1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity

April 2015
Vol. 81 No. 4
Holy Thursday—April 2, 2015
A Holy Thursday Service will
take place at Pennsauken
UMC at 7:30pm. Preceded
by a soup gathering at
6:30pm. All are welcome.
Good Friday Community
Worship Service - April 3, 2015
12 noon - 3:00pm at the Grace
Episcopal Church, 7E Maple Ave. ,
Merchantville, NJ.
Local Pastors will preach on the
seven last words from the cross.
Pastor Walt will preach on the 3rd word beginning at
approximately 12:50 pm.
Good Friday Breakfast —April 3, 2015
Women Serving Together will host a continental
breakfast beginning at 8:30am. The guest speaker
will be Shirley Weller. All are welcome. A free will
offering will be taken. Please sign –up on the sheet All are welcome! Come for all or part of the
service.
in the chapel so we know how many to plan for.
Easter Worship Services
Sunday, April 5th
9:30am—Pennsauken UMC
10:45am—Trinity
Shirley Weller to
Speak at Good Friday Breakfast
Long-time Trinity member and former lay leader Shirley Weller will be the speaker at this year’s Good
Friday breakfast on April 3rd. The 8:30 a.m. breakfast is sponsored by Women Serving Together and all
members of Trinity and Pennsauken United Methodist Churches and their guests are invited to attend.
Shirley, who has been a member of Trinity since 1939, served as Trinity’s first woman lay leader from
1982 to 1984. She lived in Pennsauken for many years with her husband, Bill, and their four sons. After
their sons were grown and Bill retired, the couple moved to the Wiley Christian Retirement Community in
Marlton but continued to be active at Trinity. Bill, who has since passed away, served as Trinity lay leader
from 1973 to 1975. Weller Hall at Trinity was named in honor of the couple.
Shirley continues to take part in activities at Trinity, including the church’s recent 150th anniversary celebration. WST is pleased that she has accepted their invitation to speak at the Good Friday breakfast and
knows everyone who attends will find spiritual sustenance from the message she brings that day.
Note: Trinity has had two other women lay leaders. Cora Assenheimer served from 1993 to 1996 and current lay leader Elaine McBride has served since 2014.)
A Future With Hope Gift Shop
If you have skills in arts, crafts, quilting, knitting, crocheting, art or woodworking, you may be the right person to make a contribution to the A Future With Hope Gift Shop that will be set up at Annual Conference.
The gift shop is looking for donations to sell at the conference with 100 percent of the proceeds going to
AFWH. Along with creating your item, all that is asked is to pre-price it and then email [email protected] with a brief description of what your item is, your contact information and the name of your
home church. For more information email [email protected] or call Jean McMullan at 732.713.1636.
Immediately following the service, Pastor Walt
encouraged everyone to head outdoors for a picture
taken by Skip Harris, who also served as our
unofficial photographer for the weekend and helped
to document our anniversary celebration. Despite a
stiff wind, temperatures in the 50s and ground that
was sodden from heavy rains on Saturday, everyone
was able to gather on the Chapel Avenue side of the
A band played, hymns were sung, history was
church. Using a camera with a timer on a tripod, Skip
recalled, bread was broken, old friends were greeted was able to both take and be part of a large group
and people talked well into the afternoon about the
picture that will be similar to pictures taken during
Sunday morning sermon. All this and more were part Trinity’s 100th and 125th anniversaries.
of Trinity’s 150th anniversary celebration over the
On Sunday afternoon, almost 90 people gathered
weekend of March 14-15, 2015.
for a luncheon at Marco’s at the Pennsauken
The celebration began with music on the evening Country Club. Mayors Edward Brennan of
of March 14th as an estimated 170 people filled the
Merchantville and Rick Taylor of Pennsauken joined
church to hear a two-hour concert by Beck’s Philaus for lunch and presented congratulatory proclamadelphia Brigade Band. The band, a Civil War
tions. In addition to Dr. Marks and his wife Barbara,
reenactment group that wears period costumes and Dr. Leaver, and the Trotters, other special guests
plays many period instruments, played 21 Civil War included previous pastor Rev. Larry Potts, who
era tunes and three encores. The program also
served from 1999 to 2006, and his wife Carol; Rev.
included music by Ebenezer’s Elixir Old-Time
Brian Joyce, who went into the pastorate from
Minstrel Band, another reenactment musical group, Trinity, and his wife Nannette; Rev. Thomas
and two special offerings – “Battle Hymn of the
Venables, who served as a youth pastor during the
Republic” and “Danny Boy” – that were sung by
1960s; Nancy Hankins, whose husband Charles was
Trinity’s music director, Doc Maddison, with
Trinity’s pastor from 1971 to 1978; and Ragnhild
accompaniment by Trinity organist Helen Carrell.
Moyer, whose husband William served from 1978 to
1981.
On Sunday morning, Pastor Walter Mander led a
special church service that included the readings by
We also had guests from other area churches.
lay leaders Michael O’Shea and Elaine McBride, and They were Rev. Anthony J. Manuppella of St. Peter
Larry Migliaccio, who heads the Board of Trustees. Catholic Church in Merchantville, Rev. Dennis
Brandon Gaines, Trinity choir director for many
Blackwell from Asbury United Methodist Church in
years, sang “In This Very Room,” by Ron and Carol Woodlynne, and Rev. Jere L. Hopkins-Doerr of East
Harris, and Rev. Dr. Richard Leaver, who was
Pennsauken United Methodist Church and her
Trinity’s pastor from 1995 to1999, led the congrega- husband.
tion during the time of prayer. Pastor Walt talked
We hope all members and friends of Trinity were
about Trinity’s history since it was established on
able
to enjoy at least some part of the 150th
March 11, 1865. A special highlight was the sermon
anniversary celebration weekend, and that everyone
offered by Rev. Dr. Donald Marks, which was titled
is looking forward with renewed faith and commit“The Best of Things in the Worst of Times,” and
ment to many more years of worship and service as
reflected on the importance of faith and the church
part of the Trinity community. Special thanks to
during difficult times throughout history. Dr. Marks
everyone who helped make the weekend a success.
served at Trinity from 1981 to 1995 and again from
2007 to 2010.
The 150th Anniversary Committee:
Special guests Andrew Trotter and his wife
Daphne, who traveled to South Jersey from their
home in Washington, DC, for the anniversary
celebration, were also introduced during the service.
Andrew, who is a great great grandson of church
founder David S. Stetson, also offered some
thoughts on Trinity’s anniversary.
Cece Lentini Torok and Linda Migliaccio, co-chairs
Karen Hoffman
Elaine McBride
Debbie Curcio
Jack Thomas
Kathy Mander
Pastor Walt Mander
continuing through the season of Lent, Holy Week
and Easter Sunday. Please check the schedule for
services. The Holy Thursday Service will be held at
Pennsauken Methodist this year. Women Serving
Together are hosting their annual Good Friday
Hello friends!
Breakfast followed by the town-wide service from
Even though the snow continues to fall, the calendar noon till 3pm. We will have lots of special music on
is telling us it is spring. It’s ok though. Sooner than Easter Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection of
we think, we’ll be complaining about the heat!
our Lord.
I know that there will be other articles in this
newsletter about the 150th Anniversary celebration
but I can’t let the opportunity slip by without singing
the praises of the wonderful time we had! The
concert Saturday was great. The bands were very
entertaining and Doc Maddison likes to describe his
musical selections as organ solo with tenor accompaniment. Whichever way you describe it, they gave
my goose bumps goose bumps! Jack Thomas left
no stone unturned in his publicity of the concert. He
made sure to let everyone in the surrounding towns
know about our celebration and was even able to
raise a few dollars to help the meet the expenses of
the upkeep of our beautiful church. The service on
Sunday was a wonderful celebration of the culmination of 150 years in the life of our church and hope
for the future as we share God’s love to with our
members and the surrounding community. It was
great having former members, musicians, ministers,
and their families, and even a descendant of David
Stetson join us. A special thank you goes out to
Brandon Gaines for sharing his talent with us. We
thank Rev. Mander for sharing many of the facts that
he found while researching our history and Rev
Marks for sharing a wonderful message with examples of how Trinity has traditionally found a way to
do “the best of things in the worst of times.” After
the service, many of us continued the celebration
with a luncheon. There, even more of our former
ministers and families shared the meal and township
officials honored the influence that Trinity has had in
the community. It was a great time to reconnect with
old friends. I cannot thank Cece Torok and Linda
Migliaccio and their committee enough for all of the
work they did to make this weekend such an
amazing and enjoyable success. Cindy Stulz also
worked tirelessly behind the scenes helping with
whatever we asked. Michael Hall, Peter Johnston,
and Jeff Novak also did a lot of repairs and
maintenance on our church to make Trinity look
beautiful for the celebration. Here’s looking forward
to another 150 years!
Looking forward to the next few weeks, we are
I continue to be grateful to all who help with the
services each Sunday. As I close, I want to say
thank you all for your contributions. I ask God to
comfort our members and friends on our prayer list
as they face struggles in their daily life.
May God bless us, everyone!
Debbie Curcio
Worship Committee Chair
Improve
Blood Pressure
A healthy diet can positively
affect your blood pressure.
Enjoy a diet filled with colorful vegetables, fruits,
whole grains, seafood, and low fat dairy. Snack on a
small handful of nuts, seeds or a piece of fruit.
Limit sodium to 1500 to 2300 mg/day. Switch out the
salt shaker for one that is filled with your favorite
herbs and spices. Herbs and apices like thyme,
oregano, rosemary, turmeric and cinnamon add a lot
of flavor to many dishes. Rinse canned beans and
veggies before use. Cook at home as much as
possible. Restaurants and processed foods provide
most of our salt intake.
Add sautéed garlic and onions to soups and pasta
dishes.
Barbara Wilson, Registered Dietitian
[email protected]
Wooden
Home Town Collectible –
150th Anniversary Church
$13.00
Please see Kathy Mander
April Showers
at Collingswood Manor
Happy
Birthday
Once again I am asking for your help with the annual
April Showers event at the Collingswood Manor to be
held on April 14th.
April Birthdays
2nd
Josh Edwards
Chikamso Ezeiruaku
3rd
Bobby Taylor
7th
Janice Stow
Tamra Vrana
11th
Samantha Hayman
Pamela Lapp
14th
Adam Gilliss Jr.
16th
Cecelia Torok
22nd
Marie Miller
25th
Each church that is a member of the Manor Auxiliary is
asked to donate personal care items to be given to the
residents. All items collected are arranged on tables
and residents may choose any items that they need.
Photos of last years’ April Showers are on display on
the bulletin board in the Chapel. A list of suggested
items you may wish to donate is as follows. A box for
your donations is located in the chapel. Any donations
will be gratefully appreciated.
Karen Hoffman
Collingswood Manor Representative
Suggested Items to Donate:
27th
Dish Soap
Sponges
Paper Towels
Handy Wipes
Puzzle Books
Scotch Tape
Debbie Hartman
Amere Wright
Note Paper
Comb
Paper Napkins
Kleenex
Jonathan Kpolie
Poly-Grip
Q-Tips
Large Bar Soap
Shampoo
Hand Lotion
Emery Boards
Laundry Soap
Shower Cap
Pens & Pencils
Toothpaste
Safety Pins
Soft Soap
Brush
Zip-Lock Sandwich Bags
TÑÜ|Ä TÇÇ|äxÜátÜ|xá
19th
Pastor Walt & Kathy Mander
20
Joseph & Greta Brocious
th
Youth Fun Nights
@ Pennsauken UMC
Every Saturday in
April at 6:00pm
All Youth are Welcome!
The Food Pantry is
requesting the following
Canned meat or fish
Condensed soup
Canned vegetables
Canned fruit
Cereal
As always, all donations are appreciated!
The Tidings
A periodic publication of
Trinity United Methodist Church
Office Hours Tues. - Fri. 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
(856) 665-1806 Fax: (856) 665-9556
Email: [email protected]
Sunday Worship
10:45 AM
Website: www.gotrinity.org
Visit us on Facebook
2015
Trinity United Methodist Church
36 W. Maple Ave.
Merchantville, NJ 08109
Sunday School
9:30 AM