Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
Biblical, Liturgical, Traditional
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
Summer 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
As you know, last month the pastors entered a period of
discernment in order to determine the direction in which God was
calling us to go. And we asked for your prayers.
Our concerns were twofold. First, we have not been able to
“grow the congregation” fast enough to keep up with the dying, a
fact that is made plain when you look at all the empty pews at
worship. And second, during the past two years, we have had to
dip into our congregational endowment fund in order to balance the
budget at the end of the year. And we didn’t just borrow from
it; we took from it. So, maybe a new, younger pastor would do
a better job. We asked you to pray, think, and talk with each other
about this.
Then two things happened.
First, you wrote us – in the real spirit of discernment. You
sent us notes and e-mails, reminding us that congregations
throughout the North America and Europe are going through exactly
what Holy Trinity is going through right now. You reminded us that
the materialism of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression of
the 1930s were difficult times for the local congregation. And
several of you mentioned that we should think about combining the
Sunday Morning Services. We cannot thank you enough for these
letters. They really helped clarify things for us.
And then, second, God weighed in. As you have heard by now,
Holy Trinity received a letter from an attorney that we were
receiving a “substantial bequest” from the estate of Virginia
Sonderschafer. She has been one of Pastor Mandy’s “shut-ins” for
about 20 years, so only a few of you are even going to know her.
She left half of her estate to the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
because her mother was Episcopalian. And she left the other
half to Holy Trinity.
Now, as of this writing, Holy Trinity has not yet received one
penny. And it could be up to a year before we ever do receive
any of it. There will be lawyer’s fees and executor’s fees
coming out of it. So we will tell you how much we are being
given as soon as we actually receive it. And, in the meantime, how
nice it was to receive that attorney’s letter!
So, between your letters and the attorney’s letter, we realized that
God was answering our prayers for wisdom and discernment. We
are staying right here at Holy Trinity and riding out this rough
patch in the church’s life with you.
We immediately began taking a survey to gather data about how you
would react to going to a single service. Off course the first
people we spoke with were Jackie Smith and Katie Beyer. Then,
after we spoke with them, we began surveying you.
We (just yesterday, as I write this) talked over the survey results
in Adult Class, and are going to begin voting on a service time this
Sunday. The results of that vote will be in next month’s
Echos.
But in the meantime, we look forward to walking into the future
together with you. We give thanks and praise to the Lord for
the many blessings He has showered on us and on Holy Trinity as we
have traveled together. And we are so grateful that our
pilgrimage continues together as the people of God in this place.
There is an ancient, well composed prayer from the Gregorian
Sacramentary that expresses so well what is in our hearts as we
journey forward together: Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with
Your most gracious favor and further us with Your continual help,
that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in You, we may
glorify Your holy name and finally, by Your mercy, obtain
everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (LBW,
Pew Edition, p49)
In Christ,
Pastor Michael Tavella and Pastor Amanda Grimmer