Dear Trinity Church,
Yesterday (Thursday) was "Little Christmas" - the day when churches in the East celebrate Christ's being shown to the world as a child: both to the magi (Epiphany) and also doubly celebrated in his baptism (when his highest manifestation was shown to be God's child). This double-celebration is the key to interpreting epiphany: today we celebrate God's childlikeness. For (as George MacDonald quips in his sermon, The Child in their Midst)
"Childhood belongs to the divine nature."
For this reason, due to wonderful traditions that grew over continents and centuries, house blessings became common in medieval europe on this day - because we get to ponder the incredible fact that God lived in a house, had a favorite nook, he had rhythms, routines, and things that brought him comfort and stability. He was very much like us. But unlike us, this "childlikeness" is not something he grew out of. He grew deeper into it. The wisemen may (or may not) have found God in a home - and they were received into a home that literally held Christ. And so today, we can write the blessing over our doors CHRISTUS MANSIONEM BENEDICAT (May Christ bless this home!) or in shorthand: C + M + B
And we can pray that Christ can be found within our home as well. Here is the blessing that we handed out at church (with chalk for your doors) on Sunday:
May ALL who come to our home this year
Rejoice to find Christ living among us
and may we seek and serve in everyone we meet
that same Jesus who is Lord and loves all people. Amen!
You can say this blessing as you chalk the cryptic 20 + C + M + B + 22 over your doors as we welcome 2022, which both stands for "May Christ Bless this Home" and serves as a reminder of the three wisemen who were (tradition says) Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. Happy Epiphany! (And if you are like us, you might be in danger of bringing bad luck upon your home for still having up your Christmas Tree beyond the 12 days of Christmas.
Alas! Such is life with all the snow shoveling we are doing :)
Julie
This Sunday
Sermon Series on Revelation Continued
The graphic above was from Nate Kellogg's sermon on Revelation 10. It visualizes all the ways the Bible cross-references itself! Fr. Matt will continue this preaching series on Sunday, revealing some more surprising connections between Revelation and the rest of the Bible.
Epiphany Fires: This Sunday @ 6pm
This Sunday, we will pass out a list of homes you can attend for the Epiphany Fires! Simply pick the home closest to you and text the host that you're planning on coming.
At each home, we'll do 3 things:
Share a favorite verse from book of revelation (first 10 chapters) and why
Remember something from 2021
Name a hope for 2022
Trinity Kids Sunday School begins January 16th
(8:30am AND 9:45am services!)
We are thankful to offer classes during BOTH worship services starting Jan 16
*8:30 am service will offer 2 Godly Play classes PK - 2nd grade 3rd - 5th grade *9:45 am service will still offer 4 Godly Play classes PK4 - K 1st & 2nd 3rd & 4th Beatitude Kids 5th & 6th
Registration is very important. You will need to choose ONE service time your children will attend Sunday School. (Note - children can attend Sunday School at either service, not just the service your family attends). Please register below by Friday, January 14th. For more information about our Sunday School program, please contact Julia Barger (julia@trinitywenatchee.org) or see our Website for details.
Jesus' Surprising Word
"Friend, it would be a good idea to join a ministry team in 2022" - Jesus
A great way to get plugged into Trinity Church is to serve on a team. It's also a great way to do what Jesus calls us to ;) Almost all of our teams could use a few more people.* Click the button below to see our different opportunities, and select one or a few that you're interested in. We love finding a place for each person to serve in the area of their gifting!
*two important notes:
each person serves about once a month
filling out the form does NOT obligate you to a team. it starts a conversation where we find the best fit and frequency for you.
Key Info for Church this Christmastide
Our services are at 8:30am and 9:45am.
- Live stream our 9:45am services HERE - Watch past services on YouTube - Listen to Sermon audio