Trinity Lutheran Church

Villa Park, IL

^{“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Matthew 25:33b}

Living for Jesus

Now is the time of year in the Church when all the numbers people start trying to project the outcome of the spending guide for the current year and project a new spending guide for the coming year. There is much hocus pocus and waving of hands.  Some people opt for the doomsday scenario. “We have to cut everything or we’re going to go broke!!!” Others prefer the pie in the sky. “So what if we have a deficit budget, God will provide!!!” It doesn’t really matter whether you attend a mega church with thousands worshipping or a tiny little congregation of 20 people in church on a Sunday. As my classmate who was the pastor of the largest congregation in the LCMS used to say, “Mo money – mo problems.”

Currently we are running behind in our spending guide by about 10%. That is not highly unusual but it is higher than we have been in the recent past.  We as a congregation are going to meet on November 12^th to decide what we are going to do about running behind. There are many possibilities. One solution is to drastically cut salaries of the ministry staff. That is where the majority of the money goes because that is who does the majority of the ministry at Trinity. The Bible warns us, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages’ (1 Timothy 5:17-18). So, cutting salaries, while efficient, is not that best plan because in so doing the congregation is allowing the ministry staff to suffer so that it does not have to give more.

While we can nickel and dime other budget lines, it won’t really solve the problem and turning off the heat or allowing the snow to just pile up in the lot is not an effective solution either.  The best solution is for the congregation to give more. That is the most appealing solution to the problem and it is the answer voters tend to give. “We’ll just give more!”  But action has to follow the words for this to be a true solution.

Look at Matthew 25. Read through the whole chapter. Jesus is describing our exact problem at Trinity! He starts with the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Some live for the moment and they are not prepared. Some are wise and store extra oil so that they will be ready for the bridegroom to arrive.  Likewise, some people at Trinity will say they cannot give at all or they cannot give any more! The bridegroom is who we live for – not fancy coffees, not sports tickets, not summer homes. Our deficit could be solved by each giving unit giving $50 a month more over the course of a year. There are very few of us who could not give $50 a month more. Don’t be a foolish virgin spending all your assets on things that rust and rot and then being unprepared when the bridegroom returns.

After the wise and foolish virgins, Jesus goes on to talk about the talents.  Everything you have is what Jesus has given you. Nothing is yours. You are just a manager. How would the King feel if you let His kingdom die so that you could spend your talents on yourself? The parable of the talents is to remind us that we live to serve Jesus not ourselves. We use everything He has given us to glorify Him and extend His kingdom. It is not ours.  It is ALL His. We are just managers.  I cannot fathom a Christian who gives nothing to the Church and yet we have many who give nothing. They say, “but I don’t have enough money to give.” Ok, then give what you have. Give your time. Give your abilities and give some money every week. Even if it is $1 a week, commit to giving that much and do it every week and watch and see how God blesses it!  Read the parable. The one who buried it is the one who displeased God. The ones who used their talents were blessed greatly.

Finally, Jesus closes out the chapter with some weird stuff about visiting Him in prison and clothing Him when He was naked.  His point is that we live for Him not ourselves and when we give of ourselves whether that is time, talent, or money, we are giving to Him and living for Him. When we have completed this journey and we are entering paradise, nothing of this life will matter except what we have given to glorify God.

Read Matthew 25. Look at your giving and ask yourself, “am I doing the best I can do with what God has given me?” If you are, praise God and don’t worry because this is His Church and He will bless us according to His will. But if you are not doing the best that you can, dig your talent up from the backyard and put it to work in God’s kingdom and you will be blessed beyond measure.  This is God’s Church for us to manage. My guess is that all of us can find another $50 a month to give. Let’s do that and in so doing we will offend the devil and glorify God.

Anniversary Celebration

Saturday, November 11

4:30 pm - Worship

6:00 PM - Anniversary Banquet

We will celebrate the 110th Anniversary of the founding of Trinity Lutheran Church.

Tickets: $15.00 for a single and $25.00 for a household ticket.

Voter's Congregational Meeting

Sunday, November 12th

11:45 a.m.

Trinity Center

Please plan to attend this meeting.

Dorcas Guild Meeting

Tuesday, November 7

Trinity Center

All ladies are invited to attend! We will be cutting fabric for the dolls to be donated to the Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries maternity home.

Please bring any of the following that you have available - scissors, kitchen scale for weighing pellets, rotary cutter with mat that measures at least 20 inches, or small sewing machine with white thread.

Wednesday Fellowship Group

Wednesday, November 15

11:30 am (following Pastor Allyn's Bible Study)

Come join the Wednesday Fellowship Group for their first outing of the year! They will head over to Sawa's Old Warsaw Smorgasbord Lunch Buffet, located in Broadview.

A sign up sheet is located in the Narthex next to the Usher's Closet. DEADLINE FOR SIGN UP IS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH! Any questions, contact
Donna Heuser @ 630-913-6631

Thanksgiving Service

Wednesday, November 22 at 7 pm.

Please join us the evening before Thanksgiving for service. Please consider bringing canned goods or other non-perishable food to donate.

Daughters of the King Bible Study

1st & 3rd Thursdays

7 pm

Trinity Center

Ladies are invited to study the book of Proverbs. Learn about the way of wisdom and the way of the fool.

Music and Worship

Youth Worship Service will take place on Sunday, November 12, at 10:30 am. The
confirmation students will play chimes to accompany the hymns and liturgy, and they will serve as lay readers to do a readers’ theater version of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel.

Donation of Choir Robes was made in October to First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago. Several years ago, a set of fifteen black choir robes was given to Trinity by a church in
Glen Ellyn that closed. Jenny Swensen located a church that needed choir robes and arranged for the pickup. The email in response reads: “Dear Trinity Lutheran--Thank you again for the
wonderful robes! We are so grateful!”

Flower Decorations on the pews are used for festival worship services, with the color of the
ribbons changing to match the liturgical event. These displays were made by Jim Van Ewyk and
recently repaired by Cindy Meier. Thank you to Cindy for her work with these decorations and for mounting and removing them for festivals (e.g., Rally Day, Reformation Sunday, and All Saints’ Sunday).

New Baptism Banner was first used on October 29 for the baptism of Carson Michael Kohs.
This banner is designed with interchangeable panels to give the name and date of the person
being baptized, which provides a wonderful photo memento of the occasion. Thank you to
Jenny Swensen for making this new banner for Trinity.

Giving Tuesday

Tuesday, November 28

Once again, Trinity is participating in Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is the Tuesday following Thanksgiving each year and it encourages participants to support their favorite non-profit organization.

This year we hope that you will help support Trinity Lutheran Church in an effort to Close the Gap on our current deficit.

Facebook provides matching funds for some donations. Last year we earned $14,077 in donations and a generous match of $15,000. 

Non-Facebook donations should be sent to Margaret via envelope or eOffering giving or placed in the offering plate labeled Giving Tuesday.

Not So Silent Night

Friday, December 1

Not So Silent Night is returning on Friday, December 1st at 6:00 pm. Help is needed for the following: sound system set-up, state set-up/take down, chair set-up, clean up, performers. If
you are able to help with any of these items, please contact Margaret; margaret@trinityvp.com or 630-834-3440. 

Youth Group News

Christmas Poinsettias

If you would like to purchase a poinsettia plant, $20.00 foiled for the altar for Christmas, please forward your request to the church office in an envelope marked “Christmas Poinsettia”
with your name. Plants may be picked up after the 10:00 am service on Christmas Day. Orders are due by Monday, December 11th.

Worship Services

Saturdays 4:30 pm

Sundays 8 am & 10:30 am

Save the Date

December 10 - Santa Breakfast - 9-11 am; Santa Paws 11:30 am

February 14, 21, 28 March 6, 13, 20, 27 - Lent Services & Soup Suppers

March 31 - Easter Services & Breakfast