trin_aug_12

The Trinitarian August 2012

Trinity worship

Sunday Mornings 8:00 AM, Holy Eucharist, Rite II 10:00 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite II

with Music

Sunday Evenings 6:00pm

August 5: Contemplative Eucharist August 12: Evening Prayer August 26: Evening Prayer

Morning Prayer 7:15 AM Monday—Saturday

Thursdays Noon: Holy Eucharist with Healing

Special Events

Friends of Music Rummage Sale

Presale Friday, Aug 24th, 6:00pm

Rummage Sale, Saturday Aug 25th

8:30am—2:00pm

Trinity Episcopal Church

Office Hours Mondays – Fridays

8:30a – 12:30p

44 North Second Street, Ashland OR 97520

(541) 482-2656 FAX 482-1260 [email protected] www.trinitychurchashland.org

The Reverend Doctor Anthony Hutchinson, Rector

[email protected]

The Rev. Carol Howser, Deacon The Rev. Meredith Pech, Deacon

Annual Friends of Music RUMMAGE SALE

The 2012 Trinity Friends of Music Rummage Sale is just around the corner and the Rummage Sale Committee has been busy planning a special event that you won't want to miss. We are also looking forward to your participation.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Wednesday, August 22nd, 9-4 and Thursday, August 23rd, 9-12 Donation drop-off to Parish Hall (Please contact Sandy Cruz if you need assis-tance with delivery.) Friday, August 24th, 6-8pm Pre-Sale Party for Trinitarians and their guests. $5.00 admission per adult in-cludes food, beverages, special surprises, and the opportunity to shop early. Saturday, August 25th, 8:30am to 2pm

Rummage Sale. Open to public. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Assemble your collection of gently used, clean clothing and household items, small kitchen appliances, small furniture, linens, china, home decor items, plants, books, CDs/DVDs, sporting goods, tools, toys, puzzles/games, and antiques and collectibles. Drop off your donations at the Parish Hall on the dates provided above or con-tact Sandy if you need help. Sign up to help with set-up, sorting and pricing, sales, and clean-up. Sign-up sheets will be posted in the Parish Hall. Sign up to bring refreshments for the Pre-Sale Party (We are asking for dona-tions of finger foods, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages.) and/or kitchen help during/after the party. Sign-up sheets will be posted in the Parish Hall. We look forward to your participation. - Sandy Cruz & Anne Riddle, Co-Chairs

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Trinitarian Online Edition

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Father Tony’s letter to the Trinitarians

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good. Love one another with the affection of siblings. Never tire in your enthusiasm; be aglow with the spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope; be patient in tribulation; be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the church members. But also practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:9-13)

Dear Trinitarians,

I have been surprised since returning to the U.S. in De-cember at just how slow the economic recovery has been, and how bitterly the economic meltdown has affected the most marginalized. The parish office knows when it is in the last week or two of a month, because we start to get phone calls and walk-ins: people requesting help in making ends meet and keeping things afloat to the next month’s paycheck, disability payment, or pension check. On some days, we get a dozen or more such requests. The average in any recent month has been 60 or more such requests. Many of these are from people we do not know, but some come from regular parishioners, whether directly or through pas-toral care team members or caregivers. The most common situation is where a person is living on the edge from check to check, and then runs into an unexpected and unavoidable demand such as medical fees, prescriptions, or auto or plumbing repairs. I regularly have seen situations where people have had to decide either to pay for medicine, rent, electricity, or basic food. The deacons and I are able to assist many people with our discretionary accounts. We try to be prudent in the assis-tance we give, seeking to help and not create dependency, while attempting to meet real need where the person in need has done all that is reasonably in their power to help address their requirement. Church offering plate receipts on the third Sunday of each month fund the rector’s discretionary account. But in recent months our discretionary accounts have not been anywhere near sufficient to meet even the most basic needs. Jesus told us that we would always have the poor with us. But he also gave us a constant example of trying to help those who are more in need that we are, even telling us in the parable of the sheep and the goats that come Judgment Day, the one thing God will look at is whether we have cared for the neediest and most marginalized in our midst (Matt. 25:31-46).

The giving of alms, or gifts for the poor, has been an im-portant part of Christian faith and practice from the begin-ning. This is in addition to offerings or tithes given to help build the Church and its ministries (including those to help the poor).

In commenting of the 23rd Psalm in July, I pointed out that we all are the people of God’s pasture and the sheep of God’s hand. Because of this, we ourselves all must reach out our hands to all. The surest way we can demonstrate our trust in the loving shepherd is by loving. The most direct way of showing our gratitude for our gracious host is by being gracious to others.

The most recent vestry meeting discussed the need for a more coordinated effort by Trinitarians to give, collect, and distribute alms. Key in our discussion of forming an al-monry (alms ministry) was the idea that anonymity be maintained, both for giver and receiver, in order to preserve the dignity of the receiver and the purity of motives for the giver. Once anonymity is insured, the process needs to be as transparent as possible and not solely the judgment of one person. We also felt that such giving might be en-hanced (both in volume and in quality) by placing it within a context of covenant, i.e., through vows and commitments by people to take on the burden of alms for a specified time, whether these be in the form of regular giving or an ex-pressed willingness to be approached for meeting larger specific needs when they arise. In coming weeks, the clergy team and members of the parish will be discussing and working out proposed modali-ties. Keep us in your prayers and participate in the discussions if you are so inclined, remembering that taking ownership of this issue is an important part for each of us of our Chris-tian commitment.

Grace and Peace.

--Fr. Tony+



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Trinity Docents requested

Fr. Tony has observed the number of folks who visit Trin-ity in the period between the OSF matinee ending and the dinner hour beginning – 4-6 p.m.. Currently the church building is locked at this time. We would like to leave the church open by forming a group of docents who would be scheduled to greet visitors and tell about our historic build-ing and its surrounding property. If you are interested in participating in being a docent please contact Fr Tony at [email protected] or the office at [email protected].

BACKPACK BUDDIES IS REQUESTING YOUR HELP!

Back Pack Buddies helps kids start the school year off right with a new backpack and the supplies they need for year. These are kids whose families are affected by addic-tion and violence, child abuse and neglect, who often are working very hard to overcome these issues, and whose re-sources are very scarce.

For several years Trinity Outreach committee has helped with a cash donation to help get special supplies for at-risk youth with special schooling needs. This year is a little dif-ferent. We lost the main provider of backpacks and basic supplies, so we are looking for some help in this regard from various churches and community organizations.

We have supply lists and a receiving barrel [in the Parish Hall] to donate backpacks and school supplies. These items will go to families with serious financial needs, who are struggling to overcome issues of addiction, violence, result-ing in child abuse or neglect.

If you would like to help, please take one of the supply lists and put together a back pack with supplies, and insert a note telling us if it is for a boy or girl, in one of 4 age groups: Grade School 1-3; Grade School 4-6; Middle School; or High School. Typically the greatest demand is for Grade School children.

You may also donate a gift card. If so, please place it in an envelope labeled Attention: Jamie Hutchinson, Back Pack Buddies coordinator and leave it with the church office.

Please have your backpacks delivered by Sunday, Au-gust 19th. We will make arrangements to pick them up Monday and Tuesday of that week. Please let me know if you could also help volunteer in some way [such as transporting the back packs to our office in Medford]

Thank you for offering to help children start the school year off with some help from their community! If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at 541/618-7618 during regular business hours. Supply lists are on the back of the August calendar and available on request in the parish office.

--Blessings to you all, Jamie Hutchinson

Peg Bowden On Immigration Issues August 19th

Peg Bowden, known to many as the former Director of the Jackson County Nursing Department, will be visiting Ash-land to present her work with the Samaritans (a nonprofit volunteer group working on the border of Arizona and Mex-ico). She will share her experiences with migrants, both those trying to enter the United States and those who are dropped at the border by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). To get a preview of her work, see Peg’s blog at www.arroya.org. All are invited to attend this free event on Sunday, August 19th at 6:30 pm at the Rogue Valley Uni-tarian Universalist Fellowship on 4th Street in Ashland. It is sponsored in part by the newly formed Rogue Valley Inter-faith Immigration Coalition. For information on joining the Coalition’s discussion group or being advised of its activi-ties, see Ann Magill.

9:00 am Forums

Aug 5—Apostles’ Creed Aug 12—with Canon Neysa Ellgren Aug 19—no forum Aug 26—Apostles’ Creed



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SENIOR WARDEN Ward Wilson (2012)

JUNIOR WARDEN Milt Morgan (2012)

Vicki Gardner (2012)

Jean McDonald (2012)

Greg Gonzalez (2013)

Tom Harrington (2013)

Carol Harvey (2013)

Donna Ritchie (2013)

Bruce Duncan (2014)

Norma Grenfell (2014)

Nancy Linton (2014)

Russ Otte (2014)

Your Vestry meets the 3rd Tuesday of the month at the Parish Hall. Parish members are welcome to attend. Sub-mit written proposals for Vestry action to the Rector or the Parish Clerk (Phyllis Reynolds) one week prior to the meeting.

Your VESTRY Senior warden Comments A Great Rector Makes a Difference!

Have you ever wondered how important a great Rector is to a parish? I think we all intui-tively know that the Rector is very important, but just how important is that? “Sunday At-tendance” (SA) is the statistic we keep which gives the best measure of that. If attendance on Sundays is rising, the Rector is probably doing well. If it’s falling, the Rector probably needs to be considering adjustments in his/her approach to the congregation. This is certainly not the only statistic which evidences the Rector’s performance, but if you have you choose just one, SA is probably it.

Consider the following SA data: Sunday Attendance 2009 2010 First 2/3 of the year 7209 7100 (2)% Last 1/3 of the year 2412 2043 (15)%

Rev. Anne retired in September, 2010. The <2% difference in year to date Sunday Attend-ance before she left is not significant. (As an aside, it’s interesting to note that SA during the summer of 2010 was actually up by 2% over 2009. Perhaps Rev. Anne’s pending retirement brought out some of us for her “Last Hurrah.”) After she left, SA dropped by 15% during the last third of 2010, as noted in the table above.

Sunday Attendance 2010 2011 2012 First half of the year 4819 4188 (13)% 4824 (15%) Second half of the year 4324 4124 (5)%

The weakening trend in our SA seen in late 2010 continued through 2011, which saw a 13% decrease in SA compared to the good numbers generated when Rev. Anne was still here in early 2010, and an additional 5% decline when comparing “post Rev. Anne” 2010 num-bers with the same periods in 2011. We were NOT going in the right direction.

Then Fr. Tony arrived on Jan 1, 2012. As shown above, our Sunday Attendance in the first half of 2012 jumped 17% over that number in the second half of 2011. We have recovered all of the big decline in Sunday Attendance which we suffered between Rev Anne’s departure in September 2010 through December 2011. Great Rectors do make a difference!

Trinity’s two new member “classes” in 2011 generated 13 new members, and the June, 2012 class consisted of 17 new Trinitarians. Offsetting the number of new members were the 23 (!) deaths between Rev Anne’s departure and now, and the number of our former parish-ioners who have moved away. From this, one can conclude that very few (5?) parishioners who chose to leave after Rev. Anne retired have chosen not to return.

Do you know some of the folk who left and have not returned? Have you considered ask-ing them to come back, or asking them again? Fr. Tony would be delighted to meet with any of them privately if his arrival might be a factor for these people.

In His Love, Ward Wilson



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Vestry Highlights July 18, 2012

Almonry Ministry: After extensive discussion, Vestry reached a consensus decision that Fr Tony and the Deacons will develop a plan for an Almonry Ministry. “Almonry” is the ancient term for extending help to those in need within the church. Clergy are receiving more and more requests for financial help by those in desperate straits, an often invisible need within the parish. Immediate steps will cen-ter on publicizing the extent of the problem. The detailed plan will center on more robust fundraising with develop-ment of a formalized structure including ways of preserv-ing anonymity of both donors and recipients.

City Survey on the Homeless: Fr Tony and Ward will write a response based on Vestry discussion. Due to closing of The Grove by the city and cancellation of meals and show-ers offered by UCC, the City of Ashland recently sent this survey as a brainstorming tool to churches asking what specific facilities or services each might be able to offer. A great deal of discussion centered on what we at Trinity can and cannot do, not the least of which involves restrictions due to the age and delicate condition of our commodes.

New Board Members for Endowment Committee: Vestry approved two new members of the Endowment Commit-tee—Tom Harrington and Steve Clinton—who have agreed to serve along with Chair, John Sanders. The Vestry extends warm thanks to Maggie McCartney for her service as she goes off the board.

Additional Chairs for the Narthex: Vestry approved pur-chase of 10 new chairs to help with overflow as needed, plus fabric for repairs of old ones. Current storage space limits the number of chairs we can add.

New Sump Pump: One of the two basement sump pumps having died a rather noisy death recently, Jr. Warden Milt reported a new one had to be purchased to protect us from an old, decayed water conduit which runs under the church and can cause flooding.

Outreach Funding: Vestry approved the recommended funding for projects proposed by the Outreach Committee for 2012. Funds raised by the Party of Parties for this pur-pose totaled $15,818.00 so far. Local groups are allocated 80% of these funds with 20% going to others. New groups funded this year included the very needy Sudan Medical Relief and Semilla Nueva, an agricultural effort in Guate-mala aimed at helping farmers save their land with more soil-friendly crops including development of ways to best use those crops. - Phyllis Reynolds, Clerk of Vestry

JUNIOR WARDEN’S REPORT This message is a continuation of my previous two messages

in The Trinitarian regarding comfort levels and temperatures in the church sanctuary. The following situations apply when the sanctuary is occupied.

In summer, when it is hot outside and the temperature inside the sanctuary goes above 74 F (degrees Fahrenheit), that means that the hot sun is beating down on the uninsulated roof and possibly all the lights are on and there are people in the sanctu-ary. It also means the outside air is very hot, possibly over 90 F. The air conditioning comes on and introduces 55 F air into the church to absorb this heat and carry it away so that the tem-perature inside remains at the comfort level of under 74 F. That air at the register coming in at 55 F is the reason that it seems so cold if you sit along the outside of the pews near the air reg-isters.

By the time this air has absorbed the heat and is removed from the sanctuary the air temperature being removed has been increased to 75 F. Our system of air dampers are set to exhaust 20% of this removed air, replace it with 20% new outside air, then re-cool the resulting 20/80 to 55 F and send that resulting mix back into the sanctuary. This 20/80 mix of fresh and re-circulated air saves considerable energy by not having to con-sistently cool all 90 F plus outside fresh air down to 55 F.

A similar system is used to heat in the winter. When the tem-perature in the sanctuary goes below 68 F, air at 80 F is intro-duced into the sanctuary to provide heat. After heating the church it is removed at 65 F and mixed with 20% outside air and re-heated. The resulting 20/80 mix of air is sent back into the sanctuary at 80 F. This 20/80 air mix of fresh and re-circulated air saves considerable energy by not having to con-sistently heat 100% outside fresh air when it is cold outside, and air temperatures could be well under 50 F.

In the months of June through September the air conditioning is usually on, November through March the heating is usually on, and in the in-between seasons of April and May and Octo-ber either can be on depending on the outside temperatures – usually heating at night, cooling during the day.

We have programmed our thermostat to control both these temperatures and the air mixing dampers that control the air flow to allow the energy-saving mixing of fresh and re-circulated air.

I hope these articles have reassured all that we continue to work with our engineers to fine tune the system, monitor the results and are always sensitive to the fine balance of keeping our parishioners comfortable whenever in the sanctuary and at the same time respecting God’s creation by saving energy.

- Milt Morgan



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FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS The Six Months Ended June 30, 2012

INCOME EXPENSES Budget this year $131,167 $126,861 Actual this year 136,819 136,712 Actual last year 128,921 108,276 Financial Reports are posted monthly on the Vestry Bulle-tin Board in the Parish Library. — Dick Cogswell

2012 Recommendations for Trinity Outreach Funds

Approved by Vestry July 18, 2012 Local Lotus Rising $250 YMCA 500 Family Nurturing Center 2550 Maternal Child Health 2000 CASA 500 Ashland Food Bank 250 Listening Post 150 Peace House – Uncle Food’s 1500 Community Works (Dunn House) 2000 RV Habitat 350 Children’s Advocacy Center 900 Jackson Co. Sexual Assault Response Team 1500 Rose Circle 400 Phoenix Counseling Center ___750 $13,600 International Sudan Medical Relief $2000 Resources for the Blind 200 Semilla Nueva 1200 Partners in Health - 0 - Super Kids –Jamaica - 0 - $ 3,400

Trinity's Outreach Funding The Party of Parties and succeeding events have raised

$15,818.50 for Trinity’s outreach so far this year (don't for-get that there are still places available in parties scheduled over the next few months). On July 14, the Outreach Fund-ing Committee met to make its recommendations regarding how to distribute these funds. The committee had received presentations from or on behalf of 19 different organiza-tions, 14 from the Rogue Valley and the rest from interna-tional programs. Following the practice of the last several years, about 80% was donated to local agencies - $13,600 - and 20% to overseas efforts - $3400. For a complete list of the donations, please see Related story in this issue and the Outreach bulletin board in the hall outside the pairsh office. The amazing generosity of so many Trinitarians continues to feed the hungry, tend the sick, protect and nurture chil-dren and families and much more. Thank you for your open hearts and hands. - Becky Snow, Chair, Trinity Outreach Funding

Parish Directory update pending Later this month, an updated print directory will be handed

out to supplement Trinity’s pictorial directory. Trinity is growing and changing and this will help us stay in touch with one another. Copies will also be available in the parish office.



This is the online PDF version of The Trinitarian. Personal contact information has been edited out of this version. If you have any ques-tions or need to contact someone in regards to an article, please call the Parish Office at 482-2656.

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Don’t let a fall keep you down

Once again a parishioner fell with a substantial injury and lay for several hours without being able to summon help. If you live alone you might con-sider a “Lifeline” device, a button that you wear around your neck or on your wrist that you push if you need assis-tance. When activated, the company contacts you through a speaker near your phone. If unable to contact you, they call whomever you have listed on your form (generally a neighbor) and if they cannot be contacted they call 911. This device is waterproof so you can wear it into the bath or shower (site of many falls as we all know). It costs about $40 per month and our parish nurse Sandy Cruz has some applica-tions for waiving the installation fee. Might be the best insurance you can get. Next month: using a cell phone as a “lifeline”.

- Diana Quirk Parish Social

The Other Trinity Book Group meets next on August 16 at 5:30 in the parish library. We are reading Sharon Baker's Razing Hell and Rob Bell's Love Wins. Both of these books are from more evangelical au-thors who are moving toward a more open view. Rob Bell's critics call him a "Universalist. A wolf in sheep's clothing. A false prophet. A radical. Dangerous. And more than a few have labeled Bell, one of the most influential voices in evan-gelical Christianity today, a heretic (Huffington Post)." Sharon Baker has received similar criticism. The books will be available at Bloomsbury and in electronic versions and from used book stores. On July 12 we focused on a discussion of hell in both books and on August 16 we will focus on love in both books. - Sara Hopkins

What are the library folks reading? Trinity’s library committee is a varied bunch. Our current reading matter does

not necessarily reflect the content of the parish library, always available to you by going to http://www.librarything.com/home/Trinitychurchashland.

Here’s what a few of us are reading these days:

Carol Howser: God Laughs and Plays by David James Duncan, an Oregon au-thor and nature lover, but also a man who has studied many religious paths. The book is his response to Fundamentalism.

Vicki Gardner: Rin-Tin-Tin by by Susan Or-lean. A terrific read for dog lovers and the curious. A detailed history of the German Shepherd breed and the silent movie era.

Nancy Edwards-Cogswell. Kinship with All Life, by J. Allen Boone. About the human/canine relationship, and how it is experi-enced, shared and enhanced between a basic trainer and a “Hollywood actor-dog, the Ger-man Shepherd named Strongheart (1917-1929), a forerunner of Rin-Tin-Tin. Availa-ble in our parish library.

Gloria Boyd: God on the Rocks by Jane Gar-dam. Originally published in Great Britain in 1978, the novel describes Margaret Marsh's coming of age one summer between the world wars.



Trinity Episcopal Church 44 North Second Street Ashland, Oregon 97520 Return service requested

Nonprofit org Us postage

Paid Ashland or Permit no 74

Trinity worship

Sunday Mornings 8:00 AM, Holy Eucharist, Rite II

10:00 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite II with Hymns

6:00pmSunday Evenings Contemplative Eucharist Aug 5 Evening Prayer, Aug 12 and 26

7:15 AM Monday–Saturday Chanted Morning Prayer

12:00 PM Thursdays Holy Eucharist with Healing

the Trinitarian August 2012

10:00 - 11:30 AM, Infant care

The trinity vision

Office Hours Monday – Thursday, 8:30a – 4:00p

Friday, 8:30a – 12:30p (541) 482-2656

44 North Second Street,

Ashland OR 97520 (541) 482-2656 FAX 482-1260 [email protected] www.trinitychurchashland.org

To be the Episcopal presence in Ashland, welcoming all who seek Christ in a parish family, where all of God’s

children can find, celebrate, and grow in God’s grace.

Trinity Episcopal Church, 44 North Second Street, Ashland OR 97520 publishes The Trinitarian monthly. James Johnson and Ann Magill, Editors. Submit articles to [email protected] at the church office by the 20th of the month. For more information, visit Trinity Epis-copal Church’s website at www.trinitychurchashland.org.



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