Dear Members and Friends of Holy Trinity,

 

Here are several updates that may be of interest to you concerning our congregation:

 

1. Earlier this week, on Monday evening, the Church Council continued its discussion of COVID and keeping the congregation safe at worship.  Beginning Sunday, I will greet you after the worship service, not in the narthex, which creates a bottleneck upon exiting, but down at the landing, at the bottom of the steps.

2. I am now hearing from some in our congregation that they have begun to receive the first administration of the COVID-19 vaccinations.  Hopefully, with the Lord’s help, this virus will soon be a thing of the past!

3. Thank you to all who responded to the call to fill the open dates on our flower chart.  As of right now, there are only two dates remaining:  June 27 and July 11.  If you are interested in one of these two dates, please let me know immediately with a REPLY, and that will keep us from having to print these dates later this morning for Sunday’s bulletin.

4. Amy Goodson and I have almost completed all committees for 2021 but have one mystery to solve that we need your help with.  Someone has filled out their Time and Talent Sheet indicating they would be interested in serving on the Witness Committee for 2021 but did not sign the form so we have no way of making this happen.  If you are one of those interested in serving in this capacity for this year, please send me a REPLY this week, before we begin printing the Year Book.

5. In case you are wondering how this works, after all the Time and Talent Sheets are turned in, Nancy Korn takes all this information and puts it into a spreadsheet, which enables us to complete the worship assignments for the new year.  There are still a copy of areas we need to beef up.  Due to COVID-19, and that several of our youth will be graduating soon, we are searching for a few adults who are willing to serve as acolytes.  We also would like to add a few more Assisting Ministers.  Both of these positions require the wearing a robe during worship and some training, which Nancy will provide.  If you can help us out, I need to know by Sunday evening, as we will be completing the Year Book and begin printing next week.

6. Sunday, I will be preaching on the First Reading, I Samuel 3:1-20, as we explore the call of Samuel and how it may apply to our life.  I encourage you to read over this text ahead of time and get familiar with Samuel by also reading the first two chapters of Samuel. 

Two more quick items:

1. In my earlier email requesting additional Worship Assistants, I realized that, unless you are doing this already, many of you may not really know what is expected of those who serve in this capacity.  Basically, you do the prayer before Holy Communion and after Communion (already printed in a hymnal), assist in the distribution of the wine/grape juice, and give the Dismissal from the back of the church at the end of the service.  I hope this helps you in your decision.

2. Below is information Paul Wagner wanted me to share with the congregation concerning COVID-19.

Here is a list of people (per the CDC) that are at highest risk for having serious complications from COVID  (and who may wish to self-quarantine at this time).

People highest risk for having serious complications from COVID

People > 65 years of age
(8 out of 10 covid-19 deaths in the US have been adults 65 years old and older)

Adults with medical conditions
Adults of any age with the following conditions are at increased risk of severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19:

• • Cancer
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • Down Syndrome
  • Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
  • Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
  • Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg/m² or higher but < 40 kg/m²)
  • Severe Obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m²)
  • Pregnancy
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Smoking
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus

In Christ,

Pastor Fischer

 

Dear Members and Friends of Holy Trinity,

On this eve of a New Year, I pass along a few things of interest to you:

1. The new Christ in Our Home devotionals, for January, February, and March, are ready to be picked up in the Narthex.  Please remember to limit yourself to one copy per family.

2. The 2021 offering envelopes are ready to be picked up as well, in the room off the Narthex.  You can help us out a lot by stopping by the church and picking up yours, and by delivering them to those who live nearby.

3. The Messenger went out this afternoon, so hopefully, your copy will arrive in the mail soon.

4. Sunday, I will be preaching on the Second Lesson, Ephesians 1:3-14, and focusing on the theme of being chosen by God.

5. As we begin the New Year, it is a perfect time to ask ourselves are we being faithful as followers of the Lord? 

 

Stay safe and may the Lord bless you in this coming year!

Pastor Fischer

Dear Members and Friends of Holy Trinity,

 

With the Christmas Eve worship services fast approaching, I thought I would give you an update on several related items to those services.  First of all, thank you for your input with the Church Council in recent phone calls.  After tallying all the projected attendance numbers, here are the results of those who have indicated they are planning to attend our Christmas Eve services:

 

11:00 a.m.  “The ABC’s of Christmas” Service – Expected attendance is 28

3:00 p.m.  “The ABC’s of Christmas” Service – Expected attendance is 26

8:00 p.m.  The Liturgical Christmas Service – Expected attendance is 43

11:00 p.m. The Liturgical Christmas Service – Expected attendance is 44

 

I thought I needed to share how this will work.  Even though you have given us your projected worship attendance, we will not be monitoring the front door with a clip board to see who is and who is not on the list.  We will be using the Honor Policy and leaving that up to folks to abide by their preferences. In case you are wondering, our last two worship services are right at our maximum capacity which we have determined to be around 42-45 (depending on the size of each family).  This is based on using every other pew and sitting at the ends of each pew.  If you are uncomfortable with that many being in worship, I suggest you either switch over to one of the first two worship services (if you would like to do that, please let me know) or stay home.  The 11:00 a.m. and the 8:00 p.m. worship services will be recorded and placed on the church website soon after they are completed. 

 

We are doing everything we can to help ensure that each worship service will be a safe place to worship, even in this time of COVID-19, including the following:

 

 

• Offering plates will not be passed during the worship service but instead, be placed at the entrances.
• To help facilitate social distancing, we will be using every other pew in worship, and using the ends of each pew.  Each seat will be marked with a bulletin.
• The Sanctuary will be fogged after each service.
• To minimize possible exposure to the virus, worship services will be shorter than what we are accustomed to.
• All hymnals have been removed from the pew.  We will continue to use a bulletin containing the worship service. 
• Several recent studies have found that forceful, sustained breathing, such as during singing, appears to pose a greater danger of spreading the coronavirus.  To minimize these dangers, the singing of hymns, the Kyrie, and the Psalms, will be omitted.  We will be using a soloist and the remaining parts of the liturgy will be spoken.  
• The Sharing of the Peace has been omitted.
• We will be refraining from handshaking and hugging.
• No nursery will be offered at this time.
• The distribution of Holy Communion will be modified to minimize touch.
• We will be using wafers instead of bread at this time.
• Cups of wine and grape juice will be pre-filled, and cups will be spaced out on the serving tray to eliminate accidental touching of nearby cups.
• For the protection of others, the wearing of masks is strongly encouraged during worship.  You are encouraged to bring your own mask, however, masks will also be available at the door.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

We are living in strange times indeed because of the coronavirus, but we can endure these modifications to worship knowing that these changes are not permanent.  God will help us through.

 

In Christ,

Pastor Fischer

 

Dear Members and Friends of Holy Trinity,

 

Here are a few weekly updates to pass along to you:

 

1. 2021 Offering Envelopes are ready to be picked up in the room off the narthex.  You can help us reduce our mailing costs by stopping by the church during the week and picking up your box (or getting it on Sunday), or by picking up your family member’s envelope boxes or nearby neighbors, and delivering them.

2. If you have not already done so, you should be receiving a phone call soon from your Church Council caller, concerning whether you will be attending a Christmas Eve Service and if so, which one.

3. As you can imagine, with four Christmas Eve worship services, we will be using many volunteers, such as:  Lectors, Communion Assistants, Ushers, Soloists, Video Recorders, those to set up Communion and those to clean up afterwards.  We have every spot filled except that we are needing two ushers for the following Christmas Eve worship services:  11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.  (We already have two commitments to serve at the 11:00 p.m. service.)  If you would be willing to assist, please send me a REPLY.

4. I wanted to keep you informed that Pat Ross’ son, David, tested positive for COVID earlier this week.  So far, Pat has not shown any symptoms.  Until we are sure that Pat is in the clear, she will be working from home.  We are grateful to Diane Richardson, who has been filling in some this week in the office.

5. The Sunday bulletin will be sent out later this week.

6. I will be preaching on the gospel reading this Sunday, Luke 1:26-38 and exploring how God often calls the least equipped, but have hearts that are willing.

 

In Christ,

Pastor Fischer