Hi, Everyone:
This Sunday, December 12, is the 3rd Sunday in Advent and Scrip Sunday. The 10 am Worship Service will be indoors in the Sanctuary. We will still be wearing masks, observing physical distancing, and using the individual pre-packaged communion elements. Plus, we will have windows open and fans for air circulation. Zoom Sunday School, Coffee Chat, and Communion will be at the usual times, and a pre-recorded Online Worship Service will still be available. The Sunday School kids and their adult cohorts have made an online video version of a Kathleen original Virtual Christmas Pageant. It will be available to watch starting sometime Sunday. I’ll send you a link or you can check on our YouTube channel or website. There will also be a Church Council Meeting at 11:30 am this Sunday. If you would like to attend, please contact Marta Wicke.
Holy Trinity Has a New Organist! Her name is Myrna Emata Diaz. She has a lot of experience and a winning personality (she even made it through our first choir rehearsal without running away!). Please make her feel welcome as we embark on this next phase of Holy Trinity’s life. Thank you to the Mutual Ministry Committee and everyone else who was involved in the hiring process. Welcome, Myrna!
Christ the King has been having a Living Advent Calendar event which meets at different people’s houses throughout Advent. Holy Trinity has been invited to join them on Dec.19 for the final installment. It starts at 5:30 pm and will be held at 42182 Camino Santa Barbara, Fremont CA 94539. Tori, our joint Ministry in Context student, is presenting. Come for food and fun times!
Several local churches’ clergy and laity (including the Tri-city ELCA churches) are working together to produce a virtual Longest Night Worship Service. What’s a “Longest Night” service? Sometimes called a “Blue Christmas” service, Longest Night services are held on or around December 21st, the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. They are designed to provide space for prayer, reflection, and remembrance amidst the holiday hustle and bustle. Those experiencing grief and loss may find it especially comforting. The video will be made available on Dec. 19, and we will share the links with you.
Christmas Eve there will be two services. One will be at 4 pm with the option of attending inside the sanctuary, or outside on the patio with a monitor and speakers. The second service will be at 8 pm inside the sanctuary only. Myrna will be playing at both services (yay!) and our choir is making a special effort to rehearse together (with masks, etc.) so they can perform at the late service. We are planning to record the live services and post them online within a few hours. However, in an attempt at humor last week, I may have given the wrong impression about the visibility of congregants on the video. In practice, only the backs of the heads of a few people in the first couple of rows are visible. We’ll let you know where you can sit and not be filmed at all (since you apparently are too embarrassed to be seen with the rest of us [more attempt at humor – you have every right not to be filmed. I’ll shut up now.]).
– Keith
your friendly Parish Life Coordinator (i.e. Church Secretary)