Our Warden Christina Lye offered a beautiful vision, last Sunday, for our annual giving to Trinity Church. Thank you, Christina, for your moving words! This week, we received in the mail our autumn Stewardship Appeal, “A Future With Hope.” We invite you to return your Pledge as soon as possible, as we begin to craft our Budget for 2025.
We give of our prayer, our energy, our unique gifts to Trinity’s many ministries – and we give money! A word for our many newcomers – Trinity Church is fully self-funding. If you give regularly, prayerfully consider making a Pledge. A financial promise of what we expect to give next year helps our Vestry to be wise and faithful stewards and ‘forecasters.’
We are in a multi-year pattern of reducing the percentage of what we take from our inherited endowment, and 2025 is the year we move down to a 3 ½ percent draw. I am incredibly proud of Trinity for this outstanding commitment to our future. I will be increasing my pledge, and we invite you to do so as well, as we meet the financial expectations this reduced draw will entail.
We continue to juggle low staffing hours with an unusual level of growth in ministries and members. We need you! Pledge online here!

Thank you!! Rev. Andrea and the Trinity Church Vestry

Kids – are you starting a new school year? Adults – are you heading to the office, beginning new adventures? We are so excited to Bless our Backpacks in this ‘Back to School’ season as we welcome our families to a new year in Church School.

So … Kids and Adults alike … bring your backpack, laptop bag, tote bag, whatever! - to Church for a special blessing! We will pile them up during the Worship service and pray for all of us as we move into Autumn.
Remember, the Spirit of God is with us everywhere we go, and we can share the love of Jesus with all.

Autumn beckons … and God welcomes us home to Trinity Church – even if we’ve been here all summer! Join us Sunday, September 8th for reunion and joy. Our Choir returns from summer sabbath. Our amazing Breakfast Team will serve a hot meal after worship – bring a friend or neighbor. Register your children for Church School! Find the power of community, a sense of belonging we cannot find anywhere else.

Trinity Church will join with Christian sisters and brothers in the world-wide, ecumenical Season of Creation. It begins on September 1st with the Feast of Creation, and concludes with the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4.

Our Bishop Diocesan, The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Mello, has authorized the use of these creative worship resources for ECCT Churches, to focus our prayer in this season on caring for God’s fragile creation.
Each year, an ‘Ecumenical Steering Committee’ proposes a theme for the Season of Creation. The theme for 2024 is “To hope and act with Creation” and the symbol is “The first fruits of hope”, inspired by Romans 8:19-25. 
Each week at Trinity, we will highlight a few of these liturgical resources and prayers, integrating them into our familiar Book of Common Prayer liturgy.

We invite all those planning to be Confirmed or Received into the Episcopal Church to join in Confirmation Conversations this summer at Trinity Church. Rev. Andrea has collected a lovely list of both youth and adults, and there is still room for more to join.
Is God calling you to deepen your relationship with the Episcopal Church as a disciple of Christ? Please speak with Rev. Andrea with any questions.
We are announcing 6 opportunities for conversation this summer as we prepare for Bishop Laura Ahrens to visit Trinity Church on Sunday, September 15th - when she will confirm and baptize both youth and adults.
Summer is full of travel and vacations, so we ask that you plan to attend 3 of these dates. In addition, you may also arrange a meeting with Rev. Andrea at the Church office if you wish. Readings, videos, and other ways of preparing for Confirmation or Reception will be announced when we gather.
Sunday, July 7 at 10:45 AM
Thursday, July 25 at 6:30 PM
Sunday, July 28 at 10:45 AM
Sunday, August 11 at 10:45 AM
Thursday, August 22 at 6:30 PM
​Sunday, August 25 at 10:45 AM
Please RSVP to the Church Office with the dates you plan to attend.

Join us on Sunday, June 9th as we celebrate our ministries with Children and Youth as our ‘program year’ comes to an end for summer sabbath.

​Children and youth will help lead worship; we will hear a choir of Church School children; we will learn more about the Youth Group’s journey with international ‘micro-lending,’ and we will enjoy a delightful slide show of this year’s activities with families and children. We will also celebrate a high school graduate and bless him on his way.

We remain so grateful for the gifts and Spirit of Frances Chamberlain, our Children’s Ministry Coordinator, and of Julie Dunn and Noel Bellesheim, our Youth Leaders. Come this Sunday to express you thanks to them!

Beloved of Trinity Church,

With our sisters and brothers in Christ everywhere, we will celebrate the birth of the Church at Pentecost with the gift of God’s Spirit! We invite you to share in a festive celebration on Sunday May 19th – wear something red, and stay for Breakfast after worship. Bring a friend!

If you speak a language in addition to English, and are willing to speak a sentence in that language - please let us know! We will assign a brief passage for as many speakers as possible to say, one after another.

Last year we had Spanish, French, Italian and German … can we add a new language this year? Reach out to Rev. Andrea at: [email protected].

An Invitation for all Newcomers and Visitors at Trinity Church …

New friends - we value the gift of your presence among us, and we would like to get to know you a bit.
Please stay after worship on Sunday, June 2nd for conversation and treats. Come to the Library, meet with Rev. Andrea and other newcomers, and learn more about the Trinity parish family. How is God’s Spirit inviting you at this time?

Bring your questions about Trinity Church and your hopes for what spiritual community can mean in 2024.
RSVP or questions to [email protected] or Rev. Andrea at [email protected].

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

Is God calling you deeper into your Christian faith? Is the Spirit nudging you to explore the possibility of Confirmation - or Reception - into the Episcopal Church?
We have just learned that Bishop Laura Ahrens will visit Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown on Sunday, September 15th for our 9:30 AM service. Our Bishop Suffragan in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Bishop Ahrens has a long history with Trinity Church. It will be delightful to welcome her again!
Also … we will have Confirmations when she visits on September 15th.
We invite teens (14+) and adults to commit to and prepare for Confirmation by our Bishop.  Our spiritual journeys are unique and are often full of surprising turns. So, depending on your church background, there are three ways to make a formal affiliation with the Episcopal Church: Confirmation, Reception or Re-Affirmation of Faith.
(We have many parishioners who come to us from the Catholic Church, and they are ‘received’ into the Episcopal Church.)
Baptism is not just for babies! If you have not yet been Baptized - this, too, is a joy open to people of all ages. Baptism and Confirmation can happen in the same service.
As the Book of Common Prayer says: “In the course of their Christian development, those baptized at an early age are expected, when they are ready and have been duly prepared, to make a mature public affirmation of their faith and commitment to the responsibilities of their Baptism and to receive the laying on of hands by the bishop.”
Being ready comes at different times – and in widely varying ways - for each of us. Please reply to Rev. Andrea if you would like learn more about Confirmation. We invite you to a process of inquiry and discernment.
God is searching for you.
Once we gather names, we will announce a schedule of conversations and gatherings as we prepare for this joyous day.
Eastertide Blessings,
​Rev. Andrea

Join in Reflective ‘Stations of the Cross’ Prayer in Sanctuary, led by Rev. Andrea
or …
Share in Meditative Labyrinth Walk in Hall Below Sanctuary, led by Sue Roman

Coffee Hour will be in the Library!! Stay for conversation; or grab a snack and walk the Stations or the Labyrinth – or both!
Beloved Ones,

We will dedicate and bless Trinity’s new portable Stations of the Cross during our Worship on Sunday, March 17th. We invite you, after the service, to pray with the Stations in a guided prayer - or alone in silence.
Also, our cloth Labyrinth will be laid out on the floor in the Hall below the Sanctuary.  Our Church School students will have an opportunity to experience the Labyrinth during their class. 
We invite pilgrims of all ages to pray with Stations or Labyrinth after worship! No food or drink near or on the Labyrinth, please. (Also, no shoes on the Labyrinth!)
Peace, Rev. Andrea