Dear Trinity,
Last week saw our church’s first memorial service since covid. We gathered to remember Greg Callsvik, whose wife Joyce often prepares Sunday morning’s communion. We gathered together not inside the church, nor to celebrate communion, but outside to eat a picnic at Lincoln Rock Park. We gathered to remember Greg, and the experience reminded me of a Scottish expression used when asking someone to “say hi” to someone else on their behalf. Instead of saying “say hi . . . to so and so,” the Scots say “Remember me to . . . so and so.” And the word “remember” doesn’t mean “recollect” or “look back at in history.” Re-Member means “Re-Connect in the present,” or “put me in touch with so and so by embracing them,” or simply “Embody me to them.” Does this sound familiar?
Just before he died, Jesus gathered together his closest friends and family. Jesus spoke 5 words to help us do 5 things to not only look back in memory, but to put us in touch with him and with each other in the present: to Re-Member Jesus, as actual parts of His Body.
“Do this to remember me.”
5 Words helping us to do 5 things:
Gather. Tell Stories. Sing. Pray. Eat.
In the early days of Trinity Church’s rebirth, we started something called “Brunch Club” where everyone in church gathered in nearby homes once-a-month to tell stories, sing, pray, and eat. Last year during covid we started “Backyard Church” to do the same thing, and many of you said, “Once ‘big church’ begins, please don’t cancel backyard church!” One person said that in terms of fellowship, several years of gathering after church in the basement did not do what one summer of Backyard Church accomplished: “putting me face to face with God, my neighbors, and my true self in Christ!”
So three times this summer we are joining Backyard Church and Brunch Club together in homes Sunday mornings from 9am – 10:30am. This will happen the Last Sunday of June, July, and August. To help us organize the potluck brunch, sign up below, and please chose a home in your parish (East, West, or North Wenatchee) to build neighborly connections!
9:00 GATHER for Short Liturgy, Testimony, Song & Celtic Prayer
9:30 EAT Potluck Brunch
10:30 Go home and put kids down for naps!
Coming to a Backyard near you,
Pastor Matt
PS Some of you have asked about my sabbatical, which has been delayed until the spring or summer of 2022, hopefully for a period of 4 months. I’ve put in an application for a grant from the Lilly foundation which the vestry will hear back from in August. Please give us any hopes, thoughts, fears, or brainstorms you might have as we together discern the best way to make my sabbatical a blessing not just for me and my family, but the greater Body of Christ at Trinity!
Upcoming Dates
Living a Techwise Life with Andy Crouch // Tomorrow @ 10:30am (Friday)
Families! On June 11th, we invite you to join author and cultural analyst Andy Crouch and his daughter, Amy Crouch to talk about the Techwise Life. Together they wrote a book entitled My Tech-Wise Life: Growing Up and Making Choices in a World of Devices. We hope you will join us to discuss this different paradigm for using technology which allows us to flourish. Register here.
Newcomers Dinner // Friday, June 18
Our next Newcomers Dinner is set for Friday, June 18. If you are new to our church in the last year, and haven't attended one of our newcomers dinners, we'd love to have you. This one will be potluck style. Our host will call you and tell you the side dish to bring. Please sign up here.
Classical Evensong Services // Save the Date(s)
Saturday June 26 @ 7pm
Sunday July 25 @ 7pm
Sunday August 29 @ 7pm
>>> No registrations, just come!
The whole service is designed to “tuck us into bed” with classical choral music, as well as wonderful Scriptures about rest, God’s protection, and the hope that we will wake again in the morning. More about the history of Evensong here... Keep on the lookout for more info and signups...
Backyard Church + Brunch Club // Last Sunday of the Month in Summer
This Summer (June 27, July 25, August 29) on the last Sunday of the month, we're trying something new. Well...not quite new, but more like a combination of two things we've done in the past. Instead of gathering at church for regular services, we will be gathering in host homes around the parish for a shortened liturgy that leads into a potluck brunch. It's a combination of Backyard Church (last Summer anyone?) and something we used to do a few years ago called Brunch Club (any Trinity veterans out there?). In a few weeks, you'll be able to sign up for a home nearest to you. But in the meantime, we wanted to get those dates on your calendar.
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