New Hamburg, Ontario ~ www.telc.ca
All Are Welcome at
Trinity Church!
Welcome to the home page of Trinity Lutheran Church of New Hamburg, Ontario,
Canada.
The people of Trinity Church are gathered as one of 30 congregations in the Kitchener-Waterloo Conference of the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).
Martin Luther once observed that God's people are to be "Christs to one another." Teresa of Avila, a near contemporary of Luther's, wrote similarly...
Christ has no body here on earth but yours,
no hands but yours, no feet but yours.Yours are the eyes which express
Christ's compassion to the world.Yours are the feet with which
Christ is to go about doing good.And yours are the hands with which
Christ is to bless us now.
We believe that.
As best we are able, we seek to be Christ's hands and feet, eyes and body within our congregation and in the extended community we call "home".
In the course of our unfolding journey, we have lots of opportunity to contemplate our
lives as God's people. Each year, for example, during the Great Three Days
(Maundy Thursday evening through Easter Sunday evening), we are reminded that we
are to love one another as Christ loved us (a Maundy Thursday truth); to take care of
one-another as did Mary and the Beloved Disciple (a Good Friday truth); to take up the
journey of discipleship with all who come our way (a Vigil of Easter truth); and to greet
one-another with a greeting of peace (an Easter Sunday truth).
These actions take on flesh and blood and bone as together we explore the sense of welcome we might offer the stranger and the sojourner, and the shape our hospitality might take. All around the cross of Jesus are gathered those who are seeking ministry. We have work to do!
Are you seeking a place in which to lend your hands and feet and eyes to be about
Christ's work? Are you wondering what that might be like? Are you wondering what
hospitality and welcome might look like in our community? Are you
seeking a home in which to give expression to your own, growing, Christian
discipleship?
Perhaps you are unsure. Perhaps you are only just beginning to contemplate a journey
of faith and are simply looking for direction and wanting for companionship. And maybe
you're not even there... Maybe you are merely seeking refuge from the harshness of
our world or sanctuary from the hurts of our age. No matter.
We hold that everyone is welcome at Trinity Church. Everyone.
In 2004, following years of work and study, our congregation adopted an Affirmation of Welcome. Check it out! We want to know: How might we give substance to that welcome for you? How might we make real our hospitality for you?
Whatever your station in life, we'd welcome the opportunity to take up the journey
with you. Moreover, we'd be glad of your company!
Care to come along?
Whether at worship, or in the hours from one liturgy to the next, you are always welcome at Trinity Church.
God bless you, this day and always.
André
Lavergne and Anne Anderson,
pastors in the community of Trinity Church.
PS ~ Look to our Parish Ministry page for an overview of our ministry and to the Community-Based Programs page for a sense of our involvement in the local community.
As well, see the Sunday-to-Sunday page for brief and timely news items and the Trinity Dove page for on-line editions of our parish newsletter.
