Holy Trinity

Dear Friends,

Have you ever watched a sunset and you try to capture what you are feeling by taking out your cell phone and click? However, when you look back at it, the photo just doesn’t explain the fullness of what you were feeling?

My cell phone storage is filled with photos and videos of life at Holy Trinity. I have been trying to capture a feeling or a moment of time. There are sermons from home, children’s messages with my beloved Gus, and photos after photos of the times we are preparing to meet or are meeting in the world outside as well as inside the building. As I look at the photos, I have a longing to convey the fulness of God’s presence when we are in the midst of gathering together and the times when the building was empty because our work was to remain safe at home, work, or at school.

Let’s pause and listen to the sounds around you wherever you are at right in this very moment. What do you hear? Take notice of who is and who is not near you. Can you count your very heartbeats? Can you look at your surroundings and explain how in the world you find yourself in this very spot in this very moment both in the positive and in the challenging?

God with us. That is what we are promised. God for us is a message of hope. Our God dwelling with us in our joys and sorrows. Sometimes my heart is so full that I simply can’t put into words what it means to trust in God to encounter me and you as a creator, savior, and spirit stirring our hearts. Our God is at once simple, yet complicated. It is both amazing and perplexing.

God told us in the very beginning that there is knowledge about the fullness of God we will simply be unable to understand. Yet, in the Gospel of John 3:1-17, it says it all, for God (the fulness of God as creator, savior and spirit) so loved the world – that God saves the world through God’s gift of grace.

This Sunday is known as “Holy Trinity Sunday.” It is our namesake Sunday if you will! But Holy Trinity and the ministries within the church are not a noun. The work of the church, the passion of the ministries, the compassion and care for one another, the outpouring of ministries to walk for awareness of mental well-being, to donate the gift of life saving blood, to tie quilts, to share food and supplies, to prepare for VBS and Day Camp, to bring together yet another youth mission team all the while continuing to gather for weekly worship, the church, our beloved Holy Trinity is alive. And I’m putting it out there – that to be alive dear Holy Trinity siblings means – Holy Trinity isn’t merely a building it is - a verb – the church, you and I, our compassion for one another comes alive.

This Sunday, as you remember those who you have loved, may we intentionally gather together in worship to give our amazing, awesome, and inspiring God – our praise. Praise be our Triune God, Creator/Savior/Holy Spirit. Praise be our beloved community known as Holy Trinity. May we Come and Be Alive now and always.

See you on Sunday in-person (there is always a spot!), FB Live, or watch a recorded service later (we hope to post by noon following in-person worship).

Pastor Katie

For Everything, There Is a Season (and an Advocate!)

Dear Friends, My husband and I have spent a lot of time visiting garden nurseries throughout the area to look at trees. We continue to be in the process of replacing the many trees we lost in the derecho storm in August 2020. Last week, the pressure to make a purchase was ramping up as we would be standing next to some lovely trees and one by one someone would walk up and put a “sold” tag on it. Pretty soon, I was getting frantic about grabbing just any tree and bringing it home. But even the idea of grabbing just any tree became overwhelming. Instead, I came home without a tree, I came home with a trunk full of flowers and vegetables. Certainly, I have recognized that I’m entering the season of letting go of what was, grieving the loss, and giving space so that I can embrace the movement, the creativity, and the joy of what is happening in my very moment, now. I had energy to imagine new gardens as my first step and then on to the trees. It was a step forward that freed me to experience the fullness of what is happening in my very own story of faithfulness. This week we celebrate Pentecost or the 50 days since Passover. In our Christian tradition on this Sunday, we wear red; we talk about the movement of the wind and the presence of the Spirit in our lives. I envision the Holy Spirit as moving and we are swept up with the joy of the spirit. But maybe there is a season when we envision and embrace the idea that the Holy Spirit, as the Advocate, whom Jesus says is coming in the Gospel of John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15 out of compassion and mercy to hold us and move us – forward – together. The Advocate, our forever friend, calls us out of hurt, fear, disappointment, isolation, our inward focus, our complacency, inactivity or simply loss of habit, and calls us to gather, to create, to plant, to grow in faithfulness and give thanks to a God who promises to love us first, to love us always, and inspires and commands us to love one another. I’ll see you in worship – THIS SUNDAY – dressed in Red! Together we journey with the companion, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, who promises to continue to guide and guard us on our journey now and always. Blessings, Pastor Katie P.S. I have heard some folks worried that if they make a reservation to come to worship, they are taking up a seat for someone else. Well, friends, if we get so packed that we need to make more room – we will! Go to the website, make a reservation, come, and give thanks! It feels so good to be together!

Jesus' High Priestly Prayer and Sermon Writing

Our text for Sunday is the middle section of John 17, a chapter known as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Jesus has been teaching and this chapter is the prayer following that teaching. It’s almost as if we are eavesdropping on Jesus.

This is a tough piece of Scripture to read and understand because of the theological constructs permeating it. Jesus is praying for his disciples aloud. He is commending their further care and nurturing to God’s hands; his work with and among them is done. In a matter of hours, Jesus is to die on the cross. In this passage, we get several instances of sharing. God shared these followers with Jesus. Jesus shared these followers with God. Jesus shares these followers with us. We share these followers with others. Oh, wait! We are those followers!

How many times have we been encouraged to see ourselves in the Bible stories we read? It is easy to see that Jesus is praying for the Twelve. It is harder to see that Jesus is praying for you and me. It may sound heretical, but Jesus is asking that we be protected from the evil one. Jesus is praying that we be made holy (remember learning about sanctification in confirmation?) so that we may be sent into the world. Jesus shared his life with twelve followers, who shared their lives with many others, who shared their lives with a host of others until you and I are caught up into the story. Now it is our turn to share the story with myriad others.

Every move, every action, every kind and unkind word we say preaches a sermon to those around us. We lift our voices with Jesus as we ask to be sanctified in the truth because God’s word is truth. So, how’s your sermon writing going???