News
The Whole Human Family is Made in God’s Image
Saturday September 13, 2025
O God, you made us in your own image, and you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Collect for the Human Family
Dear friends,
Our Book of Common Prayer has a fantastic section of prayers towards the back, called “Occasional Prayers” which in Anglican speak does not so much mean “pray one every once in a while” as, “pray when the situation (occasion) needs this” (which would, we hope, be less than every once in a while). This one is #42. Alas, we need this one, as we are in a cycle of escalating violence in our society.
Two of the things I like most about this one are:
-It leads off with a reminder that we are created in God’s image: human dignity is not earned, but gifted, and it is defined in relation to God, not our opinions or etc.
-Shortly after it reminds us that the “whole human family” shares this and therefore is a family, under God.
One other thing: Community Conversation coming up on Wednesday, September 24, at a NEW time: 7-8.30 pm. This will be hybrid, in-person and online. Bring your questions, your reflections, thoughts about how our topics of creationtide reach into your living… We’ll be in Beverly, in the Barnet Gallery of the Public Library, so feel free to bring friends.
POTLUCKING!
We had a great time together this past Wednesday! It was the biggest yet, all tables full and people in good conversations from both churches. And a lot of great food!
Welcome Another New Baby!
Congratulations to Sophie and Toby Clayton-Gross! Ladies and gentlemen, Mila Anne Clayton-Gross!
Toby reports:
Mila (MEE-luh) Anne Clayton-Gross was born on September 9th at 2:58am, weighing 6lbs 13oz and at 20 inches long.
Her name Mila, has slavic roots meaning “mercy”, “gracious”, and “dear one”. We first encountered the name while we were in Romania.
Mom and baby are both healthy and well. You can help out with the Take them a Meal below. 🌠
BAPTISMS
Baptisms coming up — let me know if you or yours would like to be baptized!
September 21 and October 19
ANNUAL MEETING
We are looking forward to our Annual Meeting, Sunday, September 28 immediately following service. We invite you to take a short time with us for this year’s meeting.
TRINITY KIDS AND LITTLES!
Children’s Ministry is continuing after the summer hiatus. The Littles (aged 1.5 through 4 years old) and the Olders (aged 5 through 11 years old) will meet every Sunday from the sermon through the Peace, roughly a half hour. In age appropriate ways, both groups will learn about and engage with the God the Creator and Father, Jesus the Son and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit fount of wisdom and comfort through the Old and New Testament stories.
Questions? Contact Mtr Wendy at wendy@trinitynorthshore.org
THIS AUTUMN at TRINITY
Community Conversation (returns in a new form)
September 24, Community Conversation, 7-830 pm at the Beverly Downtown Library.
Details on our Events Page!
CONFIRMATION CLASS
Begins this Sunday.
Begins after service this Sunday, talking about our Anglican tradition. We’ll be talking about it not in terms of its history or formality or whatever, but as a living spirituality. We’ll be talking about a few things that make it unique, and why they matter.
Class welcome to everyone, whether being confirmed in October or not.
It is More Fun Than You Think
We are scheduled to have Bp Trevor Walters with us on Sunday, October 19.
(Bp Trevor is assisting our diocese. I had the opportunity to spend a few days with him and a small number of others on a retreat several years ago; I enjoyed his presence.)
Confirmation is the sacrament that gets too little credit — to many it feels sort of like maintenance, or checking a box, but in reality it is vibrant and quite exciting… It is about owning the faith and your place in one of the great sacramental traditions (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox), which itself means a tradition whose spirituality recognizes God present and working in creation, in the everyday aspects of life, present to us all the time. Confirmation also involves the bishop anointing you for a fresh start, and for living into your own calling at a new level.
If you are interested in Confirmation, please join me for a Confirmation Class coming this autumn (mid-September, starting soon!). Feel free to chat with me, ask your questions, etc.
The class last year involved some great questions, discussion, and just a good feeling. We talked about:
The Anglican Way: A Living Spirituality
Scripture: Ancient, Different, Ironic, Practical, Promising, Filling, even Humorous, and More…
Creeds: The Greatest Story, in Concentrate
The Sacraments: What, Why, Why These, How They Heal Us and the World
(Class open to anyone, interested in Confirmation or not.)
Confirmation Class dates:
September 14, 21, 28, and October 5 following Sunday morning service in the Parish Hall.
CREATIONTIDE CONTINUES
and Possible Big News coming soon re: the North Shore Pollinator Corridor
I am always excited about Creationtide, which will surprise no one, but this year Mother Jen and I are particularly looking forward to it. Over its six Sundays we will be working to help connect some of the dots we have heard you asking about, or expressed that others you know are trying to connect.
For example: Creation was deemed good by God in Genesis 1-2.3, but did that goodness survive Genesis 3 and the Fall, especially given “cursed be the earth because of you (human)”? Here’s a clue: read that again and ask two questions: a. Who is at fault? b. Is that over?
THE NORTH SHORE POLLINATOR CORRIDOR
Two big things here:
We have applied for grant money to help us go forward with this project. The foundation is interested. We do not have a yes yet, but we also have not been told no. They want to talk to us again as we make progress going into this coming year.
You can find the content (adapted) we sent to them in our proposal here. Much credit to Mother Jen, who took my intuitive framing of this, synthesized, added her insights and wrote beautifully. I believe this is a good starter place for us to talk about our mission on the North Shore. What should a church’s disposition be in a place such as where we live? Why? How do we see this as both valid loving and serving God and our neighbor in and of itself, and as effective mission for Trinity? We’ll be discussing these things in Community Conversation, and you can start digesting the raw material, if you will, on our Creation Care page here.
Blessings and peace to you all,
Tim+
Thank you for helping the Currie, Ferrell, and Clayton families with meals at this time. They are so grateful to have this community support. details here:
Take them a Meal
Connecting Groups
Trinity has a variety of ongoing groups at the church that help us foster community, practice hospitality, and encourage us to grow in Christ together. We have Bible study groups, creative activity groups, home groups, mentorship groups, and topically focused groups.. Details here
Community Conversation
Join us Wednesday September 24 from
7-830 at the Downtown Beverly Library
details on our Events Page
Your Parish Council would like to invite us all into a regular pattern of prayer - together! This is a way for us to pause, midweek, whatever we are doing in our lives to join our hearts together in prayer. All the details here!
Invitation to Pray Together
As the Rains Come Down from Heaven
Saturday September 6, 2025
Listen! Everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.
…For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
-excerpts from Isaiah 55
Hello friends,
Lots going on this autumn: as ever, skim the HEADERS below and catch the pieces you need… Especially this week I’m thinking about our Potluck coming up on Wednesday evening, 6-8 pm, at Magnolia.
And our upcoming Community Conversation, September 24, 6-7.30 pm, and hybrid (in-person and online).
Keep praying regarding our next season and where we will be gathering. We will hold an update soon, maybe online one evening during the week.
New Baby!
Nathan and Elspeth Currie are pleased to announce the birth of Elinor Blaise Currie!
Mom and baby are doing great! You can help out with the Take them a Meal below. 🌠
TRINITY KIDS AND LITTLES RETURNS THIS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 7!
Children’s Ministry is resuming after the summer hiatus this Sunday, Sept 7. The Littles (aged 1.5 through 4 years old) and the Olders (aged 5 through 11 years old) will meet every Sunday from the sermon through the Peace, roughly a half hour. In age appropriate ways, both groups will learn about and engage with the God the Creator and Father, Jesus the Son and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit fount of wisdom and comfort through the Old and New Testament stories.
Questions? Contact Mtr Wendy at wendy@trinitynorthshore.org
CREATIONTIDE CONTINUES
and Possible Big News coming soon re: the North Shore Pollinator Corridor
I am always excited about Creationtide, which will surprise no one, but this year Mother Jen and I are particularly looking forward to it. Over its six Sundays we will be working to help connect some of the dots we have heard you asking about, or expressed that others you know are trying to connect.
For example: Creation was deemed good by God in Genesis 1-2.3, but did that goodness survive Genesis 3 and the Fall, especially given “cursed be the earth because of you (human)”? Here’s a clue: read that again and ask two questions: a. Who is at fault? b. Is that over?
THE NORTH SHORE POLLINATOR CORRIDOR
Two big things here:
We have applied for grant money to help us go forward with this project. The foundation is interested. We do not have a yes yet, but we also have not been told no. They want to talk to us again as we make progress going into this coming year.
You can find the content (adapted) we sent to them in our proposal here. Much credit to Mother Jen, who took my intuitive framing of this, synthesized, added her insights and wrote beautifully. I believe this is a good starter place for us to talk about our mission on the North Shore. What should a church’s disposition be in a place such as where we live? Why? How do we see this as both valid loving and serving God and our neighbor in and of itself, and as effective mission for Trinity? We’ll be discussing these things in Community Conversation, and you can start digesting the raw material, if you will, on our Creation Care page here.
THIS AUTUMN at TRINITY
Potlucks and Community Conversation (returns in a new form)
September 10, Pot Luck, 6-8 pm at Magnolia
September 24, Community Conversation, 6-7.30 pm at Magnolia
We’ll get the news out as each of these approaches, but you can go ahead and mark these dates down now.
CONFIRMATION CLASS
It is More Fun Than You Think
We are scheduled to have Bp Trevor Walters with us on Sunday, October 19.
(Bp Trevor is assisting our diocese. I had the opportunity to spend a few days with him and a small number of others on a retreat several years ago; I enjoyed his presence.)
Confirmation is the sacrament that gets too little credit — to many it feels sort of like maintenance, or checking a box, but in reality it is vibrant and quite exciting… It is about owning the faith and your place in one of the great sacramental traditions (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox), which itself means a tradition whose spirituality recognizes God present and working in creation, in the everyday aspects of life, present to us all the time. Confirmation also involves the bishop anointing you for a fresh start, and for living into your own calling at a new level.
If you are interested in Confirmation, please join me for a Confirmation Class coming this autumn (mid-September, starting soon!). Feel free to chat with me, ask your questions, etc.
The class last year involved some great questions, discussion, and just a good feeling. We talked about:
The Anglican Way: A Living Spirituality
Scripture: Ancient, Different, Ironic, Practical, Promising, Filling, even Humorous, and More…
Creeds: The Greatest Story, in Concentrate
The Sacraments: What, Why, Why These, How They Heal Us and the World
(Class open to anyone, interested in Confirmation or not.)
Confirmation Class dates:
September 14, 21, 28, and October 5 following Sunday morning service in the Parish Hall.
Blessings and peace to you all,
Tim+
Thank you for helping the Currie, Ferrell, and Clayton families with meals at this time. They are so grateful to have this community support. details here:
Take them a Meal
Connecting Groups
Trinity has a variety of ongoing groups at the church that help us foster community, practice hospitality, and encourage us to grow in Christ together. We have Bible study groups, creative activity groups, home groups, mentorship groups, and topically focused groups.. Details here
Autumn Potluck!
Join us Wednesday September 10 from 6-8 in Magnolia!
Be sure to sign up, details on our Events Page
Your Parish Council would like to invite us all into a regular pattern of prayer - together! This is a way for us to pause, midweek, whatever we are doing in our lives to join our hearts together in prayer. All the details here!
Invitation to Pray Together
Creationtide
Saturday August 30, 2025
As a boy, I lived for some time in the country and I clearly remember an experience from those days: I used to walk to school in a nearby village along a cart track through the fields and, on the way, see on the horizon a huge smokestack of some hurriedly built factory, in all likelihood in the service of war. It spewed dense brown smoke and scattered it across the sky. Each time I saw it, I had an intense sense of something profoundly wrong, of humans soiling the heavens.
I have no idea whether there was something like a science of ecology in those days; if there was, I certainly knew nothing of it. Still that “soiling of the heavens” offended me spontaneously. It seemed to me that, in it, humans are guilty of something, that they destroy something important, arbitrarily disrupting the natural order of things, and that such things cannot go unpunished.
To be sure, my revulsion was largely aesthetic; I knew nothing then of the noxious emissions which would one day devastate our forests, exterminate game, and endanger the health of people.
If a medieval man were to see something like that suddenly on the horizon — say, while out hunting — he would probably think it the work of the Devil and would fall on his knees and pray that he and his kin be saved.
What is it, actually, that the world of the medieval peasant and that of a small boy have in common? Something substantive, I think. Both the boy and the peasant are far more intensely rooted in what some philosophers call “the natural world, or Lebenswelt, than most modern adults.
They have not yet grown alienated from the world of their actual personal experience, the world which has its morning and its evening, its down (the earth) and its up (the heavens), where the sun rises daily in the east, traverses the sky and sets in the west, and where concepts like “at home” and “in foreign parts,” good and evil, beauty and ugliness, near and far, duty and rights, still mean something living and definite. They are still rooted in a world which knows the dividing line between all that is intimately familiar and appropriately a subject of our concern, and that which lies beyond its horizon, that before which we should bow down humbly because of the mystery about it.
-the beginning of a speech written by Vaclav Havel, Politics and Conscience. He wrote it to give at the University of Toulouse on the occasion of their bestowing on him an honorary doctorate, but he was forbidden to travel by his government, who disapproved of his ideas. In spite of its being written forty years ago it is still germane, possibly more germane than at that time.
Hello friends,
New Baby!
Nathan and Elspeth Currie are pleased to announce the birth of Elinor Blaise Currie!
Mom and baby are doing great! You can help out with the Take them a Meal below. 🌠
Thank you all for a good chat together last Sunday at Elevenses, regarding our next season and where we will worship. Keep praying! I cannot promise anything at this point except what we know to be certain and true: God is with us; God’s Spirit leads us; Jesus loves us and calls us his own. I’m looking forward to seeing how this next step for us sorts out.
In the meantime, this Sunday is a particularly significant one for us at Trinity; we will begin celebrating Creationtide, which begins on September 1. It started among the world Orthodox Christian community in 1989 with the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is affectionately known as “the Green Patriarch.” September 1, is the beginning of the Orthodox liturgical year, and the Patriarch wanted the church to begin each year by remembering the beginning of all things. In an ecumenical gesture of global significance, Pope Francis announced in August, 2015 that the Roman Catholic Church will also recognize September 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and would keep a liturgical season related to creation from September 1 until October 4, the Feast of St Francis.
Also, a note about Potlucks and Community Conversations: we are looking forward to these! We are planning a rhythm of a monthly of each. We have heard some of you when you have shared that the time for the Potlucks is too early to be realistic for you and yours. We’ve moved the starting time of those to 6-8 pm, and may have another option for some of them as well. Some of this will also depend on where our next space lands, so we are holding the scheduling flexibly and glad to hear from you about what works for you.
CREATIONTIDE, BEGINNING AUGUST 31
and Possible Big News coming soon re: the North Shore Pollinator Corridor
I am always excited about Creationtide, which will surprise no one, but this year Mother Jen and I are particularly looking forward to it. Over its six Sundays we will be working to help connect some of the dots we have heard you asking about, or expressed that others you know are trying to connect.
For example: Creation was deemed good by God in Genesis 1-2.3, but did that goodness survive Genesis 3 and the Fall, especially given “cursed be the earth because of you (human)”? Here’s a clue: read that again and ask two questions: a. Who is at fault? b. Is that over?
THE NORTH SHORE POLLINATOR CORRIDOR
Two big things here:
We have applied for grant money to help us go forward with this project. The foundation is interested. We do not have a yes yet, but we also have not been told no. They want to talk to us again as we make progress going into this coming year.
You can find the content (adapted) we sent to them in our proposal here. Much credit to Mother Jen, who took my intuitive framing of this, synthesized, added her insights and wrote beautifully. I believe this is a good starter place for us to talk about our mission on the North Shore. What should a church’s disposition be in a place such as where we live? Why? How do we see this as both valid loving and serving God and our neighbor in and of itself, and as effective mission for Trinity? We’ll be discussing these things in Community Conversation, and you can start digesting the raw material, if you will, on our Creation Care page here.
THIS AUTUMN at TRINITY
Potlucks and Community Conversation (returns in a new form)
September 10, Pot Luck, 6-8 pm
September 24, Community Conversation, 6-7.30 pm
We’ll get the news out as each of these approaches, but you can go ahead and mark these dates down now.
CONFIRMATION CLASS
It is More Fun Than You Think
We are scheduled to have Bp Trevor Walters with us on Sunday, October 19.
(Bp Trevor is assisting our diocese. I had the opportunity to spend a few days with him and a small number of others on a retreat several years ago; I enjoyed his presence.)
Confirmation is the sacrament that gets too little credit — to many it feels sort of like maintenance, or checking a box, but in reality it is vibrant and quite exciting… It is about owning the faith and your place in one of the great sacramental traditions (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox), which itself means a tradition whose spirituality recognizes God present and working in creation, in the everyday aspects of life, present to us all the time. Confirmation also involves the bishop anointing you for a fresh start, and for living into your own calling at a new level.
If you are interested in Confirmation, please join me for a Confirmation Class coming this autumn (mid-September, starting soon!). Feel free to chat with me, ask your questions, etc.
The class last year involved some great questions, discussion, and just a good feeling. We talked about:
The Anglican Way: A Living Spirituality
Scripture: Ancient, Different, Ironic, Practical, Promising, Filling, even Humorous, and More…
Creeds: The Greatest Story, in Concentrate
The Sacraments: What, Why, Why These, How They Heal Us and the World
(Class open to anyone, interested in Confirmation or not.)
Confirmation Class dates:
September 14, 21, 28, and October 5 following Sunday morning service in the Parish Hall.
Blessings and peace to you all,
Tim+
Thank you for helping the Currie, Ferrell, and White families with meals at this time. They are so grateful to have this community support. details here:
Take them a Meal
Connecting Groups
Trinity has a variety of ongoing groups at the church that help us foster community, practice hospitality, and encourage us to grow in Christ together. We have Bible study groups, creative activity groups, home groups, mentorship groups, and topically focused groups.. Details here
Your Parish Council would like to invite us all into a regular pattern of prayer - together! This is a way for us to pause, midweek, whatever we are doing in our lives to join our hearts together in prayer. All the details here!
Invitation to Pray Together
“Attention”
The Rarest and Purist Form of Generosity
Saturday August 23, 2025
The 20th-century French philosopher Simone Weil whose profound writings would influence the likes of T. S. Eliot, Albert Camus, Pope Paul VI, Flannery O’Connor, Iris Murdoch, and more,
(During World War II) Weil refused special treatment for her malady, or even adequate food or water, because she wished to live in solidarity with the residents of German (Nazi)-occupied France who, she reasoned, were free to eat far less… Weil desired not only to understand the sufferings of the dispossessed with her majestic intellect, or to fight for them through her social and political activism. She wished to suffer alongside them, quite literally.
…Attention — the “rarest and purest form of generosity” — is at her program’s very center, as it accords other human beings the kind of respect, even reverence, each is due. It is not to cast another as an equal to oneself, but to “make a place for others by placing one’s own self in a subordinate position,” Zaretsky explains. For Weil, to pay attention was not to use one’s effort to understand the other with more intensity but rather to lose oneself so that one might receive with docility the good of the other that was already there.
“Complete attention is like unconsciousness,” she declared, a falling away from concern with the self as the center of one’s universe. As with people, so with insights.
Zaretsky summarizes: “To attend means not to seek, but to wait; not to concentrate, but instead to dilate our minds.” The goal was to see the world not as I would like it to be (with myself and my desires at the center), but to see the world as it really is.
excerpts from a review of The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas, a 2023 biography by Robert Zaretsky. Review by Erika Bachiochi
Simone Weil believed prayer is giving attention to God, which then gives us the true ability to give attention to others… her writings on “the afflicted” (the poor, suffering, oppressed) and on “attention” are easily among the best I have read.
Fr Tim
Hello friends,
Lots of good stuff happening as we head into the coming autumn
CHATTING ABOUT OUR MEETING PLACE FOR THE NEXT SEASON
This Sunday, August 24, join us at Elevenses to talk together about our the coming months and our place. Keep praying! And know I am looking forward to chatting together tomorrow.
CREATIONTIDE, BEGINNING AUGUST 31
and Possible Big News re: the North Shore Pollinator Corridor
I am always excited about creationtide, which will surprise no one, but this year Mthr Jen and I are particularly looking forward to it. Over its six Sundays we will be working to help connect some of the dots we have heard you asking about, or expressed that others you know are trying to connect.
For example: Creation was deemed good by God in Genesis 1-2.3, but did that goodness survive Genesis 3 and the Fall, especially given “cursed be the earth because of you (human)”? Here’s a clue: read that again and ask two questions: a. Who is at fault? b. Is that over?
THE NORTH SHORE POLLINATOR CORRIDOR
Two big things here:
We have applied for grant money to help us go forward with this project. The foundation is interested. We do not have a yes yet, but we also have not been told no. They want to talk to us again as we make progress going into this coming year.
You can find the content (adapted) we sent to them in our proposal here. Much credit to Mother Jen, who took my intuitive framing of this, synthesized, added her insights and wrote beautifully. I believe this is a good starter place for us to talk about our mission on the North Shore. What should a church’s disposition be in a place such as where we live? Why? How do we see this as both valid loving and serving God and our neighbor in and of itself, and as effective mission for Trinity? We’ll be discussing these things in Community Conversation, and you can start digesting the raw material, if you will, on our Creation Care page here.
THIS AUTUMN at TRINITY
Potlucks and Community Conversation (returns in a new form)
September 10, Pot Luck, 5-7 pm
September 24, Community Conversation, 6-7.30 pm
We’ll get the news out as each of these approaches, but you can go ahead and mark these dates down now.
CONFIRMATION CLASS
It is More Fun Than You Think
We are scheduled to have Bp Trevor Walters with us on Sunday, October 19.
(Bp Trevor is assisting our diocese. I had the opportunity to spend a few days with him and a small number of others on a retreat several years ago; I enjoyed his presence.)
Confirmation is the sacrament that gets too little credit — to many it feels sort of like maintenance, or checking a box, but in reality it is vibrant and quite exciting… It is about owning the faith and your place in one of the great sacramental traditions (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox), which itself means a tradition whose spirituality recognizes God present and working in creation, in the everyday aspects of life, present to us all the time. Confirmation also involves the bishop anointing you for a fresh start, and for living into your own calling at a new level.
If you are interested in Confirmation, please join me for a Confirmation Class coming this autumn (mid-September, starting soon!). Feel free to chat with me, ask your questions, etc.
The class last year involved some great questions, discussion, and just a good feeling. We talked about:
The Anglican Way: A Living Spirituality
Scripture: Ancient, Different, Ironic, Practical, Promising, Filling, even Humorous, and More…
Creeds: The Greatest Story, in Concentrate
The Sacraments: What, Why, Why These, How They Heal Us and the World
(Class open to anyone, interested in Confirmation or not.)
CONNECT GROUPS
Thank you all for your input on the Connect Groups survey. More news coming soon!
Blessings and peace to you all,
Tim+
Thank you for helping the Ferrell and White families with meals at this time. They are so grateful to have this community support. details here:
Take them a Meal
Invitation to Pray Together
Your Parish Council would like to invite us all into a regular pattern of prayer - together! This is a way for us to pause, midweek, whatever we are doing in our lives to join our hearts together in prayer. All the details here!
The Image Remains
Saturday August 16, 2025
This week (August 14) was the commemoration of Fr Maximillian Kolbe. His story is dramatic: he was a Polish Catholic priest, imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau during WWII. There was an escape and the guards made all the prisoners line up, announcing they would choose ten men to be hanged in revenge. As one man was chosen he uttered, “my wife, my children!” and Fr Kolbe, in line nearby, stepped forward spontaneously, offering himself in this man’s place.
A few cells from Fr Kolbe’s was Stephan Jasienski’s, 2nd Lt. of the Polish Armed Forces. He carved the Sacred Heart of Jesus — a kind of an icon of Christ’s love — into the wall of his cell with his fingernails. The image remains.
Hello friends,
What a beautiful and joyous time last week with our baptisms! It’s an honor to be part of such a wonderful community.
I hope things are going well as the functional new year approaches and everyone is getting ready for school and regular rhythms and all that.
Sunday, August 24, join us at Elevenses to talk together about our the coming months and our place. Keep praying! And know I am looking forward to chatting together soon.
One more simple thing this week: I’m looking forward to August 31st, when Creationtide begins. More soon, but this year we will be trying to connect some dots and respond to some of the questions we sometimes hear about God, creation, resurrection, new creation, and so on.
In the meantime, join us on Wednesdays, 12-1, either online together or just praying where you are (joining in spirit), as we pray for the world. So many children and innocents in severe difficulties, and the earth and her creatures suffering as well.
Blessings and peace to you all,
Tim+
Thank you for helping the Ferrell and White families with meals at this time. They are so grateful to have this community support. details here:
Take them a Meal
Invitation to Pray Together
Your Parish Council would like to invite us all into a regular pattern of prayer - together! This is a way for us to pause, midweek, whatever we are doing in our lives to join our hearts together in prayer. All the details here!
A Walk With Stones, Puddles, and Unexpected Hugs
Saturday August 9, 2025
" Brothers, sisters…
I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.
To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.
I, too, was angry with God.
I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.
And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.
But then I discovered something:
God doesn't shout. God whispers.
And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.
I don't come to offer you perfect faith.
I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.
I'm not asking you to believe in everything.
I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.
I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.
That changed me.
So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...
come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.
No one here will ask you for a VIP card.
Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.
God doesn't need soldiers.
He needs brothers and sisters.
And you, yes, you...
are one of them."
Robert Prevost (Leo XIV)
Dear friends,
Thank you all for turning out for last week's potluck. It's always a joy to gather together with one another and our friends at Magnolia.
We are very much looking forward to this Sunday morning as we have 2 baptisms! It’s an honor to walk together with you along this path of stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.
We want to kindly ask that you continue to pray, I will be teaching during their service this week, and look forward to being with them..
An Ask For Prayer
A quick update regarding our space to gather and worship after this lovely Summer by the Sea:
We are continuing to look for a space, and welcome any ideas you have or news about places you may see, or hear about, etc…please forward them to me or anyone on our staff!
And, we have asked Magnolia Congregational if we might continue to be blessed by their generous hospitality, through the winter. They, being congregational, will meet again this Sunday to talk about this and probably to vote on it. I will be teaching during their service this week, and look forward to being with them.
So, join me in prayer for them and for us, regarding this and just overall. We have had some good meetings between some of our leadership and some of theirs.
Just an humble reminder: My core prayer for Trinity and our space is always that Jesus would lead us and put us where we will best be able to live into our calling.
Also, join us on Wednesdays, 12-1, either online together or just praying where you are (joining in spirit), as we pray for the world. So many children and innocents in severe difficulties, and the earth and her creatures suffering as well.
And don’t forget the opportunity to help our Take Them a Meal families!
Blessings and peace to you all,
Tim+