Siblings in Christ,

If you are like me, you thought this would all be over by now. When we suspended worshipping in our sanctuary on March 15th, we believed it would last for two weeks and we would have been back inside by Easter. Currently, it is 6 months later and just this past week someone asked me if we had plans for Christmas Eve services!

I wish, between council and myself, that we had the answers. Unfortunately, we don’t. What we do have is a promise to all of you that we will make the best decisions possible that take into account, physical health, emotional health and spiritual health. Unfortunately, we all have different needs in all of those areas and there is not “one size fits all.” So, let me first say this. Thank you for all the ways you have continued to support the ministry here at Holy Trinity during this time. As I think about what has gone on here during the last 6 months, I have been amazed. Things have occurred that would have been terrific despite a pandemic, and we have done them during a pandemic! Here are just a few.

Started a mobile or “Pop-Up Pantry. Each week we give away several hundred dollars of food to anyone in need.
Started a new weekly faith study titled, “Bring Your Own Bible and Beverage” (BYOB^2). As many as 30 people have joined on zoom to talk about topics like racism and the Bible and how everything affects our lives and the world.
While there is not an exact science regarding attendance for online worship, our best estimates show we have increased our summer worship attendance over previous summers. We are engaging and interacting with people all over New England and the country on a weekly basis.
Our indoor Wednesday evening gathering moved outside on Tuesday evenings and at least doubled in size.
New people have been involved in worship and people are sharing stories about what faith and Holy Trinity mean to them.
Giving has remained strong. We planned for approximately a $12,000 deficit going into this year. At the end of July, we were $86 in the black! We had a little setback in August but we remain optimistic for the fall.
A team is meeting about upgrading the technology in the sanctuary to allowing for the recording and live streaming of our services.
New methods are being developed and implemented regarding faith formation and empowering families to discover faith together, in the home. We are partnering with Luther Crest Bible Camp for weekly children’s sermons for our online worship and for recorded skits and songs for online “Sunday School.” Look for more information to come out soon!
7 people are running to support Camp Calumet and at least 15 people are sponsoring them.

Now, with all that being said, things are not fully where we want them to be either. Primarily, we still are not worshipping inside our building. There are a lot of thoughts and opinions on how to proceed. As council discerns the best way to move forward, we want to gather some information from all of you. Lower in this email, is brief message and a link containing a 3-question survey we are asking everyone to fill out. Please note, this is not any type of vote, we simply want to know your thoughts. After the 3 questions, you have space to share other thoughts regarding our response to the pandemic during this time. Thank you for taking a few moments to share your thoughts.

In the end, thank you. Thank you for the way you live your faith every day. It matters.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Tim