Announcements
For Music at Home links, please click here.
The building remains closed to all persons, including renters. The building is only accessible for Food and Friends and deliveries. Select spaces are available for Trinity small groups only, through reservations made to the office.
Select Trinity space for reservations of small groups
We are excited to have space for small groups to start meeting at Trinity. Session met last week in a special meeting and passed a motion to open select areas of Trinity for limited use (see the end of the email for the motion text). To decrease the risk of transmission as much as possible, please read and adhere to the following guidelines, which will be updated as needed.
Trinity small groups now can reserve outdoor and select indoor space starting July 10th. The following spaces are reservable (ONLY for Trinity small groups, not outside rentals or groups):
Indoor: Calvin Hall will be permanently set up with chairs for no more than 20 people. No basketball.
Outdoor: Upper Parking Lot on North 16th Street (no more than 20), Outdoor Chapel (no more than 20), Courtyard (no more than 12)
Sign up for your group by contacting the office via email.
· Once a space is reserved, each member of the group will need to provide a phone or email, through a link provided by the office, so we can do contact tracing if needed.
· In the beginning, we will have one group per day per space so that we are able to keep the areas and parking lots as low risk as possible.
· Groups will be required to use face coverings and follow CDC social distancing protocols.
· The cleaning service will be cleaning Calvin Hall regularly; however, each indoor group must follow indoor-specific protocols including (but not limited to): wiping down high contact surfaces (indoors) after use, use of hand sanitizer, face coverings, entering/exiting through designated door(s), and social distancing.
· Bathrooms are for emergency use only.
The main church building remains closed as staff will be filming worship in those spaces and we need to keep the area clean.
Groups that are unable to follow the guidelines will not be allowed to reserve space again.
Thank you for your patience as we figure out this new system. As this is an evolving issue, we will share any updates to these guidelines.
The Approved Session Motion is as follows:
On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, Trinity’s Session met to discuss next steps for facility use during the pandemic. Session seeks above all to keep everyone safe.
Following extended discussion, a MOTION was MADE, SECONDED, and CARRIED unanimously that Trinity Presbyterian Church remain closed for in-person worship through at least Sunday, September 6, 2020 and that the Trinity session reevaluate that timing at its August meeting. The motion also allows Trinity-sponsored groups, effective July 10, 2020, to gather outdoors in three designated areas: the outdoor chapel, the courtyard, and the upper parking lot adjacent to the education building. Trinity groups will be permitted indoors in Calvin Hall, with a maximum of 20 persons. Alcoholics Anonymous will be the only external group permitted access to Calvin Hall. Outdoor spaces will be limited by the space size, but in no case to more than 20 persons, to maintain proper social distancing requirements. In Phase I of Trinity’s reopening, small groups will be limited in all spaces to no more than 20 persons. All groups must reserve space in advance and coordinate with the church office to track attendance to comply with contact tracing protocols. All groups must “leave no trace” of trash or debris.
The target date to safely open these four spaces is 4 weeks after Arlington moved to Phase 2 according to Virginia Forward plan, or July 10, 2020, but only with Pastor and staff agreement that proper protocols are in place. After Session discussion it was agreed this timeline seems reasonable but will be adjusted and such adjustment communicated if necessary. Groups will be required to use face coverings and follow CDC social distancing protocols. (Seated activities require 6’ social distancing, physical exercise requires 10’.) Signage will be posted to reinforce safety protocols as required by Virginia.
Bathrooms will be for emergency use only for both indoor and outdoor groups. Only one person at a time will be allowed in such emergency cases. All groups will be asked to comply with contact tracing protocols. Contact tracing requires advance sign-up and attendance verification by group leader. Indoor groups must follow indoor-specific protocols, including (but not limited to): wiping down high contact surfaces (indoors) after use, use of hand sanitizer, face coverings, entering/exiting through designated door(s), and social distancing.
Individuals on church property accept risk and responsibility to limit exposure to others. Any group members not following the protocols may be denied their group’s future church facility use. AA will be asked to sign a liability waiver.
Tribute to Jim Atwood
Dear Trinity Community,
As we are all still processing the loss of Rev. Jim Atwood during this social distancing time, Pastor Judith asked Session Member Randy Benn, who worked closely with Jim over many years, to write a short tribute to him.
Jim Atwood Tribute Randy Benn 6/29/20
On Friday Trinity lost a Pastor Emeritus and long-time leader who helped shape our wonderful community with “energy, intelligence, imagination and love”. For many, myself included, we lost something even rarer--a true friend.
The tributes are already pouring in, and rightly so. But when Judith asked me to write a short piece on my compadre of 35 years (and how can you sum up such a big life?), I found myself thinking about the many stories we shared that fill-out the headlines. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to believe that it is those little moments that matter most and in which we can take the true measure of each other.
Jim was born a Midwesterner and made a life-long Detroit Tigers fan, but he always showed up as a warm fellow from North Carolina who saw you as a friend or friend to be. His big mitts baptized my three kids and ordained Cathy and me, and after those experiences I always found the laying on of hands deeply spiritual and significant. He was a passionate sports fan, and we attended many Orioles, Redskins, Caps and Nats games together, where he demonstrated his “see-food diet” [I see food, I eat it—I loved him for that]. He was himself a great college fastball pitcher who could have gone pro but chose to serve us instead—though that choice never extinguished his innate competitiveness. When we played racquetball (always as early as he could get me on the court, for he knew that conferred an advantage to him), as soon as I got ahead he would start hitting me with the ball (usually with a slightly apologetic smile on his face—I loved him for that too).
My kids remember the big hugs and big laughs—he always had a ready joke and published a book of his favorites. Of course, he went on to more serious work and won awards for authorship addressing gun violence, work that took him (an avid hunter in his day) around the US on the lecture circuit and to leadership on the Million Man March, backed by forty years of service on the Board of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV). His unwavering commitment to social justice led to my own twenty years on the CSGV Board where I got to see him model faith in action on a regular basis. And in his retirement, my in-laws remember fondly the several international trips they took with him as host and the enthusiasm for new adventures and encountering the “other” that he brought to each visit.
At Trinity he fought for a “big tent” version of the church, where it was not necessary for congregants to agree with each other, rather that they love and seek to understand each other. He also espoused a philosophy of making the “frozen chosen” uncomfortable on occasion, and while he always said his wife Roxanna was the best preacher in the Presbytery, he could rouse us to action with his sermons. He also spear-headed the expansion of our physical space to expand our opportunities to teach, increase accessibility and be in community. He remained an avid supporter of Trinity by guest preaching, informally advising Judith and staying in touch with many of our members.
This write-up seems woefully inadequate. Suffice it to say that he enriched my life and my family’s life in many significant ways. I know that he is at peace and in the embrace of his God. I loved him a lot and miss him already.
Please click here for Rev. Atwood's obituary
Sunday July 5th: Zoom with Judith at 4pm
Grab a coffee, cold drink, or snack and join pastor Judith for a Sunday afternoon coffee hour. Everyone invited at 4pm this Sunday. Please email the office for the link.
Sunday: Just Coffee at 10am
Just Coffee is meeting virtually over Zoom weekly. All are welcome as we get caught up with each other and pretend that we are in the John Knox room! The info is below. Please make sure that your “name” as it appears to Zoom is clear so that Lynn Pollack can admit you from the Zoom waiting room. Just in case, to be sure Lynn is able to recognize your name as a Trinity community, feel free to notify Lynn via the office email if you plan to attend the Zoom Just Coffee. If you are not familiar with Zoom yet, please feel free to contact Susan Dykstra and she will help you set it up.
Racial Justice Group 4-Session Small-Group Book Studies:
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Over the past year, our congregation has been encouraged to read "How to Be an Anti-Racist" by Ibram X. Kendi. The Racial Justice Group is now convening groups of 6-8 people for 4-session book discussions.
Sunday mornings: July 12-August 2 10-11:30am Dan and Maggie Campbell will be leading a discussion.
Week of July 19th: Sari Magnuson will lead another discussion, starting the week of July 19th, meeting time TBD based on the schedules of participants.
The first 8 registrants will receive Zoom invitations to join the discussions, so register soon by emailing the office with your choice of weeks.
People needed to be part of our worship videos.
We would love people to film themselves lighting a candle. You may have seen Pastor Judith light a candle as part of the prayer time, we will be doing that again over the next couple of weeks and we would really like to include others in that moment. If you are willing to record yourselves lighting a candle, it doesn’t have to be professionally lit and you don’t have to have your hair and make up done. Record it and then send it to Ben.
If you would be interested in being part of another aspect of the service, reading scripture, doing announcements, a moment for mission, ushering. Contact ben@trinityarlington.org
Staying in Contact with Your Trinity Family
We are encouraging small groups of all kinds to continue supporting each other through zoom chats and other forms of digital meet-up. If your group is meeting digitally and would like pastor Judith to join you, please send an invitation to the meeting to pastorjudith@trinityarlington.org. She is available for a chat with your group or to lead you in prayer. We are also interested in suggestions of how we can improve our leadership through this crisis.
What can we do to help our neighbors during this time of crisis?
Click here to learn more.
Trinity Operating Status Details
March 27, 2020
We hope you are all doing well during this difficult time. As you know two weeks ago Session voted to close Trinity through April 1st, with the intent of reassessing the building status before that time.
March 13, 2020
As we are trying to slow the rate of infection and keep our community safe, Session voted this morning to follow the recent National Capital Presbytery guidance to worship remotely and close for in person meetings, worships, and gatherings. Trinity will be closed until April 1st, when the status will be re-evaluated. We do not take these steps lightly and ask for your help in making God's presence felt for all.