Trinity Church in Menlo Park
With our Trinity kids either already back to school or just about to start, we will be blessing children, teachers, and their backpacks this Sunday during the 10 am service -- a blessing to start the year!


 
Please join us at the 10:00 am service this Sunday as we welcome the Rev. Ed Bacon as our guest preacher, giving a sermon entitled, "Using Jesus's Etiquette Book This Election Year."  We are fortunate to have been given the opportunity to hear from Ed, who is acknowledged as one of the best preachers in The Episcopal Church.  Recently retired as the Rector of All Saints, Pasadena, he is known as a powerful speaker on issues of faith and justice for all.  The local blog InMenlo has done a great article on Ed for his appearance at Trinity -- read it here!

Ed is also the author of a book, 8 Habits of Love:  Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind, published in 2012.  It is described as "a spiritual guidebook to living through love and reconnection, not fear and isolation."    It is based on the belief that "every person can live a full and creative life if they can learn to move through troubling emotions such as fear, anger, and sadness to find the beloved within themselves."  You can order the book from your favorite bookstore, and also find it here.

We are also looking forward to Sunday, September 11, when we will hold our annual Celebration Sunday that signals the kick-off of a new year of life and ministry together. We will have one service on that day, at 10:00 am, to bring the whole congregation together, and then enjoy lunch and some fun afterwards.  We will also be sharing our new three-year plan with you, and inviting you to offer your time and talent in some particular ministry opportunities for the first year of that plan.

Peace,
MatthewSignatureGenuine  
 
P.S.  The schedule for my Monday evening OR Wednesday morning classes has been set for 2016-2017, and will focus on mystical Christianity.  You can see the schedule HERE.

P.P.S.   See below in this email for information on our Sunday Formation Sessions for adults and this year's Bishop's Ranch Retreat!
UPCOMING EVENTS
On Monday you should have received the Fall planning email from the Trinity Staff. We have so much coming up in this program year and we don't want you to miss any of it! You can see all our upcoming events, links to affinity groups, calendars, and adult education by accessing the archived planning email here.

August 28 - Guest Preacher, The Rev. Ed Bacon
September 11 - Celebration Sunday 
 September 17 - Outreach Work Day at Redwood Family House
September 30 - October 2 - All Church Retreat
October 16 - Bishop's Visitation to Trinity
October 22 - Hearts for Justice

All of our upcoming events can be viewed here.
CHILDREN, YOUTH, & FAMILIES NEWS
 
This Coming Sunday

Children are invited to worship with their parents this Sunday! Our nursery, located in Angus Hall, is open every Sunday for younger children. The children's liturgy will kickoff on Sept. 11th and Godly Play, Explorers, and Youth Group will kickoff on September 18th.

Fall Family Ministry Formation Programs Begin Sept 11th

Sept 11th at 10:00 -- Children's Liturgy Kick Off in the Chapel 
Sept 18th at 10:00 -- Children's Godly Play and Explorers Resume in Trinity Hall 
Sept 18th at 11:15 -- Singing Saints for K-6th graders
Sept 18th at 11:15 -- Confirmation Prep Begins for youth in 8th-12th grade
Sept 18th at  6:00 -- Youth Group Resumes in Trinity Hall (Parents join from 6-6:30)


SUNDAY FORMATION SESSIONS & BISHOP'S RANCH RETREAT
With the success of our last Lenten Series, we will be offering several Sunday Formation Sessions this year.  As a result of our recent planning process, the theme for these Sunday Sessions in 2016-2017 will be "Episcopal 101:  Faith & Life in the Episcopal Tradition".  The first two of these Sunday Sessions will be on September 18 and 25, and will focus on the ethos or spirit of our tradition, captured by the term "via media" or "middle way".  As we did this past Lent, we will have a quick lunch following the 10 am service, followed by learning time, all to be done by 12:45 pm.   Children will be invited to practice with the Singing Saints children's choir in preparation for the Bishop's Visit on October 16.  More information on these sessions, and all our Sunday Session offerings this year, may be found here.
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Our annual All-Church Retreat at Bishop's Ranch is coming up!  We begin Friday evening, September 30, and run through Sunday morning, October 2.  The retreat provides generous amounts of free time to relax, reconnect, and deepen relationships.  A programmatic element is included for Saturday morning, and this year we will be following our "Episcopal 101" formation theme with a focus on the history and meaning of the various parts of the Eucharist.   All are invited, but space is limited, so we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible. Confirmation youth will have special programming at the retreat and should attend. Information, including online registration link, may be found here. 
 
UPCOMING TRINITY EVENTS
Men of Trinity Dinner
Wednesday September 7th at 7 pm at the home of Bob Cleveland
 
Join with the Men of Trinity for dinner and fellowship! We will be taking this opportunity, in addition to enjoying each other's company, to do some planning and visioning work for the men's ministry at Trinity. If you have questions, or if you want to give your input but cannot attend please send your thoughts to Rev. Matthew. 
Outreach Work Day at Redwood Family House 
Saturday, September 17
Join Trinity Outreach for a work day on Saturday, September 17, at Redwood Family House. The facility is operated by LifeMoves to provide transitional housing in Redwood City for 9 homeless families with 15-25 children, and we will be offering our hands and hearts to help maintain and improve it. Volunteers are needed to prep and paint railings and other areas, build a cover for the sandbox, and do some general landscape clean-up of the playground area. Our goal is to complete all these projects on September 17th so that future work days at Redwood Family House can focus on other needs. You can learn more about our upcoming work with Redwood Family House on the Trinity blog. 
 
Would you like to help brighten the environment for these families? To volunteer you can sign up online by clicking here  or if you can contact Jim Bramlett or Barbara Newton.  

Save the Date - Hearts for Justice: Addiction, Recovery, and Grace
October 22, 2016

Save the Date for this year's Hearts for Justice conference! We will be focusing on addiction and recovery with two great speakers: Fr. Tom Weston and The Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen. You can read more about them here.
 
Want to volunteer help make Hearts for Justice happen? Please contact Rev. Elizabeth Riley.

Stephen Ministry Training This Fall

Two years ago Trinity launched a Stephen Ministries program. Stephen Ministries is a one-on-one pastoral care program. It trains members of the congregation to offer ongoing pastoral care to individuals in the midst of transition, change, or life hardship. Stephen Ministers are weekly prayer partners to those they minister too. Stephen Ministies work with the clergy to provide long term pastoral care and comfort to our community. 
 
We are currently looking for new members of the Trinity community to join our current Stephen Ministry Team. You can learn more about Stephen Ministry here. If you are interested or have questions, please contact Rev. Elizabeth Riley.

No OWLS in September

There will be no OWLS luncheon or speaker in September. Trinity's "Celebration Weekend" is Sunday, September 11, so we hope you will put that date on your calendar for your first Fall parish event! We will resume OWLS luncheons and speakers in October with Ron Mancini talking to us about NASA on October 14. Rhonda Smith will be our speaker on Nov. 11, sharing her outreach ministry at a refugee camp on the Greece/Macedonia border. See you all soon, for interesting, informative presentations by our own parishioners.

Thank You For a Very Successful Backpack Drive

We exceeded our goal for the Backpack Drive thanks to the enthusiastic response and generosity of so many Trinity parishioners. Our goal was to collect 20 backpacks filled with basic school supplies so that every child at Redwood Family House would have one before school started. All of the backpack and supply request tags were pulled on the very first Sunday it was announced! 

In addition to the backpacks and supplies purchased, many parishioners also donated generously to the drive, which enabled Trinity to also provide each child with a small Gift Card to use toward purchasing required uniforms and back to school clothing. The children and their parents were very appreciative of these gifts. One boy was so excited he wanted to wear his backpack to bed that night. Many thanks to all of you who shopped or donated toward the Backpack Drive to make it a huge success.
THIS COMING SUNDAY
August 28th, 2016
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
    
5:05 Service:
There is no 5:05 Service during summer. The 5:05 returns September 18th.
 
Did you miss last Sunday? Listen to the sermon here!

UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS
Twilight Fashion Show for Catherine's Center
August 30th 5:30-7:30 pm at Trinity Church

Catherine's Center will be hosting their annual fashion show fundraiser at Trinity on Tuesday August 30th. Join us for cocktails, mocktails, and heavy hors d'oeuvres to help support the work of Catherine's Center. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased here.
 
Multi faith  Peace Walk & Picnic
September 11, 2 pm
 
Join with other local houses of faith for a multi faith peace walk in September 11th! The walk starts at Congregation Etz Chayim, Spark Church and St. Andrews United Methodist Church parking lots, 4111 & 4161 Alma St., Palo Alto. You can learn more bout it here.
 
LINKS
The Trinity Church calendar can be found here.

A complete list of upcoming Trinity events can be found here.

For information about online giving, and other information about Trinity, please visit our website: www.trinitymenlopark.org
 
 
 
PRAYER
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~ The Book of Common Prayer

Sincerely,
 
Trinity Church Communications
Trinity Church in Menlo Park
650-326-2083