Happy New Year
to each and every one of you! Each new year offers us an opportunity to seek something new and different in our lives, including healing, wholeness, and resurrection. It is a time of hope for a new future. The word "New" occurs over 270 times in Scripture and indicates something recent or different, something to look forward to. The Bible speaks of a new heart, new life, new growth, new king, new moon, new earth, new birth, new heavens, new grain, new prophet, newly married, new wine, new wineskins, new song, new cart, new rope, new bowl, new covenant, new temple, new spirit. Paul writes to the congregation in Corinth and says: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new." {1Cor. 5:17} Psalm 96 encourages us to "sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth."
Sometimes our lives become stuck and stale. If we do not pay close attention, they can become moldy and diminished. When we seek newness, we are looking for something fresh and alive. Since no one wants to eat stale bread, why would anyone want to live a stale life? The past is over, with all its troubles, hurts, and failures, and disappointments. It cannot be changed. However, we do have the power to change our present life, seizing opportunities to move forward to something new. As Paul said some 2000 years earlier, when we nurture our relationship with Christ, we become a new person, a shining testament to the Light. So take advantage of any opportunities that will bring newness to your life. Celebrate where possible, give thanks always, and begin removing those barriers which keep your light hidden under a bushel basket. Newness is a spiritual issue requiring both spiritual insight and concrete activity.
So what's new at Trinity? Cathy Koos-Breazeal will be the new chair of Health Ministries. The vestry has rolled up its sleeves with a new passion. Several newcomers have become more active in the parish. And three new folks are running for the position of vestry at the Annual Meeting on January 29th. On that day, we will have one Sunday service at 9:30am followed by our Annual Meeting. If you haven't attended an Annual Meeting in recent years, this is an important meeting to attend. There will be a slide show, music, and presentations by your vestry on the 2017 budget. The vestry needs to know your sentiments on presenting a deficit budget and what we can do to reverse the trend. Your attendance, enthusiasm and participation are vital.
Below are the bios of the new candidates running for vestry:
Martin Hopper
is a semi-retired engineer and municipal electric utility manager. Martin and his wife Beverly have been active at Trinity Episcopal Church for the past year and previously were long-term members of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Saratoga, CA. Martin has enthusiastically joined in Trinity activities including Las Posadas and the Sutter Creek Light Parade. While at St. Andrews, Martin had the pleasure to serve on a Discernment Committee for a parishioner who became a successful candidate for the Diaconate. Martin hopes to bring his experience in project management, planning and budgeting to the vestry and help support the continued success of Trinity and its missions. Martin and Beverly live in Pine Grove and have two-grown children who visit Trinity whenever they are in town.
Mary Krauthamel-Lane
(AKA Mary-K) is a lifelong Episcopalian who has been a member of Trinity for over 25 years. Over that time, she has participated in many different ministries such as the Prayer Station (almost since its start), as a Lector, and on the Altar Guild. She was involved in EFM and Cursillo, and last month, served as a lay delegate to Diocesan Convention. She served on the vestry at the end of Father Bill's tenure, "an exciting and scary time." For Mary, it a real joy to be part of this flock because Trinity Church is "outstanding in its field."
Laurie Jo Leed
and her husband, Don, bought their home in Amador County as a weekend/vacation retreat in 1982. In 1983, ROLM/IBM transferred her to Sacramento and they moved into their Mountain House from Santa Clara. Laurie joined Trinity in early 1983 and sang in the choir for several years until she moved back to their permanent residence in Santa Clara. Laurie has been active in several parishes as an assistant choir director, choir member, Sunday school teacher, youth advisor and altar guild. In 2002, she retired from Executive Management at Siemens. She and Don moved back to Volcano in 2011 and began attending Trinity again with her parents, Lys and Ted Marr. Her background is International telecommunications services planning, marketing and training. She has been an active docent at the California State Railroad Museum for more than 10 years, loves to read, sing, sew, knit, garden and travel.
This is good news for all of us! So as you go forward in your journey towards wholeness, "Proclaim the good news, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." {Mt. 10:7}
