Lot’s going on, but I want to highlight just a few.
First, every week during Advent, please look for a video devotion to be used with your Advent Wreath. I will speak for no more than 5 minutes on the theme for the candle that we light in worship on the prior Sunday. Yesterday, we lit the candle for Hope, hence, tomorrow there will be a video on Hope. Sorry, I won’t have them ready for you on Sunday evening, but if you are like my family, you light the candle on your Advent Wreath any night you can, and not just Sunday nights. You don’t even need to do it with the wreath, just watch it when you can.
Second, starting tomorrow (or Tuesday, Dec. 1) we will be live streaming Holden Evening Prayer, from our sanctuary on YouTube Live at 7pm, EST (subscribe on our YouTube Channel or go to our website to find the live stream). You are invited to join us every Tuesday, during Advent, for this time of music and peacefulness. If you would like a copy of Holden Evening Prayer to have at home, please stop by church during our regular hours (8:30am-4pm) and pick a copy up (please return it when Advent is over!)
Third, remember, there are multiple ways to worship with us on Sunday mornings. We will be livestreaming (on YouTube Live) a worship from our sanctuary at 8:30am. If you can’t join us at that time, the worship will be available immediately afterwards on YouTube, again subscribe to our YouTube channel to find it easily. Don’t worry, this is not replacing our worship on Zoom at 9:30am every Sunday. We will continue that for the foreseeable future. The zoom worship is made available on facebook simultaneously and afterwards on our website. Also, the sermons are podcasted each week and can be found by searching for “Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church” on iTunes or Stitcher.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our congregational meeting on Nov. 22 as we accepted our Statement of Welcome and Affirmation and became a Reconciling in Christ Congregation. We had 85 people and, while I will not say it was perfectly smooth, it went really well. The final vote was 79 “in favor,” 5 “opposed,” and 1 “abstain.” Look for more information in the coming months on how we will celebrate this as a community.
As always, there is lots going on here at Holy Trinity for you to participate in, not just from the ways listed above, but from all the ways listed below, that you haven’t read yet. But remember, the most important work we do as a church does not occur in the building or through the building, it occurs in your life. It occurs because you are so moved by the love of Christ that it captures your imagination and it comes out in the way you treat your loved ones, in the way that you treat your friends, in the way you behave in public and behind closed doors when you are alone. It occurs in a peace and contentment in your heart when the storms are ranging around you and you will the whisper of God in your ear say, “The storm will not last. I am with you. Do not be afraid.”
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tim