Trinity News & Updates

From worship services to information on how to connect with your Trinity family, all the latest updates are right here! You can also follow Trinity on our various social media channels to get updates in real time. To filter our updates to what you are looking for, select the category you are interested in. Otherwise, scroll down for all our updates.

Worship * Remaining Connected * Notes from the pastor (scroll down)

 

Pastor’s Notes

Sunday, May 10 I invited worshippers to suggest titles for the sermon I preached. I have always found this kind of feedback helpful and informative.

The first time this happened it took me by surprise.

I was serving a small Presbyterian church in Chicago after finishing seminary, before ordination. Every time I started to preach there, Bud would get up from his seat and leave by a side door. The first time this happened I figured Bud felt a coughing fit coming on or he needed to go to the bathroom. But it kept happening. I would step to the pulpit and Bud would step out the side door.

I had three hypotheses:

  1. Bud didn’t like sermons;

  2. Bud didn’t like MY sermons; or

  3. Bud’s bladder was somehow synced to the worship service at Ravenswood Presbyterian Church.

Then one Sunday, Bud showed me a cassette tape. He’d written the date, my name and the title he thought went with the sermon he’d just heard. Without any fanfare Bud recorded the sermon every week, made about a half dozen copies of it and delivered them to people who would not be in church that week. Bud gave me immediate feedback; I knew what he thought the sermon was about. It was a huge gift.

When I served a church in Baltimore, they ran an ad in the Saturday paper every week with the sermon title and the preacher’s name. The Sun needed that information ten days in advance. I would rack my brain and come up with a few words that the text suggested to me. No one ever commented about the sermon title. I never got a “Pastor, that title really captured what you said!” nor a “What was you thinkin’?” In fact, in nearly 40 years of preaching no one has ever commented on a sermon title without my prodding.

I served a church once where it was very important to one vocal member that there be a sermon title in the bulletin. I explained my reasons for not wanting to name a sermon prior to preaching it. She was adamant. I resisted the temptation to title a sermon “Untitled #347,” and provided a few words that I was likely to say during the coming worship service.

No one noticed.

Following my sermon on May 10, 2026, some worshippers suggested these titles:

  • A lifetime of commitments

  • The novelty of God

  • Seeds grow best with a little fertilizer

  • How the word spread

  • We need each other

  • Who we are is what we Do (not how well we argue the point)

  • Paul—the Influencer

  • The Proof Is in the Pudding

  • Lend me your ear

  • Message received

  • The Man in the Mirror

  • The Message that Fell on Deaf Ears

  • The Philosopher’s Stone

  • Different Moments, Different Decisions

  • One God, giving countless opportunities

  • The God Who Keeps Turning on the Light

  • Paul & how to work the crowd

— Pastor Tom

To weigh in on possible sermon titles for Pastor Tom’s sermon on May 10, 2026: watch the sermon here

Worship for April 9, 2023 - Easter Sunday
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Worship for April 9, 2023 - Easter Sunday

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Today is the joyful day of our salvation; the day when we proclaim, in the words of the old hymn, "where, O death, is now thy sting?" Wherever you are today, I sincerely hope you will spend some of your Easter celebrating the resurrection of Christ with your Trinity family, either in-person or via our livestream service.

Read More
Worship for April 2, 2023 - Palm / Passion Sunday
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Worship for April 2, 2023 - Palm / Passion Sunday

We enter worship today proclaiming "Hosanna!" while the celebratory palm branches wave, yet we know so well the journey this week will take us to places we would rather not go.

This year I encourage, even challenge, you to allow yourself to take the full journey of Holy Week. Allow yourself to feel to joyful entry into Jerusalem, for joy is right. Allow yourself to feel the pain and betrayal of the arrest and trial, for pain is also right. Allow yourself to mourn on Good Friday, for mourning is also right. Allow yourself to feel the resurrection hope, for hope is also right.

Read More
Worship for March 19, 2023 - Making Room at the Table
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Worship for March 19, 2023 - Making Room at the Table

When was the last time you were invited to a banquet?  Maybe a wedding or an important business event?  Did you get to choose your table, or did you get seated?  How, and where, people are seated at a banquet says a lot about the event and who is welcome and wanted.  In today's scripture, Jesus challenges us to look again at who we have room for at the table.

Read More
Worship for February 12, 2023
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Worship for February 12, 2023

We are delighted to welcome the Rev. Barry Williams as he leads us in worship today. He will be reflecting on Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, and I know you will be blessed by his words.

Read More
Worship for January 15, 2023 - Encountering the Light
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Worship for January 15, 2023 - Encountering the Light

Have you ever met someone and knew right away that they were going to change your life? The gospels tell us that was how some of the early disciples experienced Jesus - someone they just knew was going to change their life. Whether your experience of faith has been like that, or a more gradual journey, we are all learning day by day what it means to be followers of Christ.

Read More
Worship for January 8, 2023 - Baptism of the Lord
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Worship for January 8, 2023 - Baptism of the Lord

Today is an exciting day for our congregation! During worship we will be ordaining and installing our new officers for 2023, as well as celebrating communion. This is all within the context of remembering the baptism of Jesus, and our own calling into the family of faith.

Read More
Christmas Morning Worship at 10:45 AM
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Christmas Morning Worship at 10:45 AM

This morning we have an exciting worship service planned! We are being joined by our friends from Brentwood to host a joint Christmas Morning service. We've polled both congregations on our favorite Christmas songs and our service will focus on telling the stories of these wonderful songs. Please note our special time of 10:45 AM.

Read More
Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service
Worship Pastor Chris Worship Pastor Chris

Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service

Tonight we will gather for our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion service, and I cannot wait to share in worship with you! Our service will be filled with songs of the season, the retelling of the Christmas story, communion, and singing Silent Night by candlelight. Please note our new time this year of 5:30 PM.

Read More