Hi, Everybody. Sorry this is so late.
Good News – HTLC’s website is back up and working. Thank you, Kathy Miedema for working on this!
This Sunday, February 18, is the 1st Sunday in Lent and Fill the Food Barrel Sunday. Worship is at 10 am, Sunday School and Confirmation are at 11:15 am, and Bell Choir is at 12:30 am.
Yes, Lent has begun, and this year for Lenten devotions, instead of a printed booklet or downloadable PDF file, we are recommending that you sign up for the Daily Devotions by Email (https://lentenchallenge.org/the-challenge-details/daily-devotions/) from the Lenten Challenge of the ELCA synods in Region 2. The challenge (should you choose to accept it) is for you to pledge to participate in 3 to 4 spiritual and physical practices during Lent and raise funds for ELCA World Hunger. The synod with the most participants wins! (But we wouldn’t brag, would we? Pride being one of those deadly sins and all.) Here are the ways to participate with the links for more information.
- Daily Devotion ~ Subscribe to receive daily email devotions for Lent or use ELCA World Hunger pre-made devotions. https://lentenchallenge.org/the-challenge-details/daily-devotions/
- Daily Discipline ~ Do one wellness activity every day. Maybe it’s your daily workout, maybe is a 1-mile walk a day. Maybe it’s taking an extra flight of stairs or an extra glass of water. https://lentenchallenge.org/the-challenge-details/daily-discipline
- Daily Declutter ~ Once a day find a way to daily de-clutter, de-stress, and re-tune. It could be cleaning out the garage, cleaning your calendar, or finding some time to de-clutter a desk or drawer and donating gently used items. https://lentenchallenge.org/the-challenge-details/daily-declutter
- Daily Donation ~ Pledge to give $1 a day (or more) to ELCA World Hunger for the 40 days of Lent. https://lentenchallenge.org/the-challenge-details/daily-donation
To find out more about the Lenten Challenge, go here: https://lentenchallenge.org/the-challenge. (This link will self-destruct in 5 seconds).
The church office will be closed on Monday, February 19, for the President’s Day holiday. After that, I will be out of town for a few weeks, so please call the office before coming to the church to see if anyone is there to assist you.
Beginning on February 21 and continuing on Wednesdays at 6:30 pm throughout Lent, we will have our Midweek Lenten Services. These will be half-hour meditative services featuring Taizé music and short dramas written by our own Kathleen Keating. Our family of churches will be taking turns presenting the dramas. Choir will be rehearsing afterwards, so stay for that drama as well!
Next Sunday, February 25, is HTLC’s Annual Congregational Meeting in Holland Hall following the 10 am service. There are copies of the Proposed Budget and the Proposed Constitutional Amendments on the Media Table, or I can send you digital copies by email if you request them. That way, you can peruse them before the meeting, and if you have any questions you can ask them ahead of time by contacting Terri MacFarlane (budget) or John Williams (constitution). We’ll be voting for Council Members and discussing all sorts of important things (like which kind of bagel to have) so please be sure to come, vote and have your say!
The Sunday School invites the young and young at heart (and the curmudgeonly) to join them for Game Night 6:30-8:30pm on Saturday, March 2nd at church. You may bring a snack to share (finger food), your favorite card game or board game, or just bring your smiling face (or bring your frowning face and get it changed to a smiling face!).
– Keith
your friendly Parish Life Coordinator (i.e. Church Secretary)
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Fremont CA