New:  Link to United Church of Canada information on COVID-19 response.

 https://www.united-church.ca/covid-19

Youth Hub; Attn Sud Hubbers:  Good Friday Live stream with Adam and the Hub.  Check out "The Hub" on instagram and facebook. 

 Dear Trinity friends 

Please find attached our morning worship service for today.  When  you open the attachment and click on the link it will ask you for a  password.  The password is: trinity.  Rev Mel was scheduled for pulpit  supply for this Sunday as this was to be the day the Dominican Team  would be returning to Canada.   

WORSHIP MARCH 22 LINK

https://player.vimeo.com/video/399550622 

*If you have facebook, please look up; trinity lively facebook page- please make a friend request if you are not already.  We will be using facebook to share some music and announcements.  It is a private page that only members can see (like Ward 2 community page)

Wed at 7pm Larry will be on our page live- leading Encounter Worship- if you cannot tune it at 7pm- it will be recorded and can be watched whenever it's convenient for you.

Tuesday Evening Lenten Study 7pm-

I will send an email to attendees- also if you are interested in joining- please let me know.

You will be emailed a link into a Zoom meeting room.  The link will take you where you need to go- if you do not have zoom on your computer it will ask you to download it first. Once you do this- you will be able to join any zoom meeting- study- or worship time.  I will open the zoom room at 6:30 to troubleshoot and leave time for everyone to join.

Thursday Prayer Group; 10am- I will email attendees the link to the group- again if you would like to join please let me know- and follow same steps as above.  I will open the room at 9:30 and we will sit join together listening to worship music.

Please consider those whom you are aware are not on our email list - please contact me so we can make sure everyone is included.  As well I am working on a list of those I know who are not online.  We would like to send all this correspondence to them, if you are willing to do some mail deliveries please let me know.

My contact: trinitylivelyminister@bellnet.ca  cell: 705 626 6938

Grace and Peace to you, 

Rev. Kathy

Dear Trinity Friends

We are so glad to be back in Canada, thank you so much for your prayers.  Larry and I left Sudbury Tuesday night with great anticipation of a time for rest and a chance to catch our breath.  As I look back on what was only days, it is difficult to comprehend what has changed on a daily basis.  Sometimes the new message in the morning drastically changed by the afternoon.  In the Dominican, there was no panic, no worry, and little attention given to what was going on in the rest of the world.  Though I had data on my phone, it was intermittent and I could only text.  TV information was only through BBC and CNN, I could not access Canadian news.  Friday, I began trying to find our way home and it took days.  Finally, on Sunday- around 1pm I had confirmed we had two seats on the next available flight to Toronto Wednesday at noon.  We tried to rest- however I didn’t exactly catch my breath as I had hoped, but I am home in Canada- the best country in the world.

Larry  and I are in quarantine now for 14 days and our children have all found other  places to stay.  We are well- and working from home.  I confess it has  taken me these past two days to get caught up on all that’s happened and find myself turning in  circles unsure where and how to start.  Thank you to the worship team and executive council for your leadership during  this worldwide crisis that has impacted everyone.

My priority is communication.  We will have to work hard to find ways to remain connected and communicating with each other.  We will have to consider who doesn’t have email, or who is not in our contacts.  We may need to stretch ourselves to use technology in ways we haven’t before.  We will be sending emails and updating our website often- there will be links provided for online connecting; we are all learning in this new reality so please be willing to try something new.

Explanations: The media tool I will be using is called Zoom.  It allows for video or audio meetings.  If you have a camera on your lap top- you can let others see you- (or you can turn your camera off- really easy button to click)  You will be able to see others as they have their cameras on- and you will hear all the others who are on by just audio (like on the phone) I have purchased the software for these meetings and can invite up to 100 people to participate at a time.  Within your email you will get a zoom invitation with a date- and time of meeting and a link.  At that set time- click on the link and your screen will open up into the meeting and we will be able to see/hear each other- and we can do a brief tutorial for using this medium before we begin.

With this in place- we can have bible study together; we can set times for prayer group- we can worship together- we can meet and plan- we can provide youth ministry- and pastoral care.

Please email me directly if there are email contacts you know we are missing.  Those who don’t have email/internet, we will find a way to deliver hard copy communication to them.

To Consider: 

Talking with Rev Melody this morning we have a lovely service planned that will be uploaded to a private Youtube channel, you will be sent a link.  As we continue in our season of lent- I couldn’t help but remember it was only 2 Sundays ago I preached about King Hezekiah (2Kings 19) and his leadership while his city was under siege.  I remember acknowledging that we just can’t image the fear people felt during that time- that we can’t remotely imagine what it was like to be shut inside the city walls knowing that you were surrounded.  I tried to spell it out for us- I tried to have us imagine what that felt like so that we could understand how much the people needed God to act, so we could understand that they were toast if God didn’t intervene.  

We don’t have to strain to imagine this- we are all afraid- we are shut in – and surrounded – and we who are used to being in control- feel shaken- we don’t have control- and we feel especially afraid because no one has control and this is bigger than us.  Collectively, I believe we all need to humble ourselves and call on God--maybe after you’ve listened to world report- lay it out just like Hezekiah did and pray “O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the Kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.  Give ear, O Lord and hear; open your eyes, O Lord and see….Now, O Lord our God, deliver us…. so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone O Lord, are God”.  How big is God?  How BIG is God?

God  knows us, God knows we are afraid- and quiets in us song that reminds that His  love is stronger than our fear—God knows we complain- and He’s not going  anywhere.  There is no condition on unconditional.  We can come to God  in whatever shape we are in- the cross remains and bids us to come.  During our season of lent- we’ve been leaving our fears- our complaints- our ‘stuff’ at the cross.  Many of you can picture the scene.  If you would like- email me at my confidential email trinitylivelyminister@bellnet.ca, your complaints- or ‘stuff’ for the cross.  I will in 13 days go and leave them at the cross for you- you can spell it out or just send me your name- I will write each of these out on paper and pray as I go.  Dry bones- it’s a season of dry bones- can they possibly live?

How big is God?

Re: Pastoral Care

Please email me any pastoral care concerns, as well the TLC team may be doing some phone calls to provide care to those who are really isolated.  Please share with me those you feel could use a phone call as well take care of each other as you do.

From Jesus: 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (John 15:9)

Grace and Peace, 

Rev Kathy

705 626 6938 (text or call)

Blessings and know that you are not alone but part of the Trinity Community. 

Today we are providing an update on our activities. In the United Church of Canada, the power and authority rests with the congregation and our Council. Prior to the Governments of Canada and Ontario declarations, the Council Executive had decided to cancel face to face worship so we were making preparations to change how we do Church.   This includes Sunday morning service, all church activities, and all outside groups using church facilities.

Please stay tuned to receive information on how to hear the scripture readings and a mediation. Many of you have already experienced receiving these from Pam Brown of the worship committee. We may even try out some other methods. The Lenten Study group and the Youth groups are finding alternate ways to continue. Please hold each other in prayer. Stay tuned!

Rev. Kathy and Larry will be returning from aboard today (Wed March 18). They will be required to be in self-isolation for 14 days. Please do not try to contact them in person, but instead you may contact Rev. Kathy by cell phone (705)626-6938, by text, or voice mail.  You may also leave a message on the church answering machine,  705 692 4683 and someone will get back to you during office hours (Wed 11am-2pm) or before if possible. Once Rev. Kathy has recovered from her travel ordeal, she will be working from home; connecting with our members by phone or e-mail, preparing meditations, praying for our members in need and taking time for personal study. 

This is new territory for everyone but in the next little while we are asking both Diane Tait, our office administrator and Mark Latvala, our custodian to continue to carry out their duties as they can. Diane will check e-mail, phone messages, pay bills, and keep the congregation connected. We are asking Mark to start the deep cleaning that will be necessary before we can re-open. The Church building is closed to all activities and outside group use. 

We thank all those who have registered for PAR givings. This will help us to maintain the building and pay the bills. We are looking for ways the rest of the members can continue to contribute to the work of the Church. There is always snail mail 217 6th Ave, Lively P3Y 1M4. 

We are not alone, we are called to be the Church, to walk with God and each other, in a spirit of openness, friendliness and joy, nurturing Christian spiritual growth and reaching out to care for those in need. Thanks be to God. 

Hey Trinity Folks, it has been a whirlwind of a summer, and the action never stops.

This fall, the church will be buzzin’ once again, with programming, fundraising events, on top of the normal, high energy happenings at Trinity.

Council Highlights:

We began our meeting considering the many volunteer hours that go into making Trinity the community of faith that it is.  We considered the hours for ministry events; youth camp, kids camp, kids club and youth group.  We considered the hours for reach out; Birthday party in the park, downtown coffee, out of the cold, and the mission team. We considered the volunteer hours that go into our fundraising projects just this past summer and spring we considered, fish fry, kids camp, rock the farm, corn roasts, jewelry sale, cinnamon buns, cookies, butter tarts, the church smelled amazing this summer.  And now many hours are being poured into play rehearsals for November and our turkey supper.  Then we considered all the work of our committees, we held a summary of their work in our hands.  And collectively we were grateful.  We know the hours and the energy is staggering.  We began our meeting by saying thank-you.  We thanked God for our many blessings of this rich community and we acknowledged and felt grateful for every volunteer hour that is contributed to this place.

Many thanks to Bryan Chisnel for preaching Sept 15th, while women were on retreat and men were on canoe trip.  We are grateful you are willing to share your heart and gift of preaching with us.

Property:  There is always work to be done and work that is being done.  Thank you to our faithful grass cutter Doug Wilkin.  Thank you to all the members of the committee who show up to help, or take garbage to the dump or meet with contractors or move furniture.  The lower hall floor was professionally waxed in early September and it looks beautiful.  Many thanks to our the anonymous contributor who paid the entire bill.

Stewardship Committee: it was approved to offer an evening memorial Hymn sing in December.  The idea was shared with us by George Allan, a service his community of faith did annually.  Letters will be mailed to members of the congregation and available to anyone else who like to participate.  You will be able to contribute a donation in memory of a loved one, and pick one of 7 hymns to be sung in their memory.  The evening of the service, each person's name will be read before we sing the hymn together.  All proceed to the general fund

Mission and Outreach:

Out of the Cold: Our team leaders, Don McLeod and Adrien Gravelle; have learned that our Trinity team no longer has a cook.  We have four dates and the first two we do have a cook; we are trying to problem solve our last two dates which will be in the new year.  Our first OOTC is November 8th.  Please watch for a new sign up sheet.  For less stress on our organizers we are asking that volunteers who sign up find their own replacement if they cannot attend and if you haven’t signed up please wait until you can get your name on the next sign up sheet (which is Friday Dec 20th.).  It is much less stressful if the organizers know who is coming and don’t have to worry about not enough or too many volunteers.  We value all our volunteers and would never want anyone to be losing sleep over organizing a team, nor stand around and feel redundant.

Spirit Committee:  A reminder to all groups who use the kitchen.  It is a health and safety concern if food is left in fridge or freezer without a date.  Please make sure everything that is stored is properly wrapped and marked.  Please take as much home with you as possible, out of fridges, freezers and counters.  Our kitchen is a very busy place and we need to be vigilant about keeping to the standards of our health unit approved kitchen, otherwise we would not be able to do the fundraising we do.

*We love being together! We love sharing a coffee together after worship. Would you consider putting the coffee on one Sunday- snacks are optional, being together is not! We also need scripture readers, greeters, offering counters. Please see sign up sheets in narthex. It takes a village- we are the village.

Fall Programming:

MONDAY:

A.A. meeting: Lower hall 6:30pm

TUESDAYS

Ukulele Club: Welcome back to fall! Meet upstairs at 6:30-8pm. (We have a beginner group starting at 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month).  No experience necessary! Looking for more info, check out our webpage https://sites.google.com/view/livelyukuleleclub/home or email us at livelyukuleleclub@gmail.com

THURSDAYS

Prayer Group: Thursday morning prayer group will be resuming on Sept 19th, 9am.in sanctuary. Come out for some quiet contemplation, prayers and discussion.  Prayer Group is on hold until the New Year.  See you in 2020.

Choir: Practices resumed Sept 19th, 7pm.  Feel free to come and join this friendly group who love to sing together.

FRIDAYS

Jr. Youth Group:  For all youth grade 5-8 .Dates for the New Year TBD  Contact Kristin Gibeault for more info: kikigibeault@yahoo.ca

SUNDAYS: 

(Sr. Youth) Sudbury Youth Sub-Hub. Breaking bread together every 2nd Sunday evening, 6pm-8:30pm. See Instagram page: @sud_sub_hub for more details or contact Rev. Kathy for more info. trinitylivelyminister@bellnet.ca

What’s New?

Youth ministry at Trinity continues to grow. We have many seasoned young adult leaders in our midst as well as many new leaders blossoming and sharing their gifts. This past summer we were able to support three youth to attend leadership development camp, bringing our total to 11 youth who have attend leadership camp from Trinity. We had 15 youth volunteer and serve for our summer kids camp at Trinity. We have three new youth who have joined the Christian Education Committee, and two College Students who are taking active leadership roles in both Senior and Junior youth groups. Turn to your neighbour and say “this is exciting!”

As a result of this growth, a young leader phoned me with ideas he was bringing forward on behalf of the youth. “We want our faith to be the center of our lives- not on the sidelines, can we meet weekly?” 

We have officially launched the very first Sud Sub-Hub, which is; “A partnership between Trinity United and the Hub Youth and Young Adult Community Network” The Hub Youth and Young Adult Community Network- has 6 other hub communities in Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Guelph, and Waterloo. They are supported/funded by Edge (United Church of Canada). We shared a skype call with the Burlington Sub-Hub this past Sunday night.

Our adult leaders are present and are available as a resource or a facilitator if needed, however leadership comes from within the group. Ethan Evans, Maddy Pushman, Cody Chisnel and Alec Carter have stepped up as the leadership team. They will be leading our evenings, delegating and organizing. They are keen to lead worship- offer the devotional and prayer times. Turn to your neighbour and say “this is exciting!”

Youth ministry doesn’t just happen. It begins with a congregation that is welcoming to children and their families. It begins with a congregation that makes room for the inconvenience of mess and chaos. It begins with a congregation that pulls together every summer- to offer a program that requires 30 volunteers to run a kids camp for 30 kids in the community- who then are encouraged to come and sing at kids club, who then can’t wait to attend Jr. youth because they’ve made friends at Trinity and like the leaders. It is out of Jr. youth that our kids become excited for confirmation, only offered every other year. Since 2011 Trinity has confirmed 47 new members to the community of faith. In the last years, we are needing to celebrate baptisms prior to confirmation- why? Because these youth are entering the church through our outreach and were not raised in the church, as a result- rather than parents bringing children to church, children are bringing parents to church. 

Youth ministry and discipleship is intentional and relational. Our confirmed youth are still actively engaged at Trinity. We have a small group of college/university still attending, helping and longing for deep community. They were their own small group at Northern Youth Camp. At any of our Sr. youth gatherings we are 20+ in attendance, we are the ‘breakfast club’ of a youth group (leadership included) and they love to be together- they love a safe community to be real- to belong- to know they are loved- and they are enough. Sounds like church doesn’t it? As I said – this doesn’t just happen. The story and the threads of grace trace back to the heart of this congregation- who you are- what we are- matters- it has – changed lives.

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