Christmas Pageant 12/13/20

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Congregational Christmas Pageant
Our Christmas Pageant will still take place this year on
Sunday, December 13, but with some modifications. The
Pageant will take place at both worship services that day to
spread out our attendance. The children and youth will not be
participating this year. Only the choir will be participating to
reduce the number of participants.

Quilt Dedication 10/11/20

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We dedicated 38 quilts on October 11th that will be shipped to the Lutheran World Relief (LWR) warehouse in Maryland. People who worked on these quilts were Jane Potter, Shirley Ebert, Roz Eckardt, Cherie Brown, Bobbi Metz, Dianne Calloway, Kim Hill, and Nancy Korn. That brings the total number of quilts made by the Holy Trinity Quilters to 408. National Quilting Day was March 21, 2020 and marked 75 years of comforting the world with LWR Mission Quilts.

11/8/20 Weekly Congregational Updates

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Dear Members and Friends of Holy Trinity,

 

Just a couple of things to pass along to you in regards to worship tomorrow:

 

  1. Please come prepared to vote.  Our congregational meeting will take place at both the Early and Late Services tomorrow during the worship services.  We will be selecting four new council members to serve a 3-year term and approving the budget for 2021.  In order to make this happen, please review before the service the list of eight (8) candidates for the church council and a brief description of each and a copy of the proposed budget with a narrative of the changes.  These items are listed in your November Messenger.  If you have any questions about the proposed budget, today is the last day to contact our treasurer, Diane Richardson.

  2. Some good news to  pass along to you, after some delays, we have finally received a list from AIM of the Christmas items needed for our Angel Tree in the narthex.  These tags will be available tomorrow for the first time.  You may either select a tag or two, or give a financial gift to the church and mark the Memo with “Angel Tree” and someone from WELCA will do the shopping for you.

  3. Tomorrow’s sermon will be based on Paul’s writings in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and the Gospel reading in Matthew 25:1-13, dealing with the afterlife.

  4. If you would like to send a card to the family of Dick Hazelwood, the address is: Caren Hazelwood, 3504 Rosewood Drive, Columbia, SC  29205.

  5. Speaking of sympathy cards, I recently received a note from Jack Vanesse, son of Betty Vanesse, asking me to share with the congregation his many thanks for the recent cards you have sent him. 

 

In Christ,

Pastor Fischer

11/1/20 Weekly Congregational Updates

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Dear Members and Friends of the Congregation,

Some things to pass along to you:

  1. You may still return your Time and Talent Sheets in on any Sunday, for a while.  We had one returned recently that was not signed.   This person indicated they were interested in serving on the Witness Committee.  We need this person to not be shy, come forward and tells us again who you are, before we allow you to witness to others. 
  2. All Saints Sunday is this Sunday, November 1.  As we all know, we have had more than our fair share of deaths in the congregation in 2020.  We will be remembering all those who have gone on to be with the Lord since last year’s All Saints Sunday.  They include:

Dianne Cotney Calloway    February 4, 2020

Lawrence Earl Brown    February 8, 2020

Gaither Gibson Blackwelder    February 12, 2020

Shirley Foy Hall    February 12, 2020

Richard Dean Williams    March 14, 2020

George A. “Beefie” Davis   March 28, 2020

Eloise Bland Fischer     April 6, 2020

Pamela Lee Whitt     May 20, 2020

Hattie Mae Lever     June 4, 2020

Margery Elaine Howell Rummage     July 3, 2020

Mary Elizabeth Williams    September 13, 2020

James Bryan Hill   September 25, 2020

John Wesley Dickson, Jr.     October 17, 2020

Betty Vanesse   October 18, 2020

  1. Don’t forget the time change Sunday and set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night.  We wouldn’t want you to miss out on another hour of sleep, unnecessarily.
  2. The Angel Tree will be in the Narthex Sunday for the first time.
  3. The Messenger was mailed out yesterday, Wednesday.  Please make sure and read over the article on the changes to our upcoming Congregational Meeting on Sunday, November 8, due to COVID.

 

In Christ,

Pastor Fischer

Time and Talent sheets

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Today, during the worship service, you will be given an opportunity to share your intentions to share,
give and serve by returning your completed Estimate of Giving Card and your Time and Talent
Survey during the appropriate time in the service. If you forget your card and survey, ushers will have
extras available – just ask. You may also mail your response directly to the church office. We hope to
have all responses returned by November 1.
Now more than ever… prayerfully consider how you will let your light shine and answer the call to
share the good news, give generously and serve unselfishly.
The Support Committee

Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting 11/8/20

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Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting will take place on November 8. Details are still in the works to keep the congregation safe due to Covid -19.

1) Electing four new Council Members for a 3-year term.

2) Approving the 2021 Church Budget.

 

With the threat of COVID-19 and in order to practice social distancing, we will be conducting our Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting on Sunday, November 8 in a different manner. According to our Church Bylaws, proxies and absentee ballots are not permissible for this meeting so we have decided to be a little creative in order to meet safely to conduct the business of the congregation. We have decided that we will still have our Congregational Meeting on November 8, but NOT during the Sunday School hour and NOT in Fellowship Hall.
Instead, our meeting will take place at both the Early and Late Services that day during the worship service. At the designated time during the service, we will take 5-10 minutes to complete the voting process to elect new council members and to approve a budget for 2021. In order to make this happen, you have a little homework on your part to complete before the meeting. You have a list of the eight Council nominees as part of this bulletin (electing four), and you will receive the nominees again, as well as the budget as part of the November Messenger, as in years past. However, to vote on the budget, is a little more of a challenge since we will not be able to handle discussions as part of the congregational meeting. Along with the budget you will receive a sheet explaining the basic changes to next year’s budget compared to this year’s budget. If you have any questions or comments, you are asked to contact Diane Richardson, our church treasurer, and she will go over your budget questions, before the Congregational Meeting. Since the budget has already gone through the Support Committee and the Church Council, and next year’s proposed budget is slightly different from this year’s, we will be voting to approve the church budget with a simple yes or no answer as part of the meeting. In the unlikely event, that there happens to be a tie in the voting process for new council members, we will have a tie breaker vote the following Sunday on November 15. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding in this time of COVID-19. Our goal is to take care of the business of the congregation in an efficient and safe manner. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Pastor Fischer.

Trick or Treat So Others May Eat 2020

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Trick -or-Treat- So- Others- May- Eat – The Youth will meet after the Late Service, today, do lunch and then go to the neighborhoods to collect filled bags. We will then take all bags, including the ones from the congregation, to A.I.M. To the congregation, “THANK YOU” so much for your support in this project.

Angel Tree 2020

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Angel Tree
Holy Trinity will again have the Angel Tree in the Narthex, beginning next Sunday, November 1st. Families will be chosen by AIM and given to us for Christmas giving. In addition to selecting names from the Angel Tree in-person like we usually do, for those concerned about being out in public, you also will have the option of making a donation and someone from WELCA will do the shopping for you.

John Dickson’s Funeral 5PM

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https://www.sullivanking.com/obituary/john-dickson-jr

The receiving of friends will be non-traditional and held on Saturday, October 24th from 11:00AM to 2:00PM outside on the portico of Sullivan-King Mortuary, located at 3205 N Hwy 81, in Anderson, SC.  It will be a drop-in, social distancing and masks encouraged.  Due to COVID restrictions, the funeral will be held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 209 E Broad Street, Anderson, SC at 5pm for immediate family only.  Following this service, an outside celebration will be held around the columbarium in the church memorial garden at 5:50pm.  Everyone is invited.  Social distancing and masks are encouraged.  Come celebrate the wonderful life of John Wesley Dickson, Jr.

We will tape the funeral and a link will be posted on the main page of this web site, which will be available for viewing about an hour after the service is over.

 

The video can viewed directly on YouTube at https://youtu.be/UIz-SV73vnM or the link from this web site main page

10/25/20 Weekly Congregational Update

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Dear Members and Friends of Holy Trinity,

I usually send these updates out on Thursday but several items cannot wait until then.

  • The funeral service for Betty Vanesse will be on Thursday, October 22 at the Sosebee Funeral Home on South Main Street.  The public is invited to visit with the family from 3:00-4:00 p.m. prior to the service, and then at 4:00 p.m. I will be conducting a private service for the family only in their chapel.  This service will be Live Streamed on the Sosebee Facebook page.  If you would like to send a card to Betty’s son, his address is:  Jack Vanesse, 1817 Edgewood Avenue, Anderson, SC  29625.

  • The memorial service for John Dickson will be on Saturday, October 24 in our sanctuary at 5:00 p.m. for the family only.  However, you may visit with the family prior to the service that day from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM outside on the portico of the Sullivan-King Funeral Home and you are invited to gather with the family at our columbarium for the inurnment service which will take place following the service around 5:50 p.m.  The memorial service will be recorded and placed on our church website and then later on the link of Sullivan-King.

  • You are reminded to wear something with the color red for this Sunday, Reformation Sunday.
  • We may not be singing hymns or processing or having a trumpet player like we do, due to COVID-19, but we will be celebrating Holy Communion.

  • Don’t forget to bring back your Time/Talent sheets filled out and your pledge cards.  These items will be blessed as part of the service Sunday.

  • Don’t forget to bring back your Trick-Or-Treat-So-Others-May-Eat bag filled with grocery items.  You may drop these off before Sunday, if you wish, by placing them in the room off the narthex, using the door code.

  • You may be wondering what we will be doing concerning Christmas Eve worship services.  To practice social distancing and to keep our numbers low, we will be offering 4 CHOICES of worship services!  11:00 AM and 3:00 PM will be a family oriented service using the ABC’s of Christmas like we did last year.  At 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM we will be offering a traditional Liturgical Christmas Eve Service.  More details will be coming but in the meantime, we are asking folks who are planning to attend to “reserve a spot” to help us keep our numbers spread out.  A member of the Church Council will be contacting each family of the congregation before Thanksgiving with the details and then they are planning to call two weeks before Christmas to get commitments to help us with our planning.

  • I need to let you know that Paul Wagner tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday afternoon.  He served as the worship recorder this past Sunday morning at the Early Service but his exposure was limited to us – he wore a mask at all times, and kept his distance while he recorded.  I tell you this to keep you posted and as a precaution.  Paul is now in a 2 week quarantine.  On a side note, not really related to Paul’s update, I wanted you to know that the Health Ministry Team has a germicidal/virocidal fogger they use every time we have a worship service in the middle of the week.  For example, after Saturday’s funeral service in the sanctuary, the fogger will be used to clean the aerosol particles as well as the surfaces. 

 

In Christ,

Pastor Fischer