​Friends, let’s begin to gather again for our outdoor service, Chapel in the Garden!  With the promise of cooler weather ahead - and with increasing concern about the Delta variant - it feels important to resume our weekly practice of gathering near the Labyrinth and Gazebo at 11:15 AM for our simple, spoken Eucharist service. 
Bring a lawn chair, and participate according to your comfort and safety.  Trinity Church will continue to offer the 9:30 service in the Sanctuary. Newtown is seeing high levels of viral transmission, so masks are now mandatory, as well as spacing according to household.  The 9:30 service continues to be live-streamed for virtual worship. 
Chapel in the Garden is weather-dependent – if it promises heavy rain, we may need to cancel.  Also, we always need assistance carrying a few items from the lowest level of the Church to the Garden, and vice-versa! Email Rev. Andrea at awyatt@trinitynewtownct.org with questions!  You and your family are very much in our prayers for safety, especially with school starting.

​A long-awaited opportunity for Confirmation!
Surprising and joyful news! Beloved Ones, we have just learned that our Diocesan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas will join us at Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown on Sunday, September 19th for our 9:30 AM service.
 
Just as we are catching up with long-deferred services and celebrations here at Trinity, our Bishops are now scheduling events delayed by pandemic. Bishop Ian will confirm young people and adults who prepared with Rev. Matt and Rev. Jenny in a class that feels like a long time ago now! 
 
Please contact Rev. Andrea (awyatt@trinitynewtownct.org or 475-323-7767) to indicate that you will be available for a Service of Confirmation on September 19th. Also, she would be delighted to speak with adults who were not part of this class but would be interested in Reception or Confirmation in the Episcopal Church.
 
Our first Breakfast Sunday of the season will also be offered on Sunday, September 19th! This day will be a beautiful way to welcome our families back to Trinity and kick off the program year!!

​Masks Encouraged at Indoor Worship Beginning Sunday, August 1st @ Trinity Episcopal Church

Beloved Ones, I look forward to reconnecting with you after my vacation - I have missed you!!  I give thanks to the Rev. Jim Speer and to the Rev. Salin Low for their presence in my absence.

As I unpack my suitcase, we are all absorbing very new guidance and data from the CDC about the Delta variant of the COVID virus.  New questions are raised about the possibility of vaccinated folks transmitting the virus, and we are also seeing 'breakthrough' illness among the vaccinated.  Cases are rising in Connecticut, and so we must step up our efforts to prevent transmission.

Please wear a mask to indoor worship beginning this Sunday.  We will continue to offer Communion in one form, and invite you to receive a blessing if you do not wish to partake of the bread.  Your Wardens and I thank you for your continuing flexibility and good humor as we navigate together the twists and turns of this public health challenge.  

Summer Blessings!  

Rev. Andrea Castner Wyatt

In August, Trinity Church will remember and celebrate the lives of two members of our parish family.  Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 7th at 11:00 AM for Dr. Peter Jameson, and on Saturday, August 21st at11:00 AM for Mrs. Karen Gardner.

We look forward to these funeral services, long-delayed by pandemic, and for the opportunity to gather and support our beloved friends Teddy Jameson and Bob Gardner – and members of their extended families – as they continue to mourn the loss of their dear spouses.
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Funeral services in the Sanctuary will both be followed by committal services in the Memorial Garden and Receptions in the Lower Hall.

Rev. Andrea would love to begin conversation with parents about Christian formation in this coming year!  To start, let’s gather at the Church on Tuesday, August 10th in our (air-conditioned!) Library, or Johnson Room, at 5:00 pm.  That room is also a hybrid Zoom-space, so we can include you virtually. 
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We’ll have some light refreshments, get to know each other, and share our hopes and dreams for what we might build at Trinity for our families.  Please RSVP to Kim Merrill in the Church Office; she can you send a secure link for virtual attendance.  (Kim, add contact information here!) by August 3rd.  We are filled with hope as we continue to emerge from pandemic!  

What a joy it was – on Pentecost Sunday – to receive the gift of God’s re-awakening Spirit “together in one place!” What fun it was to take photos, documenting that moment we opened those historic red doors!

This Sunday, May 30th, we celebrate God’s Trinity – a reminder that we are all inter-connected and tangled up together as community – even as the ways we experience God are interwoven and inter-tangled! 

We know that this time of re-gathering will go on for an extended period, as some are more ready than others to come into physical presence as community. It is absolutely fine return gradually; this is why we will continue to offer our live-streaming service, as well as an outdoor Chapel in the Garden at 11:15.

I continue to enjoy Gazebo Office Hours, as I have pretty much all year – maybe not so much in January! If an outdoor conversation is more appealing, please let me know! 

Blessings on this holiday weekend,
Rev. Andrea ​

​Worship with Trinity Church on Pentecost in Three Ways – Gathering in person in the Sanctuary at 9:30 AM; praying virtually with our Livestream at 9:30 AM; or gathering in the Garden at 11:15 AM! Please join us.

Friends, our scripture for Pentecost from The Book of Acts begins this way:
 
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”
 
How amazing that Pentecost is the first day we will re-gather in our historic Sanctuary – to receive God’s Spirit ‘together in one place’! Equally amazing is that we continue to have the capacity to gather online and outside as well, according to our and your comfort as we ease pandemic restrictions.
 
Last Thursday, the map of COVID numbers in Newtown changed dramatically, to a level well within the guidelines set forth by our Diocesan Bishops for safe indoor gathering. We also saw new CDC guidance about the efficacy of vaccines. 
 
We affirm that we are all in different places of comfort, and we encourage wearing of masks for the indoor service in this transitional time. Children and folks with various health concerns may not yet have access to vaccines; we are not all in the same place of safety. If you are not ready to come to the Sanctuary, that is just fine – we offer beautiful options for you as well!
 
For communion we will offer bread, the Body of Christ, at both the 9:30 and 11:15 services.

Friends, one of the happy challenges at Trinity Church is how to juggle the many requests coming our way for baptism, new people inquiring about our community of faith. New life is at our doorstep! 
 
Within our office staff, we are gladly responding, and welcoming newcomers and new families. But to truly represent Trinity Church to our expanding community, to fully extend hospitality, we will need to expand our membership team –and soon. What a good problem to have!

As we move away from pandemic restrictions, we are already seeing new faces and greeting families who are moving to town. Let’s build on this new energy by expanding an Invitation and Welcome Team to work closely with Rev. Andrea and Kim Merrill in this beautiful ministry.  

Please contact Andrea and Kim soon if you feel called to build up the body of Christ here at Trinity Church in Newtown.  ​

Our Genesis II Team is off and running! We are meeting on the first and third Sunday afternoons with parishes across the Episcopal Church with leaders from the Presiding Bishop’s staff. We are getting to know sisters and brothers in faith from North Carolina, California, Maryland, Virginia … and we see already that many churches face similar possibilities and challenges. 

We invite your prayers as we begin our ministry, learning and practicing the spiritual arts of invitation and welcome in our own neighborhoods. Trinity’s engagement in this ‘practicing community’ comes at a perfect time – as we begin to emerge from pandemic and return to our communal life. 

As Pastor, I see that Genesis II comes at a perfect time in other ways as well … because I see how many people are coming to me every week - inquiring about baptism, about marriage, about being new in town and seeking a community of faith. I see new friends beginning to pray with us, and returning friends coming back around. We want to fully engage these beautiful souls in our ministries!

Please surround and uphold our Genesis II Team in your prayers: Frank Brill, Jean-Maurice Calmels, Nancy Cole, David Lias, Christina Lye, Sue Roman, Karen Wojtowicz, and Andrea Wyatt. Read more about it here: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/genesis-ii-re-vision-and-renew/

Please speak with Rev. Andrea if you want to learn more about this ministry, or want to join us!  awyatt@trinitynewtownct.org