September 2015
Tr i ni t y T i m e s Trinity Episcopal Church
Volume 1, Issue 2
Rector’s Ramblings — The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III, Rector Life is full of responsibili-
have a place within that
we making sure that the
ties. We have responsibili-
balance.
church has the resources
ties to our families (our husbands, wives, moms, dads,
brothers,
sisters,
children, godchildren, etc.). We have responsibilities to our jobs, our community, and yes, we even have
Inside this issue:
responsibilities
to
our
church. Parish Life News
Prayer Requests
2
3
ACTC Donations
3
Radical Welcome
4
WorkShip
5
J2A Pilgrimage
6
It’s difficult in this day and age to hold in tension the demands on our abilities, our time and our material resources. Do we go to the soccer practice or baseball game that conflicts with our worship life? Do we not give to the church
and support and participation it needs to effectively participate in the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we acting like we’re part of the Jesus movement or are we just another social institution? We face these issues every day in the operation of
But ALL of us, as baptized
because we can’t give and
Christians, have a respon-
save enough for the vaca-
sibility to God, as a disciple
tion to the beach next
Trinity is considered an
of Jesus Christ. All of our
summer?
we
anchor church in the life of
responsibilities fall within
show what really matters
the Diocese of Maryland,
the delicate balance of our
in our life?
and we are doing every-
lives. Our activities, our time, and our money all
How
do
In the delicate balance, are
Trinity.
thing we can to live into (Continued on page 4)
we putting God first? Are
Upcoming Events — Honoring the earth and its creatures Trinity Cares for Our Church
of our participation in this
weeds will help. Some
& Community Environment
effort, we are asking Trini-
trimming
MD Episcopal Environmen-
ty parishioners of all ages
raking, and planting also
tal Partners, including Bish-
to dress in work clothes
needs to be done. Many
op Sutton, have declared
and be prepared to help
hands will make the work
September 27 as part of a
beautify our grounds after
easier and enhance our
weekend for ”all people of
each service on Sunday,
image in the Towson com-
September Birthdays
faith to raise up climate
9/27. You can do as much
munity. Bring your work
and Anniversaries
justice and creation care in
as you are able. Even pick-
gloves and tools on Sep-
our communities.” As part
ing up a few dead twigs or
(Continued on page 3)
Tuesday Bible Studies
7
Surprise Shop News
8
Preschool News
8
Church Calendar
of
shrubbery,
Page 2
Tri ni ty T i m es Parish Life News — Kathleen Capcara, Lay Associate for Parish Life Sunday School 2015 at
Grades 4-6.
Wenches. The group will
Trinty.
Trinity Youth
determine its own meeting
Classes are at
10:00 AM on Sundays begin-
Youth groups meet from 10
ning 9/20.
– 11 on Sunday mornings & Sunday
the 2nd Sunday evening of
School studies will help stu-
each month from 5 – 7:30
dents in preschool through
PM.
sixth grade learn about Je-
J2A: Grades 7 – 9
This
year,
our
sus and come to know more about him. We will spend the school year gathering clues about Jesus by hearing and telling the stories about him from the Bible. We will make books, timelines and maps to
help
us
discover…
Where did Jesus travel? Who did he meet? What did Jesus do as a child? How did Jesus help people? What was Jesus like? Where exactly is Jesus now? We will also cook in the Trinity kitchen and engage in community service activities. Each of our lessons will stand alone, so please come as often as you are able without concern that you will be “behind in class.” We have three class divisions: Preschool – Kindergarten, Grades 1-3, and
times
and
Mentors
class are
content.
Greg
and
Heather Ayotte. The first YAC group meeting will be at 10:00 AM on Sunday, Sept 20.
“J2A” is the second phase
Parenting Group
of the Journey to Adult-
Are you feeling “harried with
hood program.
Our J2A
children?” Join our group as
class will prepare for a
we talk about the joys and
weekend Urban Adventure
challenges of parenting. Top-
in the spring, a week-long
ics change with the needs of
pilgrimage to a distant place
the group but we will begin
– not yet determined, and
September:
Confirmation. The group
-discussing
will meet in the Peel Library
conflicting schedules
with leaders Dennis King
-sharing space, items and at-
and Tracy Martin. The first
tention
J2A class meeting will be at
-incorporating habits of doing
10:00 AM on Sunday, Sept.
random
20th.
(what fun things WE can do
YAC: Grades 10-12
as parents to bring smiles
“YAC” (Young Adults in
into our home)
Church) is the last phase of
Joanne Chapline, Assistant
the Journey to Adulthood
Principal at The Lutherville
program. Each member of
Lab School is our leader.
our YAC group will discern
This
his or her ministry within
group
the Trinity Congregation –
mornings at 10 AM in Trini-
anything from teaching Sun-
ty’s Memorial Hall.
day school to training aco-
Weekday
lytes to being part of the
Study
Altar
Guild
or
priorities
acts
active
of
and
meets
on
Adult
and
kindness
engaging Sunday
Bible
The Tuesday morn-
Kitchen (Continued on page 3)
Page 3
V o lu me 1 , Is su e 2
Prayer Requests Beatrice Amoah
Jackson Hill
Janet Powell
Wayne & Ella
Dolores Andrew
Gov. Larry Hogan
Christopher Price
Gary Williams
Brian
Tom Hudson
Flora & Barney Price
Dick Yates
Ilene Clarkson
Ann Jackson
Thornton Samuels Sr.
James Cottrell
Mike Jackson
Bill Scarborough
Corey Dreiger
Karen &Shirley
Joe Taglivia
Steve Einig
Kate Leakfeldt
David Taylor
Leo Everitt
Grace Meyer
Dan Venedam
Mini Gillett
Melody Pairo
Pam Wallace
Parish Life - Continued from page 2.
ACTC — Food Donations Needed!
ing Bible Study group, which meets from 10:00 to
The ACTC needs help to keep pace with the vol-
11:30, is attended by a dozen interesting people
ume of clients coming into the Center. They are
and facilitated by Jack Gillett. The group will begin
asking for donations of the following food items:
meeting September 8th. Your presence and partici-
Pork & beans, canned meat, canned fruit or veg-
pation are always welcome. For more details, speak
etables, cereal, saltines, rice, tuna, peanut but-
with Jack Gillett. (See article on page 7 for more
ter, jelly, pasta and pasta sauce, mac & cheese,
information on this year’s topics.)
pasta meals and canned or boxed potatoes.
Second Sunday Breakfast This is the seventh year of our tradition at Trinity of taking time once a month to get to know one another and remember what’s best about our community. Come for a sit-down breakfast on the second Sunday of the month. You’ll get scrumptious hot food, good company, and the occasion to bring a friend or neighbor to experience our hospitality.
Upcoming Events - Continued from page 1. tember 27 and help us celebrate God’s gifts of earth, air and water and do all we can to protect and care for
those
gifts.
Contact
Joyce
Routson
(
[email protected]) or the Trinity office for more information. (410.823.3588)
We begin at 10:00 in Memorial Hall and stay for
Blessing of the Animals at 9:00 AM on Octo-
coffee and conversation until 11:00, when the tradi-
ber 4th. Come with your furry, scaly, feathered and
tional service starts.
hairy friends to Memorial Hall for the St. Francis
If you would like share in the fun of the cooking,
Day Animal Blessing. Please remember to have your
set-up or clean-up teams, please contact LuAnn
pet properly
Brown, head Kitchen Wench, at:
stress, as well as yours. Regular church services will
[email protected].
be held during the 8:00 and 11:00 worship times.
leashed or caged to reduce their
There will be no Adult Forum or Sunday School on this day.
Page 4
Tri ni ty T i m es Rector’s Rambings—Continued from Page 1. being purveyors of the Good News. How-
your support. We need your support to
ever, the Trinity staff cannot do it alone.
do the things that God has given us to do.
We need your help. We need your help
We need your gifts to help continue the
physically and financially as well as your
mission of being a community that is here
prayerful participation.
to nurture relationships with God.
In the recent months we have been strug-
This last thing I want to do is get preachy
gling to meet the financial needs of our
or beg in a newsletter article, but I thought
congregation. While the summer always
it was important to share with you some of
accompanies a lower attendance with va-
my concerns. I hope that you will do all
cations and the combined services, we
that you can to help us get back on track.
have seen a general “slump” this year in
It remains an honor to serve as your Rec-
receiving financial gifts. The pledge cam-
tor,
paign was strong, but now we need to honor the pledges we made. We need
Ken+
A Study of Radical Welcome — The Rev. Sara Shisler Goff, Assisting Priest We have been studying the book Radical
For me, one of the biggest parts of being
Welcome: Embracing God, The Other and the
radically welcoming is the willingness to be
Spirit of Transformation by the Rev. Stepha-
changed by our relationships with people,
nie Spellers during Sunday morning 9 AM
particularly people who are different from us
Education Hour over the summer. Steph-
who we otherwise would not have known if
anie defines “radical welcome” as “the
it had not been through church. When we
spiritual practice of embracing and being
know that we are utterly accepted and loved
changed by the gifts, presence, voices, and
by God, it inspires in us a desire to extend
power of The Other: the people systemi-
that hospitality and love to others.
cally cast out of or marginalized within a church, a denomination and/or society.” We have talked about how radically welcoming we are as a community at Trinity and how we can do more so that all people, no matter who they are, experience a warm welcome and a mutual embrace in our community.
There are always people who are easier to love than others. Radical welcome challenges us to open our arms to all people, including if not especially to those that society has pushed to the margins.
This is what our
faith in Jesus and our belief in the Triune God compel us to do. Sara+
Page 5
V o lu me 1 , Is su e 2
Joining Hands in “WorkShip” — Allen Brizee & Liz Angeli, Outreach Committee Co-Chairs On Sunday, August 16, Trini- munion, after which congre- vice before joining congrety congregants gathered at gants retrieved school supply gants for the “WorkShip”
“For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in…” Matthew 25:35
the 10 AM service for the lists from their backpacks. event. Another goal was to inaugural “WorkShip” event. Guided by their lists, congre- get more people from the The event assisted Pleasant gants then filled their back- church involved in outreach. Plains Elementary School in packs with supplies distribut- Though we have a few kinks filling
75
backpacks
with ed on tables around the hall.
school supplies for economically
challenged
students
from Kindergarten to fifth grade. The “WorkShip” project, a combination of work and worship, drew together 74 members of Trinity and continued a tradition of collaborating
with
Pleasant
Plains on the backpack initiative. What marked this year’s effort as different from previous years is the manner by which backpacks were filled.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the
outreach
Some
experience.
scampered
around,
quickly grabbing supplies in a scavenger hunt-like process, while others took a more prayerful approach to their work.
Most
importantly,
everyone who wanted to get involved was involved and participated, which was one of the primary goals of the “WorkShip”. Once the backpacks were filled, congre-
In past years, congregants gants gathered around the donated school supplies and makeshift altar for a final a small number of church blessing
and
then
broke
volunteers filled the back- bread together at the potpacks. This year, the back- luck brunch. packs were filled as part of the
worship
experience.
Congregants received new backpacks as they processed out of the church and walked to the hall. Once in the hall, Rev. Ken Saunders and Rev. Sara Shisler Goff gave com-
As the Outreach Committee Co-Chairs, we can say that our purpose all along was to collaborate Plains,
in
with fact,
Pleasant Trisha
Voegtlin, the Pleasant Plains School Counselor, even said a few words during the ser-
to work out for our next outreach event, we believe that Trinity’s first “WorkShip” was a success. Our plan is to host more “WorkShip” events in the future, so we hope you will participate and let us know if you have any ideas on how to improve our outreach efforts at Trinity.
Page 6
Tri ni ty T i m es A Young Pilgrim’s Progress — Annie Swindell I'm sure by now you've our feet in the water at Linheard stories from the J2A's colnville Beach. We were in pilgrimage to Maine this past the vans by 5:30 in the July. I remember when the morning on Tuesday to go
“The pilgrimage is not a vacation”.
pilgrimage was just a whale watching. Even though thought; maybe 5 or 6 years half of our group got seasick ago. It slowly became a goal on the 4-hour boat ride, it and a plan, and eventually it was still worth it when we had a set date and location. saw a humpback whale. We This pilgrimage was not what toured a Shaker village that's I expected it to be, and yet it home to the last four rewas everything I expected it maining Shakers in the world to be. It challenged and sur- and still had time on the way prised me and I enjoyed eve- home to walk a mile to see a ry minute of it. We fit so lighthouse. We also took an much of Maine into a short hour ferry ride to Vinelhaven week. We visited the oldest Island where we had a picnic church in Portland and went and hiked along the coast. to a Celtic Evensong just We were certainly chaloutside of the city. We put lenged while climbing a steep mountain during a thunderstorm. And after all of that, we still had time to go shopping in some of the small towns of Maine. On the very last night of the pilgrimage, we were served a lobster dinner courtesy of the hosts of our lodge and
ate
s'mores
around the bonfire at sunset. In all of our daily adventures, we really got to know each other in
ways that we hadn't before. "The pilgrimage is not a vacation." We seemed to hear that almost every Sunday leading up to the journey. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who was sick of the phrase by the second use of it. But it was true. It was not a vacation. Although we did have a lot of fun, there was also a lot of work that went into it. People had to cook, set the table, and clean up for every single meal (having to wash dishes in a house without a dishwasher is not the most exciting thing to do). We made it work, anyway. Whether it was dancing to music while cooking or singing while cleaning, we still turned chores into a way to get to know one another. And I don't think anyone who went on the trip can forget the infamous grocery shopping, where groups of three or four would rush off to get certain items and meet at the checkout lines. How
about
spending
30
minutes to decide whether to get a bottle of juice or (Continued on page 7)
Page 7
V o lu me 1 , Is su e 2
Pilgrim’s Progress — Continued from Page 6 juice boxes? Anyone who the lower portion of their project on the pilgrimage, but went on this trip can now parish house. To be honest, to demonstrate the role of say they went grocery shop- their storage room looked helpful teamwork in society. It ping with almost 20 other like a nightmare: boxes were felt so good to help others in people, which is def- piled high, there was dust need, but even better to be initely not an easy everywhere, hundreds of able to do so with the people thing to do. books, and what seemed like in our "community" (as we On our last full day a thousand shoes (which we called it throughout the trip). in Maine, we spent sorted). After finding broken the morning at a necklaces, books on yoga, a local E p is c o p a l pogo stick and a framed 2Pac Church participating poster, we found the floor of in service work. the storage room. Slowly, They were in need of people but surely we finished the to move items from a stor- job. I think the goal of it was age room to a thrift store in not only to have an outreach
Tuesday Bible Studies — Jack Gillett Tuesday morning Bible study - The World of Biblical Israel
with the most ancient collec-
will resume on September 8 is a series of 24 video lec-
tion of Hebrew Law and
at 10:00 in the library. Three tures by Cynthia Chapman
continues to the develop-
topics are being considered:
ment
Th.D., Assistant Professor of
of
current
Biblical
- The Letters of Paul, a series Biblical studies at Oberlin of 36 audio lectures by Fr. College. The course traces
translations.
Raymond Collins, S.T.D. He the history of the nation of has published several com- Israel from its origin to the
will discuss our understand-
mentaries on the New Tes- Exile in Persia over 600 years tament and is visiting scholar later.
series of appropriate ques-
of Biblical studies at Brown - The Story of the Bible is a University. He opens with a series of 24 video lectures by
or raised by class members.
discussion on letter writing Timothy Johnson, Professor in the Greco-Roman world, of New Testament and
view of each of these series
then discusses the letters of Christian Origins at Emory University. The course starts Paul in the order written.
study for the year at our first
Following the lectures, we ing and reactions, guided by a tion from the leader’s guide We will consider an overand decide on our course of meeting. All are welcome.
Faith Community Action
Trinity Episcopal Church 120 Allegheny Avenue Towson, MD 21204 Phone: 410-823-3588 Fax: 410-583-3589 www.TrinityChurchTowson.org
Share the Trinity community with a friend!
Surprise Shop Reopens
New School Year begins at Trinity Preschool
The Surprise Shop is now open after a
Trinity’s Preschool began the
ences in the classroom in-
thorough clean-out and cleaning. We
new school year on August
cluding language arts, math,
are restocking daily with all your fall
24th with an enrollment of
art, movement, and creative
needs!
72 students. Orientation for
explorations. They also at-
the teachers was held the
tend a chapel service, science
week of August 17th and the
class, and gym once a week.
classrooms are fully staffed
Extra activities including la-
with a lead and assistant
crosse, soccer, basketball and
Our "Buck For Breakfast" to benefit
teacher.
Spanish will be offered this
Prologue will start in September. The
night is scheduled for Sep-
fall.
Shop will provide breakfast to Prologue
tember 3rd. Families and
We’re excited for the new
once a month. So remember to drop
board members are encour-
school year and look forward
your $1.00 in Erin's mailbox or come
aged to attend.
to seeing the children learn
by the shop! Thank You!
Students
Come visit us at 122 Allegheny Ave.,
range of educational experi-
We need donations of men's shoes in
good condition and appreciate your donations.
Towson. 410-828-9343
Back to School
receive
a
wide
and grow!