May 06 & 13, 2018

Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

www.htelc.com 22 Fox Run Road * Newington, NH 03801* 603-436-1704 office@htelc.com

Come Together, Grow in Faith, Serve the LORD

Semi-Annual Meeting & Church Picnic

On June 10, after our first 9:30 service of the summer, join us for our semi-

annual meeting. Following the meeting, we will be holding a church picnic.

Meeting Reports are due one week before the Semi-Annual Meeting, on

Monday, June 4. Please send your reports to the church office.

Congratulations to Pastor George Koch and Elyse Demers!

Pastor George and his girlfriend Elyse have announced they

are now engaged! No date or location has been set. The

Church Office will keep you updated when we know more.

Happy Mother’s Day

We wish all mothers a Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you for

your kindness, your love, your hard work, and your support.

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Pastor’s Article

I want you all to know that life is good! I so greatly appreciate all the questions

my family and I have received. I don’t think a day goes by in which someone

from church asks doesn’t ask one of the following questions. “Are you all

settled in? How are your kids doing? Are you unpacked yet?” Thank you for

caring so much about my family and I. I can confidently say that we are all

doing well. As with everyone, life always has its challenges. Nothing always

going perfectly smooth, but overall, life is good. Thanks for all the ways you

have helped it be good.

I thought I would share a bit about what I am reading these past couple of

months. As I mentioned during one of my first Sunday’s here, I try and read

one to two books a month. Sometimes they are faith based, sometimes not.

Whether the book is fiction or not, it is always with the focus of learning about

myself, the church and the world. So, without further ado…

Ready, Player One by Ernest Cline. You can also see this as a movie in theaters

and was recently the number one movie in America. The book takes place in

not so distant, dystopian future. Poverty, crime and

homelessness are rampant, and to escape it all, the vast

majority of people, especially younger people, use the

“Oasis,” a virtual reality world. The book focuses on life in

the Oasis, and particularly a challenge/game the creator of

the Oasis left people upon his death. While I there will be

many who won’t enjoy the book because it is not their style

of, I enjoyed it (and its seemingly unlimited 80’s

references). It also can serve as a social commentary and

critique on our current culture and the dangers within it.

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Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of the Nations

by Amy Chua. Chua is a Yale Law Professor. In this book,

Chua studies tribalism and how it can affect us at a

personal level and how it plays out on the international

level. She specifically looks at past conflicts (Vietnam,

Afghanistan, Iraq and Venezuela) that the US has been

involved in and identifies where the US has not looked at

the proper group/tribe dynamics/relationships within a

country which has led to poor decisions and outcomes.

She then relates it to the US today and how we can better

understand what is going on in our current political

climate.

You can now find these books in the library here at Holy Trinity.

Also, I am looking at a date to discuss previous books I have read, specifically,

“When to Jump” and “Barking to the Choir.” If you have read those, I hope to

talk soon.

The two that I will be working on for this coming month are “A Failure of

Nerve” by Edwin Friedman and “The Orthodox Heretic” by Peter Rollins.

Lastly, I hope you are starting to enjoy the weather. It seems like we are

skipping spring and going directly from winter to summer!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Tim

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Pastor Krick’s Installation Service Here are some pictures from the installation of Pastor Tim as the Eleventh Pastor of Holy Trinity. What a great day for the church as we look to the future and following the Spirit. Photos Courtesy of Tommy Monareh

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Faith Formation Update “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good work and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 Remember that song many of us learned, probably as children? “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”! Our little lights have been shining in a myriad of ways from inside the walls of the church radiating out to our communities and beyond. For starters, we have been blessed with volunteers setting the stage for the faith-growth of youth of all ages from 3 to 93. A huge THANK YOU to each person who said “yes” and “I can help” through this past year which was filled with changes, challenges, bittersweet “goodbyes” and exciting “hellos”. You have said “yes” to taking charge of our Children’s Bell Choir, teaching our Confirmands, leading our All Ages Activities, organizing and preparing phenomenal coffee hour events, and creating fun-filled faith exploring opportunities for our children. Please plan to join us for Sundae Sunday on May 20 as we join with the Stewardship team between the services to celebrate how we live our faith out loud together! This past weekend there were many little lights shining! A successful Saturday yard clean up outing at the Klein’s to benefit the youth was completed. Thank you Len and Jean for your dedication to our youth and their faith. Thank you to those who dedicated their Saturday to help. Rumor has it that lunch was the best part of the deal! Another crew of folks headed to Camp Calumet Friday night and returned Sunday. (Check out the pictures on Page 13)They came together with 100 volunteers to rake, clear trails, rake, clean the beach, rake, clean the Lakeside Dining Hall, rake, clear campsites, rake, move docks and boats, and RAKE! No shortage of leaves, pine needles and debris to be cleared. That being said, it was not all work! We ate amazing Calumet cuisine, played a few rousing games

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of Apples to Apples, ate, laughed, ate, sang at the campfire, and ATE! Sunday morning the Pastor reminded us that we are born or adopted into a family but that we choose our friends. In many ways, faith is the embodiment of those friendships as we “do” life together supporting one another in love as we strive to bring God’s love into the world around us. I believe we all left feeling blessed for the building of new friendships and the strengthening of existing friendships as we served our God together in faith. It was the perfect segue to officially “choosing” our new friends Sunday afternoon at Pastor Krick’s Installation! What a wonderful faith-filled weekend! Speaking of Camp Calumet, who loves camp? Please remember that our church offers scholarships to help off-set the cost of Camp. Whether you have already signed up for camp (Day Camp or Overnight Camp) or if you are looking for more information, please contact me at ffcoor@htelc.com. We will determine the amount of money that can be dispersed per camper based on how many youth are planning to go. Last, but not least, Vacation Bible School, is right around the corner! Mark your calendars for July 29-August 1 and get ready to be SHIPWRECKED! Registration starts May 20! Hope to see you there. Keep those little lights shining!

Operation Blessing Just a reminder that Holy Trinity is a longtime supporter of Operation Blessing. We contribute food for their food bank and depend upon your weekly contributions. We usually suggest needs and you can contribute that or whatever you feel appropriate. This month we are asking for paper products - toilet paper, paper towels and condiments such as catsup, barbecue sauce, mustard, etc. Thank you to all for your donations and to Barry and Phyllis Philbrick for delivering all items to OB.

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Confirmation Class

On Sunday, April 22, during Confirmation Class, the confirmation kids made

baptismal blankets to be given to the babies at their baptism. In the next 2

months we should have 3 baptisms!

Baptism

Baptized into Christ on Sunday, April 29 is Hannah Rene

Crafts, daughter of Jonathan & Alyssa Crafts.

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Christian Sympathy

Christian Sympathy to the family of Nancy Andersen, who passed away on April

25 at the age of 71. Nancy was one of Holy Trinity’s homebound attenders and

niece of charter member Evelyn Wingo.

PORTSMOUTH - Nancy-Lynn Andersen, 71, has passed away peacefully from a long

battle with heart disease on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 while in the hospital. She

was surrounded by loved ones comforting her and delivering her to the hands of

god. Nancy was born August 28, 1946 to Maurice and Marie Rochette in Long Island,

N.Y.

She is survived by her three children Amy, Adam, Andrew and daughter in-law Gina;

grandchildren Katie, Nick, Alexis, Zachary, Andy and Alex; great-grandchildren Daniel

and Deondre.

Originally from the N.Y. area she moved with her three children to Portsmouth, NH.

where she lived for the past 38 years. She worked

as a shipping coordinator until she became ill.

Nancy served on the PTO and Little League

organization. People that know her will remember

her Zingy personality, love for music, and animals

and her great sense of humor. While we learned

many things from our mom her strongest teachings

were around being strong, self-reliant individuals

and always fight for what is right and what you

want from life. She loved having grandchildren then

felt blessed to be able to have great-grandchildren.

We will carry a part of her throughout our lives and

always hold her in our hearts. We love you mom!

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Stewardship Team

Romans 12:6-8 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us

use them….

Every Christian has been energized by God with at least one spiritual gift, given

so that each of us can play our part in building the body of Christ. Each of us

has been made by God to be absolutely unique and prepared to play our

distinctive part! What is your distinctive part in building the body of Christ? In

the book Wishful Thinking, (which is in our church library) the author writes,

“The place God calls you to, is the place where your deep gladness and the

world’s deep hunger meet.”

For those who are interested in pledging your time and

talents there will be form in this Sunday bulletin and on a

table in the Gathering Area. We ask that you please check

off the area(s) you wish to volunteer and place it in the

offering plate or give it to Mark in the office before or on May 20th.

1 Peter 4:10 - As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good

stewards of God’s varied grace.”

Welcome to our new Wiggle Room attendants

We are excited to announce that starting this Sunday our Wiggle Room will be

staffed on a rotating basis by Emmeline Laurence, Juanita Sihotang and

Katherine Clement. All grew up in the Holy Trinity

and Immanuel Community and look forward to

getting to know your children. Note: In the fall

Emmeline and Katherine will be returning to

college so we will be looking for other people

interested in helping Juanita. If you're interested

contact Scott Carson or the church office.

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End 68 Hours of Hunger

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church has a team that packs food for the program 'End 68 Hours of Hunger' for the city of Portsmouth!! This program is designed to provide food for children in need that would sustain them for the weekend when school is not in session. This year Kathy McKenna and Lauren Gianino are the Team Coordinators for our church.

Our team is responsible for packing food bags for children on 7 Thursdays throughout the school year. We pack at the First United Methodist Church, 129 Miller Ave. Portsmouth and we meet at 6:00 PM. Depending on the number of volunteers, the packing process takes between 40 minutes to an hour - but rarely a full hour.

The remaining dates our team is responsible for are:

Thursday, June 7th

We'd like to thank all who cheerfully volunteered to help end 68 hours of hunger for children in Portsmouth. Due to your help over 80 children per week had enough food to sustain them over weekends when school meals were not available. Our team packed over 700 bags of food for delivery during the course of the school year.

Our final packing date is Thursday, June 7th. We will resume packing in September a few weeks after school starts. We hope to see you in the fall!

If you are interested in joining our team please email myself (mckenna.kathy.62@gmail.com) or Lauren Gianino(pglg813@comcast.net) as soon as possible. If you know of someone who would like to join our team....please have them contact us!! We always welcome new participants!!

Let us know if you have any questions!!

Kathy McKenna & Lauren Gianino

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Property Team Spring has sprung! The mowers have been serviced and put into use for the first time this season. The snow removal equipment has been returned to the storage barn. The tent has been put up (or should I say, pitched) for the season. We all need to remember that our tent requires a permit from the Town of Newington. Our permit allows a maximum of 50 people under the tent at any given time. We will be seeking to renew our permit which expires in July, but the 50 person limit is unlikely to change. As weather permits, we will be doing a variety of outdoor tasks as well as keeping up with the normal indoor routine and projects. Painting and book shelf upgrades in the Education Office are in progress. The Property Team is seeking bids for carpet replacement for several areas of the building (Sacristy, first floor hallways, back classrooms), and is also seeking bids to seal and stripe the parking lot and driveways. If council concurs, we anticipate bringing proposals for this work to the congregational meeting in June. If approved, the parking lot work would be done this summer, and the carpet work would done when it can be scheduled with suppliers. David Mercer, Property Team Leader

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Calumet Work Weekend

Last weekend, May 4-6, several of Holy Trinity’s members and youth made the

trek to Camp Calumet for their annual Calumet Work Weekend to clean the

premises inside and out and have fun on the beach. Thank you to our

volunteers for helping out!