overnight Camp) or if you are looking for more information, please contact me at ffcoor@htelc.com. We will determine the amount of money that can be dispersed per camper based on how many youth are planning to go.

Last, but not least, Vacation Bible School, is right around the corner! Mark your calendars for July 29-August 1 and get ready to be SHIPWRECKED! Registration starts May 20! Hope to see you there.

Keep those little lights shining!