Flower Guild Report

The Trinity Church Flower Guild, chaired by Gina Hammond and Sandra Markus, consists of seven talented teams. On a scheduled rotation, each team prepares the flowers for the Sunday services. For a typical Sundays, flowers were placed on the reredos, in the entryway and in the chapel. Flowers were also provided for numerous weddings and funerals using favorite flowers and colors, as specified by the families.

Special attention was given to flowers for the feasts of Easter, Advent and Christmas. Memorial gifts are asked of the congregation for Easter and Christmas to be given in thanksgiving for and in memory of family members and loved ones. For Easter, an arrangement was made for the sunrise service at the Outdoor Chapel. A variety of lilies, daffodils and hyacinths were used in arrangements in the church. For Advent, only greens are used in the church. Becky Hoecker is to be thanked for arranging for the beautiful Advent Wreath, and the two wreaths hung outside of Cox Hall. At Christmas, the church was decorated with evergreens, poinsettia and anthurium. Two beautiful urns displayed arrangements utilizing evergreens, holly, ivy and flowers in red and white.

The Flower Guild thanks all individuals who make contributions for flowers used throughout the year. Openings are available on the calendar if you wish to remember someone or an event (birthdays, anniversaries) during the year.

Persons interested in serving on the Flower Guild should contact the chairpersons. Flowers are a welcoming way to greet visitors to Trinity. The Guild is honored to be able to work with so many gifts from God’s creation.

Moments Of Great Giving

Covid has been a modern-day equivalent of Plato’s Cave. Individually and collectively, we all retreated, and then slowly one by one we reemerged, drawn by the light of truth and the promise that “in light, we shall see light.”

For Trinity, this past year has been a testament to the spirit, fortitude, energy, and vision of Trinity. In 2022, we took great leaps of faith and experienced tremendous moments of giving!

One year ago, our Rector and the Vestry took such a leap of faith. For decades, the endowment draw at Trinity has been a crutch, supplementing our pledging. This Vestry made a bold decision to forgo the first quarter draw and pass a negative budget. Instead, we decided to put the shoulder to the wheel and enlarge the giving of today versus relying on the blessings of our endowment.

Like a seesaw, the more we give today, the less we need to draw on our endowment. In doing so, each dollar we pledge ripples through time and helps to endow the future of Trinity. And thus, through faith, we turned a projected negative budget of $47,000 for 2022 into a surplus of approximately $240,000. We did this by following our hearts, taking a leap of faith, and entrusting ourselves to the Lord.

As my parents have often told me, there is an enormous difference between a contribution and a gift.

“Gifts must be distinguished from contributions. A contribution exacts no price but binds donors in common. A gift starts with belief and draws donors into uncommon company. While a contribution subtracts from the checkbook and divides resources, a gift adds from the heart and soon multiplies them. The mind of a great institution is made more generous by moments of great giving.”

In 2022, Trinity experienced moments of great giving. When the Ukraine war erupted, we raised nearly $50K, mostly through the Trinity App in just a few short days. When members got inspired for Coats for Ukraine, we gave. Then, it went viral - from the pulpit to online service participants to Fox5DC and back to Trinity. Our goal was 250 coats. In the end, we gave 2,500 coats.

For the first time in many, many years (maybe ever), our pledge revenue far exceeded the $600,000 threshold. While we hoped for $50,000 in special gifts, we received nearly $100,000.

Moments of great giving have enlarged the heart of Trinity, and hopefully a new habit of turning contributions into gifts!

I am happy to report Trinity is alive and well! We have lowered our endowment draw significantly, increased our giving, and ended the year with a healthy surplus. This is just the beginning! Join us for the annual meeting as we talk about the year in review and what lies ahead.

“Moments of great giving have enlarged the heart of Trinity, and hopefully a new habit of turning contributions into gifts!”

“Like a seesaw, the more we give today, the less we need to draw on our endowment. In doing so, each dollar we pledge ripples through time and helps to endow the future of Trinity.”