Trinity Lutheran Church March 2023 Newsletter

Newsletter Archive

March 2023

Trinity Lutheran Church

Villa Park, IL

Always Growing in Christ

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The Lion's Roar

Amos 3:8
"The lion has roared; who will not fear? 
The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?”
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3

My Latin Teacher Died

She and I had nothing in common, well almost nothing.  She was as Baptist as I was Lutheran. I thought worship at her church felt more like a congregational meeting than worship and she called worship at my church stilted and scripted.  She was as Democratic as my family was Republican, proclaiming that Ronald Reagan would bring an end to society as we know it and that the day would come soon when we would all mourn the loss of Jimmy Carter as our President. She loved sports and I loathed them. She loathed popular fiction and I thought Stephen King was one of the finest writers to have ever put a pen to paper. Miss Nancy Worley and I did not agree on anything during my four years of high school during which she was my speech teacher for one year and my Latin teacher for three years. I loved and respected her for those four years and the 39 years after that in which we maintained a friendship over the phone, mail, and Facebook. Miss Worley died last year.   

I said we had nothing in common, except for one thing. She and I both believed that we could love and respect one another not only in spite of our differences but because of them.  We saw in one another the polar opposite of ourselves and were able to hone our own edges on each other.  I have noticed that, in my adult life, I have often sought out friendships with people who were very different from me because of my positive experience with Miss Worley.  The only thing we really had in common was our faith in Jesus and we strove to do as St. Paul said,

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  See you don’t have to agree with one another to walk with one another. As long as you agree that Jesus is Lord, everything else can become a way of growth and understanding.  That was what allowed me to be friends with Miss Worley for 43 years.  We could walk together in a manner worthy of our calling, bearing with one another in love and having completely different ideas about almost everything.

Miss Worley died suddenly of a weird infection. She was only 70 years old. She had been the Alabama Secretary of State for one term and the President of the Alabama Education Association twice. She had just finished a stint as the Chair of the Alabama Democratic Party and was considering what was next in her life when her time was up and she was received into paradise.  She was only 12 years older than I, and she taught me how to speak extemporaneously, how to decline Latin nouns and conjugate Latin verbs, but more importantly than any of that, she taught me that we can love and respect people with whom we categorically disagree, and that reality is often what helps us to grow the most.  I look forward to the Day of the Resurrection and seeing Miss Worley again.  Hopefully, she will be holding hands with both Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.

Trinity Lenten Services

March 8 15, 22, 29, April 5 - Lent Services & Soup Suppers

Maundy Thursday April 6th - 7 pm

Good Friday services April 7th at noon and 7 pm

Easter Services Apil 9th at 8 am and 10:30 am

Easter Breakfast April 9th 9:15 am

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Patience & Perfection

The Lenten Services are based on the book Patience & Perfection by Daniel E. Paavola, a professor of theology at Concordia University Wisconsin. Copies of the book are available in the Narthex.

Dorcas Guild

The Art of Soap Making

Tuesday, March 6th at 7pm

Presented by Soapy Roads of Lombard. All the ingredients and tools will be provided, you simply need to bring the desire to get your hands dirty while you learn how to create a natural soap to keep them clean. Cost $15 per person. Let Deb Thompson or Karen Magnuson know if you are able to join us or if you have any questions. Soapy Roads Soap also partners with the OutReach House of Lombard by donating soap to them for every bar they sell.

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Lenten Post Card Challenge

They are back! Grab a post card (or several!) from the Narthex, write a note,
say a prayer for the recipient(s), & drop in the mail. You never know who will be touched by prayer! Our goal is for each household to receive a postcard before Easter.

TCNS

TCNS is currently seeking a dual role program Director/lead teacher for part-time hours for the 2023/24 school year. Must be a DCFS-qualified Director. Email resumes and questions to Tcnschair@gmail.com Questions call Deb Thompson 630-217-1625.

Mission Expansion Discussion Group

The English District is hosting a gathering for a working conference to explore where we are and where we could be in terms of mission expansion for
the glory of God and the blessing of all people. The conference will start on April 18th at 1:30 p.m. and end on April 20th at 11:00 a.m. The application form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn2jJT6PKKThSRz6U43zb3zBhvoS8CTlyFvlceTzfvKS1b_w/viewform

Stewardship Corner

URGENT: Our beloved Treasurer is moving and will no longer be able to serve Trinity. Please pray for us to find someone to replace him. If you or someone you know is qualified, please consider helping. This will be a smooth transition with a lot of training and help. May God bless Trinity with this change.
To stay on track for 2023, we will only need each household to donate $5 more than their usual budgeted giving.

Missions Highlight

Million Dollar Life Match (MDLM)

The people of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) love children & families, & they demonstrate this love through many acts of mercy in their communities. To support these local pro-life efforts (both big & small) the LCMS will offer $1 million in matching grants to LCMS congregations. www.lcms.org/serve/grants/life-grant.

Lenten Discipline: Denying the Self

We are at the beginning of Lent. During the Lenten season, the church calls to our attention the sufficiency of what God gives. It points to the sufficiency of God’s grace in the atoning work of Jesus. It shows us the sufficiency of faith in Jesus’ work for us. It makes known the sufficiency of God’s Word in faith and life.

But Lent doesn’t just remind us of the sufficiency of God’s spiritual gifts — the gifts that pertain to our redemption and salvation. Lent also reminds us of the sufficiency of the physical, and temporal gifts of God which pertain to this body and life. In other words, it reminds us of the importance of godly contentment and of outward discipline and training of the body.

This outward training of the body teaches us not to give in to every desire of our flesh, but to learn to say no to them. And it does this in such a way that if you fail, it is no sin. It is a way to practice without putting yourself into a compromising situation.

Fasting is a good example of this outward training. When you fast, you are practicing saying no to the desires of your body. But if you fail in this, if you break your fast, you have not sinned. But you have learned something about how your flesh works, how difficult it is to fight against it, and how you need help from above to discipline the desires of your body.

Another example is almsgiving. An increase in giving to the church and its mission during Lent is also a form of outward training. We all know that our flesh finds security in money and stuff. By committing to give more to the church, you are training your flesh. You are, by this outward discipline, training yourself to be content with what God gives. You are practicing saying “no” to your desires. Again, if you fail, you have not sinned. But you’ve learned just how powerful your flesh is — it leads you instead of you leading it. You’ve learned how you need help from above in being content with what God gives.

This is why St. Paul instructs young Pastor Timothy in this way:

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Tim. 6:6–10)

Our sufficiency is not of ourselves; it is in God. Let us learn this without sin by training our flesh this Lenten season. – LCMS Stewardship Ministry: lcms.org/stewardship

Worship Services

Saturdays 4:30 pm

Sundays 8 am & 10:30 am

Save the Date

May - Trivia Night

June 24th - Outreach Table at Villa Park Summerfest 11 am-5 pm

June 15 - Third Thursdays 7 pm

July 20 - Third Thursdays 7 pm

August 17 - Third Thursdays 7 pm

Mid-August - Golf Outing & Shirt Sales

More Information

Each month you will receive a newsletter from Trinity in your email.  If you have any upcoming news, events, photos or other information to share, please email Marna Rundgren @ marnarundgren@gmail.com


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