|
 From the Vicar... Living faith: "Believing in" vs. "believing that" Over the next few weeks, as the Easter season continues to unfold, we will stay with the risen Christ, and explore the implications of what "Christ is risen" actually means. We will see how fundamental the significance of the Resurrection is, because it affirms who Jesus was, proves what he achieved by dying on the cross, and addresses eternal life as transcending life and death. If you read on after the Gospels into the rest of the New Testament, you find a community that very much lives its faith. This is spelled out in the story of the emerging Church recorded in Acts, and then in the letters of Paul and others that follow. "Living faith" is beyond checking off the boxes of "believing that" God exists and that Jesus was a real person to "believing in" - having a faith relationship with a Savior who is alive in our experience. In the book of Acts, written by Luke, the key to this "living faith" is clearly the Holy Spirit - who, in simple terms, makes Christ real to these post-Resurrection believers. We, who live twenty-one centuries later, may have a bit more difficulty with the Resurrection than they did. It was immediate for them, and within their own personal experience. For us, we have to rely on ancient words and witness translated from Hebrew and Greek and it begs the question: Are these words through which God continues to speak today? Do we "get" what it means to "believe in" the Resurrection and not just "believe that" there was one? It is the Holy Spirit who helps us make this transition from intellectual exercise to life-transforming reality. Once we make that transition, it affects the way we approach worship, the way we behave, the way we care, the way we look at life and death. It is rooted in "relationship," and made real in much we do as Christians, like prayer. "Living faith" is not just based on feeling or the feel-good factor of something religious. Easter faith reminds us powerfully that what we believe is far more than accepting facts or dogma, and far more than belonging to an institution. Easter faith is about Christ with us today and real for us today - alive! It is about "believing in" Christ, not just "believing that" Christ did certain things. Fr. Chip Mutual Ministry Review open forum at Christ Church This past Sunday, Trinity Church parishioners participated in the first of two open forums to discuss our recent Mutual Ministry Review. This Sunday, Christ Church will have its turn. The meeting will follow coffee hour and will be held in the church. Included in the agenda will be an introduction to Christ Church's upcoming Capital Campaign. Your Bishop's Committee
Coming up next...Trinity's 60th anniversary! 
Now that the Easter season is underway, we can begin turning our attention to our next big milestone...Trinity's 60th anniversary! The celebration kicks off on Trinity's actual 60th anniversary: Trinity Sunday, May 31. We will have a special Eucharist in honor of the occasion that day, with a festive event (still being planned) to follow. Between then and the end of 2015, we plan to theme a number of events around this milestone, so stay tuned. Your ideas for ways to help us celebrate are welcomed.
Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer
Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. About once every six weeks, we will instead using the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.
In our prayers the next two weeks, we give God thanks for...
|
Apr. 19
|
Soup Kitchen teams at Trinity Church; Bob Main & Belinda Wilkes of Trinity Church; Melanie Harden, Jim Heinz & Jeffrey Heinz of Christ Church
| |
Apr. 26
|
(concluding collect for our Shared Ministry)
|
Jazz Night at Hobbs House - Trinity Church
Come listen and dance to the
Epsico-Cats Jazz Band! We will have hors d'ouvres and desserts.
Date: May 2, 2015
Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Place: Hobbs House - Trinity Church
200 High Street, Hampton, NH
Tickets are $10 per adult, and $5 for children under 18 and seniors.
Calendar drawing winners
Throughout the month of April, we will be publishing the winners of our daily Calendar fundraiser drawings. Cindy Robinson will draw a name each day and the winner will be notified they've won - and how to retrieve their gift. All names go back in the basket - so each person has thirty chances to win. And no prize is worth less than $50! Here are our winners for the April 8-14 drawings ("GC" means "gift card"):
|
Date
|
Prize(s)
|
Winner
| |
Apr. 8
|
$30 GC: Dunkin Donuts
$25 GC: Market Basket
|
Craig Davis
| |
Apr. 9
|
$50 GC: Hair of the Dog
dog grooming
$25 GC: Shaw's
|
Anne Newell
| |
Apr. 10
|
Farm & Home Gift Basket valued at $50
|
Anne Vigorito
(sold by Lynda Swartz)
| |
Apr. 11
|
$15 GC: 99 Restaurant
$35 Black Beaded Lanyard
Bonus: $50 GC: Market Basket
|
Gary Dozier
| |
Apr. 12
|
$25 GC: Applebee's Restaurant
$25 GC: Hannaford
|
Cassie Leavitt
| |
Apr. 13
|
$50 GC: Amazon
|
Joanne Murawski
(our first two-time winner!)
| |
Apr. 14
|
$25 GC: Atkinson Country Club
$25 GC: Market Basket
|
Robert & Phoebe Bischoff
|
2015 Lay Leadership Institute
Saturday May 9 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Rundlett Middle School, 144 South Street, Concord
 It is now time to get ready for the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire's 2015 Lay Leadership Institute. This full and exciting day is your chance to meet and network with other congregations, while learning new skills and coming to a fuller understanding of how your Church works, its structure, and your role. All members of the congregation willing to work in the governance and ministries of the church (as well as all members of the Bishop's committees and church committees) are encouraged to enroll in this Diocesan program dedicated to the preparation and formation of our congregational leaders. Please refer to this website Lay Leadership Institute for further information about the 2015 Lay Leadership Institute, including detailed seminar content and the registration schedule. Blessings, Judith Esmay Canon for Lay Leadership; Dean, Lay Leadership Institute (603) 643-9085 Healing Service at Trinity On Saturday, April 18 at 5 p.m., we will have our next service of Holy Eucharist and healing at Trinity Church. This service includes healing of mind, body, and spirit through prayers, laying on of hands, and anointing with holy oil. Everyone is welcome. Our next healing service at Christ Church will be on Sunday, May 3.
Temple Israel invites community to dedication of Holocaust Torah
Temple Israel, 200 State St., Portsmouth, has been chosen to be the custodian of a Holocaust Torah on permanent loan from the Westminster Memorial Scroll Trust. They have invited the Portsmouth area faith community to join them for a special Yom HaShoah Holocaust Memorial Service on Sunday, April 19th at 3 p.m. Area clergy, including our own Fr. Chip, will be on hand for the celebration. Coffee and refreshments follow. All are welcome.
New altar cross now in use at Trinity
Easter Day marked the debut of our new altar cross at Trinity. You may recall that Bishop +Rob dedicated it last November at his visit to our Shared Ministry. It is given in memory of Greta and Haydn Trowbridge by Barbara Carlson.
| 
