Sunday Evening Reparations Series: Fall 2024

Reparations: A Deep Dive into Understanding why Repair is Important for Everyone

Five Sunday evenings (September 29 - October 27) , 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Online with two hybrid options.

To assist with planning, please register here.

Since the content and conversation will build on one another and will deepen our relationships, we hope that you can attend the entire series. You are welcome, of course, to attend as many sessions as possible. PDF’s of book excerpts will be provided. 

Sunday, September 29 (online and in person) Discussion of excerpts from Jennifer Harvey’s book, Anti-Racism as Daily Practice: Refuse Shame, Change White Communities, and Help Create a Just World. (We hope you can attend the book event with Jen Harvey on September 5 as well.)

Sunday, October 6 (online and in person). Watch and discuss the “The Color Tax” from  the Shame of Chicago: Shame of the Nation PBS series. Preceded by a potluck meal at 5:45 pm. 

Sunday, October 13 (online only) Doctrine of discovery. Questioning the “discovery” of the “new world,” including an ELCA repudiation in 2016. 

Sunday, October 20 (online only) Discussion of an excerpt from White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity by Robert Jones. 

Sunday, October 27 (online only) Discussion of an excerpt from The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy by Jim Wallis.

The Passion According to Saint Mark

Mark, likely the oldest gospel, was written between 65 and 75 AD. Like the gospel as a whole, the passion narrative is lean, moving swiftly and hauntingly from the Last Supper to Jesus’ death and burial. Though each gospel has its own theological lens, the aim is not so much to tell what happened to Jesus but to help us grapple with the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for us.

The passion is a dangerous story. Though the passion of Jesus is meant to free us, it has often been used to keep the crucified peoples of the world—women, people of color, and other marginalized groups—on their crosses. Identifying with the crucified Jesus has given people strength to bear immense suffering, but it has also fed attitudes of acceptance of abuse and oppression, rather than empowering people to confront abuse and seek healing and transformation.

Betrayal

Throughout Mark the enemies of Jesus have hounded Jesus in opposition to his teaching, and now their hostility is sealed with a plot to kill him. A chilling addition: Judas—from Jesus’ inner circle—goes to the leaders and offers to betray Jesus to them. When do we crucify Jesus anew by betraying the values of our faith?

The Final Passover

The Last Supper occurs within a Passover meal. The Passover is the Israelite’s response to the final plague that God visited upon Egypt. As a form of resistance to Pharaoh’s unjust rule, the Israelites memorialized this day of liberation. The Eucharist also calls us to stand in solidarity with the poor and all those who long for freedom.

Gethsemane: Prayer and Arrest

In Gethsemane, we see a genuinely human Jesus, wary of death and crushed that his mission was at risk. Mark gives us a wrenching prayer of faith and fear on the lips of Jesus that would be fixed in Christian memory forever: “removed this cup from me, yet not what I want, but what you want.”

Mark presents Jesus as one abandoned by his followers, who has to face his hour alone. The disciples fall asleep while Jesus prays, Judas betrays Jesus, Peter denies him, and at the end all flee, leaving Jesus to die alone. Yet Jesus remains faithful to his disciples, no matter their failures.

Confession and Denial: Interrogation by the Sanhedrin

In Mark, Jesus is silent during his trial. In our context it could be deadly to reinforce silent, passive submission of abused persons and breaking the silence is important. At the same time, collective public silent protest of injustice can be an effective tool to confront oppression.

Three times Peter denies he even knows Jesus, with cursing and swearing. The crow of a cock brings the remembrance of the warning at the supper. The familiarity of the story may inhibit the incredible shock of the scene: the leader of the disciples renounces his allegiance to Jesus.

The Roman Trial 

In the passion narrative, Mark shows Jesus’ political purposes of subverting unjust rulers and liberating the oppressed. He proclaims God’s power over death, divine presence within deathly contexts, and liberation from the forces of death. Jesus’ action is subversive because his actions dethrones, delegitimizes, and dismisses old sovereignties that are now discredited and defeated. Easter means the dismissal of Pharaoh, Caesar, and all imperial power.

Jesus’ actions occur within the context of the people’s struggle against the Roman Empire. Jesus forms connections and proactive practices of resistance that bolstered his courageous movement through his arrest and trial and that furthers his mission beyond his death. The truth-telling revealed by Jesus leads Christians today to address issues such as climate change, racial justice, and cycles of poverty and oppression.

Crucifixion

Though many of us were taught that Jesus died for our sins, people without power may believe that they should accept whatever suffering God bestows. However, Jesus’ ministry reveals a God who desires that no one should suffer. Taking up one’s cross is a consequence of proclaiming good news to the poor, living in fidelity to the vision of the reign of God, and remaining faithful in the face of persecution.

Jesus’ cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” is not a prayer to be released from death. Rather, like the psalmist, Jesus knows his prayer is heard, but not yet answered.

In Mark, Jesus dies with a wordless scream that splits the veil of the temple, leading an unlikely Roman Centurion to make the first full confession of faith in the gospel: “Truly this man was God’s Son.”

Burial

Mark’s story is less a linear narration, but an open-ended, puzzling story that invites us to return to it again and again to ponder God’s profound love expressed in Jesus and to conform our lives ever more to his. The suspense is not what will happen in the familiar story, but that we do not yet know the surprising ways God will move us to shatter our illusions about God, the world, and ourselves—as we open our hearts to change and transformation.

Forum on the Crisis in the Holy Land - Recording and Further Reading

Forum on the Crisis in the Holy Land - November 12, 2023 + Carol and Ryan LaHurd and Raneem Salem

Video timestamps:
0:00 Carol LaHurd - History and context
17:30 Ryan LaHurd - How language is being used as a tool in this context
32:40 Raneem Salem - Personal essay on the lifelong impact of the Occupation of Palestine

---

Click here to read Raneem’s essay.

Click here to view the “take-aways” sheet.

Click here to view a sheet of links to comprehensive background information, including articles, essays, videos, podcasts, and more.

Calls for Action:

• Call your lawmakers today and urge them to take a stand for an immediate ceasefire. Visit 5calls.org to easily be guided through calling your representatives with pre-populated scripts and numbers based on your zip code.

• ELCA Call for a cease-fire

• Support Lutheran Disaster Response here.

• Ways to take action from Churches for Middle East Peace (of which ELCA is an active member)

• Action Toolkit: Demand Ceasefire in Gaza (Collective Resource document with links and scripts to call and email your representatives in Congress)

• Call to protect Gaza civilians from B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

Background:

• Find updated resources and statements from the ELCA here.

• Our companion, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

• Dar Al-Kalima University Gaza program, with Lutheran President Mitri Raheb

• The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem Statement on the Escalating Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

• The Situation in Gaza: A Briefing (Webinar, Foundation for Middle East Peace)

• "The Root of Violence Is Oppression" - (Blog, Jewish Voice for Peace)

• Ceasefire Now Resolution from U.S. Reps. Bush, Tlaib, Carson, Lee, and Ramirez

• History and background from the United Nations

• Gaza background from the Israeli non-profit Gisha

Staff Transition

June 27, 2023

Dear Holy Trinity Community,

I have bittersweet news to share. Claire Schoepp has resigned as Director of Operations at Holy Trinity. Her husband, Isaac, has an exciting new position as a head rigger and arena manager for Circus Juventas, the largest performing arts youth circus school in North America. Interestingly, when Isaac was growing up, his family toured the US and Canada full-time as a unique family ministry and entertainment/juggling troupe. Since the circus school is in St. Paul, the Schoepp family will be relocating to the Twin Cities later this summer.

Claire’s departure will be a tremendous loss for our community as we had hoped she would be at Holy Trinity for many years. Claire’s gifts and skills for her role as Director of Operations are too numerous to name. When I interviewed Claire in the summer of 2021 she named how she viewed all of administration as ministry, and this has certainly been how she lived out her service as a deaconess at Holy Trinity.

More transition details will be announced later, but for now please consider who you might know who would be a fit for our Director of Operations position. Here is a link that you can share with folks who come to mind. Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns.

Grace and peace,

Pr. Craig Mueller

Wednesday Morning Study: Summer Series 2023

STARTING MAY 31, NEW ZOOM LINK FOR WEDNESDAY MORNINGS:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81992576595?pwd=UEtlWnllUzV3YTc0d2VjYmN2WjZNUT09

SPECIAL SUMMER SERIES

Wednesdays, 10:00 am In person and on Zoom

Each week a different article to discuss; you are welcome for any or all

Links for each week’s discussion

May 31            The “e” word. Why does the ELCA have “evangelical” in its name?

June 7             Dignity and grace in the face of mental illness

June 14           Will the ELCA be gone in 30 years?

                        They may not come back. And here’s why.

June 21           The digital workplace is designed to bring you down

June 28           The millennial mystery

                        Gen Z and the church

July 5              Summer break

July 12            Summer break

July 19            To be announced

July 26            Ten myths white people believe about racism

August 2         The book of Exodus includers a story about reparations for slavery

August 9         The scandal of the anti-intellectual mind

August 16       A call to heal creation

August 23       The necessity of patriotism. Even in times like these.

Join LLP's Life Together Program

Life Together is one of Lakeview Lutheran Parish’s adult faith formation programs, which is designed to support adults in completing a deep inquiry into their faith before and during the Lenten season. Life Together is a program taught by lay leaders and pastors, and provides a safe space for people to talk about God, Jesus, and their faith; to unpack their past experiences with church; and to figure out what exactly all of that means to us now, as adults.

To complete this exploration, we will have nine meetings on Sunday evenings, some in-person and some online, between January and Easter… If you are interested in joining the group, please fill out the Google form linked below, and we will be in touch with Zoom links and more information.

Our standing time for the group meetings will be on Sundays from 6:00pm-7:30pm. We are hoping to have a mix of in-person and Zoom-only meetings, pending local health conditions. We are planning to have (9) sessions total, with the final session to occur after Easter, and on a date that the group will select together. Our pre-Lent and Lenten sessions will occur on:

• Sunday, 1/22

• Sunday, 2/5

• Sunday, 2/19

• Sunday, 2/26

• Sunday, 3/5

• Sunday, 3/12

• Sunday, 3/19

• Sunday, 3/26

Please note, if you are unable to attend a session or two, that is completely OK. You do not need to have 100% attendance to participate in the group.

Godly Play at Holy Trinity

We’re getting ready here at Holy Trinity for something new. Check out Pastor Michelle’s video here to get a sneak peak into faith formation for our younger children at Holy Trinity.

Considering Matthew Shepard

Friday, April 29, 7:30 pm

Saint Luke Lutheran, 1550 W. Belmont (free parking)

A 105-minute deeply moving oratorio that explores the life, death, and legacy of Matthew Shepard. Sung by the Chicago Choral Artists.

Ticket information: www.chicagochoralartists.org

Highly recommended by Pr. Mueller (and many others!)

With Holy Trinity’s longstanding commitment to the LGBTQ community, and appreciation for the arts, you will love this amazing work. In October of 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young, gay student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie was kidnapped, severely beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in a lonely field under a blanket of stars. The work makes use of wide range of poetic and soulful texts including passages from Matt’s personal journal, writings from his parents, and newspaper reports of the murder, and incorporates a variety of musical styles (Country & Western, Blues/Jazz, Pop, Gospel, chant, post-minimalist and Bach).

What Writings are Holy for you, Holy Trinity?

Early this winter, Seminarian Liz Kuster invited folks who joined her for Small Bytes and the Wednesday Morning Study to consider what makes a text holy. Below is a list of those texts shared by folks who joined online and in person at HTLoop and HTLakeview.

• Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

• Poetry

• John O’Donohue’s “To Bless the Space Between Us”

• Gibran

• Hymns

• “Praise to the Lord” as arranged by F. Melius Christiansen

• Taize song books

• “If I Had a Hammer” by The Weavers

• Amanda Gorman’s poem (hindsight of a holy moment)

• “When it happens in community, the event becomes holy itself” -Pr. Mueller

• Lutheran Confessions/Book of Concord

• Bible (Romans and Galatians changed Martin Luther’s view of his relationship with God)

• “The Unicorn” by Shel Silverstein

• Morning verses from Waldorf 

• Depth and mystery. “You don’t get the whole thing the first time you read it, but when you come back you see something you didn’t see before.” - Ryan LaHurd

• Lexio Divina

• “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

Living Well Through Lent Devotional

HTLC invites you to join us in using the “Living Well Through Lent” Devotional from Living Compass. Below you’ll find the introduction to the devotional and a link to download the PDF.

Lent is a time for introspection and self-reflection, a time to reflect on the core of what it means to live a Christian life in the midst of great change and uncertainty. When facing change and uncertainty, few practices are more central to that life than letting go so that we are freer to receive the gifts God has to offer us.

We are delighted that you have chosen to use our 2022 Lenten devotional to assist you on your own journey. And we are honored to have ten guest writers to help us reflect on this year’s theme of Letting Go with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. Their diverse and rich voices encourage us to understand that in order to prepare for the new life of Easter, we need to be intentional about discerning what it truly means to let go with our whole being.

As important as are the daily readings in this devotional, even more sig-nificant will be the reflections and insights that emerge in response to the readings. We encourage you to record them, either in the spaces provided, or in a separate journal. To help you to more deeply connect with what holds value and meaning at this time in your life, we have included four spiritual prayer practices on pp. 78-80 that you can engage with if that appeals to you. When possible, join or start a group (both in person and virtual work well for this) where you can discuss your thoughts with oth-ers. Our Facilitator Guide provides additional guidance on how to use this devotional when hosting small-group reflection and conversation.

I would also like to invite you to join our Lenten Facebook retreat group. If you participate in this private online group, you will be enriched by your interactions with hundreds of others who are also reading this devotional. Additionally, we are offering an opportunity to have the reflections from this devotional emailed to you each day during Lent. See the inside front cover for more information.

It is an honor to walk with you on the journey through Lent toward Easter.

The Rev. Dr. Scott Stoner

Director, Living Compass Spirituality & Wellness Ministry Initiative

Visit us at LivingCompass.org/Lent to learn more or to sign up for Facebook Group.

It’s not too late to help others have a better late winter!

Please respond to these needs by Sunday, March 12 if possible.

Pastor Elle Dowd requests the following for distribution at South Loop Campus ministry: hats, gloves, scarves, jackets and boots—especially for men. Bring to HT Lakeview in closed bags marked SLCM.

For residents of the Fox Valley Women’s Transition center, bring to HTLoop or Lakeview any of the following women’s clothing: white blouses/t-shirts, jeans, black pants, spring jackets and sweaters, socks, and sports bras (no accessories or dressy clothes, please). Be sure to put in a closed plastic bag marked Fox Valley.

Please email Carol LaHurd by March 12 if you will plan to contribute small blankets in the next two months:

We are asked to supply small lap blankets (knitted, crocheted, or fleece, 24” by 36-48”) for use by the men in the Hospice at Dixon.

The Gift of Lament

We will consider lament as a biblical, theological, pastoral, and liturgical response to the difficult situations of our world. Though crying out to God may not fix things in the moment, our lament strengthens us to move from despair to hope. Consider this study as part of your Lenten practice this year. Led by Pr. Craig Mueller. To receive the study book, Into the Light: Finding Hope through Prayers of Lament, please contact Deaconness Claire Schoepp in the office.

The HTLoop Zoom link is the same link that is used for the liturgy. So if you’re attending the liturgy on Zoom March 19th, simply remain in the same Zoom room to join the converation on Lament.

Why I love the Bach Passions

by: Pr. Craig Mueller

There are three large choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach considered among the greatest treasures of Western music: the B Minor Mass, the Saint Matthew Passion, and the Saint John Passion. Since first singing the B Minor Mass in college, and subsequently hearing all three of these works live many times, I will do anything I can to attend an in-person performance of any one of them. 

On Sunday, March 13, the Saint John Passion will be performed by the Apollo Chorus at the Saint Luke church in the Lakeview neighborhood. Please consider joining me, chorus member Beth Kregor, and other Holy Trinity members and friends for this concert and a dinner to be arranged afterwards. Please order tickets on your own, but please email me if you would like to receive more information about dinner plans. 

Not only is Bach’s passion music considered both spiritual and sublime by people of faith and those of no religious background, perhaps after Martin Luther, Bach is the second most well-known Lutheran of all time. For some, Bach’s choral music is immediately accessible and for others it is an acquired taste, like a glass of dry red wine. The Bach Netherlands Society provides a brief introduction to the Saint John Passion, the full text, and a video performance of the complete passion which lasts approximately two hours. If you are new to Bach’s passion, consider listening to all or some of the work as this may enhance your experience of the concert.

For me the Saint John passion weaves together music, liturgy, theology, and spirituality. In addition to the biblical text, there are moving aria reflections and choral hymn stanzas that help us make the story our own. Bach also wonderfully uses music to accentuate the theological lens of Saint John’s passion. Whereas the other gospels portray Jesus as the suffering one, in John Jesus is the divine Word of God, victorious over sin and death. 

What a gift to live in Chicago where nearly every year we can hear one or more of the three major Bach works performed. Consider the March 13 concert as a way to deepen your observance of Lent this year.

Unpacking the Pandemic’s Impact on the Incarcerated

COVID illness and death are the most obvious way the incarcerated are suffering. Overall, Illinois state adult prisons have recorded 89 COVID deaths. Amazingly, there have been none in the Stateville men’s prison, but 10 at the Cook County Jail. At issue currently is the alarming gap between vaccination rate for prisoners vs. prison staff. The Illinois Prison Project says 45% of the incarcerated have received boosters, but only 7% of staff. From The Chicago Reader on January 7, 2022: “Dr. Seth Prins, an assistant professor of epidemiology and sociomedical sciences at Columbia University in New York City, says that prison staffers refusing or delaying getting the vaccine and booster has myriad consequences, both for people they guard and control as well as surrounding communities.” https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/most-illinois-prison-staff-havent-gotten-covid-boosters/

What’s been happening recently? In December the Fox Valley women’s facility had a positivity rate of over 55%, despite carefully following all the mitigation guidelines. As of February 1, however, they are COVID-free. Says the warden, “Though initially overwhelmed, staff and residents persevered yet again. Its during challenging times that we see the best in people. The beauty of teamwork and support for one another shines brightly.”

Via email, a social worker at a men’s facility described ways the pandemic “has created a challenging barrier between the residents incarcerated and their families/support systems.” Examples include less access to phones, almost no visitors allowed, and suspension of furloughs to attend family funerals. On the positive side, video equipment now permits some participation in funerals on the outside.

Further Resources:

Illinois COVID cases by prison https://www2.illinois.gov/idoc/facilities/Pages/Covid19Response.aspx

cumulative cases and deaths in IL https://uclacovidbehindbars.org/states/illinois

policy changes in response to the pandemic https://www.prisonpolicy.org/virus/virusresponse.html

continual tracking of cases https://covidprisonproject.com

Epiphany at Home

A few years ago, my spouse and I decided we wanted to host a party every year. I really don’t know which of us suggested we do an Twelfth Night party. It really doesn’t matter. As we were trying to decide what to do, we settled on these three things:

1. There must be yummy food. What’s a party without food?

2. There must be games. Twelfth Night, the night before Epiphany, was traditionally a rather raucus event in the middle ages in England.

3. We would bless our house with our guests.

House blessings are a traditional part of Epiphany celebrations and have become a way for us to name each year what our home is for: love and hospitality. I honestly could wax on and on about this, but there’s a handy resource from Sundays and Seasons that I’ll include at the end of this post and there’s no reason to try to improve upon it. It’s lovely and even has a great idea for how to use the branches of your live trees that might still be hanging around.

But know this, some year, when the Covid 19 pandemic isn’t surging and my kiddo is old enough to be vaccinated, I’d LOVE to come to your home and help you bless it. It’s rather a great way to start the new year, if I do say so myself.

+++

Blessing for a Home at Epiphany

Matthew writes that when the magi saw the shining star stop overhead, they were filled with joy. “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother” (Matt. 2:10-11). In the home, Christ is met in family and friends, in visitors and strangers. In the home, faith is shared, nurtured, and put into action. In the home, Christ is welcome.

Twelfth Night (January 5), Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6), or another day during the time after Epiphany offers an occasion for gathering with friends and family members for a blessing for the home. Someone may lead the greeting and blessing, while another person may read the scripture passage. Following an eastern European tradition, a visual blessing may be inscribed with white chalk above the main door; for example, 20 + CMB + 22. The numbers change with each new year. The three letters stand for either the ancient Latin blessing Christe mansionem benedicat, which means “Christ, bless this house,” or the legendary names of the magi (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar).

Greeting

May peace be to this house and to all who enter here.

By wisdom a house is built

and through understanding it is established;

through knowledge its rooms are filled

with rare and beautiful treasures. (Proverbs 24:3-4)

Reading

As we prepare to ask God’s blessing on this household, let us listen to the words of scripture.

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through him,

and without him not one thing came into being,

and the life was the light of all people.

The Word became flesh and lived among us,

and we have seen his glory,

the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

From his fullness we have all received,

grace upon grace. (John 1:1-4, 14, 16)

Inscription

This inscription may be made with chalk above the entrance:

20 ☩ C M B ☩ 22

Write the appropriate character (left) while speaking the text (right).

The magi of old, known as

C Caspar,

M Melchior, and

B Balthasar,

followed the star of God’s Son who came to dwell among us

20 two thousand

22 and twenty-two years ago.

☩ Christ, bless this house,

☩ and remain with us throughout the new year.

Prayer of Blessing

O God, you revealed your Son to all people by the shining light of a star. We pray that you bless this home and all who live here with your gracious presence. May your love be our inspiration, your wisdom our guide, your truth our light, and your peace our benediction; through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Then everyone may walk from room to room, blessing the house with incense or by sprinkling with water, perhaps using a branch from the Christmas tree.

An acclamation may be sung during the procession, such as Music Sourcebook for All Saints through Transfiguration #S560.

Adapted from Come, Lord Jesus: Devotions for the Home (Augsburg Fortress, 1996). See also “Blessing for a Home” in Evangelical Lutheran Worship Pastoral Care, pp. 337–353.

From sundaysandseasons.com.

Copyright © 2022 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.

Farewell and Godspeed to Paul and Beau

Change is one of the constants in life. In this season of Advent when we’re marking the beginning of things and hearing stories of the ending of other things, we’re sad to announce that Holy Trinity will be bidding farewell and Godspeed to two generous and kind souls.

Beau Surratt

We’ve already said farewell to Beau in one capacity and now it is time to say farewell to him in his work as HTLoop Musician and Ministry Associate. We are incredibly grateful for the time he has been able to give us, the music he has made for us and with us, and the mirad large and small ways that the has created community. Beau, you are a treasure and we will miss you. There are no words. May God bless and keep you. We will pray for you as depart and hold you ever tenderly in our hearts.

Paul Strome

It’s hard to imagine you retiring, but here we are. His work as our Finance and Building Aministrator has been steady, thorough, and truly a gift to this commuity. Paul’s shepherding of the Toward 100 campaign has put us on solid footing for the next 100 years and we’re incredibly grateful. We will miss you more than words can say. Take care, travel light, and please share a few pictures from your adventures with us.

Ministry and Technology

With building updates fresh in our minds, the whole of Holy Trinity is getting a software update! Why you ask?

• Maybe the computers were jealous?

• Maybe the our database was functioning fine, but they weren’t even selling it to new customers anymore?

• Maybe we wanted to simply the ways in which we could draw down reports and streamline some communications?

• Maybe we wanted to save a cash each month?

• Maybe we wanted to update your user experience? Maybe we really wanted this?

• Maybe we wanted to make sure that whatever we switched to would be as seamless as possible especially directly following setting our intentions for 2022?

We looked at a few databases that all have various kinds of bells and whistles, packages, etc. And we’re excited that ACS Technologies has a package for what we need. Not only is the price right, but they make it easy for us to upgrade. ACS is the parent company of for the database that we currently have so migrating data is going to be not only very secure but also painless! They’ll do a whole lot of sorting spreadsheet work for us.

The new database is called Realm. It will also improve functionality for HTLC's minsitry staff now and into the future.

Three features that has your Director of Operations excited:

1. Pathways. Ever wonder how Pastor Mueller and Pastor Sevig keep track of it all? They’re incredible. We’re in a call process right now, however, and we’re looking to the future with hope. Pathways provide one way that we can help whomever we call to get up to speed and understand the practices that feel super ingrained to our community in a quick way that they can reference and we can all grow in together. We also are always keeping an eye towards the online community and are developing new practices of community care as we continue to navigate what it means to be one church with three sites. Pathways are great for staff because they’re about writing down a process so that we can all see it and share in the work.

2. Profiles and Directories. Holy Trinity is great at getting photographs of new members added to our current database, but you better believe that there are a few that are distinctly out of date. Some kids haven’t just grown in inches but also in feet since we last updated their family’s photos. No shade, but it’s going to be exciting for our new staff to have updated photos as they’re putting names and faces together. Your name matters.

3. Reports. Sure, this may not sound very sexy, but having an easy to use report generating system is an administrative dream. It’s all about ministry because it’s about people. It’s about making sure that we’re paying attention to the little details because those matter.

We're migrating next week beginning on the November 30. There will be a few days when we won't have access to the database.

When we're fully functioning again, you'll receive an invitation to "join our church." Please join. This will give you access to your own information.

Email Claire in the office if you have any questions. She genuinely loves this stuff (stuff being databases) and looks forward to finding the answers to any questions as she gets onboarded to the new software and onboards us all.

Do you promise to help your child grow in the Christian faith and life?

Do you promise to help your child grow in the Christian faith and life?

That’s the question I ask of parents at baptism.

The gifts of baptism are free–an unearned love from God and a welcoming embrace to the community of faith. However; parents, sponsors, the church and its pastors are entrusted with responsibilities to help them grow in the Christian faith and life.

Although it doesn’t say it specifically in the baptismal rite, providing an engaging and loving Sunday school experience is one way that the Holy Trinity community helps our children grow in the Chrisitan faith and life.

On Sunday mornings after worship, we will once again meet together in person, and on-line, to provide a time set apart for engaging in interactive storytelling, games and crafts for the little ones, real life biblical application for the older ones and always an intergenerational experience with trusted teachers/mentors.

I’ll be honest, there’s not too much I remember about my Sunday school experience from long ago. I don’t remember specific lessons, I can’t recite Bible verses and I get messed up in the genealogy of Abraham and Sarah’s family. But what I cherish from Sunday school is the memory of singing with others before class. Those old songs are the ones I sing with our Holy Trinity kids now. I remember that Sunday school was fun and my teachers loved me. Church felt safe to me and I wanted to be there. I grew in the Christian faith, was nurtured in prayer, I learned to care for others and the world God made.

Parents, do you promise to help your child grow in the Christian faith and life? Join us this Sunday at HTLakeview after the liturgy in Passavant Hall or on Zoom

I’d love to hear your memories of Sunday school. Send me a note and tell me all about it.

Schedule

PreK - 2nd grade meet 2nd and 4th Sundays The Younger Ones Zoom link

3rd - 6th grade meet every Sunday The Older Ones Zoom link

HTLakeview Online Liturgy Migrates to YouTube May 2

Beginning Sunday, May 2, our online liturgy will be migrating from Zoom to YouTube! But immediately following the liturgy, we will move to HTUnmuted (on Zoom) to share the peace, and to briefly experience the sense of community connections we have enjoyed on Zoom the past year.

Why this change?

HTLakeview recently installed new livestreaming equipment. This equipment is designed for Web platforms such as YouTube and Facebook Live. As we gradually transition to in-person liturgies, You Tube seems to offer the best hybrid option in which people are both in the sanctuary and online.

What are the benefits of YouTube?

If you have a Smart TV, you can view the liturgy from your television by going directly to Holy Trinity’s YouTube channel. The YouTube thumbnail will also be easily found on our website and folks will be able to access the liturgy directly without another link.

What about the sense of community we had on Zoom?

Our decision a year ago to use Zoom has been very important for Holy Trinity—to see one another and participate in a variety of ways. In addition to the benefits of this change, there are certainly losses.

The YouTube comments section will enable community participation through the service. Others could choose to minimize distractions and keep the video feed on full screen.

On May 2 we will introduce HTUnmuted, a brief time for community connection at the conclusion of the Sunday liturgy. We will have an opportunity to share the peace, greet one another, make introductions and announcements, and see each other’s faces. On many Sundays this will lead directly to the Small Bytes Forum. To keep our strong sense of community, we hope that most folks will go to HTUnmuted, even for a short time.

HTLoop will continue to use Zoom so please remember our 5:00 pm Saturday evening liturgy as an option!

How can I/we participate more fully with the new livestreaming format?

1) use a separate device to view the bulletin with hymns and other texts

2) print out the bulletin

3) purchase your own copy of Evangelical Lutheran Worship (24.50) and the new supplement All Creation Sings (now $12.50; regular $14.50) for your home. Wonderful resources for you to use not only for liturgy but at other times as well.

Lighthouse Foundation Annual Report

Learn more about the work of the Lighthouse Foundation, one of our treasured partners in ministry, over the last year. Despite a global pandemic that has disproportionately affected people of color, and particularly queer people of color, the Lighthouse Foundation has done amazing work advancing the causes of justice and equity for queer people of color in Chicago and beyond.

Link here for the Lighthouse Foundation Annual Report