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Please join Holy Trinity’s Minister of Music Joshua Brodbeck for an afternoon of Christmas favorites this Sunday, December 6 at 4:00 pm.  The concert will be offered only via video due to Franklin County’s Stay Home Advisory.  You can enjoy the concert from your home by clicking: http://www.engagedbygrace.org/concerts-at-holy-trinity-live-stream/

As the Racial Justice Ministry Team continues to work with the congregation to explore and address long-standing issues of racial injustice, we find that IMMEDIATE help in response to real needs in our local community is another meaningful way to learn and grow as well.  In particular, members of the RJMT are making worthwhile contributions through the three opportunities highlighted below and would invite other interested Holy Trinity friends to join them by contributing either through financial donations or shopping to help families in need during the Christmas giving season.  We recognize people have different interests, so want to give you some options to prayerfully consider.

• First English Clothing Ministry and/or Sanctuary Support – our sister congregation, where we serve breakfast once a month, serves families in one of the highest-need areas of Columbus.  They are especially in need of new or very-gently used gloves, blankets, men’s clothing and men’s shoes this holiday season, to be distributed to those in the community most in need.   In addition, First English has been providing sanctuary to Miriam Vargas and her two young daughters with special needs for over two years.  She is most in need of Kroger and Amazon gift cards as she is unable to leave the church.  If you are interested in supporting either of these ministries, please contact Becky Warnement (bwarnement124@gmail.com) to coordinate pick-up and delivery of items and/or gift cards.  You may also send a check to Holy Trinity with “RJMT – First English” in the memo line, and Becky will coordinate getting the money to First English.
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    • First English Community Working Together               Miriam Vargas in Sanctuary

• Adopt a Local Family in Need – Leslie Torres has been working closely with a Black family in need since 2006 through her association with Big Sisters.  The Biggers family includes Tyzarria (21), Stanly (19), Taijah (24) and her kids Shawn (6) and La’Niyah (3), and their grandma Pamela. Their mother passed away a few years ago and their father is not in the picture.  Leslie has worked with them to develop a Christmas list. If you are interested in supporting this family, please send items on their list to the Biggers family at 127 S Highland Avenue, Columbus, OH 43223) or contact Leslie (kochleslie15@gmail.com, 614-563-7321) directly, as she will be happy to arrange pick-up and delivery with you.  You may also send a check to Holy Trinity with “RJMT – Biggers Family Christmas” in the memo line, and Leslie will coordinate using the money to complete their list.

1. 1. Pots & Pans (for 2 different homes)
   2. Blankets (any type, any size)
   3. Trains for 6 yr old boy
   4. Babies & Legos for 3 yr old girl
   5. Air pods
   6. Apple Watch (used)
   7. Gift Cards (Walmart, Amazon, Zappos for shoes)
   8.    The Camera-shy Bigger Family

• Habitat for Humanity Housewarming Gift – As a One-percent Outreach Partner, Holy Trinity donates 1% of all offerings to Habitat for Humanity as part of the Northwest Partnership which is currently building a 5-bedroom house in the Linden area for a local Muslim family. Mohamed Mohamed and his wife Isha are hard-working parents of five children. Their oldest are teenagers: Abdifatah, (son, age 18) and Zainab (daughter, age 17). They have two twin daughters Sumeyah and Saadiya (age 9) and their youngest baby girl was born in June 2020. Mohamed works at Communications Test Design, Inc. and Isha works a seasonal job. The family cannot wait to move from their apartment into a more stable and safe place for their family. The house model is named “The Rachel” after the woman in the Bible.  While volunteer labor is currently on hold due to the pandemic, the standing construction crew has had to get creative during COVID-19, actually constructing walls in the parking lot of Habitat Restore, which can be delivered and installed when work resumes.  In addition to our regular cash donations, we also have the opportunity to provide a housewarming gift for the Mohamed family, to be presented at the wall-raising ceremony tentatively scheduled for the end of December. If you are interested in helping with this gift, please send a check to Holy Trinity with “RJMT – Habitat Housewarming” in the memo line, and the RJMT will coordinate an appropriate gift.
•   Constructing Walls for the Wall-Raising

The Racial Justice Ministry Team thanks you for whatever support you are able to offer to our neighbors of color in need during this especially challenging Christmas season.

In accord with the recent Franklin County Board of Health Advisory and on the recommendation of the Parish Health Team and staff, Church Council has decided that Holy Trinity will conduct all worship and ministry meetings remotely for the next 28 days starting Friday, November 20.  While we are not legally prohibited from gathering in person, Council believes we can most faithfully promote the well-being of the community by helping to stem the increasing COVID infection rate and burdens on our medical staff and hospital systems in our local area, especially given all the meaningful ways that we can continue to worship and serve together from home.

Church staff will live stream one worship service from the sanctuary for the whole congregation at 9:30am on Sundays, November 22 – December 13, 2020 at engagedbygrace.org.  A recording of each service will be available to view online after that.  Although the services will not include communion since the whole assembly will not be gathered, Pastor Steve and Vicar Sara are available to share communion at the doorstep of any who request it.  Plans are also in place to provide streaming worship on Christmas Eve, and live worship if possible given community health conditions at that time.

While we will not be inviting anyone to leave their home for ministry activity over the next 28 days nor hosting any other group meetings at the church, Pastor Steve and Vicar Sara remain available for pastoral and spiritual care over the telephone, via zoom, and in person at church by appointment at safe distance with masks.  Congregational volunteers also stand ready to run errands for groceries and medications.  For assistance, please contact the Church Office at 614-486-9433 or email@engagedbygrace.org.

Friends in Christ, take heart!  These will be holidays like no other, except in this way.  Emmanuel – God is with us, and will see us through these circumstances … as God has done through every circumstance before … and will through every circumstance to come.  Jesus raised from the dead is our assurance of that.

Yours in Christ,
Mike Christman, President
Sara Wunsch, Vicar
Steve Wachtman, Pastor

“Dear Church” book dialogue is back by popular demand!  Part II is this Monday, December 7 at 7pm by Zoom only (because of the Advisory).

Here’s the ZOOM link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87824986323?pwd=MWpNQitHWEtVV3B6clM4b21GaTdOdz09

Meeting ID: 878 2498 6323

Passcode: 718054

* About 15 readers in our church family held spirit-filled discussion a month ago of “Dear Church, A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S.” by Pastor Lenny Duncan. Since our dialogue opened thought on further topics, we’re holding a follow-up.

* All are welcome, whether you’ve read the book or not.  Please join us for a variety of questions, this is a safe space where no question is unable to be asked or discussed together.  Contact Vicar Sara for more information.

Given the current circumstances in the community, Holy Trinity will be purchasing the poinsettias used to beautify the sanctuary on Christmas Eve this year.  If you would like to receive one for your personal use after Sunday, January 3, please contact the church office at laura.hudson@engagedbygrace.org or 614-486-9433 and a plant will be delivered to you at that time.

We are three weeks into our six-week God Is Our Refuge And Strength Capital Campaign for fiscal flexibility during uncertain and challenging times.  For the sake of replenishing reserves after repairing the roof, paying down mortgage principle on the new sanctuary and establishing a memorial garden on the church property, we have to date received 49 responses offering prayers and input to memorial garden planning, along with $468,600 in pledges toward our baseline goal of $425,000.  Reaching our stretch goal of $620,000 would pay off our mortgage in full.  We will announce final results of all pledges received on Sunday, December 13, 2020.  If you have questions, please contact Financial Secretary Dan Perry at  panddperry@gmail.com and he will connect you with the appropriate resource person.

Black Friday is today!  And tomorrow.  And the day after…  Christmas shopping looks a bit different this year and there are some great deals to be had!  As we look forward to our long-standing partnership with Boulevard Presbyterian, we’re rolling with the changes on how we can best help support families inside I-270 for a merrier Christmas.  If you’re not familiar with the program, Boulevard Presbyterian works with local agencies on a list of recipients who will receive groceries and one toy for each child in the home in time for Christmas.  The pandemic has affected our community in so many ways and Boulevard Presbyterian is expecting even more requests for Christmas Baskets this year.  Please consider safely helping from the safety of your home.

Online Toy Donations:  Simply order toys online and change the “ship to” address field to “Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2001 Northwest Blvd, Columbus 43212.”  Walmart and Amazon have had some great steals, but anywhere you shop, you can have your donations shipped to Holy Trinity by Sunday, December 6.  We’ll collect and get the toys over to Boulevard Presbyterian to be included in the baskets.

Cash/Check Donations:  Easily mail cash or check to Holy Trinity marked for the Christmas Basket Program and the church staff will see that your donations are used to support the Christmas Basket ministry.

Again we come to the time of the year when we mark the great miracle of Christ becoming one of us.  The Apostle John wrote, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14).  Jesus came to Earth; He bore humiliation and ridicule; He died that we might live; He was raised that we, too, might rise again and live forever with God.  “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another” (John 1:16).  How can we thank God but to give ourselves and our lives in service to God!  For more information about stewardship, please contact Max Buban.

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