Membership and Growth:

Pledge Time!

Holy Trinity has been blessed and supported by the congregation and community in many ways—spiritually, personally, and financially.

Rob Stepp, the Membership and Growth Liaison, shared with us that we are on track to meet the 2022 budget costs by the end of the year. It is expected that the budgetary needs for 2023 will be essentially the same.

In an email sent on Nov. 1st, we asked that you continue to support Holy Trinity, as you so generously have done this past year. The first step is to Pledge, which allows us to plan and practice good Stewardship. Your pledge will inform the Vestry as they create and manage next year’s budget.

However, to reaffirm—there are no conditions associated with the processes—

• Pledge and give what you can
• It is not cast in stone
• There is no requirement or expectation to Pledge as a condition of being a member of the Holy Trinity congregation.

Parish Life:

Advent and Christmas Events

It would be hard to argue that one of the most notable things about Holy Trinity is our rich and varied music programs, and we are looking forward to being serenaded during Advent and Christmas again this year. Along with our traditional Advent Dinner, AND with a new Family Advent combined service with a breakfast following, we have a lot to put on our calendars!  

11/29 Advent Dinner

12/18 Family Advent Combined Service, followed by Breakfast

12/19 Tromboni Quintessential

12/24 Christmas Eve Services

12/25 Christmas Mass

Special thanks to:

Sarah Woerner, Hospitality Committee

Summer Green, Family Advent Event

Stan-Thomas Rose, Choir Director and Tina Spriggs, Organist

Jeff Reynolds, Compline

Community Outreach: More than Tuesday Night Dinners

In collaboration with our friends at Emmanuel in Grass Valley, Holy Trinity hosts a meal (and more) for hungry community members each Tuesday. Feeding the hungry is a legacy of our departed Deacon Dave Ferrell, which was then taken up by our Deaconate candidate, Karen Hoida before Randy took the reins. Community Outreach Liaison Randy Chilton, organizes our efforts every other week when we do the cooking. An enthusiastic crew of volunteers prepares a dinner, and provides extra sandwiches and more for our guests to take along when they leave. 

But Community Outreach goes beyond this single effort, and Randy, along with fellow Community Outreach Liaison Todd Hoida, helps foster relationships with other organizations in the community. Holy Trinity supports the Interfaith Ministry and Kare Krisis Nursery and we sponsor a Scouts BSA Troop. In the past, we have also supported Rise Against Hunger, an organization dedicated to providing food to those in need all over the world.

And, as we have done in the past Christmas seasons, Holy Trinity parishioners will help local families in need to celebrate Christmas by providing food and gifts to their sponsored family. Keep an eye out for a separate email about how you can participate!

Christian Education:

Spiritual Growth Opportunities

This past year, we have had increasing opportunities for Spiritual Growth, and plan to continue that trend as we move into 2023.

We had several different versions of "The Forum" led by Heather Certik and Rev. Dr. David Method, and this fall a Bible Study series led by Fr. Brad.

What would interest YOU in this area moving forward?

Vestry Action Items

A lot of people wonder "What does the Vestry do?" In general, the Vestry is responsible for the overall health of the parish, and is led by our Rector.  This year, a new approach was taken to align each member with an area of church life; this is also known as the "Liaison Program". You have had a chance to hear some of the current Vestry members talk about their roles, and will be hearing from more of them in the coming weeks.

In addition, your Vestry has an ongoing list of things they are working on, including:

• Working on Financial Report improvements
• Vestry and Convention Delegate Nominations
• "Sanctuary" policy and community resource list
• Employee Reviews
• Vestry Job Descriptions and Bylaw updates

Three new Vestry Members will be elected during our Annual Meeting in January.  Moving forward, the 2023 Vestry will have a "retreat" in February to set Goals and plan for a Parish Retreat in March. 

Demystifying "The Sabbatical"

You may have heard that Fr. Brad will be taking a sabbatical at the beginning of the calendar year. He has been planning this for some time, and is looking forward to the time away from his Rector responsibility for some rest and recovery. He will be gone from January 5th, until April 5th, the day before MaundayThursday.

He plans to start his time away at the monetary in Vina, New Clairvaux. He is also looking for a conference and or seminar that addresses how to build community, as we know Holy Trinity will need to continue to change and grow over time.

In order to make sure things run smoothly here at the parish, the Vestry set a Goal to work with Fr. Brad and create a sabbatical plan. We are happy to say that the plan is very well-defined, with only a few details to be added before the beginning of January. We plan to have The Very Rev. Canon Mary E. Hauck and The Rev. Dr. David Davidson-Methot with us for services and hope to have the involvement of Rev. Matt Warren for our Vestry retreat in February, and for the Parish Retreat in March.

And, there have been some side benefits from this preparation, as we look at the ways we do things and for ways to make them more efficient and involve more people.  One of those things is having some volunteer office support; while we would still like to hire a person to help out, we now have two volunteers in the office on Mondays from 3 - 5 PM, and Fridays from 10 AM - 12 Noon. When Fr. Brad is out, we hope to find another volunteer to fill his Wednesday 10 AM - 12 Noon spot.

Let Fr. Brad know if you have questions and ask how we can support him in this important part of his Rectorship.