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

Dear friends in Christ,

I pray that this message finds you all well and safe at home during this winter weather that we are having right now.

And it is because of the weather that I am sending this message out to you. As this has become quite the ice event with the forecast giving us no hope for temperatures rising until well into tomorrow, it seems to be the best course of action that we not meet for in person worship tomorrow at Trinity.

Although we will not be able to gather together, we will still offer a Service of the Word tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM which Pastor will lead from home. Please visit the church Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/trinityelcmountrainier) or use the link on the church website (www.tlcmr.org) to join us. The order of service will also be available for your use during worship, also on the church website (www.tlcmr.org/worship/online-worship-bulletin-archive).

One other announcement of which I had been remiss in was to pass on to you all the minutes from our December Voters’ Meeting. If you did not receive a copy with the latest email from Pastor, please send a message to him to request one.

God’s blessings be with you all and I hope to “see” many of you at worship tomorrow morning.

Peace!
+Pastor

Dear friends in Christ,

Greetings to you all in these closing days of Advent as we “stir up” our excitement at 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 Thursday evening at 7:00 PM. We plan to have in person worship at Trinity according to our COVID capacity limits, 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 the singing of “Silent Night” and hearing the Christmas Gospel by candlelight when we come to that point in the service.

Christmas Day:

There will be a Christmas Day Festival Eucharist on Friday 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 according to our COVID capacity limits, and the service will also be livestreamed as well.

The Sunday after Christmas – December 27th:

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 may have to see if we might be able to “take requests” from you through comments on Facebook (no guarantees though).

Funeral Service for Margaret Smith – December 27th, 12 Noon:

Margaret Smith, sister of Rick Parker, was called home to be with the Lord on December 8th. We will be holding her Service of Victory here at Trinity this Sunday. Because of COVID capacity limits and expected numbers for family, we are not able to give a general invitation to the Trinity family to attend. However, we will also livestream the service for those who would like to be able to be with us in this virtual way. We will go live five minutes before the service start time which should allow people to easily log on.

Livestream links are available on the church website: www.tlcmr.org or by logging directly onto 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

Greetings to you all on this Friday afternoon!

This time around, I prepared my usual “Devotion and News Update” in a different format which you can find below:

Devotion and Update Letter 11-20-2020

It contains messages about current goings on with us here at Trinity, especially with the changes which COVID is again bringing to our life. I hope that it will be informative, and if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

One other announcement about this Sunday’s worship…

For those who were with us last Sunday, you will perhaps remember that it was a little on the chilly side in the church. We have since discovered that the boiler needed some looking after because of some major, yet repairable issues. We are waiting on the arrival and replacement of one final part which should allow us to fire up the boiler once more, and perhaps this could be done by tomorrow, allowing us to have heat again for Sunday.

However, should the work not be finished in time, we just wanted you to know so that you can “dress accordingly” for a cold church.  Worship will be continued to be livestreamed for those who might prefer the warmth of worship from home.  We’ll keep you updated as progress continues.

God’s blessings to you all and may you have a safe and enjoyable weekend. And Lord willing, we’ll see you at church!

Peace,
+Pastor

Dear Trinity Family,

As I was preparing for this Sunday’s worship, there were a string of thoughts on my mind, some of which found their way into Sunday’s sermon, while others simply inspired. (And it should be said that if every thought or inspiration were put into any given sermon, they would become much longer than the “usual sermon”.) The following devotional thought, such as it is, is based on a hymn which sat in the back of my mind as a bit of unbidden inspiration during my sermon writing which I would like to share with you as a preview of sorts for our worship together this weekend.

This Sunday, October 11th, marks, to the very day, the 89th Anniversary of the founding of our congregation when it held its first worship service at the Odd Fellows’ Hall on the corner of 34th Street and Bunker Hill Road (the brown brick building still standing on that corner today). In 1931, the liturgical date was the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, and according to our congregational history, Vicar Edwin Pieplow preached on the text from Genesis 7:1–“Come thou and all thy house into the ark.”  The Gospel reading provided for that Sunday in the lectionary used in those days was Matthew 22:1-14, the Parable of the Wedding Feast. It so happens that this year this same Gospel is appointed on this Sunday of our Anniversary celebration, and will serve as the text for my sermon.

While writing the sermon, my thoughts were quietly inspired by a hymn text which I remembered singing in college and seminary, as well as studying in a seminary hymnology class.  “O Kingly Love, That Faithfully” was written by the 20th Century Lutheran Hymnwriter and Theologian Martin Franzmann (1907-76).  This hymn was written in 1966, prepared to be a part of materials for congregations to use as a part of the celebration of the 450th Anniversary of the Reformation in 1967.  The tune, KINGLY LOVE, was composed for the text by Lutheran composer, Richard Hillert (1923-2010), who was also the composer of Setting One of the Divine Service in our hymnal, with its well known and loved setting of the Hymn of Praise, “This Is the Feast”.

Unfortunately, the hymn was not included in those Reformation celebration materials, but it was published first in the 1969 Worship Supplement (#757), and later in the 1981 hymnal, Lutheran Worship (#346). In the Worship Supplement, the hymn was listed as being for Reformation, as well as being the “Hymn of the Week” for Trinity 20, with its text being a sung proclamation of the themes found in the Gospel for that day.  The hymn speaks eloquently of God’s constant call of love for His people to come to Him, especially as that call came through the sending of His Son. Jesus and His inviting call to the world is shown in the hymnwriter’s image of the “trumpet none could silence or mistake”, through which the “living breath” of God’s Spirit blew “for all the world to hear, living and clear” the “ancient, true, and constant melody” of God’s song which calls us to Him and His “kingly, lavish, seeking, and holy and ruthless love” which brings and gives us life and shapes us into the new people and new creation we are called to be.

I pray that meditating on this text will be a way for us to prepare for the Word we will hear and celebrate together this weekend. Blessings to you all and I look forward to being with you in worship this Sunday.

You can find a recording of the hymn here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvnAy8AmdOQ

Here is Franzmann’s text (from the Worship Supplement, 1969):

O kingly Love, that faithfully
Didst keep Thine ancient promises,
Didst bid the bidden come to Thee,
The people Thou didst choose to bless,
This day we raise
Our song of praise,
Adoring Thee,
That in the days
When alien sound
Had all but drowned
Thine ancient, true, and constant melody,
Thy mighty hand did make
A trumpet none could silence or mistake,
Thy living breath did blow for all the world to hear,
Living and clear:
The feast is ready–come to the feast,
The good and the bad,
Come and be glad,
Greatest and least,
Come to the feast!

O lavish Love, that didst prepare
A table bounteous as Thy heart,
That men might leave their puny care
And taste and see how good Thou art,
This day we raise, etc.

O seeking Love, Thy hurrying feet
Go searching still to urge and call
The bad and good on every street
To fill Thy boundless banquet hall.
This day we raise, etc.

O holy Love, Thou canst not brook
Man’s cool and careless enmity;
O ruthless Love, Thou wilt not look
On man robed in contempt of Thee.
Thine echoes die;
Our deeds deny
Thy summoning:
Our darkling cry,
Our meddling sound
Have all but drowned
That song that once made every echo ring.
Take up again, O take
The trumpet none can silence or mistake,
And blow once more for us and all the world to hear,
Living and clear:
The feast is ready–come to the feast,
The good and the bad,
Come and be glad,
Greatest and least,
Come to the feast!

(C) 1969, Concordia Publishing House

Dear Trinity Family,

After a different sort of Summer, we prepare to enter into a different sort of Fall; but the life of our congregation continues nonetheless. I pray that we all continue to be uplifted by the Lord and His gifts of grace, even in these days when some of our gathering together takes shape in virtual ways.

Reflecting on many of the things that made up this Summer, not only in personal and congregational life, but also in our nation, I came across a message from a brother Pastor and seminary classmate to his congregation in Washington State. He shared the following hymn text with them, and when I listened to it, I was moved by it and the message that it gave.  I invite you to view the video for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3C0iB4yD4M&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3fs7o8UW8fHR_vGEkHEHOI5whkGHUfP9773Yx0VoMTIsiQqui-zpFN9pw

The video is from our sister congregation, St. John’s in Seward, Nebraska, and the hymn is presented by the A Cappella Choir from Concordia University Nebraska, also in Seward.

The introduction to the hymn mentions that the text and tune were both written by Professors at Concordia. What is also interesting is that the text was written in 1999, as the author reflected on the fears that some felt as they looked at the coming of the new millennium. Remember the worries that flew around in those days because of “Y2K”? Compared with many of the things we must face in our day, one might almost wistfully wish for those “simpler days” with “simpler problems”.

But what struck me as I thought through the text of this hymn, it almost seemed prophetic and spoke to much of what we are feeling in these days of 2020. That being said, the hymn is not really prophetic, but rather based on the plain reality of life lived in our world. The fears and problems that the stanzas address to God are nothing new to our day–they are and have been a part of human life and living since Adam and Eve left Eden to live in the fallen world that their sin and disobedience brought and which we too continue in. Our “problems” are really of our own making, born out of our own sinfulness and our fleshly desires which seek what we think to be good and right rather than what God wills for us and what He gives to us as good for our good.

We cry out to God in our fear, frustration, anger, impatience, and any other emotion that our life’s trials make us feel, looking to Him perhaps as the One who can “fix what we broke”. And His response?  It is always the same: “I AM forever WHO I AM. Above you, beneath you, around you and within you. Be still and know that I am God.”

God has come and put right what our sin made wrong. Through the cross and empty tomb of His Son, that fallen creation has begun to be restored back to our Creator’s original intent and design. Yet, we still deal with that fallenness which is written on each page of our world’s history, and we continue to see our sin against God and one another played out again and again. None of this is new; not to us, and certainly not to God. There is no “new sin”, just old ones repackaged in a different time and place.

And yet, God remains eternally our own and our world’s I AM. He is the changeless One, whose presence still fills His creation, and who calls His creatures to come to Him to be renewed, restored and healed by His forgiveness won for us by His Son Jesus. It is this love of our creating and redeeming God that becomes our comfort, peace, and hope even in difficult times because we know that He is I AM–the eternal changeless One who holds us in His care even when things seem out of control. He is the One who can take our distress and show us even in the midst of it His gracious and loving hand of blessing which is leading us safely through this vale of tears to Himself, where the pages of our own stories become a part of His own eternal story.

Let us trust that we are in the loving hands of the great I AM and in Him know, find, and have true and eternal peace. May His Name and His Word comfort us and always bring us hope, that we may “be still and know that [He] is God.”

And now, some news as we move into the Fall in our life together here at Trinity…

We thank God that since the middle of June we have been able to open the doors here at church for in-person worship on Sunday mornings. Our attendance so far has averaged at 19, which is not too far off of our average attendance for last year of 24. We are thankful for all those who have come out to worship, including several members from the Mekane Yesus congregation who have been with us. We are also thankful for all those who have continued to join us virtually through our livestreaming of services. Whether in-person or online, we are still connected together as Christ’s body in this place as His Holy Spirit continues to bless us with the Lord’s Gifts.

For the time being, our Sunday Morning Schedule will be to only hold Divine Service at 9:30 AM. We will wait for the moment in resuming Sunday Morning Bible Study, and will announce when we will begin that again.

We are considering how best to conduct our Midweek Bible Study and what format that will take.

The Ministry Planning Group will be meeting this Sunday to look at how we have managed during this time of COVID and how we will be moving forward. Feel free to reach out to any of the group members with any questions or concerns you may have which would help in our conversation and decision making.

We also thank all those who have helped and assisted in the Food Distribution efforts by Redeemer and Trinity while the Compassion Center has been closed. The center will be reopening this coming week and will once again be serving our clients with both food and clothing. Please continue to keep this ministry of mercy and service in your prayers. And with the reopening of the center, we will be “winding down” the Food Distribution that we began after the center’s closing, ending it at the end of this month as the Compassion Center does its work.

God’s blessings be with you all the remainder of this week, have a wonderful weekend, and Lord willing, I hope to see you at worship!

Peace,
+Pastor

Dear Trinity Family,

As we go into our third Sunday of holding in person worship at Trinity, things seem to be working very well. My thanks to everyone for their help and understanding as we get used to this adjusted normal by wearing masks, cleaning hands, and keeping physical distance. We’ve been doing well and I know we’ll continue to do so.

Since last Sunday, Prince George’s County has entered into a “Full Phase Two” of its reopening plan along with the rest of the state. This means that Places of Worship may hold indoor gatherings of no more that 50% of their capacity. Based on only our “nave pew capacity” of 126, this places our limit at 63, which completely covers our average Sunday attendance. While this is cause for us to rejoice, let us continue to remember our brothers and sisters in other churches who are still not yet able to open their doors for worship as fully as we are. Let us pray for the day when all believers will again be able to worship together in the Lord’s House.

Again, as we come together for worship, we ask all of our members to continue to follow our Stay-Safe Rules while at church. We also want to remind our members who are unsure of returning quite yet for worship that we love you, we respect your choices, and we will be glad to see you again when you do return.

We are continuing to livestream worship on Facebook Live, and worship services are archived for later viewing on the video section of our church Facebook Page.

Our Redeemer/Trinity Food Distribution ministry is going well and is helping clients of our Compassion Center and others receive the food they and their families need. We thank you all for your generous donations to keep the pantry stocked. This Sunday, July 5th, you can once again drop off food to support this ministry. Please bring your donations to the Compassion Center entrance at Redeemer between Noon and 1 PM.

God’s blessings and peace be with you all this holiday weekend. Enjoy and be safe! And hope to see you at worship either in person or online this Sunday!

In Christ’s love,
+Pastor

Dear Trinity Family,

This week’s news is perfectly summed up in the words of the Psalmist David:

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!'” (Ps. 122:1)

We are indeed glad as we look forward to returning to our church home after three months of being away from it and from each other’s fellowship.  It will be a great joy to see many of you again, and to share in the blessings of lifting our praises and prayers to the Lord, hearing His Word, and receiving the precious gift of the Lord’s Supper together once more.

With that being said, we do realize that the cause of this time of separation from each other is still with us.  While we open the doors again, we are not yet able to “fling them wide open” as we still must follow attendance limits and other distancing procedures.  We also realize that the virus is still active, so there is still a need for continued caution.  While some of us may be open to making a return to church now, there are still those who feel the need to continue staying at home.  As we said before the stay at home orders went into effect, each of us will need to use the God-given gift of wisdom that we have to make the best decision that we can for our own health and well-being.  If you do not yet feel that the time is right for you to come back to worship, be at peace with that decision, knowing that your church family loves you, is praying for and with you, and looks forward to the day when we can all be together again.

For those who are coming back (or when you are ready to come back), information concerning how our worship gatherings will look like during this time of “adjusted normal” is available for you to review on the church website here.

(This information will also be available in the Sunday Bulletin for the next couple of weeks as well.)

Speaking of the Sunday Bulletin, it is also available for you here on the church website to get the latest news from Trinity.

As we will continue to livestream our Sunday Services, the bulletins will also continue to be published online especially for use by those who will be joining us in worship through Facebook Live.

God’s blessings be with you all this weekend, and I look forward to seeing you all at worship this Sunday, either in person or online!

Peace in Christ,
+Pastor