Episcopal Church Calendar

We Welcome to Trinity Church all of our Visitors Today. We pray your visit with us is a blessed one THIS WEEK AT TRINITY TODAY: EASTER SUNDAY 8:00 am: Holy Eucharist – Fr. Hicks 9:15 am: Adult Choir Rehearsal 10:30 am: Holy Eucharist – Fr. Jackson 11:45 am: Coffee Hour Monday 11:00 am: Feeding Program Tuesday 8:00 am: MOT Breakfast at the Churn in Belpre 10:00 am: Book Marking 4:30 pm: Smoot Choir Rehearsal (Nave) 6:00 pm: Blennerhassett Stamp Society Wednesday 10:00 am: Book Marking 11:00 am: Food Closet Thursday 10:00 am: Bible Study 11:00 am: Food Closet / Trinity Knitters 6:00 pm: Zumba Friday Saturday 8:00 pm: AA Meeting NEXT SUNDAY: SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER 8:00 am: Holy Eucharist – Fr. Hicks 9:15 am: Adult Choir Rehearsal 10:15 am: Sunday School 10:30 am: Holy Eucharist  – Fr. Hicks 11:45 am: Coffee Hour / Choir Brunch *************************************ANNOUNCEMENTS*********************************** MIDWEEK COMMUNIONS will not be held April 8th and April 15th.  They will resume on April 22nd. SNACK SACK OUTREACH MINISTRY will begin April 24th.  Volunteers are needed to pack sacks Thursday, April 23rd in the Conference Room at 6:30 p.m.  Call Susie if you can help.  ANNE’S GUILD will meet at the home of Paula Sellers on April 21st at 1:30 p.m.  JACKSONS ON VACATION – The Jacksons vacation to visit their son in Switzerland starts Monday, April 6th and Fr. Larry returns to the office on Monday, April 20th.  Prayers for safe travel are requested by the Jacksons.  Fr. Paul and Fr. Art will be available for emergencies.  DOK QUIET MORNING – The DOK will sponsor a Quiet Morning, Saturday, April 25 from 9:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. This event is open to all women of the church. PICTORIAL DIRECTORIES are ready and in the Memorial Library for you to pick up. FYNE JUNQUE SALE – It is time to clean out those basements and garages to find treasures for the Fyne Junque Sale.  The dates are May 1st and 2nd and items are needed.  Bring your items to Trinity Hall where they are being stored.  Your junque can be someone’s treasure.  SUPPER CLUB will meet at the home of Connie Warren at 6:30 p.m. on April 24th.  Please call Connie and let her know what you will be bringing.  FAITHLINK FUNDRAISING DINNER – The annual Faithlink fundraising dinner is on Thursday, April 30th at Ohio Valley University.  There will be a silent auction at 5:00 with the dinner and program from 6:00 to 7:30.   Anyone interested can contact the Faithlink office at 304-485-9238, Ext. 31, or Terry Shaw at 304-916-5281 for additional information.

St. Francis of Assisi Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, grant your eolple grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of blessed Francis, we may for love of you delight in your whole creation with perfectness of joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who live and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen.      Francis, the son of a prosperous merchant of Assisi, was born in 1182.  His early youth was spent in harmless revelry and fruitless attempts to win military glory.  Various encounters with beggars and lepers pricked he young man’s conscience, and he decided to embrace a life devoted to Lady Poverty.  Despite his father’s intense opposition, Francis totally renounced all material values, and devoted himself to serve the poor.      In 1210 Pope Innocent III confirmed the simple Rule for the Order fo Friars Minor, a name Francis chose to emphasize his desire to be numbered among the “least” of God’s servants.  The order grew rapidly all over Europe.  But in 1221 Francis had lost control of it, since his ideal of strict and absolute poverty, both for the individual friars and for the order as a whole, was found to be too difficult to maintain.  His last years were spent in much suffering of body and spirit, but his unconquerable joy never failed.      Not long before his death, during a retreat on Mount la Verna, Francis received, on September 14, Holy Cross Day, the marks of the Lord’s wounds, the stigmata, in his own hands and feet and side.  Pope Gregory IX, a former patron of the Fanciscans, canonized Francis in 1228, and began the erection of the great basilica in Assisi where Francis is buried.      Of all the saints, Fransic is the most popular and admired, but probably the least imitated; few have attained to his total identification with the poverty and suffering of Christ.  Francis left few writings; but, of these, his spirit of joyous faith somes through most truly in the “Canticle of the Sun”, which he composed at Clare’s convent of St. Damian’s. “Let creatures all five thanks to thee and serve in great humility.”

SAINT MATTHEW DAY SEPTEMBER 21 Matthew was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces, collecting taxes from other Jews.  The Romans were not scrupulous about what the “tax farmers’ got for themselves.  Hence the latter, known as “publicans,” were generally hated as traitors by their fellow Jews.  The Pharisees lumped them with “sinners” (seeMatthew 9:11 – 13).  So it was shocking to them to hear Jesus call such a man to be one of his intimate followers. Matthew go Jesus in further trouble by having a sort of going-away party at his house.  The Gospel tells us that “many” tax collectors and “those known as sinners” came to the dinner.  The Pharisees were still more badly shocked.  What business did the supposedly great teacherhave associating with such immoral people?  Jesus’ answer was , “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.  Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not scrifice.”  I did not coe to call the righteous but sinners (Matthew 9:12b-13).  Jesus is not setting aside ritual and worship; he is saying that loving others is even more important. No other particular incidents about Matthew are found in the New Testament. From such an unlikely situation, Jesus chose on e of the foundations of the Church, a man others, judgin from his job, thought was no holy enough for theposition.  But he was honest enough to admit that he was one of the sinners Jesus came to call.  He was open enough to recognize truth when he saw him.  “And he got up and followed him”  (Matthew 9:9b) Patron Saint of: Accountants, Bankers, Bookkeepers, Tax Colletors.