Trinity Blog

Those of you who have been at Trinity awhile know the name of Maxine Boisclair, our beloved office manager and sister in Christ.  Maxine was taken from us in May, with no warning, by a blot clot.  Many of us are feeling her absence, and I’m certainly one of them.  She was my right-hand person, and I will have to figure out how to do many things that she once did.  She was also my friend, and I have questioned what God must have been thinking to take her.  (You can hear more in the podcast of the introduction to the Armor of God series, “Where’s the Battle,” at http://podcast.trinitywestsac.org/archives/181.)

Still, I believe God’s word that “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)  God will not waste Maxine’s death.  God will do good things through it.

One of the things that God is already doing is expanding the number of people who are doing ministry at Trinity.  Maxine did so many things so well that it could feel like there was no room for people to help out in the office or in other ministries that she did.  Now the vacuum is obvious.  There is not only room for people to do ministry but a pressing need to do ministry – Maxine’s ministries to be more specific.  We really need help in the office to answer phones, put together the bulletin, do various tasks associated with the newsletter, help with memorial services, hold the Christmas dinner, and about 100 more things – seriously, we made a list.  If you’d like to help, please call us at the office or send us email – whoever is there will help get you hooked up!

This is an opportunity to allow more people into Trinity’s ministry, using the loving care that Maxine always showed as a model.  This is a biblical model for ministry too.  In fact, shortly before Jesus left his disciples’ physical presence to go to the cross, he told them this:

“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” -John 12:24-26

I believe that Maxine’s many years of faithful service and now even her death will bear much fruit.  God will honor that.  And now, many people will pick up where she left off, with the result that we will have not just one faithful servant who shows the love of God out of our church office and in our church ministries, but dozens more.  And if we do it right, we will be able to inspire still more servants of Jesus Christ along the way.  More people will be loved, more people will be served, more lives will be transformed, and God will be glorified along the way.

We have accepted that we cannot find a single person to replace Maxine.  It will require many of us working together.  And our new staff person will be a coordinator of unpaid servants of God rather than the person who does those ministries personally.  It’s better for everyone, and it is one way that God is working for good through the loss of our dear friend.

I, too, will be working toward the model of being a vision caster, coach, teacher and encourager of God’s people.  And the result will be that the Body of Christ – that’s you – will be built up in love and strengthened for service.

Serving Alongside You,

Pastor Steve

It’s about six months before the season when everyone writes about thankfulness.  And it seems like a lousy time to talk about thankfulness.  Things look like a pretty big mess, eh?  So why write about thankfulness now.

Well, it’s an unlikely time for me to write about thankfulness too.  Yesterday, my truck overheated on the freeway near Vacaville, and I’m waiting to hear how bad the damage is.  And it’s no time for us to replace a car.  But I’m thankful.  Why?  Well, some things are messed up, but God is good nevertheless.

In fact, part of God’s prescription against worry is thanksgiving!  Take a look at Paul’s words in the Bible from the letter to the Philippians:

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6-7

Paul knew what he was talking about – he wrote that letter from prison!!  I’ve even been seeing that advice in the business section of the newspaper.  “Try to be thankful for what you have.”  It helps to bring peace.

But I’m not talking about some kind of competition where you find someone “worse off than you are.”   The fact that someone else has worse problems doesn’t make yours any less real.  (Paul’s imprisonment was real and could easily have been cause for despair.)  What I’m talking about, and what Paul recommends, is that we find ways to be thankful even in the midst of our very real problems.

Why is that good advice?  Because God has it under control.  God has asked us to bring our requests in prayer.  It isn’t wrong to pray for what we need – in fact, God tells us to!  “…with thanksgiving…  let your requests be made known to God.”  God hears our prayers and has answers for all of the challenges and griefs that face us.  Many of them will be solved right here on earth in the near future – God is a loving parent to us and wants good things for His children (see Matthew 7:11)!  A few problems will be made right in the life to come.  But God will take care of all of them!  So we can be confident and thankful.

Even when it doesn’t seem like it, we all have things to be thankful for.  We can start the list with the fact that we have a loving God who cares about us, a God who gave himself for us in Jesus Christ, a God who sent the Holy Spirit to us so that we would never walk alone, and a God who answers prayers and gives good things to us.  Every Christian has a huge list of things to be thankful for – even in the middle of the trials that face us.

Then Paul goes on to tell us what will happen when we trade worry for prayer and thankfulness – “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  We will experience peace and our hearts and God will protect our hearts and minds.  We’ll be looking at God’s protection on Sundays in May and June as we explore “The Armor of God” from Ephesians 5, but you can get a head start right now by remembering that thankfulness and prayer are our big weapons against worry.  Be sure to remind each other along the way.  God wants peace for you and for me!

Seeking God’s Peace with You,

Pastor Steve

Does life ever seem overwhelming?  God’s got a plan for you!  Starting May 3^rd, we’ll be looking at the Armor of God, God’s plan to improve our lives and keep us safe from all kinds of hazards in the world.  Join us each week as we add a piece to our armor.  (We’ll start with verses from Ephesians 6:10-20 and see what else the Bible has to say about each week’s piece of the armor.)  This promises to be some very practical wisdom from God on how to live a good, fulfilling, and fear-free life.

May 3             Ephesians 6:10-13  Where’s the Battle?                                    
May 10           Ephesians 6:14        The Belt of Truth                                         
May 17           Ephesians 6:14        The Breastplate of Righteousness          
May 24           Ephesians 6:15        Good Shoes, Good News
May 31           Acts 2:1-21                The Power of God: Pentecost
June 7            Ephesians 6:16        The Shield of Faith
June 14         Ephesians 6:17        The Helmet of Salvation
June 21         Ephesians 6:17        The Sword of the Spirit
June 28         Ephesians 6:18-20  Prayer Holds Us Together

We’ll also have the opportunity to go deeper with Armor of God small groups!  Check out http://www.trinitywestsac.org/adult/31-journeygroups/135-armorofgod for more details.

At this time of year, we usually focus on the glorious triumph of Easter – when Jesus rose from the grave.  It was a huge party!  But not everyone was partying.  Two men had been profoundly affected by the role they played in Jesus’ arrest and eventual execution.

Judas had turned Jesus in to the authorities.  He told the religious officials where to find Jesus when they wanted him, and Judas even personally identified Jesus with a kiss.  Judas, unable to live with the guilt, ended his own life.

Then there was Peter.  Peter had promised Jesus that he would never leave his side.  “I’ll die with you if I have to,” Peter had boldly claimed.  But when the time came to make good on the promise, when Jesus had been arrested and was being questioned, Peter told people – three separate times – that he didn’t even know Jesus.  Jesus had predicted Peter’s denial – “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”  (Luke 22:34)  And when Jesus finished saying that he had never met Jesus for the third time – the rooster crowed, cutting Peter to the heart.  Both Peter and Judas had to see Jesus executed on the cross, knowing that they had both turned against him at a critical moment.

Judas couldn’t take it.  So how did Peter survive to become the “Rock” that Jesus would build his church on?  He had to trust in God’s grace.

After the resurrection, Peter and some of the other followers of Jesus had gone back to fishing.  Maybe they thought it was all over.  Anyway, Jesus appeared to them.  After revealing to them who he was, Jesus had a few questions to ask Peter (see John 21:15-19).
“Simon son of John (Peter’s old name), do you really love me?”
“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
“Feed my sheep.”
Then Jesus asks him two more times – for a total of three.  Peter denied Jesus three times and he had to declare his love for Jesus three times now.  Then Jesus invites him to “follow me!”  Jesus’ love and grace were big enough to bring Peter back and use him for an amazing ministry!

We all have a list in our minds of things that we’ve done wrong.  Some of us are crushed inside by the guilt.  Judas took the easy way out and ended his service to Jesus.  I think – as bad as what he did was – that Jesus would have taken him back too.  But Judas didn’t give Jesus the chance.

On the other hand, Peter stuck it out.  He took the harder road of facing his mistakes, rededicating himself to loving Jesus and serving Jesus, and he was restored.  We have no record of Peter ever backing away from Jesus again.  He sure had the chance.  Check out the book of Acts sometime.  Peter risked his life on many occasions.  Tradition says that Peter ended up as a martyr – he gave his life for Jesus.

God is calling each of us back today.  God doesn’t want us out of the action – paralyzed by guilt.  Jesus wants to restore us.  And Easter is the perfect time to let him!  During Holy Week, we will look at the last events of Jesus’ life as a man on earth.  Then on Easter Sunday, we’ll celebrate the good news of the gospel – the good news that Jesus has paid the price for whatever we may have done wrong.  He wants to meet each of us by the side of the lake and invite us back into his family.  He wants us to join his team of people working to make the lives of God’s children better.  That’s what Trinity Church is all about – sharing the good news, letting people be restored and loved, and sending us all out to do God’s work…  even you and me!!!

Forgiven in Christ like you,

Pastor Steve

Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.“  Matthew 11:29

On Wednesday, February 25th, we will have a special evening worship service to mark Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. You may never have heard of Lent.  Many Christian churches don’t pay attention to the seasons of the church calendar.  But the idea of a church calendar isn’t new.  The Jewish people have a number of festivals and special times to highlight parts of our relationship with God.  Christians have our own versions, based on the life of Jesus.  Lent is the forty days before Easter (not counting Sundays).  It’s a time of reflection – a time of stepping back to get a new perspective on life and on God.  Some people “give something up” for Lent as a smaller version of the discipline of fasting (not eating) in order to focus on God.  Others add something to our lives to bring us closer to God.  Some people add a morning devotional time or commit to praying on our lunch break.  Some people join a special small group to connect with God and others.  (We’re planning on offering some Lenten small groups as we did last year.)

But what’s the point?  Well, Presbyterians – in fact, most Christians, don’t observe the Sabbath as the Jewish people do.  They have one day every week dedicated to rest, focusing on and worshipping God!  We worship on Sundays, but very few of us don’t set aside the whole day for resting and hanging out with God.  Lent gives us a chance to have a taste of that kind of life.

It can be an opportunity to rest, reflect, and be renewed.  In our Wednesday FIRE study, John Ortberg talked about living an unhurried life.  Maybe there’s a way for us to live an unhurried life for 40 days – at least in our minds, if not on our calendars.  What might that look like for you?  Jesus doesn’t want us to be stressed out.  He says that coming close to him will give us rest.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus calls us to service, but not to ill-fitting service or guilt-based service.  Those will just stress us out.  We need rest for our souls!

You will find that I’m practicing what I preach here.  I’m taking some back vacation time (that I should have used in the years that I earned it!) to spend some time with my family.  I hope to find a new rhythm for daily prayer too.  (If you’re interested in a high-tech, easy way to have prayer each day, check out the Morning Prayer podcast from The Episcopal Church in Garrett County on iTunes or from http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/churchonthewebpage.htm)  The recording is about 15 minutes long and takes you through prayers and scripture readings.)  There are also plenty of good devotional books and websites.  Try Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening (available on the web for free) or the These Days devotional books we have at the church!  We are also hoping to get special devotional books for you for Lent – watch for them.

My hope and prayer for our church is that we will all work hard for Jesus and that we will all find ways to rest in him, reflect on God and life, and be renewed.  I will be back with you on Ash Wednesday to pray with you as we begin our Lenten journey together.

Resting in Christ with You,

Pastor Steve

“Be still and know that I am God.”   Psalm 46:10

Many of you participated in the “Month of Prayer” we did between November and December, and several of you were interested in continuing to pray a psalm of the day together so we’ll be publishing another schedule for you (in January, just add the date to the number 61 – January 1st is Psalm 62).  Well, I’ve been using the psalm of the day in worship and to open Bible studies and session meetings (our church board).  Last night, we had the big session meeting where we decide on the next year’s budget.  This is my sixth time through the budgeting process with you, and it feels a little scary each time.  We pray and establish a budget for the things we feel called by God to do, including our mission giving outside the church, service projects, church programs to change lives in our own community, paying our staff fairly, and “overhead” stuff like utilities and office supplies.

Well, this year feels different.  So many people in our congregation are afraid of the future right now.  We could choose to pull back, but everyone had a sense that God will provide.  Psalm 46 reminds us to “”Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Even while everything is falling apart around us (literally in Psalm 46), God’s people are called to a quiet confidence:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46:1-3

I’m not fearless yet, but I know that God is faithful.  No matter how we feel at any given moment, we can still step out in faith.  The one who is with us is more powerful than anything that might happen around us – ANYTHING!  The timeless words of the Psalmist sound like they could have been written yesterday:

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46:6-7

The nations are in an uproar.  Financial kingdoms may be falling around us.  But God is still in charge.  The Lord is still able to protect us.  God’s words to the Psalmist are still true:  “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

God’s reassurance leads the Psalmist to write these words of quiet confidence: “The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

God calls us to that same confidence today.  No matter what happens, God is with us. Our church is acting on that promise.  Let’s step out in faith and trust in our own lives too.

So how can you start the new year feeling confident of God’s care?  You may want to pray Psalm 46 during your own devotion time.  For another example of the ways that God protects his people in “hopeless” situations, take a look at on of my favorites stories in 2 Kings 6:8-23.  We can ask God to open our eyes and see God’s power to protect us.  “”Don’t be afraid,” said Elisha, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Amen!

Walking in faith with you,

Pastor Steve

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” Isaiah 9:2

November 30th begins the season of Advent this year. The name Advent is from the Latin word for “coming,” and on the church calendar, it starts with the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. It’s a time of getting ready, which is why we do things like light one more candle each Sunday until the anticipated arrival of Jesus again on Christmas Eve.

Someone came up to me last night at the evening Last Call service and told me that he needed to be in church right now so that Christmas will mean something to him when it arrives.  I have the same experience. I don’t like Christmas to come from nowhere as it used to when I was in college. Sure, the stores are decorated and radios everywhere are blasting Christmas music, but for the most part, people are anticipating parties and presents, not Jesus. We have some booklets available at the church to help you take a little time each day to get ready.

The people of Israel had a lot of time to get ready for the first Christmas. They had hundred-of-years-old prophecies that, by the time of Jesus’ birth, were understood to be about the coming of the Messiah, the anointed one, the new king who would save his people from their oppression. Here’s one:

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness– on them light has shined… For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9: 2,6

A lot of people are walking in darkness today. Whether you’re among those who have been affected economically or those who are struggling with health concerns or those in pain from broken relationships or just someone with anxiety about the future, the light is coming. Too many of us are walking around numb, on autopilot – the Bible would call it “walking darkness.” Take heart, the light has come. As John’s gospel

puts it in the passage we read during the candle lighting each Christmas Eve,

“The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
John 1: 9

I look forward to making the journey to Bethlehem with you this year. Be assured, the Savior is coming. We’ll celebrate the birth of Jesus – as well as his coming into our lives again – on Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24th). This year, we’ll celebrate at 5:00 p.m. with the children’s Christmas play. Then at 7:00 p.m., we’ll have a traditional candle-lighting service of readings and carols, supported by our
Trinity choir, the hand chime choir, and some instrumentalists. And new this year is the 11:00 “Midnight” service where we’ll bring in Christmas Day with another candle-lighting service – this one will include some classical music and will emphasize the mystery of that night 2000 years ago. Plan to come and celebrate together!

Awaiting the Baby Jesus with You,
Pastor Steve

P.S. If you can help out on Christmas Eve, we’ll need lots of help at each service so that we can offer a meaningful experience to all who gather.

Our church has stepped out in faith in a number of ways this fall. We have started a new worship service, we have changed our sanctuary furniture, we have hired a new youth ministry leader, we have taken a big step into Latino ministry, and we have continued to work hard to serve those in need in our community. Every time a church makes major changes, we need to digest those changes and find out how God is calling us all to be the church of Jesus Christ together in a new way.

I would like to call us to a month of prayer. Let’s pray for each other. Let’s pray that each of us will grow closer to God. Let’s pray that our church will live out its mission.

I propose that we each take 10 minutes a day to do this. We can start by praying one of the Psalms.  In November, to make it easy to stay in sync, let’s pray the Psalm that corresponds to that day’s date. On November 15th, we would pray Psalm 15. In December, we’ll just keep going with Psalm 31.

Then let’s pray for these concerns of our congregation and community. Choose whichever one or ones seem appropriate each day – or some other concern you may be led to:

• Pray for unity in our church – “For we are all one in Christ Jesus” - Galatians 3:28
• Pray that we may grow in Christ – Ephesians 4:14-16
• Pray that we may become cheerful givers of our time and treasure – 2 Corinthians 9
• Pray this prayer of the Apostle Paul for us: “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.” – Philippians 1:9-11
• Pray that we may love those around us enough to care for them – Luke 10:25-37

Let’s try doing this for a month from November 10 – December 10 as we prepare our hearts for Christmas. I believe that prayer makes a difference. If we all bow our hearts together, God will heal our hurts, give us wisdom, strengthen our spirits, unite us, equip us, and send us out to be God’s people in the world.

“I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”  Ezekiel 36:27-28

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Steve

Some History

As most of you know, Trinity has been doing outreach to the Latino community for almost two years now (since our first event, which was the Three Kings Day in January 2007). Well, the Sacramento Presbytery (the regional group of Presbyterian churches), has noticed! We realized that the Sacramento-area churches had no effective outreach to a group that is a large percentage of our population so, with the help of our own Arturo Jimenez and Kathy Trott of Woodland Presbyterian Church, we developed a Latino Ministry Plan. Our session jumped at the chance and approved both the Latino Ministry Plan and a grant application to help fund it. The plan, which was approved by the presbytery in September, creates a position to be shared between the presbytery and Trinity!  Most of the funding will come from the presbytery and the national Presbyterian Church. For only $500 per month, Trinity will have a half-time Associate Pastor of Latino Ministry.

The Position

In order to do this job effectively, we need someone who speaks excellent Spanish and excellent English. They must understand at least one Latin American culture really well and they must understand American culture really well. We need someone bilingual and bicultural. We also need someone who has completed seminary and can be ordained as a Presbyterian pastor. Needless to say, there aren’t a lot of people who can do that job. The position is still open for another week or so, but we have an excellent candidate, Tina Torres. Tina grew up in New York but lived for 14 years in Mexico City. She currently works as a court interpreter while looking for the right church position. Assuming that no other candidates appear, you will have an opportunity to meet Tina and eventually to vote on her as a pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in November so that she can be approved by Sacramento Presbytery on December 6th.

What Will This Mean for Trinity?

Tina will act as an associate pastor. Along with heading up our Latino Ministry, Tina will be part of the leadership of our church, helping out with worship leadership, preaching, teaching, and pastoral care tasks along withme and the rest of the staff. Her presence should make our Latino ministry much more effective, and she will also be a blessing to our existing congregation. She will initially be under contract for two years, starting this December, but the position can be extended or even converted to a permanent position if all goes well.

Please look for more information soon as the details are resolved. We also ask for your prayers for this ministry and for Tina, our top candidate for the position. God has truly been at work here, and we trust that this will be an exciting year!

Gracias,

Pastor Steve

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”   Isaiah 43:19

Pastors don’t get to make televised “State of the Church” speeches, but from time to time, I think it’s helpful to share some of the things I’ve seen God doing in our church. The theme in all of these things is that God is changing lives through the ministry of our congregation.

One of the most obvious signs that we’re making an impact is numeric. On November 2nd, between all three services, 280 people worshipped together at Trinity. And that was a regular Sunday. Last Call is really helping us to reach out, and it’s developing its own “personality.” There had to be at least 50 children between the three services! What a wonderful sign that God is at work. But people showing up wouldn’t
mean much if we weren’t all growing and serving together.

I have heard an amazing number of stories about how people have met the Lord in new ways as part of the Alpha Course. We look forward to another run of Alpha in January.

Our church is feeding the hungry! Our “Out of the Box Ministries” has grown from providing food boxes to a small group of people at a local school to distributing boxes from the church once a month.  We’re looking at helping an apartment complex as well.

Our children’s ministry is growing with new children’s classes at the Sunday evening Last Call service and two new preschool classes at 9 and 11. The Kids’ Choir and Drama Team did their first full-length musical this summer, and we now have two choirs – one for the little kids and one for the older ones.

Of course, we knew that as we added children to our congregation we would need to work on our youth ministry too. Hiring Dan Meyerpeter has been really helpful. Dan has made connections with the teens and is helping us to schedule regular fun events. Look for a new high school group Dan will run in partnership with the Collings West Sacramento Teen Center starting soon!

It’s not all about kids. We’re providing worship every month at Somerset skilled Nursing Facility now, and Debbie and the deacons are doing more visitation to those who are hospitalized or homebound.

We have also worked hard to reach out and serve our community – we connected with hundreds of kids on Halloween at Trunk-or-Treat, and we met community kids at Kids’ Day and VBX too.

There are new Bible studies, Wednesday evening classes, and small groups going now to give us ways to grow in faith. A weekly prayer group supports us all and gives people a place to go to ask for God’s help and healing.

And then there’s the growing Latino ministry.  We will soon have a much more effective outreach to
our Hispanic brothers and sisters. (See that blog post too.)

Does that seem like a laundry list? Maybe it would be, but each item on the list represents changed
lives – inside our church, outside our church, or both!  In this month of giving thanks, please take some time to thank God for working to show love to so many different kinds of people through our church. Please pray that God will provide the resources necessary to sustain our ministries. Please also pray that God will bring us all together to embrace our mission. The Body of Christ is made up of many parts, and we can’t live out our call without everyone.  I look forward to seeing what amazing things God will do through this congregation next! I am thankful for each one of you!

May God bless and keep us all on our journey together,
Pastor Steve