TRINITY EVANGELICAL
LUTHERAN
CHURCH
TOPTON,
PA
FLOWER SPONSORS
4TH – Judy Bond
in Memory of Michael Bond
11TH – June Fisher in
Honor of her Birthday and Veteran’s Day
18TH – Steve Schucker
25TH – Sue Radclilffe
Trexler and Julie Radcliffe Atallah in Memory of Earl Trexler.
BULLETIN SPONSORS
4TH – Eric and Elisa
Moyer in Honor of Leon’s 3rd Birthday
11TH – June Fisher in
Honor of her Birthday and Veteran’s Day
18TH - OPEN
25TH –OPEN
ETERNAL FLAME – Nancy Guldin in
Loving Memory of her husband, Reynold J. Guldin, parents Mr. and Mrs. Karl
Fritch, grandparents Mr. and Mrs. George Epting and other Loved Ones
Letter
from the President
Sometimes God splits the seas. Other times, he pulls what has been split
back together, and stitches it up.
(Shannan Martin, “The Ministry of ordinary places)
In
the book of John, we read about John and Andrew as ordinary men who by the
power of the Spirit recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God. Compelled by his presence, eager and curious,
their first questions were stunningly basic.
Who was He, really? How did He live?
Jesus’
response? Come and see. John 1:39
No
surprise, the Son of Man (Luke 7:34) led with an invitation to open their eyes
and join Him in the work of the kingdom.
Are we doing that? At Trinity,
you can witness it happening. “God’s
work. Our hands” is more than words on a
bracelet.
The
life of Jesus tracks a sensory-rich narrative.
We read in Luke of burning incense, of chanting crowds, and angel voices
booming; of dusty roads, many shepherds, and a young girl who was “obviously
pregnant.” Heaven came down as a Baby
with dimpled hands and a dark swirl of hair and soon, men were tracking the
night sky, wide awake with wanting.
Jesus
grew, drawn to the wildest ones, those most likely to be written off as unfit,
unworthy, in need of a lesson on the ways of blending in with the religious
culture surrounding them. Do you see
yourself, your family, your neighbor in that group? Have hope.
By
no mistake, it was John the Baptist who plunged Jesus’ head into the water,
upsetting authority and the cultural code.
Where the world saw an untamed man, crazed, insane, disgusting, and
disrespectful, Jesus saw a worthy protest, choosing him as his line in Galilean
dust.
Jesus
came to us as a person with eyes, ears, a mouth, a nose, fingerprints and hair
follicles. He cried. He feasted.
He walked until his feet ached.
He reached back after a long day and squeezed the tension from His own
sun-weathered neck. He got goose
bumps. He took naps. He felt alone sometimes, because He felt
alive.
He engaged the world by paying
attention to His corner of it and really being with the people near him. He chose well by choosing the humble and the
overlooked. He is asking the same of us.
continued
A life hidden in Christ means we
will continuously crave more of God. The
good news is, He’s in the faces we see and in the stories we hear which are playing
out in the most ordinary of places.
Though
He doesn’t need us, He wants us near.
And so, the invitation stands.
Come. See.
Think about it: Jesus came to be
near us . . . the wild ones, the written off ones, the unworthy ones. He put on bones, wriggled into a suit of
flesh, and slipped into fragility and weakness.
For us. To know us and be
known.
Come and See at Trinity! Come to Sunday’s services; Sunday school;
Catechetical class; Bible study; serve Jesus by being his hands and feet to
spread the good news: Christ is alive
and he lives in all of us.
Peace,
Dave Ehrig, Council
President
Saturday,
November 3rd 5:30pm Worship/Holy Communion
Sunday,
November 4th 9AM Worship/Holy Communion
All Saint’s Sunday 
Sunday,
November 11th 9AM Worship
Veteran’s Day Breakfast
Sunday,
November 18th 9AM Worship
Special guest Tim Kreider
Fellowship to follow in the Social Hall
Sunday,
November 25th 9 AM Worship/HC
Christ the King Sunday
Pastoral Emergency Contacts for November – in the event of a Pastoral emergency, please
contact:
October
31st – November 10th – Pastor Arthur Hahn
610-682-2060
November
11th-21st – Pastor Doty -484-553-1162
Please check weekly bulletins for changes or
additions to this schedule.
TAKING THE STEW OUT OF STEWARDSHIP
I have been asked to offer some thoughts
and reflections on the topic of that often dodged Biblical concept of Stewardship.
In studying the Cain and Abel story we get to the root of it all. It has to do
with ATTITUDE. Remember, Cain offered his sacrificial portion of the farmer's
crop to God which was rejected. Why? Because Cain had an attitude of greediness
giving God the poorest and least of HIS crop. This was HIS crop HE worked hard
for and begrudgingly offered it to His Lord. It was kind of like his
"CHURCH DUES". That wasn't bad
enough........ So his brother Abel finds favor with his Lord, God by giving a portion
of God's herd as a sacrifice of JOY for all his Lord had given him including
God's HERD OF ANIMALS....not his. True Offering is a kind of communication of
THANKSGIVING and JOY to our Lord for all he has given us.
Is it any wonder the first Murder is
recorded because of jealousy and hatred over the ATTITUDE of selfish giving vs.
Abel's joyful giving. We at Trinity struggle over the financial problems of
paying the bills and moving on. Soul searching is badly needed by all of us.
Are we in Cain's Camp of giving begrudgingly to our Lord and His work, or do we
find ourselves in Abel's camp of Joyful giving to our Lord who has given us all
we have. If we take the Stew out of Stewardship....... our Church Council
meetings will be much shorter. And we can focus on building and strengthening
the SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP our Father, God so desires with our Glorious Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
Stewardship is what happens after we say "I
believe"! Peace going
forward.
Art
Hahn, Pastor Emeritus
Prayer
List: Betty Bleiler, Elaine DeLong,
Goldie Geist, Betty Hertzog, Marjorie Moyer, David Kistler, Debra Schlegel
(Sister of Karen Epting), and Tommie Stoudt.
Prayer
for Long-Term Healing:
Dominic Aguilar, Leon Conrad, Janet Ferry, Daryl Gerhart, Marlene Hacker, Mae
Hertzog, Dennis Hilbert, Pam Kelhart, Niki Nolte, Jackie O’Neill, Jackson
Radcliffe, Rayanne Rauenzahn, Debbie Reinhard, Clifford Roth, Ella Smith, Gid
Waterman, Brenda Younger, James Mabry and all of our military personnel, law
enforcement officers and their families.
Please join us for the Veteran’s Day Breakfast on
November 11th after worship.
All are welcome. A food donation
sign-up sheet and an attendance sheet are located on the table in the overflow
area. If you are a Veteran, please
contact the office 610-682-7352.
Angel Tree – Names will be
available November 18th. Please
return all gifts by December 3rd.
Breakfast with Santa will be held on December 8th
at 9am. This event is for children ages
0-10 years. You can sign up for this
event November 4th – 18th. The form will be in the overflow area. If you are unable to sign up at church, you
can contact the office. Please leave a
message with your child’s name, age, phone number and number of adults
attending the breakfast. If you would
like to donate food, the form is also in the overflow area.
We
will be baking Christmas cookies for our
shut-ins. We need volunteers to
bake. Please have the cookies to the
church by December 10th. We
will deliver cookies on 12/12.
Social
Ministry APPRECIATES any and all food donations. Without the congregation’s generosity, we
could not hold these events. MANY
THANKS!
Trinity’s Paint Can Collection! Give
your old paint a new purpose!
Starting
10/21/2018, Trinity will be collecting leftover LATEX paint cans for our
upcoming mural painting projects.
Reduce, reuse and recycle! Please
help our cause and our planet at the same time!
We are collecting all size cans and colors, but only latex paint
please. Whatever goes unused will be
safely recycled! Please bring your paint
starting 10/21/18 – Our church walls thank you in advance! The collection will be in the overflow
area. Thank you to Meghan Quier and
Leslie Grossman for leading this project!
Greetings,
I want to thank you for your patience as I
transition back into a role that I worked in many years ago. There have been many changes, and I am
working on learning those changes. Thank
you to all who have been helping me along the way. There are many…and I thank all of you. I would like to specifically thank Marie for
graciously answering questions whenever they arise. I also want to thank Wanda Golden & Steve
Schucker for their help. Please check
the newsletter calendar for specific office hours. Hours are also posted in bulletins and on the
church door.
Please fill out the technology survey that
was included in this publication. Please
include email addresses and cell phone numbers for those aged 16 and older in
the household on the form. Thank you! Andrea
WORSHIP AND MUSIC
The
next Worship and Music Committee meeting will be held on November 12th
at 7PM.
CHOIR NOTES:
SENIOR CHOIR: Practices will be November 1, 8,15 and 29
at 7PM.
CHILDREN’S CHOIR: Practices will
be held prior to Sunday School at 10:30am.
Dates to sing: To be Determined.
ADULT BELL CHOIR: Rehearsals will be November 4, 11, 18 (if
need), December 9 and 16 at 10:45am. We
will be ringing October 28, November 25th at the 9AM service and
December 24 at the 9PM service.
CHILDREN’S CHIME
CHOIR: Practices will be November 4th,
November 18th, December 9th at 10:15AM. We will be ringing November 11th
and 16th at the 9AM service and December 24th at the 6PM
service.
We
are always looking for more ringers and singers for all of the choirs! Come
join the fun and fellowship of our church family.
Happy
Thanksgiving to everyone. 
God
Bless and Peace
Steve
and Wanda
Welcome
to our Church Family, August Harold Volker.
He is the son of Matthew and Devon (Fritch) Volker and grandson of Judy
Fritch. He was baptized on October 6,
2018.
FROM: T-O-M (Trinity Outreach
Ministry)
On Sunday, 10/21, we celebrated “Harvest
Home” by wrapping up our 7-week donation project to our local food pantry. To all who participated, THANK YOU! This project ran in conjunction with the ELCA project
“GOD’S WORK. OUR HANDS.” I can’t think
of anything more appropriate that we could have done than to help those less
fortunate than ourselves. Keep up the
good work remembering that hunger is a year-round feed-need! We are considering establishing one Sunday
per month as a food pantry donation Sunday – more news to follow!
Starting Sunday, October 28, we have a new
project: winter caps or hats, coats, gloves, and socks which will be taken to
Reading to be distributed to underprivileged children. Please join us for collections on Sunday,
November 11th and Sunday, November 25th. Help us help young people to be a little
warmer this winter season.
Finally, we invite you to participate in
“Just A Drop in the Bucket.” In
conjunction with a project of the North Eastern Synod of the ELCA, we are
attempting to raise monies for the victims in Georgia and Florida of Hurricane
Michael. During our church services in
November and December, our young people will go through the congregation armed
with buckets. Your part is to throw your
pocket change (or bills if you prefer) into the buckets. Whatever we collect will be sent to the Synod
for the victims of Hurricane Michael.
(Of course, if you wish to donate a larger amount than just coins, you can
do that also! Just drop it in the
bucket!) We will start the campaign October
28th and do it every Sunday through December 30th.
Did someone say
GIFT CARDS? We will again be selling SCRIPS Gift Cards
as a fundraiser for Trinity. Order forms
and a list of available gift cards for purchase are available on the overflow
table or in the office. Orders/money are due 12/2/18. Checks should be made payable to
Trinity. Any questions, please contact
Debbie Reinhard
Welcome
Addyson Charlotte Quier to our Church Family. She is the daughter of Jonathan
and Meghan Quier. She was baptized on
September 2, 2018.
TRINITY ELC FUND SUMMARY INCOME
Operational
Fund Sept.
2018 2018 YTD
Ash
Wednesday $ - $604.00
Benevolence $55.00 $1,114.50
Bulletins $ 20.00 $680.00
Christmas $ - $20.00
Current
Fund $8, 670.00 $80,606.30
Easter $ - $2,565.00
Endowment $ - $ -
Eternal
Flame $20.00 $120.00
Flowers $30.00 $665.00
Good
Friday $ - $915.00
Initial
Offering $ - $413.00
Lent $ - $905.00
Brandywine
Food Pantry $ - $ -
Maundy
Thursday $ - $765.00
Miscellaneous $ - $24.62
Sunday
School $ - $4.00
Thanksgiving $ - $ -________
$8,795.00 $89,401.42
Designated Funds Sept. 2018 2018
YTD
Building $180.00 $4,890.75
Capital
Campaign $115.00 $1,409.00
CE
Scholarship Fund $80.00 $390.00
James’
Ministry $55.00 $397.00
Memorial
Fund $ - $1,070.00
Music
Department $800.00 $13,845.47
Organ $35.00 $710.52
Slice
of Faith $ - $ -
Women’s
Ministry $ - $ -
Youth $ 20.00 $685.00
Pastor
Discretionary $ - $ -_________
$1,285.00 $ 23,397.74
Grand Total $10,080.00 $112,799.16
Upcoming Events in our Community
Topton Seniors (55+) meet every Tuesday from
1-4pm at the American Legion. EVERYONE
IS WELCOME – Topton and non-Topton residents.
Bingo and card games $1.00 per meeting.
Weather permitting, Borough leaf
collection on November 21st. Rake the leaves into the street along the
curb
line without blocking or clogging storm drains
and keep your vehicle away from the piled leaves.
Topton Fire Company Bingo
Fundraiser held
every Thursday night from September through April. Doors open at 5pm, games start at
6:30pm. All cash, food available for
purchase.
All You Can Eat Breakfast Buffet every 4th Sunday
September through April 2019. Adults
$8.00, children 4-12 $4.00, children under 4 eat free. The
Topton Fire Company will partner with the Borough of Topton for a CPR class
on 11/7 from 6-9pm. It is AHA’s
Heartsaver CPR AED Course and costs $30.00.
Contact toptonrec@ptd.net.
The Ladies Auxillary of the Topton
Fire Company are
hosting their Annual Holiday Craft Show and Holiday Gift Raffle from 9am-2pm on
November 10th.
St. Luke’s Hospice invites you to the 6th
Annual Luminaria Lighting on November 10th 4:30pm-6pm. It will be held at the St. Luke’s
Center – Main Lobby 1110 St. Luke’s Way, Allentown, PA 18109. Suggested donation of $15.00.
Coping with Holidays Workshop…
Learn strategies and coping techniques at one of our “Coping with the
Holidays” workshops located at various St. Luke’s
locations.
To register, please call (484) 526-2249.
Thanksgiving Eve Worship
The Bridge Church in Hamburg
Services in the Community
will be
holding a Remembrance
Wednesday,
11/21 Service
on 11/18 at 7pm. The vision
7pm @
Longswamp UCC of this service is to comfort and
7pm @
New Jerusalem console those who lost a loved one to
Addiction. Representatives from numerous
Recovery organizations will be
present to provide literature, guidance
and answer questions. A time of
honoring and remembering those who have passed by speaking
their names
followed by placing a rose will take
place. You need
to call ahead to participate in this portion of the service.
Please contact Sandy Caston 610-562-2972 ext. 202 for additional information.
2nd –
Jennifer Schmeck
3rd –
Leon Moyer, Lynn Phillips and Brantley Romig
4th -
Jennifer Van Billiard
5th –
Robin Reeder
8th –
Jeanne Miller, Nikki Miller
9th –
Amy Frantz and Joyce Strzelecki
10th –
MaryEllen Beck and Glenn Helfrich
11th –
June Fisher
14th –
Tracey Epting and Andrew Loring
15th –
Andrew Gangawere and Sheril Warmkessel
17th –
Cindy Leamer
19th –
Carole Eisenhard, Julie Fisher, Karen Kistler, Ron Leister and Mabel Reeder
20th –
Michelle Stoudt
21st –
Ashley Werst
22nd –
Mona Boyer, Karen Epting, Livia Jacobs and Lance Plessl
23rd –
Laraine Hamm and Dylan Pursell
25th
Clifford Roth
30th –
Daniel Haney
If your name is
not on the birthday list, please contact the office so we can update our
records. Although a birth year would be
nice to complete our records, it is not necessary.
