Dear Friends in Christ,

The Forty Days of this Lenten Season have been going quickly and are nearing their end as we prepare once more to enter into the most sacred days of the entire Christian Year. As we gather again to follow our Lord Jesus through these days of His passion and resurrection, we are once more enfolded into the very story of our salvation and rejoice again in the victory and life we share with our Blessed Redeemer.

We hope and pray that you will be able to join us for worship during these Holy Days, either in person as we gather at Trinity or by livestream available on our church Facebook Page. (Videoed services are available for later viewing, also on the church Facebook Page.)

The Schedule for our Holy Week Worship Services is available on our Worship Schedule Page.

Of interest to you may be our plans for Bible Study on Palm Sunday. As a way to prepare for the days of Holy Week, we will be viewing the short documentary film, “The Week That Changed the World”. It is a “walk through” of the history behind the days and events of that first Holy Week, led by ancient historian and Lutheran Pastor, Paul L. Maier. If you are not able to join us, you can find out more about this film by visiting their website: http://theweekthatchangedtheworld.com/
The film may also be available for purchase and viewing on variious streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video and others.

We also plan to hold Bible Study on Easter Morning before worship beginning at 8:30 AM for those able to be with us.

God’s richest blessings be with all of us as we keep these sacred days so central to our faith!

Peace in the Savior’s Name!
+Pastor

Hard to believe, but the Season of Lent is upon us! As we prepare for the celebration of Easter and the joy of the new life we have in our Risen Lord, we once more take the opportunity to walk with our Savior through the days of His Passion, rejoicing in the death which brings us life, forgiveness, and eternal salvation.

We hope that you will join in keeping this holy time through prayer and meditating on God’s Word. In addition to coming together each Lord’s Day, there are other opportunities to reflect and meditate on God’s great acts of love for us in Christ.

Home Devotions:

Devotional Materials have been sent to every member home for your use during this season. For adults, the devotional, “In View of God’s Mercy”, will help us to reflect on God’s great mercy shown to us in Jesus. For families with children, “The Cross and Me”, will help make the connection between Jesus’ journey to the cross and the small acts of love and kindness that we are able to do for others.

Limited “extra” copies are available. Please see Pastor.

Midweek Lenten Worship:

As the world returns to something “close to normal”, we have decided to make a return to holding Midweek Lenten Vespers.

The Season of Lent will begin as usual on Ash Wednesday, March 2nd, with its traditional service including Confession, the Imposition of Ashes, and the celebration of Holy Communion.

The following Wednesdays–March 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, and April 6th–will be observed with Vesper Services reflecting on the Passion History drawn from the Four Evangelists.
These services will be spoken liturgy with hymns sung acappella.

All Midweek Services will begin at 7:00 PM, and you will be able to join us either in person at Trinity or by livestream on our church Facebook Page. For more information about these services, please visit our Worship Schedule page.

Details on Holy Week Worship will be forthcoming as we draw closer to that time. Stay tuned!

With prayers for a blessed Lenten season filled with prayer and meditation on the great deeds of God in Christ. See you at worship!

Peace and blessings,
+Pastor

Dear friends in Christ,

Greetings to you all as we come to the end of our Advent days and enter into the joyous celebration of the coming of the Lord Jesus as we remember His birth in Bethlehem.

Just a few announcements regarding coming worship services at Trinity in these days…

Christmas Eve:

We will hold our Christmas Eve Candlelight Eucharist on Friday evening at 7:00 PM. We plan to have in person worship at Trinity, and the service will be livestreamed as well on Facebook Live.

For those joining us online, please visit the church website for connection information and to find the evening’s order of service so you can share in the carols, prayers, and praise of this holy night. Also, for those worshiping from home: we invite you to have a candle (and something to light it with) so that you can join us in hearing the Christmas Gospel and the singing of “Silent Night” by candlelight when we come to that point in the service.

Christmas Day:

There will be a Christmas Day Festival Eucharist on Saturday morning at 9:30 AM. This will be a different service from the one held the night before, and is especially for our members who would like to be at church for Christmas, but don’t come out at night. All are still welcome to join us at Trinity, and the service will also be livestreamed as well.

The Sunday after Christmas – December 26th:

Note: There will be NO Sunday Morning Bible Study on this day.

Our regular Sunday Worship will be held at 9:30 AM, both in person and on livestream. As has become a bit of tradition for us, the sermon this Sunday will be replaced by a Christmas Carol Sing. For those watching online, we will try our best to “take requests” from you through comments on Facebook.

Livestream links, as well as copies of the orders of service, are available on the church website: www.tlcmr.org. Or you can log on to the livestream directly on our church Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/trinityelcmountrainier

God’s blessings and peace be with all of us in these days of celebrating Christ!

In His love,
+Pastor

Just a couple of notes regarding this coming Sunday…

First, it is the season to take our clocks and “fall back”. Please remember to set your clocks back one hour on Saturday night so you can be on time for church on Sunday morning, after enjoying your “extra” hour of sleep.

Second, we hope that you can be with us, either in person or online, for our yearly celebration of “Easter in Autumn”–The Feast of All Saints. Join us as we gather to remember our saints, especially those of our Trinity Family, who have gone on to rest in the peace of Jesus; as well as rejoicing together in our own status as saints of God–His dearly loved, baptized, and forgiven children.

Oh, what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless Sabbaths the blessed ones see!
Crowns for the valiant, to weary ones rest;
God shall be all, and in all ever blest.

In new Jerusalem joy shall be found,
Blessings of peace shall forever abound;
Wish and fulfillment are not severed there,
Nor the things prayed for come short of the prayer.

We, where no trouble distraction can bring,
Safely the anthems of Zion shall sing;
While for Your grace, Lord, their voices of praise
Your blessed people shall evermore raise.

Now let us worship our Lord and our King,
Joyfully raising our voices to sing:
Praise to the Father, and praise to the Son,
Praise to the Spirit, to God, Three-in-One.

Peter Abelard, 1079-1142
Lutheran Service Book Hymn 675

Dear Trinity Family,

Greetings to you all in these “very warm” days of summertime in DC! Although we are sometimes used to using the expression on days like these, a local church sign I saw recently did put things into perspective: “No, it isn’t as hot as hell”. So for that we can be thankful, even as we pray for the return of cooler weather 🙂

I forgot to make this announcement at the end of last Sunday’s service, so I did want to send this message out to all of you as a reminder. Last Sunday afternoon, our County Executive put an indoor mask mandate into effect. For those who will gather at Trinity for in person worship, we kindly ask you to once again wear your mask while in the church building. We hope and pray that the COVID metrics for the county will once again trend downward and will allow this mandate to be lifted. Until then, continue to do those things which will keep yourselves and your family and neighbors safe and healthy.

Have a blessed weekend and hope to see you at worship on Sunday!

Peace in Christ,
+Pastor

Dear Trinity family,

Well, if there is a lesson that this whole COVID situation has taught us it would be that conditions change rapidly.

My announcement about this coming Sunday at Trinity is a case in point. Imagine my quite joyous surprise to have learned later yesterday, after I had already sent out my last message to you all, that our County Executive has lifted the mask mandate in Prince George’s County, beginning at 5 PM Friday. We are certainly grateful that the COVID metrics have improved in our community to allow this to happen, and we continue to pray that this time of health emergency may soon come to an end. May our loving and healing God grant it!

So, everything which I wrote to you yesterday about this coming Sunday still applies, with this one change:

While in the church building, wearing of a mask is optional. In love and care for one another, use your best judgment with regards to current health guidelines as to whether or not you wear a mask.

We have updated our “Stay-Safe Rules” to reflect this new change, and a copy can be found here.

I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful day, a blessed Memorial Day weekend, and I look forward to seeing you all at church.

Peace and blessings,
+Pastor

Dear friends in Christ,

First, allow me to take this moment to thank you all for the patience, understanding, flexibility, love, and concern that you have all had during this most eventful year-plus of dealing with the effects that COVID has brought to our world and to our life together as a church family. By God’s grace and with His help, we have made it so far, and we pray His continued blessing and presence as we continue to walk together in the coming days.

We are certainly thankful to finally see that proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” as our national, state, and local officials have begun to relax many of the restrictions that we have been living under as we have worked our best to keep ourselves and one another safe and healthy. With the changes made to the restrictions and mandates that we have tried our best to follow, our Ministry Planning Group (MPG) met this past Sunday to review our “Stay-Safe Rules” and make adjustments to the changes that have been made by our government leaders.

Beginning this Sunday, May, 30, the following is being observed at Trinity:

1. As the county has not yet lifted the indoor mask mandate, we will continue to ask those attending worship to wear their masks as much as possible while in the building. When the county announces that the indoor mask mandate has been lifted and that announcement becomes effective, mask wearing will become optional in the building.

2. Physical distancing requirements are now observed using your own best judgement. We have removed the pew ropes so you may sit where you wish in the nave, balcony, and overflow, using all available pews and seats. I know that many of us are “self-trained” to give one another necessary space and that we will continue to love and respect one another in this regard.

3. We have chosen to remove the request to limit “indoor socializing” as we seem to be fine with our being inside with one another following worship.

4. All other parts of our “rules” remain in place, especially with those dealing with worship (worship materials, gathering of offerings, and distribution of Communion). The MPG has chosen to keep these in place through the summer, and will review them again for any revisions or changes to occur in the fall.

A copy of the revised “Trinity Stay-Safe Rules” can be found here for your review and reference.

Along with many of you, I know that our “getting back to normal” is something that we have all longed for. While this health emergency is not yet over, we know that much has happened to allow us all a sense that, even though we cannot turn the clock back to the way things once were, we are moving forward to resuming our lives and activities in ways that are safe and that continue to look out for the health and well-being of one another.

So let us all continue to love and care for each other, and let us joyfully be together in the Lord’s House, giving Him thanks for all that He has done and that He will keep on doing for us and for our world. I’m looking forward to being with you all this coming Sunday, Trinity Sunday, as we celebrate our God and His Name by whom we are named.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen!

Peace and blessings,
+Pastor

After this past year with its distancing and restrictions on gatherings, it is indeed a blessing to be able to look forward to a “more normal” celebration of Holy Week and Easter kept together in church this year. While we will continue to observe the protocols which this time of COVID require of us, we will also be able to keep these Great and Holy Days in remembrance of our salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are happy that we will be able to offer again our usual pattern of worship for Holy Week with the Divine Service on Palm Sunday, and the Liturgies of the Easter Triduum (Three Days) on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. For details and times of these important worship gatherings, please see our Holy Week Calendar:

Holy Week Schedule 2021

Pastor has prepared a video message which will take you through the services of Holy Week: pointing out many of the special ceremonies which are a part of these holy days and how we will observe them together at Trinity this year, especially as we will have both in-person and online worshipers.

Holy Week Preview Video

As we individually keep these days of Holy Week with our own prayers and meditation, we are providing a couple of items which we offered last year during this time. First, is a guide for Meditating on the Lord’s Passion through the reading of the Passion found in each of the Gospels or through use of “The Passion History”. The other is a devotional booklet, “From Palms to Passion”, which provides morning and evening meditations for each day of Holy Week.

Passion Readings for Holy Week

From Palms to Passion Devotional

May the Lord richly bless all of us as we walk in His way–from palms and “Hosannas”, to the Upper Room and Gethsemane’s betrayal, to trials and condemnation, seeing His mocking and bearing the cross, to Calvary and burial, and finally stand rejoicing at His empty tomb, shouting with joy that life and salvation are won and ours forever.

See you at worship this Holy Week!

Peace and blessings,
+Pastor

Dear friends in Christ,

Last week, we marked the one year anniversary of the moment when the COVID pandemic turned life upside down for us, especially as we had to close our doors for in-person worship. Thankfully, we were able to reopen last June, weathered the up and down nature of the virus’ effects, and have had no cases come from the gatherings we have had here at Trinity. I feel that this has been because of the precautions that we have taken, as well as our own individual caution, care, and concern we have shown to each other. Thank you to you all for all that you have done and for the patience and understanding that you have had as we have gone through this time together.

As we have often been reminded, this time we are in is not quite over yet. But, with a decrease in cases and the ongoing efforts of vaccinations, we are certainly seeing a hope for things to return to at least a “new normal” again. Our governor recently began a relaxing of restrictions which have been in place since last spring; and our county executive, still being cautious, has done the same, though at a more conservative pace.

For us here at Trinity, this has meant that we are now able to increase our in-person attendance for worship from 25% to 50%, which is to say from 31 persons to 63 persons. As we noted even under the 25% rule, these numbers have allowed a small congregation like ours to have been able to open our doors to pretty much all of our regular attendees based on our average worship attendance. With the increase to 50%, one could say that we are “fully open” once more.

While this is a cause for rejoicing, especially as we near our Holy Week and Easter celebrations, we do want to note that we will continue to be cautious and vigilant as this health crisis, though lessened, does continue. For that reason, the COVID protocols which we set into place when we opened our doors last June will continue. In general, this means that masks will continue to need to be worn; and we will continue to observe distancing when seating for worship, as well as in our “fellowship conversations” we have with one another while in the building. You can review our “Trinity Stay-Safe Rules” which are printed weekly in the Sunday Bulletin, and can be found on the church website under our reopening information.

As for our Holy Week and Easter celebrations, please look for a message next week to bring you an update on our plans for worship together.

God’s blessings to you all in the remaining days of this week, and I look forward to being together with you for worship this coming Lord’s Day.

Peace in Christ,
+Pastor

A blessed Shrove Tuesday to one and all!

Although it will be cold, it seems that the weather forecast for tomorrow will be cooperative enough to allow us to hold our Ash Wednesday Worship as originally planned.

We hope that you will join us for worship tomorrow evening, February 17th, at 7 PM as we begin together the Sacred Season of Lent. The service will be our traditional service of Confession; hearing the Word; Sermon: “The Quarantine of Lent” on Matthew 9:10-13; and the celebration of Holy Communion. Because of COVID concerns, the Imposition of Ashes will not be offered this year.

This service will be available both in-person, following our COVID limits and protocols, and by livestream on our church Facebook Page. More information on the livestream can be found on the homepage of our church website (www.tlcmr.org).

Hope to see you as we begin our Lenten journey to Calvary’s Cross and Easter’s Empty Tomb.

Peace and blessings,
+Pastor