Christmas Blessings!

Trinity Friends and Family,
 

As you gather with friends and family this Christmas, may your hearts and homes be filled with joyful laughter, happy memories and love.  Travelling mercies for those of you who are travelling.  

 
The offices will be closed Christmas Day and will re-open on Monday January 4th.  For emergency pastoral care, phones and THIS email will be checked periodically.

Christmas Eve Services – Thursday December 24th 7 pm and 8:15 pm

The All ages Family service begins at 7 pm.  We celebrate the Christmas story with scripture, carols and a whole lot of joyful noise.  A brief Communion service will follow shortly after.  All are welcome to both of these services.  Our nursery is available for your convenience but will not be staffed on Christmas Eve – children of all ages are more than welcome at both services!  

 
Sunday December 27th – Worship 10:30 am
Dress Down Sunday School for the kids – popcorn and a movie
 
Sunday December 3rd – Epiphany Worship 10:30 am

The Joyful Bells ring in the New Year during our morning worship.
 
Upcoming Worship Services and Special Events
 
• Sunday January 10th  Baptism Sunday, 10:30 am
                   (contact the office ASAP with your interest) 
• Friday January 15th    Trinity Soup Tasting Night!
• Friday January 22nd   The Trinity Coffeehouse  Sign up your act! 
• Sunday January 24th  Robbie Burns Sunday,10:30 am
 
 
Merry Christmas!
 

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Your Generosity this Week!

Your Generosity This Week!

Members of the Trinity Church family are regularly engaged with our community throughout the year–donating our time, our talents, and our treasure. This has been extraordinarily true in recent days as we lend talents in singing, playing, acting, serving, and giving—Thank you:

  • The JOY Band Concert last Sunday raised $1250–money that has been shared equally between Trinity’s Food Shelf and the North Bay Warming Centre
  • Wednesday night’s annual reading of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” raised $2395 for “The Gathering Place
  • At the Dickens evening, the winner of the silent auction for the “Bee-Attitudes” quilt was announced—with gratitude to Sue Elliott, $500 has been donated to “Hope2Kenya.”
  • Mayor Al McDonald was on-hand at the Dickens reading, to receive a cheque for the North Bay Syrian Refugee project. The Trinity Sunday School, in cooperation with the J.O.Y. Band and FIRST Team 1305 Robotics, presented the mayor with a cheque for $3850! (Not bad for a Sunday School and its supporters!)
  • Trinity’s UCW has just distributed over 55 “Christmas Cheer Plates” to express love and care for members and friends around the city
  • The Trinity Youth Group is presently assembling its regular 150+ Christmas Bags to show love and support for youth and adults in need in our community.
  • Your Advent pill-bottle donations are being tallied this week in support of “PackSac Smiles” and “Sleeping Children Around the World
  • It’s anticipated that every light on the “Tree of Hope” in our sanctuary will be lit by Christmas Eve, ensuring a further $500 donation to “Hope2Kenya”!

 

 

Trinity Weekly Update – Advent Love

Hello Trinity friends!
This Sunday December 20th  is the fourth Sunday in Advent. We light our fourth Advent candle – the candle of Love.  During the morning’s worship, the Sunday School will be presenting their Christmas Pageant.  A Shepherd’s Tale was written by Brenda McLay and directed by Darlene Laferriere.  Come on out and let the children fill you with the Christmas spirit while they sing and tell the birth story!

 
A reminder to the Sunday School that the dress rehearsal is tomorrow morning at 9 am and the call time for Sunday morning is 10 am.  We will meet in the gym. 
 
Following the service there will be a cold potluck lunch.  Please bring your potluck dishes to share.  
 

For the seasons of Advent and Christmas 2015, we’ve asked artists to help grant us new eyes in which to examine the themes of Advent and Christmas. The art is on display downstairs in our Sunday School Hall and has been featured on our weekly bulletin covers.  Some of the Advent Art is available for purchase or for Silent Auction in the Sunday School Room.  If you would like to purchase a piece, you can contact the artist directly or speak with Rev. Ted or Lisa.

 

ADVENT BIBLE STUDY WITH REV. KATHY
Sunday December 20th from 2 – 3.30pm in the Fireside Room. As we worship together, examine the scriptures, and ponder the art of William Kurelek in his book ‘Northern Nativity’ we will seek to find the meaning of the coming of the Christ Child for each of us in the here and now of our lives. All are welcome.

Longest Night Service – Monday December 21st 7 pm 

On Monday Dec. 21st at 7:00 pm, members of Trinity United, along with friends from St. Andrew’s United, will gather for a service of heartfelt string music and candlelit prayer in the Trinity sanctuary. It’s an opportunity for a spacious pause, to contemplate the hopes, fears, and prayers that fill that longest night of the

year.

Christmas Eve Services – Thursday December 24th 7 pm and 8:15 pm

The All ages Family service begins at 7 pm.  We celebrate the Christmas story with scripture, carols and a whole lot of joyful noise.  A brief Communion service will follow shortly after.  All are welcome to both of these services.  Our nursery is available for your convenience but will not be staffed on Christmas Eve – children of all ages are more than welcome at both services!  
~~~~~~~~~
As you prepare your hearts and homes for Christmas, take pause and give thanks to all the people who act in courage and love by offering radical and gracious hospitality to those in need this season.  People who donate items or money to an outreach organization, people who volunteer their time to help and those who invite someone for Christmas dinner who would otherwise be alone – your act of love truly is what Christmas is all about!

May the promise of the Christ Child fill your hearts and homes with hope, with peace, with joy and with love!  

Advent Joy – Trinity this week

Hello Trinity Friends,

 
This Sunday December 13th we light the third candle in our Advent wreath – the candle of joy! What better way to celebrate Advent joy than with heartfelt and joyous music? 
Trinity’s choir will lift their voices and our hearts with a presentation of “The Mystery and the Majesty” during our morning worship service.
 
Come back later for the J.O.Y. Band and J.O.Y. Band Too’s Christmas Concert. The Carol Sing-a-long begins at 1:30 followed by the concert at 2 pm.  Be sure to get here early for a good seat!  Admission is by free will offering (All proceeds to be shared between Trinity’s Food Shelf and the Community Warming Centre). 

 

The Sunday School continues to work on the Christmas Pageant which will be presented next Sunday December 20th during morning worship.  There will be a dress rehearsal for all children on Saturday December 19th from 9 – 10:30/11

 
A couple of announcements and community events are highlighted below.
 
St. Andrew’s United Church – Lessons and Carols Candlelit Service
Sunday December 13th at 7:30 pm at St. Andrew’s
 
The Gift of Giving –  Thank-you for thinking of others and for your generous donations to a number of outreach groups.
 
Trinity’s Advent Offerings are going towards supporting PackSac Smiles – a wonderful homegrown charity that provides backpacks filled with clothing, school supplies and personal items to children in need AND Sleeping Children Around the World, a grass roots organization that provides bed kits for children in underdeveloped countries around the world.
 
For a $5 donation, you can turn on a light (and take a mitten decoration for your tree) on the Hope2Kenya Tree of Hope in the Sanctuary.  Your donation will help to bring hope to children in Kenya.
 
Christmas Gifts and money to purchase needed items are collected each year for Trinity’s Christmas Gift Bag Outreach.  Each bag provides gifts for youth and adults in our community who otherwise may not receive Christmas gifts. 150 Christmas gifts are delivered to the Crisis Centre, the Nipissing Attendance Centre, the Transition House, the Ojibway Women’s Lodge, patients in the Mental Health Unit at the hospital and the Christmas Day Dinner at Pro Cathedral. Donations will be collected until Wednesday December 16th.
 
Advent Art For Sale
Some of the Advent artists have offered to sell their art sharing the proceeds with Trinity Arts.  If you are interested in purchasing any of the wonderful art pieces please visit the Sunday School Hall.  Please note that not all the art is for sale – some is for display only.  Thank-you!
 
Trinity Arts present a Reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Come out and join your friends for an enchanting evening of Yuletide delight! Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is a timeless tale of rottenness and redemption. Join us at Trinity United Church (Ferguson at McIntyre) on Wednesday December 16th for our 6:30pm sing-a-long of Christmas favourites, followed by the Dickens classic at 7pm. Tickets are $15 (Children under 12 – free) and refreshments will be served. In true Dickens fashion, all ticket proceeds go to North Bay’s soup kitchen, “The Gathering Place.”
 
Celebrity leaders include: Tracey Berti, Darlene Laferriere, Jen Ritchie, Rod Carley, Josh Bainbridge, Anthony Rota, and Reverend Ted Harrison. 
Musical guests include the Heartbeat Barbershop Quartet, Gateway Harmony and the Baytones.
 
May you be a beacon of light and joy to those around you and may you find much to smile about this week!