Trinity News & Updates

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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:

Bud didn’t like sermons;
Bud didn’t like MY sermons; or
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

Email ideas to Pastor Tom

Trinity Office 5/24/25 Trinity Office 5/24/25

Worship for May 25, 2025

Today, May 25, is the sixth Sunday of Easter. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Sunday school classes will not meet this week.

Trinity Office 5/17/25 Trinity Office 5/17/25

Worship for May 18, 2025

Today, May 18, is the fifth Sunday of Easter. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

You are invited to join us for Sunday school at 10:15 a.m. Children’s Sunday School meets in Room 18. Two adult Sunday School classes are hybrid. Please contact the church office for Zoom or RingCentral login information.

Trinity Office 5/10/25 Trinity Office 5/10/25

Worship for May 11, 2025

Today, May 11, is the fourth Sunday of Easter. The Rev. Howard Cavner will preach. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Trinity Office 5/3/25 Trinity Office 5/3/25

Worship for May 4, 2025

Today, May 4, is the third Sunday of Easter. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach and offer Communion. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Trinity Office 4/26/25 Trinity Office 4/26/25

Worship for April 27, 2025

Today, April 27, is the second Sunday of Easter. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach and offer Communion. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Trinity Office 4/19/25 Trinity Office 4/19/25

Worship for April 20, 2025

Today, April 20, is Easter Sunday. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach and offer Communion. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Our regular, 10:15 a.m. Sunday school classes will not meet.

Trinity Office 4/12/25 Trinity Office 4/12/25

Worship for April 13, 2025

Today, April 13, is Palm Sunday. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Trinity Office 4/5/25 Trinity Office 4/5/25

Worship for April 6, 2025

Today, April 6, is the fifth Sunday in Lent. Today’s service celebrates the gifts of women in the Church. Susan Uffmann will preach, the Rev. Laura Fleetwood will offer communion, and several other Trinity women will lead different aspects of worship. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Today's artwork is "The Raising of Dorcas by Saint Peter", final sketch, by Violet Oakley, from American Originals: Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection, La Salle University Art Museum, December 2015 through March 2016, a gift of the Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation. From 1945-1949 Oakley worked on 10 designs for the series Great Women of the Bible murals for the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown. For each design, she completed a series of preliminary sketches, figure studies, and scaled drawings prior to executing the final mural painting. This image was included in the materials from the Presbyterian Women magazine that inspired today's service.

Trinity Office 3/29/25 Trinity Office 3/29/25

Worship for March 30, 2025

Today, March 30, is the fourth Sunday in Lent. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Trinity Office 3/22/25 Trinity Office 3/22/25

Worship for March 23, 2025

Today, March 23, is the third Sunday in Lent. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.

Trinity Office 3/15/25 Trinity Office 3/15/25

Worship for March 16, 2025

Today, March 16, is the second Sunday in Lent. The Rev. Dr. Tom Willadsen will preach. We gather in the Sanctuary and online today at 11:30am for worship. As always, our online service is recorded and available later in the week to watch and share with others.