Trinity Church Welcomes All through its "Big Red Doors" with Tibetan prayer flags flying in the wind. It would be hard to find a more diverse group of believers, used-to-be believers, and sort-of believers. Many of us were born into other religions and denominations, and have found ourselves to be part of the inclusiveness of God's love.

Advent

Advent means arrival. Ever since human beings have looked up to the starry skies, they have longed for the arrival of a child to bring us a better future. All of us share this deep longing. The four weeks of Advent give it a Christian expression.


Feasts and Commemorations

St. Andrew Christmas Novena

Begins on 30 November and continues through 8 December.

Dec 1, Rosa Parks Day

On this day in 1955, civil-rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, and the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott began.

Dec 1, World AIDS Day

This day was created by the United Nations to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS in the world. There are 14,000 new infections every day. In the United States, minorities account for approximately 65% of all HIV/AIDS infections.



Dec 2 - 10, Chanukah

This Jewish Festival of Light celebrates the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it was reclaimed from foreign powers. Priests lit the temple lamp using only the tiniest jug of oil. Miraculously, the flame remained alight for eight full days.


Dec 6, Feast of St. Nicholas

Known as “wonder worker”; special patron of children, seafarers, travelers, brides, bankers, brewers, and even robbers. Though legends about him abound, St. Nicholas was a real person, the 4th century Bishop of Myra in Turkey, revered for his charity.





Dec 8, Feast of The Immaculate Conception

This Roman Catholic feast day mirrors the deep truth about the call of love in our lives, as shown through the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like a "Prequel" in a series of movies the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary reflects a long held understanding in the Catholic tradition, that Mary, the mother of Christ, was gifted at the moment she was conceived with the fullness of grace and holiness. Mary fully accepted who she was and gratefully lived a life of love in the details of each day, be they days of joy or days of sorrow. The deep truth mirrored in this feast is that we also are "prepared" for the call of love in our lives. This great gift was lived in a very humble and hidden way thus Mary, All Beautiful, gives hope to all humanity that nothing is impossible for God.


Dec 9, Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting

Family and friends around the globe light candles for one hour to honor and remember children who have died at any age from any cause.

Dec 10, Heavenly Birthday of Thomas Merton

On December 10, 1968, Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and spiritual writer, died in Bangkok. He had written: "The grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference."




December 12 Feast Day of our Lady of Guadalupe

In 1531, near Mexico City, an indigenous peasant named Juan Diego met a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light who identified herself as Mary. According to traditional account, on December 12th her image miraculously appeared on his cloak.






Dec 13, Feast Day of St. Lucia

In Sweden and Norway, this day honors the turning tide of winter and return of the light. Traditionally, a young woman in a white gown with red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles wakens her family with saffron rolls and coffee.

The Worldwide Candle Lighting started in the United States in 1997 as a small Internet observance but has since swelled in numbers as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance. The United States Senate has joined in the remembrance by unanimously passing resolutions declaring the second Sunday in December of each year National Children’s Memorial Day to coincide with this event.

Dec 14, Saint John of the Cross

(Spanish: San Juan de la Cruz; 154214 December 1591), was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest who was born at Fontiveros, Old Castile. He was born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez into a converso family (descendents of Muslim or Jewish converts to Christianity)

John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature.

Dec 16-24, Las Posadas

A wonderful Mexican Christmas tradition, las posadas literally translates in English as "the inns" or "the lodgings" and symbolizes the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for shelter in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus. The nine-day celebration lasts from December 16 to Christmas Eve. The Beginning of the Christmas Novena, 9 Days of prayer for those who seeking shelter (Human/Animal, physical/ spiritual)





Dec 17-24, O Antiphons

The O Antiphons are antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent in Western Christian traditions.

They are referred to as the "O Antiphons" because the title of each one begins with the interjection "O". Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:

The first letters of the titles taken backwards form a Latin acrostic of "Ero Cras" which translates to "Tomorrow, I will be there", mirroring the theme of the antiphons.

Dec 19, 20, 21 - Ember Days

Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer. he Ember Days are known in Latin as the quattuor anni tempora (the "four seasons of the year"), or formerly as the jejunia quattuor temporum ("fasts of the four seasons").

Dec 21, Winter Solstice

As winter begins in the North and summer in the South, we rejoice in the light: gratefully greeting the return of longer days or dancing around a bonfire to honor the longest day and shortest night.

Winter Solstice: The southern polar axis of the earth tilts towards the sun to mark the advent of winter and long starlit nights. Let us take our cue from the earth's orientation, as the world spirit prompts us to turn inwards away from extroverted activity, to search the mystical depths and find the heavenly star of Being within us.

Dec 21, St. Thomas

Poor Thomas has been saddled with the unhappy nickname, "the Doubter," since the earliest days of the church. This is due, of course, to the account of him in the twentieth chapter of John's Gospel. Countless sermons and many fruitful meditations have come out of the consideration of Thomas's doubts. It is significant that he was the namesake of Thomas Aquinas, the great questioner and teacher of the Middle Ages. Some have held that doubt is the antithesis of faith, others that it is the mother and nourisher of faith. Certainly there are many kinds and levels of doubting. Thomas's kind of doubting—his forthright, honest questioning—has made him an attractive and popular person to modern people who tend to see great virtue therein. It is interesting that "doubting" Thomas is the first of the apostles to proclaim our Lord's divinity after the resurrection. Thomas was a twin. He was the alleged author of an apocryphal gospel. We do not know where he went after the resurrection or where he died, but traditions of his missionary activities are in evidence from Iran to the Malabar coast of India.

Dec 24, Christmas Eve - Christmas Day Observance

Dec 24, Christmas Day


The Liturgical Seasons

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** This prayer is offer for Victims of Violence throughout of the world. Victims of verbal, physical, emotional, of hunger and thirst,economic abuse,warfare (especially Ukraine, Venezuela, parts of Africa, South America Asia and the Middle East, terrorist action, the death penalty, suicide, shootings (in our cities and neighborhoods), and other guise of violence. May their souls rest in peace and their families experience the Comfort of God. The Church bells will toll on Wednesdays @ 6:10pm.

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