Worship With Us at Trinity Church

Sunday, 26 January

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

10:00 AM

Holy Eucharist Rite II in the Church

and live-streamed via YouTube

Trinity Church YouTube

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*A Message from Our Bishops

Trinity's Sunday Guest Presider / Preacher

The Rev. Cecil Tengatenga

Invitation to Important Meeting on Church Budget and Financial Health - 26 January

Giving Envelopes Update

Transition Update – Team Progress

Book Group - 31 January

Run for Refugees - 9 February

Upcoming Action and GHIAA 2025 Priorities

Women Together on Zoom - Starting 21 January

A Message from the Transition Prayer Team

What is Godly Play?

Join Our Choir! You’re Invited!

Prayer List Requests

Calendar

News from the Diocese



A Message from Our Bishops - January 21, 2025

Read the message from The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Mello and The Rt. Rev. Dr. Laura Ahrens here

During this time at Trinity we will be blessed to welcome visiting priests as presiders and preachers for our Sunday services. In order for you to get to know a bit about them before they arrive on Sunday, please take the time to read their biographies.

Please Welcome The Rev. Cecil Tengatenga

Trinity is delighted to welcome The Rev. Tengatenga as Sunday’s presider and preacher.

Rev. Cecil Tengatenga is a trained educator with over a decade of teaching in public schools and running public health program for local and federal government. Rev. Tengatenga is also a health systems scientist whose research and pastoral clinical work focuses on addressing the complex implementation of health programs across multiple systems and providing bioethical consultation on health equity matters. Cecil is a cradle Episcopalian raised in the Anglican Church in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Cecil trained for ministry at Yale Divinity School and was ordained for the priesthood in January 2024. Rev. Tengatenga lives in New Haven with their partner Lindsey, daughters Sekai and Shamiso, and pets.

Invitation to Important Meeting on Church Budget and Financial Health - January 26, 2025

Dear Trinity Family,

You’re invited to join us for an important meeting immediately following the 10 AM service on Sunday, January 26th, 2025. During this session, our Treasurer, Donald Romanik, will present a comprehensive overview of the church's budget and lead a meaningful discussion on the financial health of Trinity Church Hartford.

Your presence and input are invaluable as we reflect on our stewardship and work together to plan for a sustainable and faithful future. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and collaborating on how we can continue supporting the mission and vision of our church community.

Meeting Details:



Date: Sunday, January 26, 2025

Time: Immediately following the 10 AM service

Location: Sanctuary

We truly hope you can join us for this important conversation. Together, we can ensure a strong and faithful path forward for Trinity Church.

Giving Envelopes Update

Unfortunately, Trinity is still waiting for the offering envelopes for 2025 to be delivered to the church. We apologize for the inconvenience. In the meantime, general giving envelopes are available on the table in Goodwin Hall and the Sigourney Street entrance. An announcement will go out when the envelopes are delivered.

Transition Update – Team Progress

We’re excited to share an update from the Vestry meeting held on Tuesday evening! Our dedicated team leads have reported significant progress on their respective committees, and we’re thrilled to announce that everyone is working diligently to achieve their goals within our timeline, set for completion by the end of February.

To keep everyone informed and engaged, we’re asking each team lead to make announcements and provide brief updates on their current status in the transition process. This is a great opportunity to celebrate our collective efforts and keep the momentum going!

Stay tuned for these updates, and thank you for your continued support and commitment to making this transition a success!

Book Group - January 31

Trinity's Book Group kicks off the new year with the book The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, the book is set in Kerala, India, and follows three generations of a family that is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles. The meeting will be on Friday, January 31st, from 7-9 pm, at the home of Steve Zhitnik in West Hartford. Everyone's welcome to attend Book Group meetings, whether it's regularly or just once! We start with dessert, and the book discussion follows. Please let Steve know if you plan to attend (s.zhitnik@snet.net) so he'll know how many goodies to prepare; some may even be from Kerala!  

Run for Refugees: February 9, 2025

Kate and Drew Smith will again be running or walking in the annual 5K for IRIS (Integrated Refugee Immigration Services.) This event is a major fund raiser for the organization and all that it does. Trinity has assisted in resettling 3 families and IRIS was essential in the training of our group. We also wish to remember Anne Rapkin who was the leader of all of our work in this area.

Come join us on February 9^th in New Haven or support us at: https://runsignup.com/katesmith

Contact me at kate48smith@comcast.net

Upcoming Action and GHIAA 2025 Priorities

Please take a moment to review the following to learn more about how to support GHIAA’s 2025 legislative and non legislative priorities. 

Just Cause Campaign Launch

Join us to call for all tenants in CT to be protected from unjust evictions!

• Thursday, January 23, 10:00 am, at the Legislative Office Building, specific room TBA.
• Wear your GHIAA shirt if you have one, and meet us in the first floor lobby starting at 9:30.
• Complete this quick form to let us know you can make it, and feel free to email us with any questions.

How to Get There

The LOB is located at 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Parking is available in the garage behind the LOB, or in the overflow lot if the garage is full. GHIAA member congregation Emanuel Lutheran Church is located across the street and welcomes us to use their parking lot as well.

GHIAA’S CURRENT LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

Just Cause Eviction Protections (contact Bea Santiago with questions or to get involved)

GHIAA is working with the CT Tenants Union and other allies to fight for the passage of legislation to expand just cause eviction protectionsto more tenants in CT. This will be a legislative effort, and your engagement will be needed! We will alert you when it’s time to:

• Show up for press conferences and other public actions
• Testify at a public hearing in support of this bill
• Contact legislators to urge the bill’s passage, first through the Housing Committee and then in the full House and Senate
• Contact the Governor’s office urging his approval

Fiscal Policy Reform (contact Marika Stewart with questions or to get involved)

GHIAA is working with CT For All, CT Voices, SEIU 1199, and other allies to reform our state’s budget policies and ensure that our state invests in people and communities, advances economic growth, and manages our finances responsibly. This will be a critical issue in relation to the budget process this year and may extend into future sessions as well. We will alert you when it’s time to:

• Show up for education sessions, both in person and online, to build your understanding of the state’s fiscal policies and equip you to educate others in your congregations
• Engage in dialogue with legislators from GHIAA districts
• Show up for press conferences and other public actions calling attention to this issue
• Advocate with your elected officials to make people-centered budget policy a priority for our state

GHIAA’S CURRENT NON-LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

Municipal Housing Action Teams (contact Bea Santiago with questions or to get involved) 

GHIAA leaders in towns across our region are convening to advocate for housing affordability on the municipal level. HAT team members will receive training to learn the landscape of affordable housing, the obstacles and opportunities ahead, and effective ways to build and wield power for change. If you haven’t already expressed interest, you can do so by completing this quick online form.

Combating Racial & Religious Hate (contact Jocelyn Gardner Spencer with questions or to get involved)

GHIAA leaders are developing a leadership development series entitled Broadening Understanding, Deepening Solidarity (BUDS for short). Details and registration will be coming soon. In addition, we are curating additional opportunities for learning around antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, and racism, and how to combat them. If you haven't already expressed interest, you can do so by completing this quick online form.

Women Together on Zoom Starting January 21st

Women Together: a group that gathers weekly to explore our Christian faith and practice through book discussion, prayer and fellowship. We will meet on Tuesdays from 2:00 to 3:15pm in the reception room at St. John’s (679 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, CT) through January 14, 2025.

Beginning Tuesday January 21,2025 we will begin meeting by Zoom to aid those who cannot drive. Each Monday ahead of our meetings Erica Weinstock (ericajw@mac.com) will send Zoom Link information included followed by a reminder on the Tuesday. Please let Erica know your email address if you are new to the group.

On Tuesday January 21, 2025 we will begin discussing “Spirit Wheel: Meditations from an Indigenous Elder” by Steven Charleston. Publishers introduce the book: "When the Spirit speaks to him in his daily prayers, Choctaw elder and spiritual explorer Steven Charleston takes a pen and writes down the messages. He then shares these thoughts with thousands on social media. In these musings, Charleston taps into the universal questions that draw us to prayer, no matter our spiritual background: Why am I here? Where do I belong? Where am I going? This stunning collection of more than two hundred meditations introduces us to the Spirit Wheel and the four directions that ground Native spirituality: tradition, kinship, vision, and balance."

The books we choose are usually available at libraries, amazon.com and other booksellers. WT has been attended by women from St. John’s, Trinity, St. James and St. Monica’s. Please contact Cathy Rowe if you would like additional information.

A Message from the Transition Prayer Team

As we continue to lift Trinity Church and our pastoral transition in our prayers, all are invited to join the Prayer Team for a few minutes of prayer in the Memorial Chapel immediately following the Postlude each Sunday.

Members of the Prayer Team include George Chien, Nancy Crandall, Cathy Rowe, Kate Smith and Peter Vreeland.

If you want to join our Prayer Team via Zoom on Thursday mornings at 8:00 am, send an email to Cathy at crowedy@yahoo.com and I will send you the Zoom link. Drop-ins are welcome. 

What is Godly Play?

Godly Play is a wonderful way to tell stories of faith—Bible stories, baptism, church seasons, and others in ways that allow us to enter the stories as “children”, and discover the riches that are waiting there for us all.

The stories are told very simply with simple props and without interpretation or moral instruction.

After a story is presented, we work with the story props, or create whatever they choose in response to what they feel most important or most interesting in the story.

What’s up for the next couple of months in our Godly Play class?

Our list of stories in the coming two months (not necessarily in order) are as follows:

St Nicholas of Myra

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Mary, The Mother of Jesus

Parable of the Good Samaritan

The Good Shepherd and World Communion

Parable of the Deep Well

Our students ages 2 1/2 and up are welcomed into our Godly Play sacred space at 9:45 each second, third, and fourth Sundays. Our classroom is on the second floor of the education building. We join our families in church at about 10:40.

Anyone 18 yrs of age or older is welcomed to choose this as one of your ministries; once a month or once every other month ,and bring more JOY into your life!

To comply with safe church guidelines we must have two adults 18 yrs and older in our class.

Questions about this ministry? talk to Nancy Crandall in person or text (860) 503- 3353 She looks forward to hearing from you.

Join Our Choir! You’re Invited!

We know you’ve heard it before, but we want to remind you: Everyone is welcome to join our choir! Whether you’re a seasoned singer or just love to make a joyful noise, there’s a place for you here.

Why Join?

• Share your love of music
• Build friendships within our church community
• Enrich our worship experience together

When: Rehearsals every Thursday, 7:00 -8:30 p.m.

Where: The Choir Room 

Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to connect and contribute! If you have any questions or want to learn more, feel free to reach out to the Director of Music, Markus Centola, email: mcentola@trinityhartford.org.

Prayer List

Should you like a name added to the Prayer List, please contact the office at office at Trinityhartford.org or 860-527-8133 ext. 204.

Please note that unless the office is otherwise notified, the name will be on the list for 4 weeks and then removed.

News from the Diocese

Click the link below to read up on what's going on in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.

ECCT Newsletter - January 15, 2025

eVoice Deadline

All announcements should be submitted to the office at office@trinityhartford.org by Wednesday 9am for publication that week. Announcements that are submitted late will be held until the following week’s edition.