Pastors TLC Notes

First Day of Spring

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:23:31 -0400

It is the first day of Spring! Our last week of BESP activity for the season is this coming week and with Holy Week not far behind, items for Putnam CAP and orders for Easter Lilies are due this coming Sunday.

BREWSTER EMERGENCY SHELTER PARTNERSHIP third week of cooperative ministry will be March 25 to April 1 at the First Baptist Church. We need an overnight host for Tuesday, March 27. Please contact Gail Pease (845) 225-8921 or gpeasesoar@aol.com or Irene Germain (845) 225-4698 or Irene6174@comcast.net.

We also need men’s medium briefs, medium white undershirts, and crew socks. Please place items in the shopping cart labeled BESP. May God bless all your efforts.

EASTER BASKET FOOD COLLECTION—Bags are due in Fellowship Hall on March 25 for distribution from Fellowship Hall on Palm Sunday, April 1st.

Contributions toward food gift certificates are also welcome; please make payable to Trinity Lutheran Church, mark for “Putnam CAP Easter baskets,” and place in offering plate by March 25. For more information, please contact Denise Anderson at 845-803-1345 or DA5654@aol.com.

EASTER LILIES—orders are due this coming Sunday, March 25. Order forms are available at the church or page 6 of the March Trinitarian (available at www.trinitybrewsterny.org) ; $12.00 per plant. Completed forms and checks can be placed in the offering plate or mailed to the church.

Brown Bag Auction & Potluck

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:01:19 -0500

Don’t miss an evening of fun, fellowship,
and support of our youth!

BROWN BAG AUCTION & POTLUCK

Saturday, February 11^th, 6:00 PM

Please bring a dish to pass as we share a meal together

then

Stay to bid on MYSTERY ITEMS in brown bags

All proceeds to help fund the youth’s trip to New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering in July.

Pray without Ceasing

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:33:35 -0400

E-Reflections

Are you praying for Trinity?

About a month ago, I challenged the congregation to pray regularly for the mission and ministry of Trinity. Are you praying? I also asked you to remind/check with me that I am also praying.

So, what are we praying about?

Think about all the different groups, ministries, activities and the like that Trinity is involved in–Sunday School, WELCA, worship, choirs, BESP, Friends of Karen, handbells, and more. Each of these groups is an outlet for the mission of the congregation; each seek to use their gifts to share the love and grace of God.

So, we can pray in general for Trinity and the ways in which God is calling us into the future. We can also pray specifically for the various groups and activities of the congregation (maybe doing this by praying our weekly/monthly calendar). Or possibly in your prayers you think of a new way for us to live out God's mission.

We pray without ceasing (as Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 5:17).

I have a prayer on my wall that I sometimes use as I pray for the congregation–if you would like to use it as well. It is a prayer of St. Benedict.

Gracious and holy God, give us wisdom to perceive you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to behold you, a heart to meditate on you, and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Jen

10/25/11

Hurricane Preparedness

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:03:39 -0400

Dear all,

Although we don't know yet what to fully expect over the next couple of days, I thought I would be in touch about some aspects of our preparedness.

1) PRAYER: Let us begin and continue our prayers for all those in the hurricane's path. Let us pray...Eternal God, amid all the wind and the rain, the uncertainty and fear, your love is steadfast and your strength never fails. In this time, be to us a sure guardian and rock of strength. Guide those in authority as well as those who protect and care for us, giving them your wisdom; comfort those in distress and grant us courage and hope to face each new day, through Jesus Christ , our Savior and Lord. Amen.

2) WORSHIP: If there is a state of emergency on Sunday, there will NOT be worship. Also, if we decide that we cannot have worship - due to safety, power, etc. - it will be announced on WHUD 100.7 after about 7:30am. Otherwise, coming to worship on Sunday is left to your own discretion - please be safe!

3) SERVICE: As you are able to do so, please keep in touch with one another (congregation members, family, neighbors, etc.) - especially those that may be most vulnerable . If they are in need of assistance and you need direction for that help, please let me or others know so that we can reach out to help as we are able.

Please be prepared and be safe!

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Jen

To contact Pastor Jen, please use her email: revjedyer1@yahoo.com rather than replying to this message.

Churchwide Assembly 2011

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:18:04 -0400

The ELCA is now meeting in the Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, FL through this coming Saturday (Aug. 15-20th). They will gather in worship, conversation, decision-making, and business.

Please keep Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson and all the Churchwide Assembly Voting Members and guests in your prayers.

If you would like to experience some of what is going on, go to www.elca.org and click on the link for the Churchwide assembly--you can receive news releases, tweets, and watch living streaming as well as read the various reports. You can also follow them on Facebook.

This is who we are as a Church--experience the witness of our sisters and brothers in Christ.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Jen

Lazarus, Come Out!

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:19:00 -0400

This coming Sunday, we read in the Gospel (John 11:1-45) about how Jesus is moved to sorrow when his friend Lazarus falls ill and dies. Then, in a dramatic scene, he calls his friend out of the tomb and restores him to life. Trinity member Lili Van Zanten wrote this powerful poem a few years ago.

Lazarus

Four days in the cave – already

He was more fish than fisherman

Slimy stinky waiting for the worms

Having survived death

Decomposition was not –

Unwelcome

Morsel by morsel the soil swallowing

Memory and desire

Gauze wound round his face his feet his hands

Anesthetizing

He snuggled like a bulb in my winter garden.

“Lazarus arise!”

A voice in a dream

The voice of him whom he loved!

The soil splits alongside the bricks

In my front yard garden.

From frozen earth emerging

From cozy death cocoons

A dozen yellow crocus

Reluctant resurrections

For Christ’s sake

Leave me alone! The sunlight

Hurts my eyes. I have known

April brilliance but it doesn’t end there

More likely blight or drought

The clipper or the worm…

Arise!

A voice in a dream

The voice of him whom I love!

God how I’d love to pull up the covers

And go back to sleep

But he rolls away the boulder

And I try again

Stumbling blindly from the cave

My gauze wrapped feet

Hopping toward the light

Tripping balancing blooming

I reach for the sun

Lili Van Zanten

DON'T FORGET--SPRING CLEAN-UP IS THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 8 AM-2 PM AND INCLUDES LUNCH

Earthquake in Japan and Pacific Tsunami

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:48:49 -0400

Please go to this link and see the bulletin insert this coming Sunday about ELCA's response to the earthquake in Japan and Pacific tsunami.

http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/Disaster-Response/Ongoing-Responses/Japan-Earthquake-and-Pacific-Tsunami.aspx

Marked by Ashes

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:16:04 -0500

I've been wanting to be more deliberate about sending out weekly e-notes with reflections and the like (just like I keep meaning to blog), so I thought it might make a good Lenten discipline that could continue on through the year.

I will be sharing my own reflections, quotes and words from other people and places that I have been reading as well as a pertinent announcement or two (though most of those you will find in the Trinitarian and weekly bulletin).

If you have anything that you would like to share, please send it along to me (revjedyer1@yahoo.com).

Also available is the Lent 2011 Daily Devotional with reflections from members of the congregation. In addition (because food is always a good thing), there is Join us at the Table, a booklet of stories and meals from the ELCA World Hunger program.

Finally, each week (beginning 3/15), there are 3 different opportunitiies to join in a book study Reclaiming the 'C' Word: Daring to be Church Again by Kelly Fryer. Groups will be meeting Tuesdays (7:30pm) at the Icken's in Mahopac; Wednesdays (7pm) and Thursdays (9:30am) at Church. Please join us for these conversations of faith.

And Don't Forget to change your clocks this weekend - Spring Forward One hour!

Peace in Christ, Pastor Jen

Here is a reflection that I'd like to share today from Walter Bruggermann:

Marked by ashes

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .

This day - a gift from you.

This day - like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.

This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.

This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home

halfway back to committees and memos,

halfway back to calls and appointments,

halfway on to next Sunday,

halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,

half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,

but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes -

we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:

of failed hope and broken promises,

of forgotten children and frightened women,

we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;

we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with

some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes

anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you -

you Easter parade of newness.

Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,

Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;

Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.

Come here and Easter our Wednesday with

mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

Walter Brueggemann

We remember in prayer

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:33:03 -0500

TODAY WE REMEMBER IN PRAYER Danielle D. Bell, who passed from this life and entered the Church triumphant on February 12th. Danielle, age 33, was the daughter of Peter Bell and stepdaughter of Laurie Bell.

Visitation will be at Beecher Funeral Home in Brewster, New York (845-279-3615) on Tuesday, February 15th, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. A service will be held at the funeral home on that day at 7:00 PM.

Keep in your prayers

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:13:59 -0500

Please keep in your prayers Harper Tortorella and his parents Lynn & Chris Tortorella. The Tortorellas are friends of Sue Kaufman. Harper is a newborn who was fine at birth, but has since had seizures.

Mindful of the Needs of Others

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:51:08 -0500

Can you help? Putnum CAP is looking for help over the next few days; they need to sort through all the gifts they have received and prepare them for the families. If you can help in any way, just give them a call at 845-278-8021.

Dear all,

In the midst of our own planning and preparing, we are very mindful of those who need to also know of Jesus' love and compassion as they face difficulties in their own lives. I have been in contact with such a family. Below are listed some of their Christmas gift wishes. If any of you would be able to help with these gifts, please let me know directly (revjedyer1@yahoo.com). I will coordinate so that each of the four children are taken care of and not duplicated. If you are able to help, please let me know which child and what you are planning to get. Please get the gifts to me by Dec. 19th.

BOY: is 11 1/2, he wants 500 x-box points, (what he really wants is an Ipod touch, but I told him there was no way I could afford that), he could also use an x-box 360 controller,or he is very into science. He needs some warm clothing. He is in a size 18 or mens small. He could really use some warm shirts, jeans, pjs, socks and underwear with undershirts.

GIRL: is 8 1/2 and she wants Cicciobello doll and american girl doll wheelchair and feel better kit. She could also use warm clothing, she is in a size 10-12. She could use some leggings with sweaters, along with possible dresses and tights and socks and undershirts and pjs.

GIRL: she would like baby alive baby all gone and baby alive changing time baby or a chuwawwa puppy toy. She is in a size 7 and could use leggings and sweaters along with dresses and tights and undershirts and socks and pjs.

GIRL: She would like really like a pink DSi which I do not think is possible, but she would also like pink camera hungry hungry hipps and elefun She could use tights, socks pjs, leggings and sweaters with no hoods or tight necks and pjs with no feet

Anything would really help and hand me down clothing is just fine. The girls also like the lalaloopsie dolls, but I know they are one of this years "hot" items and may be hard to find. They are all also crafty

Was also thinking that we might get some kind of gift certificate for the parent.

if you have any questions, please let me know. Please email me directly at revjedyer1@yahoo.com.

Peace,

Pastor Jen

CHURCH!

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 10:48:28 -0400

CHURCH!

Have you ever sung that song "I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the Church together; all who follow Jesus all around the world, Yes! We're the Church together!"

It goes on to sing about that the Chuch isn't a building or a steeple, but the people.

What does it mean for us to be the Church in this time and place? How are we the Church in the world? Where is God calling us to be the Church in the midst of the lives of others?

There are many perceptions of the Church in the world. And not many of them are good ones - its called hypocritical, judgment, old-fashioned, out of touch and more. Many people of God today are having to re-examine what it means to be the Church. This isn't so much about re-inventing ourselves for the consumer culture, but getting back to the core of what it means to be part of the Body of Christ.

Brian McLaren (author of A New Kind of Christianity) using Paul's verses about love in Chapter 13 of I Corinthians (you know, the one we often hear at weddings) says the following: "The church, then, in Paul's mind, must be above all a school of love...its goal is not simply to pump knowledge into people, but to train them in the "way of love," so they may do the "work of the Lord" empowered by the Holy Spirit, as the embodiment of Christ."

How is Trinity already walking and living in the way of love? How are you doing the Christ' work of love in the midst of your daily encounters? Help me to learn more about how God is using the good people of Trinity to further the kingdom of God. Share with me (and with each other) the stories of faith that exemplify what it means to be the Church in this time and in this place - for it is in doing so that we give glory to God!

Every Member Visit

I'm seeking to not only meet each member of Trinity, but to get to know each of you. I am (and will be) making contact with you. I am looking to set up a time we can meet - just to get to know you (more than just a face and/or name). I've left a number of messages and will continue to follow up. Since there are SO MANY of you, it may take awhile - if you haven't been contacted yet, please feel free to contact me (easiest way is to call the church office: 279-5181). We can meet wherever you like - out for coffee, your home or place of work or even here at the church building. We can have dinner, lunch or even breakfast.

I'm looking forward to getting to know better the people of God that have been called to be the Church in this place!

peace in Christ, Pastor Jen

Special TLC e-note

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:49:50 -0400

Special TLC e-note sent out July 1, 2010:

On Sunday, June 27, Pastor Jennifer Boyd, the candidate recommended by our call committee, presided at worship. The previous evening about 80 members of the congregation gathered at a potluck supper to meet Pastor Boyd and her husband, Michael.

At the special congregation meeting following worship on June 27, the congregation voted 103-7 to accept Pastor Jen as our new pastor. We give thanks to God for bringing Trinity and Pastor Boyd together to move forward in ministry.

Pastor Boyd, who currently lives in Treadwell, NY, near Oneonta, will be making plans to relocate to our area in the next couple of months. We are expecting that she may begin to serve at Trinity in September.

Please look in the August Trinitarian for more information about Pastor Boyd and our schedule for welcoming her to Trinity.

Mary Beth Commisso

Call Committee Chair

We Are Children of God

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:51:25 -0400

it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Romans 8:16

I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:13

Our Gospel for Pentecost contains one of Jesus' promises that has caused many of us to teeter on the brink of doubt when we feel that our prayers have not been answered. "I prayed that I wouldn't lose my job", "I prayed that she would get better"....and then those things didn't happen. But didn't Jesus say.....

There are many places where Jesus reminds us that we are children of God, and in talking to his apostles–grown men, rough, tough fishermen–he even addressed them on occasion as one would speak to children. This has often led me to think about how my understanding of God and God's works and ways is really like that of a child trying to understand our world–using my equivalent of knowing my ABCs and counting to 10 as the way to make sense of something that's much bigger. I think of how my nieces and nephews, when they were small children, would explain to me how things in the world worked–their understanding and interpretations were based on the experiences and tools they had developed in their few years. When I come upon something that makes me pause, like Jesus promise in the Gospel, I stop to think that maybe there is a different way to think about it than from my "child" perspective.

Mary Hinkle Shore from Luther Seminary in Minnesota, commented on this Gospel:

Andrew H. Wakefield (a professor at Campbell University Divinity School) suggests that the parent/child relationship offers an analogy for what Jesus is promising here.

"If we extend the analogy just a little, we may be able to think of these promises as the same sort of hyperbole that parents use when they tell a child, "I would do anything for you!" The child may say, "Really? Then I want a tattoo; I want a pet elephant; I want a Ferrari!" The child has missed the point. The hyperbole shows the parent's infinite love for the child, a love that will seek the good of the child even above the parent's own good.... The hyperbole is a way of expressing the intimate relationship between loving parent and child—and that relationship is not simply about giving and receiving."

This promise is neither a blank check nor an invitation to blame one's own ineptitude at prayer in the name of Jesus when such prayers go apparently unanswered. Instead, this promise is part of Jesus' assurance that he will not leave his own orphaned. Through the Spirit, the other Advocate, Jesus will keep working as he has so far, in ways that reveal God's great and abiding love for them.

It's hard for me, as a child, to understand why that job was lost or why the illness wasn't cured, after I prayed. But I trust that God, as my loving parent, will not leave me comfortless. I will still turn to be enfolded in God's arms, knowing that God understands my needs far better than I do.

Mary Beth Commisso

Readings for the Week

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Isaiah 32:11-17

Galatians 5:16-25

Friday, May 21, 2010

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Isaiah 44:1-4

Galatians 6:7-10

Saturday, May 22, 2010–Vigil of Pentecost

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

2 Kings 2:1-15a

Luke 1:5-17

Sunday, May 23, 2010–Day of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Romans 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21

John 14:8-17 [25-27]

Monday, May 24, 2010

Psalm 48

Joel 2:18-29

1 Corinthians 2:1-11

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Psalm 48

Ezekiel 11:14-25

1 Corinthians 2:12-16

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Psalm 48

Numbers 24:1-14

Luke 1:26-38

May 14, 2010

nospam@example.com (Amy) — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:41:59 -0400

WE REMEMBER IN PRAYER Claudia Smith, mother of Dawn Andren, who passed from this life and entered the Church triumphant on May 12. Visiting hours are at Joseph Smith Funeral Home, 692 Route 6, Mahopac, on Saturday May 15 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM and on Sunday May 16 from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 PM. A funeral will be held here at Trinity on Monday, May 17, at 10:30 AM.

Readings for this week

F Psalm 97

Exodus 33:12-17

Revelation 22:6-9

Sa Psalm 97

Exodus 33:18-23

John 1:14-18

Su Seventh Sunday of Easter

Acts 16:16-34

Psalm 97

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

John 17:20-26

M Psalm 29

Exodus 40:16-38

Acts 16:35-40

Tu Psalm 29

2 Chronicles 5:2-14

Acts 26:19-29

W Psalm 29

Ezekiel 3:12-21

Luke 9:18-27

Th Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Isaiah 32:11-17

Galatians 5:16-25