Trinity Lutheran Church

February 2020

Newsletter

Worship Services 9:00 AM, Sundays

5:30 PM, Wednesdays Holy Communion at all services.

Trinity Serves at Loaves & Fishes in

February

Trinity will be serving at Loaves & Fishes on Mondays in February. If you would like to help cook and/or serve/clean-up there is a sign-up sheet on the opportunity table. Loaves & Fishes is held at St. Theodore’s Catholic Church. Cooks should be there at 1:00 PM and servers/clean-up at 4:00 PM.

Ash Wednesday

Wednesday, February 26th, 2020

Worship with Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes 12:00 PM and 5:30 PM

Soup and sandwiches follows the service.

On Ash Wednesday we begin our Lenten journey by confessing our sins and receiving ashes as a sign of our

repentance and our desire to be reconciled with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Wednesday Lenten Worship Services with Holy Communion

5:30 pm

March 4th, March 11th, March 18th, March 25th

Soup and sandwiches served by the youth follows worship.

Free will donation. Proceeds going towards the youth.

Trinity Book Club

Monday February 17th at 7:30pm in the Fireside Room

Please join us if you like to read and have good conversation about the book!

Small Great Things By: Jodi Picoult

Holy Week Worship Schedule

Palm Sunday: Sunday, April 5th 9:00 AM Worship Service with Holy Communion

& Palm Procession

Palm Sunday Brunch: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Maundy Thursday: Thursday, April 9th 5:30 PM Worship Service with Holy Communion

Soup and sandwich supper (served by youth) follows worship.

Good Friday: Friday, April 10th 5:30 PM Tenebrae Worship Service

Easter: Sunday, April 12th

8:00 AM & 10:00 AM Worship Service with Holy Communion

Bring fresh-cut flowers to decorate the Easter Cross.

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Easter Sunday sweet rolls, coffee & juice

9:15 AM Annual Easter Egg Hunt for children and their families begins in Trinity Hall.

6+ Speaking of Faith/ 6+ Servant Events meet at 10:30 on Sundays. These events are for 6th graders on up. February events: Feb. 2 -- Sub Sales/The Whole Feb. 9 -- Come play with the folks from Okoboji Feb. 16 -- 6+ Servant Event -- Making Valentines for our Shut ins Feb. 23 -- 6+ Speaking of Faith -- Officer Jason Taylor from the ALPD shares how he connects his vocation as a police officer with his faith in God

Can you "escape" the Trinity February Lock-in? The Trinity Lock in will be Friday, Feb.14 from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Each stu-dent can bring one friend with a parental permission form. Keep your eyes open for more "hidden" details. Chaperones are also needed.

Mentor Event -- Our February Mentor Event will be Feb. 9 @ 11:30. Soup will be provided. We will discuss prayer and our relationship with God.

2020 Church Council

President...Ron Petersen Vice President...Jeff Nelson Secretary...Patty Peek Treasurer...Chris Skogheim

Family Faith Formation (Education) Sheila Jensen...2022 Jenni Golbuff...2023

Alexi Heavner...2021

Finance Ron Petersen...2022 Chris Skogheim...2022

Life & Missions Greg Andersen...2022 Del Johnson...2022

Premises Steve Olson...2021 Jeff Nelson...2021

Worship & Music Ryan Lowe...2021 Patty Peek...2023

Patti Yaw...2022

Terms end in January of the year listed.

Council Meetings are held the 2nd Thursday of the month at 6:15 PM

Scholarship Applications

We are currently accepting scholarship applications for the 2020-2021 school year.

There are scholarships available for traditional and non-traditional students. Letters will go out to Trinity’s current graduating seniors, so be on the lookout for those. The due date for all applications is March 19, 2020 by Noon. You may also get one from the church office or on the website at www.tlc-al.org (Downloadable Forms).

If you have any questions feel free to contact the 2020-2021 Scholarship Committee. 2020-2021 Scholarship Committee Cheri Butler, Chairperson Ashley Hovendick, Gayle Neist, and Council Member at Large

Dartball

On Monday January 6 after the holiday break, Conger Bear Lake traveled to Trinity Hall for 3 games. We scored 18 runs to win the first game. They came back and beat us the 2nd game, and we won the 3rd game. Clarence batted .500 that night and Glen batted .545.

The following week Mansfield traveled to Trinity for 3 games. We started out slow but won the first game by 1 run. The second game we came alive and scored 15 runs for the win. We lost the 3rd game by 3 runs. Matt and Alex each had a home run, both in the second game.

On January 20th we traveled to Lunder – Round Prairie for 3 games. Going into that night Lunder was undefeated, winning all 18 of their games so far. We played them tough but lost the first game by 2 runs. We then beat them in the second game by one run. We lost the 3rd game by 5 runs. Roy bat-ted .615, Paul batted .615, and Steve H. batted .769. We were happy to take one game from them on their home field.

We have 4 more teams to play before the end of the season. 1st Presbyterian, Alden, Emmons, and the last game will be against Pickeral Lake at home. The banquet will be February 24th. Hopefully we will stay in the top six teams and make the playoffs.

Keep tuned in for more exciting dartball news. Steve Olson, captain

Trinity Lutheran Church Women LeAnn Juveland and Linda Olson

Co-Presidents

The Grace of a Second Chance By: June Hunt

Ninth grade algebra was my all-time favorite. Because I loved puzzles. Algebra was actually fun. In math class, I faced each test with confidence! Tuesday’s test would be no different. But while taking the test, I suddenly found that I couldn’t re-member the formula for number one, number two, or three, four, five….I had gone blank! I could only solve the last two prob-lems. Stunned, I handed in my paper to the teacher. After a long pensive pause, she asked “When do you have study hall tomor-row?” At ten, I nervously replied. The next day at ten sharp, I was sitting in my algebra classroom with a second chance. I was given a gift called ‘grace”.

God is a God of grace who not only saves you from eter-nal death, but also saves you from a defeated life. If you focus only on what it is like to fail in certain areas of your life, you could be drawn into the downward spiral of dejection. However, blessed you are to know the God of grace who saves you from your failures. He is the God of the second chance and the third and the fourth.

February Calendar of Events

February 4th TLCW Board Meeting 9:30 am

11th Mary Circle 1:30 pm

12th Sewing Day 9:00 am

19th Deborah and Elizabeth Circles 9:30 am

19th Eunice and Lois Circles 2:00 pm

Save the date of April 4, 2020, Blue Earth River Spring Event at Bethlehem Lutheran in Glenville (Myrtle) MN

Thank you to all of the women who have returned their TLCW opportunity letters to their designated circle person. Your re-sponse is greatly appreciated along with your willingness to vol-unteer. A church and its organizations thrives on its Volunteers! Thank you again.

A message from Pastor Eileen

In elementary school, we are taught that each year contains 365 days—except for the Leap Year. A Leap Year has 366. 2020 is a Leap Year. I once had a member who was born on February 29th. She relished in telling anyone who would listen that she was 25 ½ years old. But why do we have Leap Years.

I guess the simple answer, as I understand it, would be that our days (24 hours) are a little longer than we think they are. With the addition of February 29th, we are sort of catching up from the seconds in the days that we lost in the previous 3 years. If we didn’t have a Leap Year, our calendar and the passage of seasons would get off kilter. In 360 years, the beginning of each season would go ahead one day. Although none of us will be here in 360 years, this would be significant.

So, this year we have an extra day. So what are we going to do about it?

February 29th is a Saturday. How are you going to spend the day? Getting work done that you didn’t get accomplished in the week before? Playing a little more time on our phones or on the playing field? Buying more things that we don’t really need?

May I make a suggestion?

I suggest that this February 29th that we praise God! I suggest that we sing God’s praises a little louder than usual. I pray that we serve others with all the special gifts that God has given each one of God’s children. I pray that we will love God and love others and see this extra day as an opportunity to share God’s love with the world, or even just Albert Lea.

Do you have any ideas on how you would like to spend this opportunity of an extra day praising and serving God? Let me know.

Mission Statement

We are a fellowship of believers in Christ, sustained by God’s Word, led by the Holy Spirit and committed

to God’s vision of caring!

Our 2020 proposed budget of $307,516 was approved by the con-gregation on Jan. 19th at the annual meeting. It is $3,803 less than 2019. Thank you, faithful Trinity members for your financial sup-port.

In January we had to replace our boiler system, the estimate was $16,598. The work was done by Christianson Plumbing & Heating. We have already had donations made designated to the boiler re-placement project. Thank you to everyone who has donated, and thank you to those planning to donate, as this was a big expendi-ture.

We would like to remind all Thrivent Financial members to direct your THRIVENT CHOICE DOLLARS by the March 31st deadline. Thank you to all who have donated through Thrivent.

December financial overview: Total Receipts $34,514.27 Total Disbursements $21,337.93 Cushion $13,176.34

YTD financial overview: Total Receipts $271,863.16 Total Disbursements $273,579.36 (Shortfall) ($1,716.20) s/ Chris Skogheim

Finance

American Red Cross Blood Drive

Monday, March 2, 2020

1:00—7:00

Trinity Hall

Please call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter TLAL to schedule an appointment.

Council President

The 142nd annual meeting of Trinity Lutheran was held on Janu-ary 19th with 43 voting members in attendance. It was our oppor-tunity to elect officials and delegates, ask questions, and approve a 2020 operating budget. We welcome our newest council mem-ber Jenni Golbuff, and returning members Patty Peek and Lexi Heavner. Thank you to retiring members Connie Heavner, Lyle Hinz, and Corky Stanley.

The new, more efficient boiler heating system for the Parish House has been installed. Special thanks to Christianson Plumb-ing and Heating for your prompt replacement service. The for-mer system had been in operation since the fall of 2000 and could not be repaired. Thank you to everyone who has already made special monetary contributions for this upgrade. Thrivent members - You can contribute to Trinity in two special ways:

Direct Thrivent Choice Dollars by March 31st each year. Over $4,000 was received in 2019.These funds are used for Trinity by council approval.

Sponsor a Thrivent Action Team. You may sponsor 2 events per year. Thrivent provides a $250 Community Impact Card for each project or activity.

Past Action Team projects have helped support: Wednesday Night Suppers, Vacation Bible School, mission trip fundraisers, TLCW Soup and Pie, and Trinity outreach programs. Please contact me for more information.

s/Ron Petersen

Attention Ushers…

Dues for 2020 are $5.00.

Please pay to Steve Olson or to the Church office.

Thank you in advance.

Memorials

Jacobsen Hall Lowell Baker

By Mike and Andrea Jensen Ken Petersen

By Mike and Andrea Jensen

Undesignated Mom Dori and Daughter Vicki

Records from January 2020

Average Attendance

Sundays: 132 Wednesdays: 13

Aebleskiver brunch was held on Sunday, January 26th.

Thank you to all the volun-teers that helped with this

fundraiser. We raised $1,328.50 towards capital im-provements. Also, thank you to everyone that came to the

brunch.

Sunday, February 2, 2020 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany / Lectionary 4, Year A

Micah 6:1-8 The offering of justice, kindness, humility Psalm 15 Lord, who may abide upon your holy hill? (Ps. 15:1) 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Christ crucified, the wisdom and power of God Matthew 5:1-12 The teaching of Christ: Beatitudes

Sunday, February 9, 2020 Fifth Sunday after Epiphany / Lectionary 5, Year A

Isaiah 58:1-9a [9b-12] The fast God chooses Psalm 112:1-9 [10] Light shines in the darkness for the upright. (Ps. 112:4) 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 [13-16] God’s wisdom revealed through the Spirit Matthew 5:13-20 The teaching of Christ: salt and light

Sunday, February 16, 2020 Sixth Sunday after Epiphany / Lectionary 6, Year A

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Choose life Sirach 15:15-20 (alternate) Choose between life and death Psalm 119:1-8 Happy are they who follow the teaching of the Lord. (Ps. 119:1) 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 God gives the growth Matthew 5:21-37 The teaching of Christ: forgiveness

Sunday, February 23, 2020 Transfiguration of Our Lord / Last Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Exodus 24:12-18 Moses enters the cloud of God’s glory on Mount Sinai Psalm 2 You are my son; this day have I begotten you. (Ps. 2:7) Psalm 99 (alternate) Proclaim the greatness of the Lord; worship upon God’s holy hill. (Ps. 99:9) 2 Peter 1:16-21 The apostle’s message confirmed on the mount of transfiguration Matthew 17:1-9 Revelation of Christ as God’s beloved Son

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