36 Main Street, Newtown, CT

Good Afternoon,

As our Stewardship campaign is coming to a close I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has made a financial commitment to Trinity, especially those of you who made your first financial commitment for 2024.

There are still some who continue to discern their commitment for 2024 and I would ask if you can return your pledge card this week either in person in the basket during the oblations, through US Mail or electronically by using the button below it would be greatly appreciated. For those of you who are new, once a pledge is received, you will receive a US mailed note confirming your pledge.

Thank you,

Noel Bellesheim

Sunday Conversations

Members of Trinity are invited to join our neighbors at Newtown Congregational Church (NCC) for a "Friday Conversation," as their "Thoughtful Film" series continues on Friday, November 17, in NCC Great Room. "Owned - A Tale of Two Americas" illustrates the long-term effects of mid-20th century housing rules and their emphasis on owning real estate. These created not only the housing lift some of us enjoy, but also the defunded and perpetually segregated rental communities. As we know, affordable housing continues to be an issue in Newtown. Sign up by contacting Katherine Simpson at kroesslersimpson@gmail.org, or 203.304.9390 (home), or 734.645.6909 (cell).  We're invited to join NCC for a light supper beginning at 6:00 (bring your own or order a $6 sandwich by calling Katherine), or to arrive by 6:30 when the 1hr and 23 min film begins. Discussion will follow from 8:00-9:00.

Christ's birth is always happening. And yet if it doesn't happen in me, how can it help me? Everything depends on that. -- Meister Eckhart

Interested in approaching Christmas from a different perspective this year? Join Lisa Mages on Sunday, November 26, at 11:00 AM to contemplate "The First Christmas: A Story of New Beginnings" by poet and translator Stephen Mitchell. This reimagining of the Christmas story is a short and wise read.

Collection for the Center for Empowerment

The Center for Empowerment (formerly called the Greater Danbury Women’s Center) is in need of toiletry items for its emergency shelter. Our Music Minister Jennifer Sisco and Trinity’s Missions and Outreach Committee have teamed up to collect much-needed items for the women and children who urgently rely on the Center’s services. 

Since 1975, The Center for Empowerment and Education has been a safe haven as the sole provider of services to victims of domestic and sexual violence in Northern Fairfield and Southern Litchfield Counties. Each year, the Center serves over 30,000 individuals with confidential services that are available 24/7, 365 days a year, and are provided at no-cost.

The Center's services include an emergency residential facility, support services, counseling and advocacy, crisis intervention, community education, primary prevention, and training. 

Toiletries can be regular or travel size. Please see the list of needed items on the flyer, spread the word to your family and friends, and bring the donations to church! Collection boxews can be found near the entrances.

Let us gather in interfaith unity to share a spirit of gratitude as we prepare for Thanksgiving! You are warmly invited to bring a neighbor or friend, as we lift up readings, prayers and song from our different faith traditions. Let us be in prayer for our neighbors and for our world.

Elevator Access at Rear of Church. Ample parking available behind Trinity Church, entering at 12 Church Hill Road. Questions:  trinity@trinitynewtownct.org

Advent Devotionals

Be sure to grab your copy of our 2023 Advent materials, entitled, "A 'Less is More' Christmas Poster and Devotional". These Advent resources are great for families of all shapes, sizes, and ages. You'll find them outside the sanctuary starting Sunday, 11/26. Need a digital copy? Contact our church office. We hope you enjoy this fun-filled and meaningful resource.

Christmas has become the biggest holiday in North America, and arguably the biggest in the world - and in many ways, it’s become a holiday of “more”: more presents, more stuff, more events, more expectations, more stress.

But as it turns out, if we dial back the more, we get closer to the heart of Advent and Christmas. “A ‘Less is More’ Christmas Poster and Devotional” is a fun-filled, faith-filled way to help you and your family do exactly that!

The poster is packed with activity ideas. Put it up on your fridge (or in some other prominent spot), and check off the activities as you do them, in no particular order.

And the devotional includes simple weekly Advent services to help the family connect to the deeper meanings of the season, as well as handy instructions for some of the activities on the poster. Together, the poster and devotional will help make this Advent and Christmas the most “less is more” yuletide yet!

Love Never Ends and Neither Does Laundry

“Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home. “

This text is, of course, the first stanza of the tried and true autumn hymn “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”, written by Henry Alford in 1844 when he was the rector of Aston Sandford in Buckinghamshire, England. Alford was very much a moderate who endeavored to find common ground between non-conformists and the high church Anglicans of the Church of England, and he surely accomplished that with this hymn. It was revised numerous times over the next twenty or so years and has found its way into the hymnals of churches in almost every denomination because of its wide appeal to people of faith everywhere. 

What seems to speak to followers of Christ around the world is the simple and unqualified gratitude in the words of this hymn, which is why it generally finds its way into worship services around Thanksgiving in the US. This hymn is timeless, though, as we should always sing of our thankfulness for the “harvests” we reap from the work we have done throughout the year. Last Sunday, we celebrated the end of our Stewardship campaign, and there we were thankful for the harvest of the good works you, the members, have done throughout the year and have pledged to continue to do. Next week, we will sing of our gratitude at Thanksgiving, and the following weeks we will sing of our gratitude for the hope of Advent. The gratitude continues on! We should always be looking for the “harvests”, thanking God for providing over and over. 

“All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto his praise to yield, wheat and tares together sown, unto joy or sorrow grown. First the blade, and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear. Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.” (stanza 2)

I am grateful for you!

Jennifer

This Sunday in church school we will wrap up our rotation learning about Noah's Ark. The story has really captured the kids' imaginations and they have asked great questions like:

-Were there kids on Noah's Ark?

-Was Noah's Ark as big as the Titanic?

-If Noah was so old how did he build the ark?



Many thanks to congregant Kara Leake for being a church school helper during this rotation. Next Sunday, 11/26, we start a new rotation learning about Advent and the birth of Jesus Christ. We will also be making ornaments to decorate a 4-foot tree that will be donated for raffle at the Festival of Trees taking place at Trinity in the Glover Community Room on December 2nd and 3rd. Be sure to visit the Festival of Trees and look for it there!

Here is a little preview of our 2023 Advent Mural! Families are already hard at work coloring large posters that will come together to make a beautiful mural just in time for Advent. Look for it outside the Glover Community Room on the large bulletin board in early December.

Last chance to register for a role in this year's upcoming Christmas Pageant! All ages are welcome to participate.  Contact Miss Frances by Sunday, 11/19, if you would like to participate.  Click here for a registration form or pick one up at church.

Upcoming events in November and December:

*Sunday, November 26, Advent Devotional for families becomes available - pick up your copy outside the sanctuary

*Sunday, December 3, Christmas Pageant Practice (all participants)

*Sunday, December 10, Advent Merriment at coffee hour -- All ages event

*Sunday, December 17,  Christmas Pageant performance AND Church Breakfast

Sunday 12/10: Youth meet in Glover Community Room after church to help with Advent Merriment

January 21: Youth meet in library

February 11: Youth meet in library and pack college gift boxes

March 10: Youth meet in library

April 7: Youth meet in library

A Message from Trinity’s Stephen Ministry—

Holiday Times . . .

With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, it’s important to remember

that holiday times are tender times for many of our loved ones, and for many of us,

truth be known, as well. They can be bittersweet times—happy memories intertwined

with a sense of loss of family, friends, relationships—good times past that are no more.

So please remember that Trinity’s Stephen Ministers are here to help. They do so

anonymously—and they do so lovingly. And they are available anytime in the next

weeks and the weeks beyond into the new year.

There are times of struggle and burden in everyone’s life—experiencing grief, divorce,

job loss, chronic or terminal illness, the empty nest, or perhaps just the feeling of being

alone, the burdens of caring for a loved one dealing with an illness—or feeling down

about world events and the suffering of others in places like Ukraine and the Middle

East.

Our Stephen Ministers are ready to provide confidential, one-to-one Christian care

and are here for you now, offering help, hope and healing. If you—or someone you

know—is going through a difficult time, contact Reverend Andrea or any of the folks

listed below. They can explain in further detail how the Stephen Ministry process

works. And remember, confidentially is assured: Care-Receivers are never identified by

name, not even among the other members of the Stephen Ministry Team.

Stephen Ministry—Christ Caring For People Through People

Trinity's Stephen Ministry Team

Cindy Anderau, Carol Bigman, Joe Bojnowski, Ron Dukenski, Paget Haylon,

Erin Lutz, Judy Rowley, Teddy Jameson, Rev. Andrea Castner Wyatt

Christian Yoga

Join Christian Yoga class on alternating Tuesdays at 7 pm for an hour of movement incorporating prayer and scripture. This is a great way to connect to yourself, with others and with God. Dates for the rest of the year are 11/28 and 12/12. All are welcome! Free will offering is completely voluntary.

Weekly Happenings​

Trinity's nursery is open every Sunday from 9:15 - 11:15, and is professionally staffed by Wee Care Nanny Agency.

Additional hours for the holidays will be:

Dec. 10 - 9:15-12:15 (Advent Merriment)

Dec. 17 - 9-12 (Christmas Pageant)

Dec. 24 - normal morning AND 4:45-6:15 PM (Christmas Eve service at 5pm)

Trinity's Grief Support Group runs every first and third Thursday of the month, and is open to all.

Praise and Thanksgiving

For those requesting our prayers

Arlene, Maureen, Janet, Rick, Marie, Jennifer, Joyce, Jacky, Gail, Alveta, Bode, Gracie, Martha, Daniel, Elaine, Beverly, Linda, Judy, Cheryl, Leon, Shirley, Dan, Brian, Hilda, Jim, Bea, Viola, Donald, Susan, Cindy

For those celebrating a birthday this week

Glenn Nanavaty

Trinity's Video - check it out!

There are events happening at Camp Washington - click here to learn more!

We are proud to be a parish in The Episcopal Church within 

The Episcopal Church in Connecticut.