Trinity Youth
& Family Ministries News
A weekly newsletter for children, youth, and families








  

November 4, 2015
 
Dear Trinity Youth and Families,
 
Children's Ministry
Our Sunday morning programs are in full swing and our children seem to be thriving. This week Singing Saints of all ages are beginning to prepare for the Christmas Pageant music at 9:00 in Angus Hall. There will be no Acolyte Training this week as Mary is in Disneyland with youth group (somebody's gotta go to the happiest place on earth!) 

Godly Play and Explorers meet this week in Trinity Hall at 10:00.
This week's lessons are outlined below.

Prime time in the Christmas Pageant is in production.  The pageant calls for some acting this year. If your child would like to have a speaking part in the pageant, please let Elise Jones know. We have six speaking parts. All speaking parts require attendance at rehearsals (12/6, 12/13, 12/20, and 12/24).

Youth Ministry 
Hello to the Happiest Place on Earth (after Trinity Church) . . . this weekend Youth Group is headed to Disneyland with a busload of other peninsula Episcopal youth. No Sunday evening Youth Group.

Thanks to our many helpful and needed volunteers (Meg, Ross, Tim, Elaine, Shelley, Robert, Elizabeth, Joanne and Steve) who helped make the youth group's service visit to 
Project We Hope a success last Sunday by driving, chaperoning tables, and preparing food! Learn more about our visit to Project We Hope below.

Questions or ideas, let's talk.  Contact Rev. Mary
With gratitude, joy, and blessings,
 
Mary 
Rev. Mary C. Greene
Associate Rector
For Children Youth and Families at Trinity Church

YFM 11/4/15







  
TrinityYouth Programs

 
 No Sunday Evening Program
This Week
Sun. Nov. 8
BECAUSE 
This is Peninsula Episcopal Youth Disney Weekend!
A few spots remain on the bus. Let Mary know if you'd like to go. 
Trinity Youth are headed to Disneyland this weekend with a bus full of Episcopal youth. Saturday is our day in the park. Sunday morning we will worship with our overnight hosts, St. Michaels and All Angels Episcopal Church. Stay tuned on Facebook for updates. 

ProjectWeHope






  
TrinityYouth Service
What Can We Do?

That's a question we wonder about regarding poverty and homelessness. Trinity, a loving community with a tradition of caring about people and working to right injustice, can be proud of its youth. They share this passion for social justice.

On Sunday night, Trinity's youth group (joined by Saint Mark's youth) served dinner and led card and table games like Uno, Scrabble, and Monopoly at Project We Hope (a community homeless shelter in East Palo Alto). 

As the question, "What can we do?" implies, social problems can seem too messy or demanding to enter into. But watching these 30 youth navigate the unfamiliar setting of a shelter and the sometimes ambiguous demands of the event Sunday night with compassion and joy gave me hope that we can continue our work to address even intractable seeming social problems like homelessness. 

As my son Ben said on our way home, "We didn't solve the problem of homelessness, but we fed a bunch (45) people who needed a meal and we offered them some fun that they might not have otherwise had that night. That's a start." 

The question about what to DO about homelessness and other social problems lingers, but our sense that we have only started and our discomfort with such injustice is what makes me proud of our youth. We may not know yet what to do, but we are continuing our work toward social justice. Way to go Trinity Youth and parents!










  







Sunday Morning Christian Formation

 SUNDAY
November 8

9:00 Singing Saints (No Acolyte Training)

10:00 Godly Play and Explorers 

Godly Play children will learn the story of the Ark and the Tent 
from Exodus 25-31, 35-40 

Thanks to Erika and Cathy for teaching!

This week's story reveals how Moses experienced God's presence on Mt. Sinai and in the tent of meeting. The Ark of the Covenant (holding the Ten Best Ways) and the tent tradition of early Judaism are described in today's story with an interesting model of the portable wood and animal skin tent that was carried through the desert by our forbearers. Inside the tent go little reproductions of an altar, a basin, the ark, and other perfectly sized pieces for little hands to retell the story and for our children to imagine themselves at the time of Moses.

Explorers will chart a course toward gratitude and giving from this week's lectionary: Mark 12:38-44

During the last weeks of Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle B, the Gospel of Mark, our primary guide, continues. The kingdom of God is open for all people. We hear this message in the readings about the rich man, the disciples jockeying for position, the blind man, the saints, the poor widow, and even Pilate as he queries Jesus about being a king. We don't have to pass an entrance exam; we are already in the kingdom. Through all the changes that occur in our lives, what will not change is God's love for each of us. The kingdom that Jesus is proclaiming is already here and yet is also still to come - the undercurrent of Advent, which is coming near.


Upcoming for Children and Families

Nov. 22 is a
5:05 Family Liturgy Night
Followed by Advent Wreath Making 
and All Church Dinner at 6:00 p.m.
 
All ages are encouraged at the fun and child-friendly 5:05 Family Liturgy in the Chapel. Singing Saints will bless us with their voices and our growing acolyte corps will offer inspiring liturgical grace! Afterward we will make our way into Trinity Hall for a yummy dinner and eventful time of Advent wreath making to enable our entry into Advent.  

Thanks to Jane for spearheading the Wreath-making!
 
The Christmas Pageant is Coming!
Rehearsals begin December 6 at 9:00 a.m.
Rehearsals at 9:00 a.m. 12/6 and 12/13, 
1:00 pm on 12/20, and 2:00 12/24

Thanks to our incredibly gifted and indefatigable Elise for her direction of our Singers and Actors! 

Parents Day Out is December 12

Let Trinity Youth and Parents care for you children in Angus Hall from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. so you can attend to Christmas shopping or enjoy a nice Christmas Tea . . . Whatever you decide to do, you children will be happy and safe in the company of our Trinity teens and parents. 


 
    Children and Family Ministries Program Year