TRINITY TRUMPET
APRIL 2022
“…we begin a journey in this season of Lent. Our worship series, “Gifts of the Dark Wood” is about “seeing life through new eyes.” When we allow ourselves to accept the journey within the Dark Woods, the Holy Spirit Guide tends to nudge us, awaken us, to a fuller life. But life is messy. Life is uncertain. Rather than a problem to be solved, what if we saw uncertainty, failure, emptiness, and loss as gifts? What if we saw how these uncomfortable times can actually help us let go of all we cannot know so that we can live more wholeheartedly? Let us begin the journey…” Dr. Marcia McFee

Lenten Worship Series

Gifts of the Dark Woods

March 2    Ash Wednesday  The Gift of Entering the Storm
Ritual of Impermanence

March 6    Lent 1                  The Gift of Temptation
Holy Communion

March 13  Lent 2                  The Gift of Adversaries
Kathering Hughes, violin

March 20  Lent 3                  The Gift of Soul-Thirst
Dorothy Deen, cello

March 27   Lent 4                  The Gift of Being Lost
Marie Bennett, flute

April 3       Lent 5                  The Gift of Finitude
Melissa Bach, cello    Holy Communion

HOLY WEEK
April 10     Palm Sunday      The Gift of Preparation
One Great Hour of Sharing Offering

April 14     Maundy Thursday        The Gift of Crying Out
April 15     Good Friday                 The Gift of Remembrance
Sanctuary Open for Meditation 12-3PM

April 17    EASTER             “While It Was Still Dark”
Zoom Worship Info
Sundays at 10:00 AM

Virtual Worship

To Dial In by Phone Only 1 (312) 626-6799 MTG ID 882-6665-6183

 Zoom Link

Participant ID (Not required. None provided) “Otherwise just press # ”
 Meeting Password 760760

A HOLY SEASON

We continue our Lenten Journey which began on Ash Wednesday, March 2.   Next Sunday, March 10 is the prelude to Holy Week. Passover, April 15-16 and Holy Week, April 14 -17, coincide this year. Ramadan begins on April 2nd and is observed for 30 days, so all three Abrahamic religions are observing sacred time simultaneously. The Baha’is also have special celebrations at this time. This is a time of reflection and drawing deeper into the foundations of our faith and our explorations of what we value most. Pray that our collective prayers can bring a world moving toward God’s Peace.

A prayer for those in danger                                   Steve Garnaas-Holmes
God of mercy, by whose grace
in all who suffer is Christ crucified,
we pray for those in danger today,
or all who know oppression, injustice or fear,
whose land is invaded,
or whose home is unsafe.
Be with them and shelter them in your love;
give them courage and hope;
enfold them in your grace.
Touch their wounds; heal their trauma.
May the strength of the earth be theirs,
the freedom of the sky, the peace of the trees.
We bear in our hearts all who are afraid.
May they bear our love in theirs, for we are one.
In the unity of your Holy Spirit
you hold us together as one humanity,
one world, one body, one hope.
May your Peace change the hearts
of those who misuse power.
May the Peace of Christ
be with us all.
Amen.
I will sign off as he did…
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Dale

BIBLE STUDY

Join us in our virtual space on Thursdays at 9:45 – 11:00 AM

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 852 9852 3758
Passcode: 760760

By Phone
1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 852 9852 3758
Passcode: 760760
NEW MEMBER RECEPTION Sunday, April 3

This Sunday we will welcome Janet Raciti, formally into membership at Trinity.   I asked her to share a brief introduction:

“In July, 1997, I moved from Massachusetts to Illinois to join a small bio-pharmaceutical firm preparing to launch a novel inhaled antibiotic for people with cystic fibrosis. The launch was a huge success and, just 14 months later, the company was acquired by a larger firm in California.  By then, I had already embraced my new home in the "friendly mid-west" and had no interest in moving west. I had made friends and joined a church, The First Congregational Church of Evanston, where I sang in the choir and served on various committees until the COVID pandemic struck in 2019.  Back in 2004, I moved from Evanston to Lincolnshire, where I share my life with my dearest, Boris, whose homeland is Kiev, Ukraine. Since my retirement in 2016, my night and low-light vision has steadily declined and I'd been promising myself for quite some time to search for a church, closer to home. I made good on that promise when I visited Trinity. -- It seems like only yesterday that I joined several of you, on a beautiful fall afternoon to rake up the leaves in front of the church -- and, the rest is history. I look forward to getting to know the folks at Trinity UCC, all of whom have been enormously welcoming. Today is a happy day. Thank you.” 

EASTER FLOWERS!

Time to order flowers for the altar on Easter!

Daffodils, Mums and Tulips are available for $13.00 each.

Please contact Lisa with your preferences. Checks can be left in the offering plate on Sunday or mailed to the church office - note Easter flowers in the memo area.

Orders are due by Wednesday, April 6th  at 10 AM.

Please note: Azaleas listed in last week's E-Blast will not be available due to pricing issues. If you have requested one, please contact the church office with a substitute.
Mission Core

From one of our Love of Creation working partnerships comes this very encouraging announcement:
“I’m thrilled to announce that the Faith in Place Action Fund will be expanding its efforts beyond Illinois—now working to advance environmental justice in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.”
  
Rev. Brian Sauder 
President and Executive Director, Faith in Place Action Fund
 
What is particularly exciting about this announcement for us is that Faith in Place is s both ecumenical and inclusive. 
 
Camilla Dadey, Peter Winkler, and I are members, and have participated in their meetings and events. The value of Faith in Place is that it has the effect of expanding and extending both the scale and the impact Trinity’s environmental / creation ministry.


Camilla and the Love of Creation team announce:

Registration for 2022 River Day is now open!
 
The event will take place 9:00AM - 12:00, Saturday May 14th

This year’s featured animal is
BLANDING’S TURTLE!
(Peter Winkler’s favorite)
 
Register for Chicago River Day at Trinity UCC, Deerfield 
Check out “New UCC National Office Tour
(March update)” from United Church of Christ on Vimeo.

The video is available for your viewing pleasure at https://vimeo.com/689752751/7bc2c4b189

If you like this video, make sure you share it, too!
Introduction to SaLT and Shop n Drop 

Our community is blessed to have a non-profit in our midst called SaLT. SaLT stands for Service and Learning Together. SaLT is a youth-oriented community service organization, primarily for Middle School and High School students. They engage in peer tutoring, local community service, and community service trips to other communities like New Orleans and Orlando. The group is largely student organized, with some adult advisors.

During the pandemic, the students decided that they would like to help local community members in need. Many peoples’ incomes suffered at the same time people were isolating due to COVID. In response, the students decided to start a no-contact food pantry delivery service The program is called Shop n Drop.

I am privileged to have been involved with Shop n Drop over the past few weeks. One of the adult volunteers had a death in the family, and I was asked to fill in. It has been quite the learning experience. Currently, Shop n Drop delivers food and other necessities to about 85 families on a bi-weekly basis on Saturdays.

Landlords that have vacancies have been kind enough to provide space to SaLT for their programs. At first, the Shop n Drop was located in the former Real Urban BBQ space in Highland Park. This place was an excellent location because it had refrigeration and freezer capabilities. This capability meant that Shop n Drop could deliver items like milk and produce. Unfortunately, SaLT lost their space and moved to another location without refrigeration. This limited their ability to deliver many items they had in the past.

My experience volunteering with Shop n Drop has been unusual. My role has been to collect day-old bakery items from the Jewel in Highland Park by Highway 41. There are a few challenges to this task. First, the pick-ups happen every day. Items collected right after a SaLT “drop” need to be frozen in order to maintain quality for up to 13 days. The second big challenge is that Jewel donates more food than is practical to deliver bi-weekly. Consequently, Shop n Drop makes donations of the excess to food pantries in Deerfield, Evanston and Rogers Park.

When I noticed these challenges, I immediately thought that Trinity might be able to offer some support. The Love of Creation Fund chipped in $100 to buy a freezer, Pastor Dale used $229 from the Good Samaritan Fund and 3 individuals chipped in the balance. The new freezer is in action and it is well-received and very beneficial in terms of keeping the donated items wholesome.

Finally, SaLT has a new beneficiary, One Deerfield Place. One Deerfield Place is an affordable housing apartment building next to the post office in Deerfield. Most of the residents are low income and could put bakery donations to good use. Roger Dart provided valuable information to connect SaLT to One Deerfield Place. SaLT has now dropped off bakery items four times, averaging about 50 items per delivery to One Deerfield Place. Deliveries typically take place on Monday mornings, which fits very well with the Shop n Drop deliveries on Saturdays.

The Trinity relationship with SaLT and the Shop n Drop program may grow over time. Their programs fit well with our desire to be active in our local community. We still have a lot to learn about SaLT and how Trinity may be able to help. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Todd Kerschke.
FOR YOUR MUSICAL MEDITATION

The Sacred Veil: XI. You Rise, I Fall  Eric Whitacre, Los Angeles Master Chorale


Listening to your labored breath, Your struggle ends as mine begins.
You rise; I fall.
Fading, yet already gone; What calls you I cannot provide.
You rise; I fall.
Broken, with a heavy hand. I reach to you, and close your eyes.
You rise; I fall.
Temporary Office Hours

Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 AM - 12 PM
Monday & Thursday, Lisa is working from home and checking email regularly.