Holy Trinity Episcopal Church 13106 Annapolis Road Annapolis, MD 20720-3829

The Trinity Tidings January 2011

Holy Trinity's Mission: Building an open community that connects people to God and their ministries.

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Epiphany Sunday January 2, 2011

News from the rector A Poem for the Epiphany It snows because the door to heaven is open, because God is tired of working and the day needs to be left alone. It snows because there is a widow hiding

under her mother's bed, because the birds are resting their throats and three wise men are offering gifts. Because the clouds are singing and trees have a right to exist, because the horses of the past are returning. They are grey and trot gently into the barn never touching the ground. It snows because the wind wants to be water, because water wants to be powder and powder wants to seduce the eye. Because once in his life the philosopher has to admit to the poverty of thought. Continued on Page 3

HOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH

13106 Annapolis Road Bowie, Maryland 20720-3829

Phone: 301-262-5353 Fax: 301-262-9609

Website: http://holytrinitybowie.edow.org

Office Hours: Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM

The Reverend Leslie M. St. Louis, Rector lstlouis@htrinity.org The Reverend John H. Cawthorne, Associate Rec-tor Emeritus Peggy Stern, Director of Music peggity22@gmail.com Michelle Upton, Parish Administrator mupton@htrinity.org Fritz Miller, Bookkeeper (Tues. & Wed. 9 AM to 2 PM) fmiller@htrinity.org

SUNDAY WORSHIP 8:00 AM – Holy Eucharist, Rite I 9:30 AM – Holy Eucharist, Rite II Children's Chapel in the Parish Hall 10:45 AM – Fellowship & Education,

Sunday School, Youth Group, Discussion Hour, and Adult Bible Study

WEDNESDAY WORSHIP 10:15 AM – Holy Eucharist, Rite II

THE TRINITY TIDINGS Published monthly except July

Deadline for Articles – 15th of Month

Email: mupton@htrinity.org Editor: Michelle Upton

Vestry The Rev. Leslie M. St. Louis – Rector

through 2011: Craig Ryan – Senior Warden through 2013: Steve Esmacher – Junior Warden through 2011: Candace Carlisle Eric Maurer

Trish Butler through 2012: Vincent Boone Nikki Clowers

Claud Taylor through 2013: Rick Anderson Diane Clark Sandy Short

Ex officio Michelle Upton – Secretary John Horrocks – Treasurer

Terry Beverly/Kathy Mathis – Co- Chairs, HTEDS Board

Diocesan Convention (term expires) Delegates: Kirt Kirtland (2010) Diane Clark (2011) Alternate Delegates: Jim Diggs (2010) Mary Yuhas (2011)

Parish Milestones Deaths

Michael Neil Casey February 20, 1985-December 18, 2010 Son of Barbara Casey, HTEDS teacher

“Give rest, O Christ, to your servants.” Holy Trinity's Vision... To become a dynamic spiritual center that reflects our community in its diversity. Here people will be welcomed and accepted and will find growth and fulfillment in the vitality of the Spirit.

Continued from Page 1 Because the rich man cannot buy snow his life has just begun. He runs back and forth across the parking lot. He rolls on the snow. He laps it up. It snows because light and dark are making love in a field where old age has no meaning, where colors blur, silence covers sound, sleep covers sorrow, everything is death, everything is joy. By Pablo Medina Greetings in the New Year! I share this poem by Cuban born poet Pablo Medina because I think it so eloquently captures not only this time of Epiphany, this season of “both ands” but also our journey as Christians. Here we are in the days just after Christmas, perhaps the tree is gone and the house has been put back to rights but still we linger in the shadow of the gift. Not only the gift of God with us but the gifts that we rushed around to find, that special something for that someone, that beloved. We are touched simultaneously with the joy of the gift and the sadness that the moment has past. And what of the birth of that baby boy? Don’t we hold on to both the birth of this child just as we turn to see his death? Epiphany and epiphanies are like that they are both a celebration of the thing found, the something learned, that which has been brought into the light and a mourning for, a letting of, that which had gone before. They, epiphanies, are both life and death, joy and sorrow, richness of thought and poverty therein. Just as the Magi traveled long to see the baby so each of us have had our journey to come to the manger and peek in and just as the Magi left that place forever changed so each of us enters this new season, coming into the light, changed by both the birth and the death. In the light of Epiphany,

The Rev. Leslie M. St. Louis

NEW COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS FOR ALL HOLY TRINITY MINISTRIES!

Submitted by the Marketing & Communications Ministry: Sandy Short, Nikki Clowers, Rod Manning, Jill Anderson, Chip Harman, Vicki Esmacher

Improved and more frequent communications about Holy Trinity ministries and activities are critical for a number of important reasons. The church leadership

needs to ensure wise stewardship of church’s precious resources and the congregation needs a consistent and complete message about many activities versus a brief 2-3 minute ministry report at the annual meeting. Externally, effective communications are necessary to draw new members to Holy Trinity to grow the church’s mission. To serve these ends, the Marketing and Communications Ministry formed, created, and proposed a new communications process to the vestry in Sept. and received full agreement to proceed.

Some of the benefits of the new communications process include

Strengthen communications within the congregation

Engage new volunteers for ministries

Free and timely advertising

Follow up reporting of ministry events and activities

Promote Holy Trinity to the local community

Ensure church leadership commitment to all ministries’ activities, messages, and publications.

The church leadership will help guide the ministries’ activities to further the vision and mission of the church.

On Dec. 4th, the M/C ministry members presented the new process to six ministry leads*. The M/C explained the roles and responsibilities in the new process, i.e., the ministry holding the event, the vestry, the M/C ministry, and the publishing point of contact

Basically, the process has several steps:

Using a standard template, the ministry recorder prepares a brief report after each meeting and event

Rev Leslie or one of the 2 wardens (Craig Ryan or Steve Esmacher) approves the report within 3 days,

The M/C ministry ensures the report (or a summary) is published in the selected venue

After discussion at the meeting, the ministry leads* agreed to use the new process. Presentation slides from the meeting including the new process will be available on the HT website within the next few weeks.

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Sandy Short at the mixer

Continued from Page 3

Action items from the meeting:

Each ministry will identify a recorder by mid Dec. and provide a calendar of their proposed events by the end of January.

Ministry reports using the new on line template start on January 1, 2011.

The M/C Ministry members will meet with ministry leads who were unable to attend the Dec 4th meeting.

* Curtis Reiber/ Bldg & Grounds, Diane Clark/ Acolytes, Arleen Kirtland/ Education for Ministry, Pamela Harman/ Altar Guild, Karen Sharp/ Hunger Ministry, Mary Yuhas/ Rectory Readers, Rick Anderson/ Vestry, and Rev. Leslie St. Louis.

Report on Haiti Missions I am sad that I neglected to introduce you to my cousin, Chidimma Ukoha, who was visiting at Holy Trinity last Sunday. Well, I decided to ask her to share with me, in writing, her perspective of what she heard and understood was the purpose of the Haiti mission presentation. I have attached her document below. I have not altered it in any format except to include the names of our guests in the document. I hope you will find it a suitable recap of the events of the Christian Formation presentation on December 12 and worthy of publishing in the Tidings. I think it's great to have it come from a visitor's perspective. Happy reading. In Christ, Kelechi Udihiri The presentation from the Haiti ministry team was phenomenal. As a guest to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, I had the privilege to sit in and listen to the wonderful presentation. The ministry staff started off with a heart-warming description of their experiences while on their trip to Haiti. The Evangelist, Dorothy White, to whom they called ‘Sister Dot’ touched my soul when she described the sadness and sorrow that come over her when she saw how much the people of Haiti were suffering. Somehow they find a way to continue living despite all they’re going through. When the medical director, Dr. Deborah Witt, began to share her story, she also shared her vision for the ministry. They encountered the hunger, the sick, the homeless, the orphan, the jobless, the crime victims, the poor, the abandoned, the exiled, the lost, the weary, the helpless, and the naked. Yet in the midst of this disaster, some still found ways to praise God. They are living in unsanitary, un-kept, and unhealthy environment. Yet they are still surviving. My heart leaped for joy when my cousin, Dr. Kelechi, a member of Holy Trinity, expressed how happy she was to know that they had a major impact on the 60 children living in the orphanage and the gratitude they showed as a sign of appreciation. This ministry indeed is on a mission. A mission to unite the world, a mission to bring souls to God, a mission to carry out God’s love, a mission to ensure that the naked are clothed, the hunger are fed, the homeless have a shelter, the sick are healed, the orphans are taken care of, the jobless are employed, the helpless are helped, the weary are strengthened, and the lost are found. Sister Dot made it clear that everyone can in some ways contribute in accomplishing this mission. If all fails, one thing we can do as Christians is to pray. And prayer can conquer even the mightiest enemy. The ministry has traveled to other countries to include Nigeria, Mexico, and Jamaica. It’s a blessing to know that children of God in today’s day and age are out and about doing marvelous deeds in the name of the Lord. This ministry has encouraged and motivated me to continue to do good deeds within the community and I look forward to joining them once I graduate from medical school.

By Chidimma Ukoha, 1st year medical student, Miami, Florida; visitor at Holy Trinity on 12/12/10; cousin of Kelechi Uduhiri.

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Day School News

Submitted by Dir. Of Communications, Laykin Zarro The School is proud of the generous spirit of all the students. Each and every child is making efforts

to think of the less fortunate. In keeping with the spirit of this holiday season, the preschoolers and kindergarteners are decorating a Christmas tree with new or very gently used hats, mittens, and books. All gifts will be donated to the Children’s hospital. The Middle School community service project involves participation from every Middle School student. The students work in pairs to contribute an appropriate gift to a child. As a community, the students are donating gently used books for the Children’s hospital. During the last few weeks, students have brought in money for the Water for Sudan Drive. The children gave their own money, some of which were raised from doing chores. Together, the students raised $3,463.02. This money will be added to the donations received by the church and will be used to build wells in Sudan. A reporter from the PG Sentinel visited the School to write about this special project. Ms. J. Cosans met with several students as well as staff/faculty members and Rev. Leslie. The reporter was impressed by the maturity of our students and the empathy they felt for those in Sudan. For more information about the article, view http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/Search/Students-donate-to-Sudan. Once again, under the guidance of Mrs. P. Firmani, the 5th/6th grade actors staged an entertaining Dramafest. This year’s performance was “Cinderella” and as usual, the acting and singing skills brought the house down. We thank Mrs. Firmani, Mr. P. O’Malley, and Mrs. R. Grant for all their hard work in teaching our actors about acting, stage and lighting and singing. Many thanks go to our parents for supporting our Drama program. Kudos to music directors, Mr. Brian Hollar and Ms. Delvilano, who successfully instructed the Middle School students in another outstanding Winter Concert performance. Students from the Cadet Bands, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, and Jazz ensemble played several tunes that were in keeping with the holiday season. Many of these students had not played an instrument until School began in September. Parents were in awe at how much musical skills these students acquired in such a short time. Holy Trinity Episcopal Day School invites prospective parents and students to visit our Winter Open House on Jan. 11th, 2011 from 9:30-11:30 am. For more information, please contact admissions@htrinity.org or 301-262-5355.

Adorning the Cemetery with Wreaths for Advent and Christmas

On Saturday, November 27, 2010, at 10 AM, parishioners and friends assembled to decorate for Advent and Christmas the historic Cemetery of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church which is an integral part of the grounds atop the holy hill. Volunteers laid wreaths on the graves of adults and Teddy bears, hobby horses, dolls and candy canes on the graves of children. This ministry is the special project of Sherrill Bower who has made it her mission to see that all of Holy Trinity Cemetery's graves are decorated for the holiday season. Those preparing the wreaths, prior to placement, were: Sherrill Bower, Joan Anne Dubbs, Curt Reiber, and Karen Sharp. Those laying the wreaths were Sherrill Bower, Diane Clark, Steve and Vicki Esmacher, Sue Love, Lolita Martin, Sandra McGrady, Curt Reiber, Harold Sandy, Jeane Scott, and Karen Sharp. Before the decorating began, Diane Clark led all assembled in a prayer prepared especially for the occasion by Rev. Leslie who was unable to attend the event this year. Upon completion of the project, those participating retired to the Parish Hall kitchen (joined by Mary Yuhas and her grandson Paul Gracie) to sip hot mulled apple cider and eat delicious, homemade cookies prepared for the occasion by Diane Clark. Karen Sharp

Photos taken by Karen Sharp

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Updates from the Hunger Committee

Gift Card Orders Help Feed the Hungry! This year, throughout the months of October and November, Holy Trinity's Hunger Committee sponsored its 5th Annual Scrip Gift Card Fundraiser. Although the number of orders fluctuates from year to year, with your generous support of this annual project to help feed the hungry, your Hunger Committee has managed to raise more than $2,000 (two thousand dollars) collectively! During this season, the ministry received over $5,000 (five thousand dollars) in gift card orders and made a little over $300 (three hundred dollars). Along with monies earned from other Hunger Committee fundraisers throughout the year, these funds are earmarked to relieve hunger locally, nationally, and globally. Holy Trinity's Hunger Committee thanks all of you who have supported this annual gift card campaign, as well as the other important Holy Trinity Hunger Committee fundraising efforts! Karen Sharp

The Hunger Committee reports: Monies to be disbursed in 2011 from funds earned through Hunger Committee fundraisers (not including funds raised from Hunger envelopes placed in the pews on the 3rd Sunday of the month): Water for Sudan $1,000 Martha's Table $ 500 to be disbursed in March 2011 Monies to be disbursed in 2011 from funds raised from Hunger envelopes placed in the pews on the 3rd Sunday of the month: Diocesan Hunger Fund $1,000 Episcopal Relief & Development $ 500

The next Hunger Committee meeting will be Sunday, January 9, 2010.

Save the Date: Help the Holy Trinity Hunger Committee

“heat up the night”

at the 4th Annual Chili Cook-off

on

Saturday, February 26, 2011

in the Parish Hall from 5:45 PM-8:00 PM

Look for additional information in the February Tidings and the Sunday Bulletin.

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Warm Nights Update – It’s Getting Close! With the holiday season upon us our week for hosting 30 to 35 Warm Nights guests at Holy Trinity (January 30th through February 6th) seems to be approaching exponentially fast and Holy Trinity Day School and Church volunteers are really stepping up. The chart be-low highlights all of the Day School and Church groups that are involved with this important project. How about that! Thank you for enabling Holy Trinity to do good work in our community! The chart also shows the areas where help is still needed, specifically, bag lunches for Wednesday (to be delivered Tuesday evening), breakfasts on Tuesday and Wednesday (overall we can use help with all of the breakfasts), and we could use a little more help with the dinners on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you would like to help with any of these please contact me at esmachers@yahoo.com. Please note that there have been a few instances of emails being moved to my SPAM folder by Yahoo so if I don’t respond back to your email within 24 hours please call me at 410-923-4230. Other volunteers who are helping include:

Boy Scout Pack 403 who will be helping with setting up the Parish Hall with cots, tables, chairs, etc., each evening. The DIVAs, a Book Club led by Day School parent Dana Thompson who will be helping with the meal on Wednesday and read-

ing books to Warm Nights’ children. Arnold Sparks who will be covering plumbing and other facility emergencies (hopefully, Sparks won’t have much to do…) The Holy Trinity Hunger Committee who are donating necessary supplies for breakfasts, drinks, condiments, tableware, etc.

As a contingency I’m also lining up people who have 4 wheel drive vehicles, who don’t mind driving in snow or other nasty condi-tions, to pick up Holy Trinity volunteers and/or food for delivery to the Parish Hall. Let me know if you’re able to help with this. God willing, this won’t be needed. For more information on Warm Nights and how Holy Trinity is helping please check out the Holy Trinity Warm Nights webpage at: http://holytrinitybowie.edow.org/homeless.html. Also, feel free to contact me at esmachers@yahoo.com if you have questions or if you would like to volunteer to help. Thanks, Steve

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