TEC Talk – August 2020

Rev. Jane Beebe to serve as Supply Priest!

The Vestry is thrilled to share the news that Rev. Jane Beebe will serve as our Supply Priest three Sundays a month beginning Sept 13^th through December!  This is a temporary arrangement as Trinity begins the process of recruiting a new Rector.  Rev. Beebe is the priest at Christ Memorial Church in North Brookfield, where she has served for three years.  Some members of Trinity may remember that Jane served several months at Trinity during the time that Randy Wilburn was interim, as a Seminarian.  This is one of the requirements to be ordained in the Episcopal Church.  Jane has the “voice of an angel” and a smile that picks you up and wraps you in the most wonderful feeling of caring and warmth.  We are not certain what format we will be following for church in September – there may be several options available for our church family.  More about that as soon as we know!!

 Church reopening:

No plan has been submitted yet for approval to return to indoor services in our church building.  Once Jane Beebe is with us, we will talk with her about how and when we might want to re-open church and submit a plan accordingly.  For the next five weeks, Aug 9 – Sept 6, our LEM’s will be bringing us Morning Prayer on Facebook.

 How would you answer these questions?

The Vestry has been reading and discussing chapters from the Vestry Resource Guide, a handbook published by the Episcopal Church Foundation.  In July, the chapter focused on Vision and Strategic Thinking.  At the end of the chapter, the Vestry was asked to answer the question, “What are your congregation’s top three ministry strengths?”  The Vestry would like to hear how members of the congregation would answer this question.

While we are certainly blessed to have Jane Beebe coming in September to serve for three months as Supply Priest, we also need to be thinking about who we are as a faith community today, and where we believe God is leading us.  Identifying our top three ministry strengths will help us see who we are as a faith community now.  The next question to follow might be “Do we have the people resources and financial resources to continue these ministry strengths for the next five years.”  We each need to ask ourselves how much time do I have to give to Trinity beyond the time I spend worshipping, to support our ministries and help with church needs.  Our church has lost eight volunteers in the past two years and without church members to volunteer in our ministry programs, we will not be able to sustain them.

 Jubilee Ministries:

The Jubilee Cupboard Food Pantry and the Jubilee Diaper Ministry are open every Thursday from 9 – noon serving the Ware community.  The Diaper Ministry is also open the second Saturday of every month from 9 – 11am.

 August Birthdays:

Belated birthday wishes to Jean Andresen whose birthday was July 27^th – Sorry Jean – hope you had a wonderful day!!!

Rae Banigan (8-2), Chris Jeffery (8-9), Grace Rosendale (8-13), Matt Chagnon (8-22), and Conner Andrews (8-28).

Chuckle for the Day:

A five-year old boy was asked to say thanks before Sunday dinner.  He began his prayer by thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one.  Then he thanked God for his Mom and Dad, his two brothers and one sister, his grandfather and grandmother and all his aunts and uncles.  Then he began to thank God for the food.  The boy gave thanks for the pot roast, the gravy, the potatoes, the salad, and the pie and ice cream he knew were coming next.  Then he paused.  After a long silence, he asked his mother, “If I thank God for the broccoli, won’t he know I’m lying?”