An Essential Need of the Soul
Saturday July 9, 2022
Risk is an essential need of the soul. The absence of risk produces a kind of boredom which paralyses in a different way from fear, but almost as much.
- Simone Weil
Dear friends,
Happy summer! I hope you are living at a slower pace, able to get some fun and adventure and, also relax a bit.
I’ve had a great study week this week: I’ve been working on a draft manuscript of a book on The Our Father, and, wow! One of the things I love about studying the Scriptures is realizing just how brilliant Jesus was, on top of all the other amazing things about him.
It reminds me of an old U2 song, in which Bono sings of a time in life when he was trying to outsmart God, basically, only to realize he was:
An intellectual tortoise
Racing with your bullet train
In a good way (truly).
But by God’s kind grace I’ve made real progress, and am more excited for this project than ever.
Here’s a couple of good things happening this summer, below.
Peace,
Tim+
SERVE SUNDAY, JULY 31
On Sunday, July 31, we’ll join High Rock North Shore, Antioch, and Pilgrim Church, who take each 5th Sunday of a month (when a month has a fifth Sunday) and worship by serving the communities of the NS.
Our process around discerning where we should be long-term has led us to realize we need to see more of the NS and learn – this is a great way to join with other brothers and sisters in the Lord and do this.
More to come, but the gist is that High Rock will put out a sign-up list soon, and you can pick a project to go and serve that morning. You choose a project, go to its gathering place at the appointed time (probably 9.30 a.m.), get oriented, pray, go serve, come back together and debrief, and give thanks.
Ramey Ferrell, one of our own, who is a social worker in Lynn, is putting together a project we can add to the list.
And we are planning a super-simple, pared-down (no sermon, very brief) Holy Eucharist for early that morning in the chapel at the Retreat House, especially for those who do not want to miss their weekly Eucharist.
TRINITY EXPLORATION-ORIENTATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 6.30 pm
If you are new (or newish) to Trinity, or if you or friends of yours are curious about Trinity, we invite you to explore our story and calling with Canon Tim and Cheryl (and others), chez Clayton. Details to come.
If:
Trinity feels good to you but you’ve not had the opportunity to dig a little deeper,
the whole Anglican thing is new to you and you wonder what it means to us – perhaps you wonder why we do this or that in worship,
you’ve had the experience in the past of having your questions or doubts shut down,
you are pretty much done with church, but someone said to try this one as a last resort,
or whatever…
You are welcome. In an informal setting we will wrestle together with how we understand the way our faith interacts with the world around us, leads us to engage complex and controversial issues with the love of Christ, and shapes our practice of living.
All are welcome, and your perspective is important to us. Attending is not committing: we’d love to keep in touch or chat more with anyone who comes, but also a part of the Anglican way is respect of conscience with people as they journey with and to God, and we will respect you in that.
TAKE THEM A MEAL
We are pleased to have the opportunity to support two more young families. The Curries and the Sarkissians.
Sign up on our Take Them a Meal Page
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
TEENS INTO SUMMER SCHEDULE
We’ll have an event each month, on the 3rd Sunday: July 17, August 21.
Freedom From and Freedom For
Saturday July 3, 2022
Dear friends,
It’s the weekend Americans celebrate and think about freedom. So here’s a few brief reflections about freedom in the New Testament – what it is, what it’s for, and so on.
Generally we can say that in the New Testament there is both freedom from and freedom for. And lots of it, where it is. Here’s three main freedom froms and two main freedom fors, and one of both.
FREEDOMS FROM
- The Law: we are freed by the Cross of Christ from keeping measure of every little thing, worrying about a cosmic moral scale or a giant heavenly data base of our good acts vs our bad acts. The locus of what we do moves to the heart, where we are called to live in love.
- The power of sin: in the NT sin is bigger than just this or that thing we might do: it is a power and a disease. We have the disease; we are oppressed by the power. We are also, by the Spirit of God and the faithful life of Jesus, freed from the power of sin, to rely upon the Spirit.
- Ultimately, death: yes, of course, until the Great Day when our Lord Jesus returns in glory, we will die, but death no longer has the final word. The horizon is open, thanks to the pioneering resurrection of Jesus. It’ll be more than we can ask or imagine.
FREEDOMS FOR
- Taking our seat at the Table of the family of God: we are beloved children now, adopted in and belonging to the family. We are free to take our seat: no doubts, no shame, no imposter syndrome.
- To give ourselves in love and service: we are freed to trust God to take care of us and to give ourselves to others, sharing the love that has been freely showered on us. The God who loves us so also causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and therefore we are freed from any burden of sorting out who might ‘deserve’ to be loved, or whatever.
BOTH FREEDOM FROM AND FOR
- The whole creation is freed from the bondage and effects of human sin, for the freedom of the glory of the children of God. This freedom, as the others, is meant to begin now, though of course will ultimately be fulfilled on the Great Day.
It’s all amazing.
Peace,
Tim+
PS: I will be away on study week this coming week, but will be here on the Sundays – the 3rd and the 10th.
TAKE THEM A MEAL
We are pleased to have the opportunity to support two more young families. The Curries and the Sarkissians.
Sign up on our Take Them a Meal Page
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Spiritual Day Retreat (July 9)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
TEENS INTO SUMMER SCHEDULE
We’ll have an event each month, on the 3rd Sunday: July 17, August 21.
The Friday Night Light
Friday June 24, 2022
[Jesus lived] existence as receiving, as openness to the will of the Father, as subsistent fulfillment of that will in a continuous mission… the Incarnate Son’s “self-consciousness” never becomes an object for him… [Jesus] fully achieved this identity between reception of one’s being and adoring assent to the Father, between being [read: Jesus’ own personality, etc.] and the act in which the whole of one’s being is lovingly received.
- Hans urs Von Balthasar, A Theology of History
Dear friends,
I am so excited for our time together Saturday evening! Both for simply having relaxed time together and for learning about and discussing the work of ARDF. And yes, friends are welcome!
Saturday June 25 Evening Picnic + ARDF Director
Join us Saturday, June 25th at 5 PM, for a BYOE (bring your own everything, food, drink, blankets, lawn chairs etc.) Picnic and a time to talk with the Rev’d Jake Stum, Director of the ARDF.
Bring your friends! This will be a great time to learn about ARDF’s work around the world, and to dream ways that we and others might be more involved with them. 295 Summer Street, Manchester by the Sea, MA.
Learn more about Jake here:
Parking available in the driveway, or to park along the Summer Street road, pull into the grass perpendicular to leave plenty of room for safety on the highway.
ARDF, OUR CONNECTION IN LOVE TO ANGLICANS IN THE TWO-THIRDS WORLD
https://ardf.org/all-videos
TRINITY KIDS - HAPPY NEWS IN OUR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY
This past Sunday I preached about the importance of our ministry to children, and shared the happy news that Mthr Wendy will be moving into the lead in that ministry. I am deeply appreciative of Kirsten Trumbull’s leadership this past year, and very much looking forward to how Mthr Wendy will help us grow. You’ll want to catch the last bit of last week’s sermon on our Podcast Channel for sure, where she shares about some creative ways she has built spaces for children’s growth and development in her life — some beautiful surprises in there, especially the toy store!
I am grateful for the wonderful team we have in place now, and I’m grateful that we have had a good first year; we’re looking to add to that team, and to continue to build a thorough process of safe church practices (in conjunction with the diocese — Bp Andrew has sent the churches good, strong policy on this). If you’d like to get involved and help even 1 Sunday per month, please reach out to Mthr Wendy.
TOBY AND SOPHIE IN ROMANIA
Toby and Sophie helped to lead the first-ever Young Life camp in Romania, and got on national TV news! Even better, it’s in conjunction with the Orthodox Church there – a brilliant, wonderful partnership. The Orthodox have good theology (v. similar to Anglican); Young Life does teens camp better than anyone… check out the video here.
THE SUPREME COURT NEWS TODAY
As I write this, the news is breaking that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. Obviously there’s going to be a lot of ink (and, alas, probably some blood as well) spilled in the wake of this, but as I’ve been pondering this possibility these past weeks here are a few insights that have stayed with me:
- This is not the end of abortion in America. I’m not confident anyone knows what comes in the weeks and months and years to come (in any direction), but I think it’s fair to say it won’t be simple or clean.
- This is a radical heightening in the culture war, fair or not fair, whyever or whatever. Given where we live and are called to be the Body of Christ, this is important for us to understand.
- This gives us a deep redoubling to push intentionally into our call to love our neighbors, to honor the dignity of each human being as created in the imago Dei, (the very image of God).
- This gives us an opportunity to show and rejoice in the good gifts of God; that life is full of wonder and is good.
Dear friends, I believe that in all these things, prayer and quiet time with God is key.
Peace be with you,
Tim+
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR LYNUS ERICKSON
Thank you to all those who were able to be at the funeral service for Lynus Erickson a year ago. Later this month all are welcome to a simple memorial service.
Sunday, June 26, 5.30 pm, at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
More info:
GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT ONE OF OUR OWN
You won’t want to miss this article about: Jennifer Mahnke
TAKE THEM A MEAL
We are pleased to have the opportunity to support two more young families. The Curries and the Sarkissians.
Sign up on our Take Them a Meal Page
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Spiritual Day Retreat (July 9)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
TEENS INTO SUMMER SCHEDULE
We’ll have an event each month, on the 3rd Sunday: July 17, August 21.
Saturday June 25 Evening Picnic + ARDF Director
Tuesday June 21, 2022
Join us Saturday, June 25th at 5 PM, for a BYOE (bring your own everything, food, drink, blankets, lawn chairs etc.) Picnic and a time to talk with the Rev’d Jake Stum, Director of the ARDF.
Bring your friends! This will be a great time to learn about ARDF’s work around the world, and to dream ways that we and others might be more involved with them. 295 Summer Street, Manchester by the Sea, MA.
Learn more about Jake here:
Parking available in the driveway, or to park along the Summer Street road, pull into the grass perpendicular to leave plenty of room for safety on the highway.
Summer Schedule 930 am!
June 18, 2022
Join us for a special service Sunday morning as we transition to Ordinary Time.
Please note that this week our service time will change through the summer.
Beginning Tomorrow June 19th we will be meeting at 930 am Sunday Mornings through the summer.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
930 AM Service time starting June 19th! 🎇
Juneteenth honors the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. The name “Juneteenth” is a blend of two words: “June” and “nineteenth.” It's believed to be the oldest African-American holiday, with annual celebrations on June 19th in different parts of the country dating back to 1866
Be sure to get involved in Juneteenth events around the North Shore, here are some links to events in most cities around the North Shore beginning on June 16th in Beverly.
JOURNAL Qs FROM THE WAY OF LOVE FOR MAY
1. Who, in your life, has best modeled being present in LOVE to others? What is it about them?
2. Who do you know who is present and not anxious? Can you see any reasons why?
3. Where does anxiety manifest in your life, circumstantially?
4. Where does anxiety manifest in your body physically?
5. If you can imagine living beyond anxiety, what do you most relish? How will you be different?
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR LYNUS ERICKSON
Thank you to all those who were able to be at the funeral service for Lynus Erickson a year ago. Later this month all are welcome to a simple memorial service.
Sunday, June 26, 5.30 pm, at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
More info:
GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT ONE OF OUR OWN
You won’t want to miss this article about: Jennifer Mahnke
ARDF INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR VISITING
Join us Saturday, June 25th, for a cookout and a time to talk with the Rev’d Jake Stum, Director of the ARDF. This will be a great time to learn about ARDF’s work around the world, and to dream ways we and others might be more involved with them. More to come…
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Spiritual Day Retreat (July 9)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
- TEENS event on the third Sunday of the summer months
TEENS INTO SUMMER SCHEDULE
We’ll have an event each month, on the 3rd Sunday: July 17, August 21.
Join us Trinity Sunday - Upcoming Events
Saturday June 11, 2022
We are looking forward to a beautiful service this Trinity Sunday.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
930 AM Service time starting June 19th! 🎇
Juneteenth honors the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. The name “Juneteenth” is a blend of two words: “June” and “nineteenth.” It's believed to be the oldest African-American holiday, with annual celebrations on June 19th in different parts of the country dating back to 1866
Be sure to get involved in Juneteenth events around the North Shore, here are some links to events in most cities around the North Shore beginning on June 16th in Beverly.
JOURNAL Qs FROM THE WAY OF LOVE FOR MAY
1. Who, in your life, has best modeled being present in LOVE to others? What is it about them?
2. Who do you know who is present and not anxious? Can you see any reasons why?
3. Where does anxiety manifest in your life, circumstantially?
4. Where does anxiety manifest in your body physically?
5. If you can imagine living beyond anxiety, what do you most relish? How will you be different?
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR LYNUS ERICKSON
Thank you to all those who were able to be at the funeral service for Lynus Erickson a year ago. Later this month all are welcome to a simple memorial service.
Sunday, June 26, 5.30 pm, at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
More info:
GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT ONE OF OUR OWN
You won’t want to miss this article about: Jennifer Mahnke
ARDF INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR VISITING
Join us Saturday, June 25th, for a cookout and a time to talk with the Rev’d Jake Stum, Director of the ARDF. This will be a great time to learn about ARDF’s work around the world, and to dream ways we and others might be more involved with them. More to come…
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Spiritual Day Retreats (June 18 and July 9)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
- TEENS event on the third Sunday of the summer months
TEENS INTO SUMMER SCHEDULE
We’ll have an event each month, on the 3rd Sunday: that’s June 19 (we may have to tweak this one – that’s Father’s Day), July 17, August 21.
Strength, Love, and a Sound Mind.
Saturday June 4, 2022
For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of energy, love, and a sound mind.
- St Paul (2 Timothy 1.7)
Dear friends,
I sincerely hope not, but it does seem as if the challenge of this summer may be mass shootings. As I write this there have been over twenty since Uvalde. Buffalo – a racially-motivated shooting in a grocery store! – as horrible as it was, seems lost behind the horrors of the events that have happened since. And there have been a few other shootings not quite reaching the level of “mass” (apparently one shooting was at a funeral where a family was grieving the victim of another shooting – that’s layers of senseless shootings, on top of one another).
One of the aspects of this that troubles my spirit deeply is that – offensive as it is to say it, it nonetheless needs saying – we have, implicitly at least, accepted these events as a part of life in our society. They happen; we do not stop – as a people – to grieve, to notice how profoundly unique our society is in having so much of this affliction, to acknowledge this is an illness deep in our society. Ipso facto we have accepted them.
I do not believe there is any one solution to this, which is not to say what can be done should not be done. When I read the prophets of the Old Testament, I find it difficult to imagine that, were they to visit our society today, they would not lament and wail against the easy availability of military-grade weapons to civilians. Certainly Jeremiah – whose critique of violence in his own society won him so much trouble – would speak out. And Isaiah would unleash his considerable eloquence, inspiring the people of God to seek the day of the Kingdom, when swords would be made into ploughs, in hopes we would, with our lives, point to the reign of Christ realized among us, even now.
When I read the Gospels I am led to imagine Jesus, who went to the man in the tombs who had lost himself and was overcome inside with hatred and violence, going to those alone and lost who end up overcome by hate and committing these crimes, before it comes to that.
I am aware that these ideas tend to be championed within different poles of our political arrangement, but I cannot understand why we cannot do both, and other good ideas as well.
I would that what can be done would be done. I believe that would involve ideas from many different places of our political life. But from a spiritual perspective admitting our denial that we have — essentially — accepted these events as part of our life is crucial. We are unique among the peoples of the earth – wildly unique – in the degree to which we have this sickness in our society. Likely this means we have some idols (please note the plural; this, too plays broadly and across the board) which are keeping us from seeing reasonably.
Dear friends, this Sunday is Pentecost. And while we will not be talking about this issue in any detail, we will be talking about how Jesus’ promise to send us his own Spirit gives us strength, love, and a sound mind for living in a desperate, fearful society in denial. The times are heavy, but the message of the Gospel is good, and we will hear that on Sunday.
Peace,
Tim+
PS: I will be away the next two weeks, back with you all on Sunday, June 19. I have the wonderful opportunity to go to visit friends in Budapest and Toby and Sophie in Romania.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR LYNUS ERICKSON
Thank you to all those who were able to be at the funeral service for Lynus Erickson a year ago. Later this month all are welcome to a simple memorial service.
Sunday, June 26, 5.30 pm, at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
More info:
GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT ONE OF OUR OWN
You won’t want to miss this article about: Jennifer Mahnke
ARDF INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR VISITING
Join us Saturday, June 25th, for a cookout and a time to talk with the Rev’d Jake Stum, Director of the ARDF. This will be a great time to learn about ARDF’s work around the world, and to dream ways we and others might be more involved with them. More to come…
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Spiritual Day Retreats (June 18 and July 9)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
- TEENS event on the third Sunday of the summer months
TEENS INTO SUMMER SCHEDULE
We’ll have an event each month, on the 3rd Sunday: that’s June 19 (we may have to tweak this one – that’s Father’s Day), July 17, August 21.
Suppose We Try to Imagine
*Also a Letter from Sr. Warden Josh Vanada
Saturday May 28, 2022
A Reflection regarding Jesus’ Ascension
Suppose we try to imagine what the first disciples and apostles expected after Jesus rose from the dead. They imagined a time filled with demonstrations of the Risen One’s power. He would shatter his enemies; his glory would blaze forth from the Temple; his followers would be covered with honors. He would fulfill the hopes and longings of the oppressed and initiate the disciples into an almost heavenly life, revealing the future and the end of all things. So they let themselves imagine.
But nothing like this occurred. What happens is wholly unspectacular and almost delicate. …the reality of the life Jesus of Nazareth lived becomes eternal. For forty days they watched, experienced, that transition. We need this time of transition too for the development of our faith, because we still have a journey to make. We can use ancient images to talk about what has happened—e.g., Christ is enthroned at the right hand of God, Christ will come on the clouds to judge living and dead. But we must not lose the earthly figure of the Lord in these imaginings.
Everything depends on the eternal Christ remaining also Jesus of Nazareth, who walks among us until the day when all things will be enfolded in whatever the reality we call eternity turns out to be… Our earthly reality, what we often call our earthly “destiny”, has entered into what we call “eternity” to become “everlasting life”. We don’t know the reality of any of these realities to come. We are living in a period of transition too!
Fr. Romano Guardini
(Considered one of the greatest Catholic theologians of the 20th C.)
Dear friends,
With this week’s update, please read the letter from Josh Vanada, our Senior Warden, about our discernment process regarding where God may have for us to locate. Below that you’ll find a list of what’s happening – some great stuff!
Peace,
Tim+
Letter from Sr. Warden Josh Vanada
Dear Trinity Friends,
Thanks to those of you who took the time to stay with us and share your dreams, prayers, and ideas about Trinity’s long term home. This was very helpful for the Parish Council as we discerned what the next steps in the process may look like. This rhythm of communication is a good one, and we are committed to having open, honest, and prayerful dialogue throughout this process.
As the Parish Council discerned together, two main things became clear: (1) we need to continue to be in prayer, personally and corporately, and (2) finding ways to serve our communities now before we decide on a physical and longer-term home is our next step.
Making local connections will enable us to see the strengths of potential long-term homes, develop relationships with people already in these communities, and discern how our calling may fit in these places. It wasn’t an obvious next step to us, and perhaps you share our sense of surprise. But it was clear in our conversation that this is what the Spirit of God is inviting us into, and it is always good to be met with such a surprise. It reminds us that the Spirit is with us, and that our process is working.
To this end Canon Tim is working on a list of ministries or service opportunities that are already organized in our midst. Our hope is that you will be able to find one that fits a particular hobby, passion, or burden you have. More will be coming from Canon Tim about this, but it is our hope that as you share these with him, we may be able to organize groups who would like to serve together.
In closing, I’d invite you to continue to join your prayers with ours. You can do so personally, and we will be setting aside time to do this as a community, as well. We are so encouraged by the life that God is breathing into Trinity, by His Spirit. We rest , and invite you to, as well, in the certain hope that He has a community in mind where our greatest passions and dreams meet the world’s greatest needs.
In His Great Love,
Josh Vanada
Senior Warden
GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT ONE OF OUR OWN
You won’t want to miss this article about: Jennifer Mahnke
ARDF INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR VISITING
Join us Saturday, June 25th, for a cookout and a time to talk with the Rev’d Jake Stum, Director of the ARDF. This will be a great time to learn about ARDF’s work around the world, and to dream ways we and others might be more involved with them. More to come…
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Spiritual Day Retreats (June 18 and July 9)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
- TEENS event on the third Sunday of the summer months
TEENS INTO SUMMER SCHEDULE
We’ll have an event each month, on the 3rd Sunday: that’s June 19 (we may have to tweak this one – that’s Father’s Day), July 17, August 21.
Peace to you all,
Tim+
I am so Tired of Waiting, Aren't You?
A Pastoral Response
Wednesday May 25, 2022
I am so tired of waiting,
Aren't you,
For the world to become good
And beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
And cut the world in two-
And see what worms are eating
At the rind.
- Langston Hughes
(with thanks to Rich Villodas for the reference)
Dear friends,
There is much – much – that could be said about the shootings that have happened in the past two weeks. One reality is that, as horrible as they are, Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and Uvalde are not the only “random” shootings of that short period of time – they are the largest, but the problem is so acute that they are not the only. Friends, I have to share honestly that in many respects writing pastoral letters in response to these kinds of things feels profoundly inadequate, even impotent. So please understand I’m not trying to say everything or address everything, by any means. What I would like to offer is humbly to suggest a way to keep the plot in these days, and to stay connected to hope.
For me this involves mystically-and-actually connecting my life to the story of our Lord Jesus’ life and work. It works something like this:
WALK WITH JESUS IN HIS INCARNATION AND PASSION
Make a commitment not to hide away from the pain of those who have suffered loss, even in situations in which a sympathetic imagination may be the only way to encounter that pain and try, however inadequately, to grasp the depth of what has happened. Some sensitive souls will need to be careful here, lest they spiral into darkness, but this is a way of joining our Lord Jesus in his Incarnation and Passion: the Man of sorrows, familiar with suffering… who gave up riches and trod this vale of tears… I pray for Jesus to give me his heart and his Spirit. I do not venture into these places alone, but with him. I share my anger, frustration, exasperation with him.
KEEP WALKING, ON OVER INTO EASTER
Keep walking with Jesus through his story, and find hope – however distant it may seem, and however great the very real evil, and however much and many issues are wrapped up in all of this, and how overwhelming it feels, and how small I am…
Hold onto hope because there is a person who was The Human Being and who reset us. And he lives, in spite of taking on himself all the nonsense, evil, warped and twisted logic, fear-based unbalance, and etc and etc – and he died, but now he lives. As we affirm in the Kenyan Anglican Eucharistic Liturgy: Jesus Christ is alive and lives forever. We are because He is.
REMEMBER AND KEEP THE DAY THAT’S BEEN FORGOTTEN
Close the gap in our understanding of Jesus’ work – the event in his life and work – that no longer gets the attention it deserves: ASCENSION DAY (which also happens to be Thursday). The Ascension is forty days after Easter and is the day on which Jesus ascended up to heaven, to be with the Father. Ascension Day was at one time a major celebration in the churches – like Christmas and Easter – and why not? It is as necessary to the completion of Jesus’ mission as those two happy celebrations: the Human Being, redeemed, in the life of the Trinity, on his Throne. There’s still healing, growing, changing (major), and new ways to be accomplished here (obviously) – but the way forward and a promised future is now achieved. And our role in this becomes more than we might ever have dreamed.
In the beginning of the book of Acts, the disciples ask the resurrected Jesus if the Kingdom will come now (you can hear it in their voices – “Surely now? Yet? Hasn’t there been enough already?”). He says they won’t know. He ascends. They stand there, gaping. An angel comes and says to them, essentially, “Alright already, nothing to see here, get on with it. He’s given you a mission.” So, our mystical walking with Jesus continues through our lives as we rejoice to have the privilege of being his Body, living his love, serving and sacrificing for others.
Dear friends, I know – I feel it very much – the anger and the urge to want to be able to do something about these shootings – and yet it all seems so large, so beyond our scope. I translate that energy into keeping the plot, small and young church as we are: in God’s economy small and young are not a problem. God has made that clear several times in Scripture. Let’s enter into this pain (humbly, compassionately, realizing we can barely know) and let it push us to sacrifice – money, time, energy – to keep working towards our calling and mission, believing that God is with us and that he can bring about more than the sum of us and our gifts. Translate the anger into resolve.
Lord have mercy and forgive us what has happened to the children (especially).
Bless you all, and peace,
Tim+
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance
James Mercer Langston Hughes
Keeping ‘the Why’ at the Forefront of Our Hearts
Saturday May 21, 2022
“The 10 Black people murdered in Buffalo, New York… died in a Tops grocery store because they were Black and wanted to buy food on a Saturday in America. The massacre unleashed a wave of Black anger and grief. But we don’t know exactly where to put it… I am not sure there is a single source of the pain. I do know that being Black and hungry in America is sufficient to get you killed. Trayvon Martin died on his way home from picking up some Skittles and a cold drink at a convenience store. The encounter with a white woman that would lead to Emmett Till’s murder occurred in a store where he had gone to buy candy.”
- The Rev’d Dr Esau McCaulley, writing in The Atlantic this week
“Seek first the Kingdom of God… And proclaim as you go, the Kingdom of God is at hand…”
- Jesus, the Christ, in Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 6 and 10
Dear friends,
One of the things I’ve noticed in myself over Trinity’s first year is a perhaps natural but nonetheless dangerous equation at work: the more I enjoy and come to love Trinity; the more weeks we have together; the more creative celebrations of the great events of our Lord Jesus’ life and work we experience; the more I come to know and love you, Trinity’s people; in short, the more we become a ‘thing’, a good thing that exists and is deeply a part of our lives, the more my perspective (slowly, subtly, indeed even sub-consciously) begins to shift from the calling that was the energy that began Trinity to what it takes to keep Trinity going. One might say it is a shift away from the WHY.
And yes, of course, people are quick to tell me to be easy on myself because this is natural; it’s important; to ask me if I do want to receive my salary, after all; and all of that. Of course; yes; we all see all of that. True enough.
Yet Jesus taught that this shift is spiritually deadly.
Dear friends, I find that each day I have to battle within my own heart to keep our WHY at the forefront. Each and every day I heartily engage this battle! The irony: the better Trinity is, the more I love it, the more quietly and easily my perspective shifts… But the events of the past week or so are a stark reminder that this world needs communities of the Kingdom of God, where the Kingdom of God is people’s operating system, if you will, and every and anything else – no matter how good it might be in itself – is an app. We flip that so easily, in all sorts of ways. But Jesus calls us back, and rejoices when we wake up, and walks us back on track.
What we need is a fresh encounter with the resurrected, living Jesus Christ.
So, dear friends, below please find a good-sized list of what’s on these days and coming up, designed to help us walk together with living Jesus…
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
DISCERNMENT PROCESS UPDATE
A letter from Josh Vanada, your senior warden, is forthcoming with more than I will share here, but I simply want to say here that – as early-stages as it is – I am confident our Lord Jesus is with us in this process. And that one of the things the Parish Council came to this past week as we discussed our parish meeting from last Sunday was that we as a people embodying the Kingdom of God would be helped in our discernment were we to spend a season (or more) serving the North Shore through organizations already at work. Serving and loving as a means to coming to know.
We’re hoping informal groups of Trinitarians (can we say that?) will join together this summer – Summer Serve to Know and Love – and get to know the NS from a new angle a bit, and bring that into our discernment together.
Therefore, if you know of good organizations (of whatever sort or whatever faith or not) doing good work on the NS and work that people can easily volunteer in for a season, please send me the name and weblink and basic notion of it all. I need to be honest: I need you to send me some of the practical details – what volunteering involves in terms of time and effort to sign up and etc. (I won’t be able to manage sorting through all of these myself, just in terms of time.)
Journal Qs FROM THE WAY OF LOVE FOR MAY
I forgot these last week! My apologies, but here they are:
1. Who, in your life, has best modeled being present in LOVE to others? What is it about them?
2. Who do you know who is present and not anxious? Can you see any reasons why?
3. Where does anxiety manifest in your life, circumstantially?
4. Where does anxiety manifest in your body physically?
5. If you can imagine living beyond anxiety, what do you most relish? How will you be different?
GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT ONE OF OUR OWN
You won’t want to miss this article about: Jennifer Mahnke
ARDF INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR VISITING
Join us Saturday, June 25th, for a cookout and a time to talk with the Rev’d Jake Stum, Director of the ARDF. This will be a great time to learn about ARDF’s work around the world, and to dream ways we and others might be more involved with them. More to come…
SUMMER SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, SERVING EVENTS
- Upcoming Social events on the last weekend of the summer months (June, July, August)
- Spiritual Day Retreats (June 18 and July 9)
- Summer Serve to Know and Love (per the above about our discernment process)
- TEENS event on the third Sunday of the summer months
TEENS
A slight ripple this Sunday – we’ll meet from 3.30pm until 5.
Then we go into summer schedule: an event on the 3rd Sunday of each month.
Salute the Last and Everlasting Day
Saturday May 14, 2022
Resurrection
Moisture-laden with one drop of thy blood, my dry soul
Shall (though she now be in extreme degree
Too stony hard, and yet too fleshly,) be
Freed by that drop, from being starved, hard, or foul,
And life, by this death abled, shall control
Death, whom thy death slew; nor shall to me
Fear of first or last death, bring misery,
If in thy little book my name thou enroll,
Flesh in that long sleep is not putrefied,
But made that there, of which, and for which 'twas;
Nor can by other means be glorified.
May then sin's sleep, and death's soon from me pass,
That waked from both, I again risen may
Salute the last, and everlasting day.
-John Donne
Paul, in his great proclamation of the Resurrection, in his first letter to the church in Corinth
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Greetings dear friends,
We’re looking forward to our time together Sunday morning. Here’s a few things to know or respond to.
OUTDOORS THIS WEEK ON THE RETREAT HOUSE LAWN
We are planning to be outdoors Sunday, on the lawn of the Retreat House. I know we’ve all been looking forward to this! Just a few humble reminders: bring a blanket or chairs, maybe an umbrella for sun, and anything else you and yours might need.
SUMMER EVENTS SURVEY
We’re hoping to have a few simple, fun events this summer – just space to get to be together – and possibly some soul-breathing prayer and contemplation space. Please share what would be good for you, here:
PARISH MEETING THIS SUNDAY
Please stay after on Sunday for our follow-up meeting about our process towards discerning our longer-term location. If you did not make the first meeting, you are still welcome to this meeting. The focus will be on thoughts and discernment around what aspects in a location would best enable us to live into our mission.
WAY OF LOVE
This month’s session of the Way of Love is now on Apple Podcasts and our Youtube Channel
TEENS
Teens are on chez Clayton Sunday afternoon from 3-5.
Peace,
Tim+
A Pathetic Handful of Weaklings
Saturday May 7, 2022
“Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised…”
- The Apostle Paul to the church in Rome
In most biblical texts, the dissenting minority [who do right and stand up for truth, goodness, justice] remains invisible, but in the Gospels it coincides with the group of the first Christians. The Gospels [clearly show] the disciples’ inability to resist the crowd during the Passion (especially Peter, who denies Jesus three times in the High Priest’s courtyard). And yet, after the Crucifixion—which should have made matters worse than ever—this pathetic handful of weaklings suddenly succeeds in doing what they had been unable to do when Jesus was still there to help them: boldly proclaim the innocence of the victim in open defiance of the victimizers, become the fearless apostles and missionaries of the early Church. The Resurrection is responsible for this change, of course…
- René Girard
Dear friends,
Eric Keifer and I had a wonderful retreat last weekend with the School of Formation from New Life Church, though we did miss all of you and being with you for our celebration of Holy Eucharist. I’m very much looking forward to our time together Sunday! Here’s a few things to know…
INDOORS, IN THE CHAPEL
The winds are predicted to be 22 mph Sunday morning, so, thanks to GCTS’ graciousness, we’ll be in the Kaiser Chapel.
WAY OF LOVE on WEDNESDAY!
The Way of Love continues on Wednesday, the 11th, at 7 pm. Our final part before summer break.
Part 4: The Author and Story-holder
If Christ is the author and holder of my story, how do I bring all my pieces and tragedies and comedies together in one cohesive story, and live the same story all the time?
It has been said that Jesus Christ was the ‘least-caffeinated’ person ever, in spite of all the ‘trouble’ he made and all the trouble he got into. Or that he was the world’s most differentiated person…
Differentiation is about being the unique person you were meant to be, without needing to be snarky or defensive or anxious or compartmentalized or a people-pleaser to pull it off. It also means being able to love actual others with your own authentic, true self. Good heavens! No small thing. We’ll be working on this.
PARISH MEETING MAY 15
Sunday, the 15th, following our celebration of Holy Eucharist we’ll meet and continue our discussion regarding process for discerning where God may have in mind for us to be. In particular we’ll be eager to hear from you what kinds of things the Lord may have said to you over these past weeks, following our first meeting.
TEENS
Sunday is Mother’s Day, so we will not meet.
Peace,
Tim+
More Than a Hope, a Divine Expectation
April 30, 2022
“Without Easter, Good Friday would have no meaning. Without Easter, there would be no hope that suffering and abandonment might be tolerable. But with Easter, a way out becomes visible for human sorrows, an absolute future: more than a hope, a divine expectation.”
Hans Urs Von Balthasar
Dear friends,
Super-briefly, just a few notes about this weekend. Eric Keifer and I will be away on a retreat, with the School of Formation and New Life Fellowship Church in Queens. Eric and I have been a part of their School of Formation these past several months, to learn from this remarkable church, and this weekend is the culmination of the pilgrimage with them.
KAISER CHAPEL THIS WEEK | OUTDOORS SOON
We’re planning to go back outdoors soon – basically we’re watching the weather and planning to head back out on the first nice Sunday. For this week we’re planning to be in the chapel.
TEENS
Fr Tim is at a retreat this weekend, so TEENS will NOT meet this Sunday, or next Sunday, May 8, which is Mother’s Day.
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
Celebrating and Reflecting on One Year Together
April 23, 2022
“Take heart. I am. Do not be afraid.”
- Jesus
“Who dares wins.”
- slogan of the SAS
(British Special Air Service)
Dear friends,
I’ve long been fascinated by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), a precursor to the British SAS. In brief, they were a scout and reconnaissance special team in the Africa Campaign in WWII. They did something people assumed was impossible – kitted out Land Rovers for desert use and trekked through the Sahara Desert, going through places everyone assumed were impassible and thereby coming up behind German lines and passing all sorts of intel on to Montgomery.
There are so many things I admire about the LRDG: the audacity; the risk-taking; the adaptation to the outdoors; the recognition of the importance of patient observation; the ability to persevere and get little credit – their work of necessity remaining under the radar; the key mix of independent spirit, humility, and courage – they were famous for the adventurous-egalitarian-yet-not-arrogant culture in their ranks, a culture shaped by their looking for precisely this mix as what they most sought in soldiers they tapped for their work.
And a fun tidbit: Google “pink panther land rover” and see what you get (what a fun beach-kayak truck that would make!).
⬅️ SAS Landrover
ONE YEAR AGO
One year ago this week Trinity began. In many ways our context and our work are worlds apart from the LRDG and yet at the same time the spirit of this church over this past year has periodically brought that story to my mind. Our three core attributes to which we aspire are:
1. Courageous Vulnerability
2. Confident Humility
3. Genuine Wholeness
Friends, Trinity has done nothing less than restore a deep sense of hope in me, and I have heard the same from some of you and seen it in others – a recognition that our Lord Jesus is on the move in us and in many such communities (often small and relatively below the radar) even in these days when so much that is unhealthy or just plain broken is so starkly before us all the time.
A handful of memories that I cherish (among many) are:
That very beginning, first Sunday – I remember being more nervous to preach than I have been since I first started to, many years ago, because it meant so much to me… I think I tried to hard that day, alas, but so be it.
Our praying for new folks to join us, who we did not yet know (and such wonderful answers those prayers have had!).
The incredible amount of work core leaders have done to launch Trinity, most of it unseen, some of it tedious and difficult.
Watching people converge on the hilltop with children, dog, chair, blanket, umbrella, lunch…
The number of young people – infants, toddlers, children, teens, and young adults, bringing themselves and their lens for life in these days.
The joy of Andrew, our bishop, when he is with us, and the blessing he is to us.
The flexibility you have consistently shown in several important ways.
Our first baptism, and our first confirmations. The first deaths and births.
Creatively engaging with Christmas and with Easter (and their adjoining seasons) for our first times through them and with a wonderful emerging artistic expression. Not least being the best vestments I have ever been honored to wear.
Our commitment to naming the issues; reframing the questions in a way that is deeper and thoughtfully informed by our faith; and being committed to Jesus’ way of love throughout.
CELEBRATE WITH US ON SUNDAY
This Sunday following our celebration of Holy Eucharist we will have a simple-yet-lovely celebration of Trinity’s first year. Stick around after service for a munchie and to give thanks and say hooray.
OUTDOORS SOON
We’re planning to go back outdoors soon – basically we’re watching the weather and planning to head back out on the first nice Sunday. For this week we’re planning to be in the chapel.
TEENS
We are planning to meet this Sunday, April 24. We will NOT meet on May 1 (I will be away) or on May 8 (Mother’s Day).
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
Easter Sunday at 10 am
Dear friends,
These past two nights have been beautiful expressions of our faith.
Foot Washing, Stripping of the Altar, walking together through the Passion of Jesus, Veneration of the Cross, art, music, and an incredible Trinity Kid's service.
We are looking forward to a special Easter celebration tomorrow morning at 10 am in the Kaiser Chapel.
Flowering of the Cross:
Tomorrow morning we will have a special Flowering of the Cross.
Everyone is invited, including kids to take a moment before the cross, and to help adorn the cross with flowers.
If you're able, please bring fresh cut flowers from your home or yard to adorn our cross. You can also pick up bunches from your local store. We will have quite a few flowers at the welcome table as well.
We look forward to worshiping together.
Holy Week Schedule
Good Friday April 15 at 5:00 pm (for kids), 7:30 pm all ages
Easter Sunday April 17 at 10 am
In the Kaiser Chapel
Dear friends,
We have a few very special Holy Week services this week.
Maundy Thursday we will walk through the last supper, Jesus washing his disciples feet, and his betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane later that night. This will be a special service with a foot washing ceremony and "the stripping of the altar".
Good Friday we will journey together in the steps of the passion of Jesus. From his arrest, Peter's betrayal, his trial, and his crucifixion. We will start the service outside at the edge of the parking lot, and work our way into the chapel.
Easter Sunday Morning we will celebrate his victory over death and the grave.
We look forward to worshiping together.
Good Friday Confession Available
If you would like to have confession with a priest on Good Friday,
please contact wendy@trinitynorthshore.org or ross.kimball@adne.org to schedule a time.
Straw and Thorns - Palms and Passion
| Holy Week at Trinity
Saturday April 9, 2022
THE WHOLE LIFE of Christ was a continual Passion; others die Martyrs, but Christ was born a Martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem, where he was born; For, to his tenderness then, the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the Manger as uneasy at first, as his cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas-day and his Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day.
- John Donne, preaching on Christmas Day, 1626, at St Paul’s Cathedral, London
Dear friends,
This Sunday is Palm Sunday: Jesus goes to Jerusalem, knowing much better than the people what will happen to him. It brought to mind my favorite sermon by John Donne – (quoted above) who is best known as the most striking of the Metaphysical Poets, but who also was considered the best preacher in England during his prime.
MEETING THIS WEEK IN THE KAISER CHAPEL
We’re heading back to the Kaiser Chapel at GCTS. The parking signs will guide you.
For Palm Sunday we will gather outside the Kaiser Chapel in the grass area to begin the service, and be entering via the BACK of the Chapel.
The building is still cleaning up from the fire situation and the main hall is still under renovation.
Restroom access will be from going out the back door of the chapel over to the courtyard doors of the Library building.
TRINITY KIDS THIS SUNDAY
Children are welcome to stay in the service this week which is more interactive. Nursery will be happening using the entry from the stage door. We will guide you during the service.
TWO NEW BABIES!
Happy news, dear friends!
- Welcome Violet Marie Spinney, born to Hayden and Olivia in the wee hours of the morning on Monday.
- And welcome Maeve Ellinor Youndt, born the next morning, Tuesday, at a rather more civilized hour.
Let’s celebrate and support these young families on our Take Them a Meal page.
PALM SUNDAY and HOLY WEEK
The liturgies for these days are wonderfully unique, suited to the days:
- Palm Sunday: we will begin in the foyer concourse at the regular time.
- Maundy Thursday: 7.30 pm.
- Good Friday: we will begin at the sidewalk by the drop-off circle. 5.30 pm, special service for children and family (briefer and gentler telling of the story) and 7.30 pm
WAY OF LOVE JOURNALING QUESTIONS FOR APRIL
- What is the best time in your life that you sensed walking with God, or God being near? What do you notice about that time?
- What challenge(s), other than ‘time’, do you sense when you think about being with God in a habitual, rhythmic, intentional way?
- What in your life do you move/give up things for? Why? For those with positive reasons, is it possible to imagine God in your life feeling that way to you?
TEENS GATHERING
Is ON for this Sunday, but OFF for Easter Sunday.
Peace,
Tim+
Discerning Where We Are Led To Be
Friday April 1, 2020
“[Through prayer and holiness] we find our inmost being set free to live a new life in real communication with others. Those who feel themselves forgiven by God and freed from the state of sin have a certain boldness before God and before others. They are open and straightforward and enjoy great freedom in their relationships. There is nothing presumptuous in this, just the innocent candor of a child… a candor imbued with profound trust in God and in others; a [person] comes out of himself and attaches himself to God and to other people; he acts in such a way that God and other people open their doors to him. [Such a person] is far from the uncertainty that shuts [one] in on himself…
Holiness is that transparency whereby the spirit of [the human], filled completely with the light of the Holy Spirit, is reflected through his body and radiates around him. This radiance of the divine consciousness extends even to his face and to his actions.
- Dumitru Stăniloae Romanian Orthodox Priest and Theologian of the 20th Century
Dear friends,
Welcome into deep Lent. This Sunday is Passion Sunday; the next Sunday is Palm Sunday; and then – ah! – Easter.
DISCERNING WHERE WE ARE LED TO BE
This Sunday (April 3), following our celebration of Holy Eucharist we will have a church gathering to talk about looking for the next place our Lord Jesus is calling us to be. The wardens and I plan to share with you our leadership’s thinking about what aspects or attributes we feel would be important in a new space, to interact with you and questions you may have about this, and to invite us all to prayer about this. We then plan to have another gathering after Easter (probably May 15), to talk together further about how our Lord Christ met us in prayer and about next steps.
SUNDAY IN ALUMNI HALL @ GCTS
Many of you have shared your happy feedback about Alumni Hall, so rejoice! We’re there again Sunday.
There is a map here and note the Green Arrow directs you to Handicap Access Parking
The practicals:
• Follow the parking signs; once you get inside we’ll have greeters out to direct you to Alumni Hall. Elevators are inside to the left.
• Spread the word to friends at Trinity who won’t see this email (and grab that moment to encourage them to sign up for these weekly emails!).
THE WAY OF LOVE. PART 3, APRIL 6
The Wellspring
How to drink from a well deep enough to keep bringing fresh water to my soul?
The next Way of Love session will be Wednesday, April 6, from 7-8 pm. It’s a week earlier than usual because of Holy Week being the next week. I’m looking forward to this one – it will be about learning habits and rhythms for walking with God, in the daily and the big picture.
TAKE THEM A MEAL
Celebrate with Mark and Michaela Schmalz, (and Ainsley!) it’s time to sign up and join the fun.
• Go to https://takethemameal.com
• Under the Find box: enter the last name of the family. So far that’s Schmalz, soon Youndt and Spinney.
• The password is: trinity
TEENS SUNDAY AT 3 PM
Planning to be in the barn at chez Clayton, Sunday at 3. Also, if any parents would like to sponsor pizza, let me know!
BIG DATES TO REMEMBER!
• Sunday, April 3, after our celebration of Holy Eucharist we will have a church gathering to talk about looking for the next place the Lord is calling us to be. Just to be clear: this is not a matter of expedience, but of calling. In other words, GCTS remain wonderful, gracious hosts, and we are taking our next steps in what the Lord has for us to live into.
• HOLY WEEK: we are doing some creative planning – I believe these are going to be deeply meaningful.
- Palm Sunday is April 10.
- Special services: Maundy Thursday April 14, 7.30 pm., and Good Friday April 15, 5 pm (kids) and 7.30 pm.
Peace to you each and all,
Tim+
Certain Achievements that make even Happiness look like Trash!
Friday March 25, 2022
“It seems to me quite disastrous that the idea should have got about that Christianity is an otherworldly, unreal, idealistic kind of religion which suggests that if we are good we shall be happy – or if not, it will all be made up to us in the next existence. On the contrary, it is fiercely and even harshly realistic, insisting that the Kingdom of Heaven can never be attained in this world except by unceasing toil and struggle and vigilance: that, in fact… there are certain achievements that make even happiness look like trash.
It has been said… that nothing can prevent the human soul from preferring creativeness to happiness. In this lies man’s substantial likeness to the Divine Christ who in this world suffers and creates continually…”
~ Dorothy Sayers, one of the first women to graduate from Oxford University, and a part of The Inklings, with CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien
Dear friends,
Happy Spring! Among the many good things going on at Trinity (which, as ever, you can find here) today I’d especially like to let you know about something happening next Sunday, April 3 at 11:30 am.
After our celebration of Holy Eucharist we will have a church gathering to talk about looking for the next place our Lord Jesus is calling us to be. The wardens and I plan to share with you our leadership’s thinking about what aspects or attributes we feel would be important in a new space, to interact with you and questions you may have about this, and to invite us all to prayer about this. We then plan to have another gathering after Easter (probably May 15), to talk together further about how our Lord Christ met us in prayer and about next steps.
SUNDAY IN ALUMNI HALL @ GCTS
Many of you have shared your happy feedback about Alumni Hall, so rejoice! We’re there again Sunday.
There is a map here and note the Green Arrow directs you to Handicap Access Parking
The practicals:
• Follow the parking signs; once you get inside we’ll have greeters out to direct you to Alumni Hall. Elevators are inside to the left.
• Spread the word to friends at Trinity who won’t see this email (and grab that moment to encourage them to sign up for these weekly emails!).
THE WAY OF LOVE. PART 3, APRIL 6
The Wellspring
How to drink from a well deep enough to keep bringing fresh water to my soul?
The next Way of Love session will be Wednesday, April 6, from 7-8 pm. It’s a week earlier than usual because of Holy Week being the next week. I’m looking forward to this one – it will be about learning habits and rhythms for walking with God, in the daily and the big picture.
TAKE THEM A MEAL
Celebrate with Mark and Michaela Schmalz, (and Ainsley!) it’s time to sign up and join the fun.
• Go to https://takethemameal.com
• Under the Find box: enter the last name of the family. So far that’s Schmalz, soon Youndt and Spinney.
• The password is: trinity
TEENS
Planning to be in the barn chez Clayton Sunday at 3. Also, if any parents would like to sponsor pizza, let me know!
BIG DATES TO REMEMBER!
• Sunday, April 3, after our celebration of Holy Eucharist we will have a church gathering to talk about looking for the next place the Lord is calling us to be. Just to be clear: this is not a matter of expedience, but of calling. In other words, GCTS remain wonderful, gracious hosts, and we are taking our next steps in what the Lord has for us to live into.
• HOLY WEEK: we are doing some creative planning – I believe these are going to be deeply meaningful.
- Palm Sunday is April 10.
- Special services: Maundy Thursday April 14, 7.30 pm., and Good Friday April 15, 5 pm (kids) and 7.30 pm.
• Sunday, May 1, field trip to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/) after our celebration of Holy Eucharist. Dr Todd Johnson will be our guest preacher, and then lead us on the ‘field trip’. You won’t want to miss this.
Peace to you each and all,
Tim+
All Shall be Well, and All Shall be Well...
March 19, 2022
Julian of Norwich had prayed to have a heart profoundly sorry for its sins, to be full of kind compassion, and to have a steadfast longing for God. These served her well when she developed a seemingly terminal illness; as an anchoress (solitary nun) she was used to being alone, but this, of course, was different. But in the intensity of her illness, one afternoon she had fifteen visions of Christ in glory, and the meaning and power of his sufferings. These sustained her, and eventually she recovered and was able to comfort many in the (quite considerable) trials of her own times.
Most famously, the visions gave her the ability to say with quiet confidence that, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manor of things shall be well… For there is a Force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.”
- Dame Julian of Norwich
Hello dear friends,
As ever, there are many good things happening and coming up – so again, you’ll want to run through the whole of this longish note, and let the ALL CAPS be your guide – here’s what’s on:
SUNDAY IN ALUMNI HALL @ GCTS
Many of you have shared your happy feedback about Alumni Hall, so rejoice! We’re there again Sunday.
There is a map here and note the Green Arrow directs you to Handicap Access Parking
The practicals:
• Follow the parking signs; once you get inside we’ll have greeters out to direct you to Alumni Hall. Elevators are inside to the left.
• Spread the word to friends at Trinity who won’t see this email (and grab that moment to encourage them to sign up for these weekly emails!).
NEW LIFE and BIG BIRTHDAYS!
Celebrate with Mark and Michaela Schmalz, (and Ainsley!)
Emery Hope was born early-early Tuesday morning. Mom and babe are well; dad and big sister are delighted.
And in the past two weeks or so three of our little ones have had big birthdays – turning 3 years old.
TAKE THEM A MEAL
So it’s time to sign up and join the fun.
• Go to https://takethemameal.com
• Under the Find box: enter the last name of the family. So far that’s Schmalz, soon Youndt and Spinney.
• The password is: trinity
TEENS
Planning to be in the barn chez Clayton Sunday at 3. Also, if any parents would like to sponsor pizza, let me know!
ARDF for UKRAINE
So far we’ve matched $1600 of your gifts. Thank you!
Please continue fervent in daily prayers.
TOBY and SOPHIE have arrived in ROMANIA
And are getting acclimated, doing some exploring, etc. You can follow them at instagram.com/claytongross.ro
And join us and them in prayer – the seamstress who worked on Sophie’s wedding dress is Ukrainian – Toby and Sophie and the team there are working to help her bring members of her extended family into RO; Dana (the team leader) and Toby (likely) are driving to the Bucharest and then taking them to the border to deliver medicines and pick up family members.
BIG DATES TO REMEMBER!
• Sunday, April 3, after our celebration of Holy Eucharist we will have a church gathering to talk about looking for the next place the Lord is calling us to be. Just to be clear: this is not a matter of expedience, but of calling. In other words, GCTS remain wonderful, gracious hosts, and we are taking our next steps in what the Lord has for us to live into.
• HOLY WEEK: we are doing some creative planning – I believe these are going to be deeply meaningful.
- Palm Sunday is April 10.
- Special services: Maundy Thursday April 14, 7.30 pm., and Good Friday April 15, 5 pm (kids) and 7.30 pm.
• Sunday, May 1, field trip to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/) after our celebration of Holy Eucharist. Dr Todd Johnson will be our guest preacher, and then lead us on the ‘field trip’. You won’t want to miss this.
Peace to you each and all,
Tim+
New Location This Week | Christ is Present
March 11, 2022
…a week afterward I began the vine harvest; I recited the Our Father every day before work, and I repeated it very often in the vineyard. Since that time I have made a practice of saying it through once each morning with absolute attention…
Sometimes it comes about that I say it again out of sheer pleasure, but I only do it if I really feel the impulse. The effect of this practice is extraordinary and surprises me every time, for, although I experience it each day, it exceeds my expectation at each repetition. At times the very first words tear my thoughts from my body and transport it… filling every part of this infinity of infinity, there is silence, a silence which is not an absence of sound but which is the object of a positive sensation, more positive than that of sound...
Sometimes, also, during this recitation or at other moments, Christ is present with me in person, but his presence is infinitely more real, more moving, more clear than on that first occasion when he took possession of me.
- Simone Weil, from Waiting for God
Hello dear friends,
Lots happening this week and upcoming – you’ll want to run through the whole of this longish note, and let the ALL CAPS be your guide – here’s what’s on:
NEW VENUE THIS SUNDAY: ALUMNI HALL @ GCTS
There’s been a small fire in an HVAC system on the roof of the building we’ve been meeting in, alas. This Sunday, therefore, two big changes:
- Spring forward 1 hour on the clock
- We will meet in ALUMNI HALL at GCTS
The practicals:
As usual go left up the hill past the Retreat House, just past the Library entrance on your left will be the parking lot for the Kerr Building, The Cafeteria and the Alumni Hall is just inside.
Follow the parking signs: it’s straight up the hill and just keep going straight along the same road until you come to parking…
We’ll have greeters out to direct you to Alumni Hall.
Spread the word to all those people you’ve invited to church who won’t see this email.
WAY OF LOVE SESSION 2 QUESTIONS FOR JOURNALING
Spend some good time with the Lord and just write what comes…
1. At what point in my life have I lived most vibrantly in the present? Why? What did that feel like?
2. What situations have given me the desire for revenge? Share them with Jesus… What does it take for me to be where the cycle of violence-hatred-insults-etc stop?
3. When have I lived faith giving me courage, strength to love, an urge to act or speak or etc.? What was that like?
TAKE THEM A MEAL
We’ve got a handful of expecting moms at Trinity. This is going to be fun.
We’ve set up TAKE THEM A MEAL for them. Here’s how it works:
Under the Find box: enter the last name of the family. So far that’s Schmalz or Youndt.
The password is: trinity
Sign up to bring a meal.
TEENS
We’re back to the barn chez Clayton, 3 pm!
It’s going to be chilly, the yard will be a mess from the rain, but alright already…
Also, if any parents would like to sponsor pizza, let me know!
ARDF for UKRAINE
So far we’ve matched $1100 of your gifts. Thank you!
SENDING OFF TOBY AND SOPHIE to ROMANIA
We’ll be praying for Toby and Sophie, sending them off to Romania.
They are going to a rural, mountainous area not near the border with UKR. The team they are joining are looking for ways that they can house and care for Ukrainian refugees, so keep praying and stay tuned.
TWO BIG DATES TO REMEMBER!
Sunday, April 3, after our celebration of Holy Eucharist we will have a church gathering to talk about looking for the next place the Lord is calling us to be. Just to be clear: this is not a matter of expedience, but of calling. In other words, GCTS remain wonderful, gracious hosts, and we are taking our next steps in what the Lord has for us to live into.
Sunday, May 1, field trip to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/) after our celebration of Holy Eucharist. Dr Todd Johnson will be our guest preacher, and then lead us on the ‘field trip’. You won’t want to miss this.
Peace to you,
Tim+
Tonight, The Way of Love Part 2
Wednesday March 9, 2022 at 7 pm
The Most 'Alive' Human Ever
A Simple Spirituality of the Way of Jesus
Join us tonight at 7 pm, details on our Events page,
to join the online event directly go here
Dear friends,
I’m looking forward to the second installment of the Way of Love, tonight 7-8 pm!
Join us here as we explore a simple yet dynamic spirituality Jesus has given us for living his way of love, based in the prayer he gave us.
For the first 30 minutes we’ll focus hard on the prayer and how it works, and find that simple dynamic spirituality in it. then will take a quick break and then come back and Kirsten Trumbull, our junior warden of the Parish Council, will be with me to chat a little bit about bringing this into our daily lives.
I’m really looking forward to this! Hope you will join us and bring along anybody else as well.
Peace to you,
Tim+
Deliver Us | Help for Ukraine
March 4, 2022
"And behold, You are at hand, and deliver us from our wretched wanderings, and place us in Your way, and do comfort us, and say, “Run; I will carry you; yes I will bring your through; there also will I carry you.”
- Augustine of Hippo, Confessions
Welcome to Lent, dear friends,
Here’s what’s going on this weekend and the coming week.
ARDF and UKRAINE
The Anglican Relief and Development Fund has a matching grant for donations to a special fund for Ukrainian refugee relief. We will match your gifts (up to $2000 total overall) as well. We’re keeping it simple: go here (https://ardf.org/relief-ukraine-2022) and make your donation and then email us your confirmation of donation email and we will add it to our list and donate as well. Your gift and ours will be matched by ARDF’s donor, thereby quadrupling your donation.
And, dear friends, keep praying fervently.
WAY OF LOVE
The Way of Love Session 2 is this Wednesday evening at 7.
We’ll be looking at a simple spirituality of the way of Jesus that is given to us in the Our Father, the Prayer Jesus gave us. This prayer enables us to walk the way of love by giving us a simple spirituality of:
- Living in the eternal present without fear or worry
- Forgiving and thereby breaking the cycle of violence
- Taking courage and living forward in this world
Expect the teaching session to go one hour. I’ll teach for 30 minutes; we’ll take a break; then we’ll come back, and I’ll have one or a few folks with me to interact with me about where this meets us in our lives.
TEENS
Good heavens, every time we think we’re set to return to the Clayton barn there’s snow… Our yard’s a mess of the lovely stuff, so let’s once again meet after church. We’ll have some fun and talk a bit about the first of the gifts of the Prayer Jesus gave us – living in the eternal present with the God who loves us.
And also we’ll kick off the MARCH MADNESS CROKINOLE TOURNAMENT this Sunday. Crokinole is basically an indoor, table-top, curling game; a famous way Canadians pass the long winter evenings…
Peace to you,
Tim+
ARDF Support for the People of Ukraine
In February 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, starting a war that will have ramifications long into the future. ARDF is collecting funds to support the local church as they minister to those affected. You can support this mission here.
Ash Wednesday Services-
11:00 am and 7 pm in the Kaiser Chapel.
Ash Wednesday, March 2nd, 2 services:
-11.10 a.m. We are honored to be able to bring this holy solemnity to the student body at GCTS (in conjunction with the Anglican student fellowship), and you are welcome as well.
-7 p.m. The liturgy for Ash Wednesday with a special time for bringing before the Lord all your griefs of these past couple of years.
Both services will include the celebration of Holy Eucharist
Sunday February 27 at 10 am
Confirmation Service + Prayers for the People of Ukraine
Tomorrow Morning beginning promptly at 10 am we will be having a special time of prayer for the people of Ukraine, please bring your friends and families, you don't want to miss this, and we will be following prayers from the heart of Bishop Andrew and we want to join our hearts together with people all over the world as we cry out for peace.
A Heartbreaking Week |
Lent | Bishop Andrew | Ash Wednesday
February 25, 2022
Dear friends,
I hope you are enjoying the lovely snow, once again capping off a week that flirted with springlike conditions.
These past few days have been heavy, indeed, gut-wrenching for me, personally: I spent the summer of 1989 in Kyiv. We took a train in from Budapest; the evening cool and setting sun were bucolic as the train wove its way through the Carpathians, passing rustic tiny mountain villages. But lovely as that was, and as old Orthodox churches and architecture were, the most poignant thing was the people themselves, as they wrestled with whether it could possibly come about that they may, indeed, become free: was hope real or a mirage?
It was just a few weeks after the team I was with returned to the States that the border of Hungary opened to the West, and then the dominoes began to fall, and Central and Eastern Europe’s peoples breathed peacefully and free in ways that they had not for a good many decades, and that many in the States had thought we would not see in our lifetimes.
If you are in your younger years, please allow me to say it’s a good moment to be gentle with your parents: hearing the Soviet-era metanarrative of a grand, over-arching state re-assert itself is not pleasant, and the double-speak and open untruths that accompany it bring back too many memories of a time fraught with profound anxieties at a high level.
And we at Trinity have as part of our family of faith at least a few people with personal and family ties to Ukraine. Join me in daily prayer for them and their whole families.
Dear friends, as another of what we held to be a “given” about the ordering of life dissolves, I want to say that though so much seems fluid and there is much uncertainty (on multiple levels and issues, each with its own circumstances, for good or for ill or a mix of both), I am not discouraged. God cares deeply about our lives and about love, mercy, and justice, so even in the midst of those things that are deeply grievous, He continues to be present and to work. Only his Kingdom will last forever, and in Jesus Christ God has entered the suffering, the brokenness, of this world and has defeated the power of sin and delivered us from the domain of darkness. Dear friends, Jesus Christ is alive and lives forever.
The trick is in connecting these true-yet-sometimes-seemingly-faraway Gospel realities (which are mystical but in Jesus giving his own body and shedding his own life’s blood are also more than that) with whatever is facing me today or causing me anxiety or grief. Therefore do pray, and care for one another. Rejoice that LENT is coming: connecting these things is a part of what Lent is about. Join us in the WAY OF LOVE: connecting these things is indeed what the Way of Love is about. And, by all means, grab your opportunity to receive Eucharist: his Body and his Blood are an elixir in a category of their own, with no competition, even.
BRUNCH with BISHOP ANDREW and TRINITY’S FIRST CONFIRMATIONS
We are excited for Sunday! Please plan to say for a simple brunch with +Andrew after our celebration of Holy Eucharist and conferring the sacrament of Confirmation.
LENT
Ash Wednesday, March 2nd, 2 services:
-11.10 a.m. We are honored to be able to bring this holy solemnity to the student body at GCTS (in conjunction with the Anglican student fellowship), and you are welcome as well. This will include the celebration of Holy Eucharist.
-7 p.m. The liturgy for Ash Wednesday with a special time for bringing before the Lord all your griefs of these past couple of years. (Note: no celebration of Holy Eucharist at this service.)
Daily Lenten reflections with the Matthew 25 Initiative
Matthew 25 is a collaboration in our province (the Anglican Church of North America) of ways churches are serving the poor, the vulnerable, etc. They say:
At the Matthew 25 Initiative, our desire is to see the unseen and the marginalized treasured. And this Lent Season, we will be telling the stories of the least of these through 40 days of Anglican-informed, inspiring, beautiful, and theologically-robust engagement pieces — in the vein of the church's traditional disciplines of lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Sign up here: https://www.anglicanjusticeandmercy.org/lent-signup
The WAY of LOVE
A few of you have been asking where you can dig a bit more on some of what we covered in the first session. A great place to start is “Loving to Know”, the Erasmus Lecture 2019 by NT Wright with First Things. You can find it here: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/02/loving-to-know
TEENS
We’re taking a break from teens’ gathering this week, inviting everyone to enjoy the brunch and each other’s company.
Peace to you today,
Tim+
Beholding
February 18, 2022
Contemplative life is not a solo enterprise; it is an invitation to a shared life with others… The goal of contemplation is beholding, but not only a beholding of God; we also need to be beholding each other.
-Rich Villodas, writing of the connection between the contemplative life and our love for others…
Hello dear friends,
Hoping you are well and have a wonderful weekend! We are looking forward to gathering together again this Sunday!
Here’s what’s up…
BRUNCH WITH BISHOP ANDREW
Bishop Andrew will be with us on Sunday, the 27th. Please join us after service for a brunch to celebrate his visit and Trinity’s first Confirmations!
TEENS THIS SUNDAY
We’re still looking forward to getting back to the barn chez Clayton, but we’re also still looking at a cold Sunday and a mush of a backyard… so, once more we’ll be gathering with teens after church Sunday morning, and going forward with the Way of Love together.
ASH WEDNESDAY
Ash Wednesday this year is on March 2nd. We will have services at 11.10 a.m. at the Kaiser Chapel (together with the GCTS Anglican Student Association and the student body) and then again at 7 p.m., also in the chapel.
WAY OF LOVE GROUPS
If you’re meaning to sign up and haven’t quite gotten to it, now is the time! Groups start next week.
Peace,
Tim+
Those are the Same Stars
February 12, 2022
Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.
- Sojourner Truth, encouraging black people who had been separated from loved ones by slavery or when only some of them had been able to escape via the Underground Railroad.
Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.
Hello dear friends,
What a joy to gather and worship together with so many of you last Sunday morning. We are very much looking forward to this Sunday.
Lots of good things happening, and some fun things to share this week.
WAY of LOVE
Well, we’re off and going!
-Groups are forming starting Sunday, when you will be able to sign up. If you cannot be there to sign up Sunday, email me and I will forward your message to the right folks…
-Reflection questions for session 1: use them as is best for you:
Does God love me?
If I talk about God’s love and only his love, how does that make me feel?
Who do I love?
What are some poignant acts of love that others have shown to me? That I have shown to others? (be as specific as you can in these two)
What fears come to me as I pray and ponder on these things?
BRUNCH with BISHOP ANDREW
We are looking forward to +Andrew’s visit on Sunday, February 27. We’re going to have a simple brunch after our celebration of Holy Eucharist that morning, to celebrate our first Confirmands, Bishop’s being with us, and – why not? – ten months of Trinity!
TEENS THIS SUNDAY AFTER SERVICE!
We will meet following the morning service in the Hall outside the chapel, the same as we did last week.
- pizza, a few fun silly tactile activities, and starting our own version of thinking about Jesus’ Way of Love after service, in the foyer, 11.30-12.30ish.
COVID UPDATE
The town of Hamilton has changed its mask policy, which has allowed our host facility to change with the town. None of these things or decisions have been easy or fun; we will celebrate the change, hope it sticks forever, and also try to be thoughtful as we go forward. Here’s where we are:
Essex County is still in the CDC’s high range for transmission of COVID,
We are continuing to watch the guidance from the CDC due to the Delta and Omicron variant.
Please read more throughout the CDC website to stay informed, and we encourage you to inform your friends and family around the country.Masks will continue to be optional for those who have been fully vaccinated and are past the 2 week second dose period (clear info here)
We will respect those who are more comfortable continuing to wear masks and we will all practice distancing.
If you have traveled in the past few weeks to any regions of our country that have had a surge in cases and hospitalizations, then we ask you to please maintain social distancing as you transition back to our region.
We will continue to distribute the Eucharist in the manner we have been practicing these past few weeks. Depending how things go in the coming weeks we may make a change in how we serve Eucharist, and we will keep you all informed of any changes.
We will continue to keep up you to date as best we can with the overall situation regarding COVID.
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
Tonight - Way of Love 1
Tonight Wednesday February 9, 2022 at 7 pm
February: The Core Purpose of Life
What is meant to be the distinctive of followers of Jesus? What if we took this seriously as our mission?
Join us tonight at 7 pm, details on our Events page, to directly join the online event go here
Love is a Better Way
February 5, 2022
“I accepted the teaching of Jesus, the way of love, the way of nonviolence, the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. The idea that hate is too heavy a burden to bear. I don’t want to go down that road. I’ve seen too much hate, seen too much violence. And I know love is a better way.” – John Lewis
Dear friends,
We’re so much looking forward to being back together on Sunday, after last week’s snow-out. Here’s some of what’s up:
THE WAY of LOVE
I’m so much looking forward to getting going with this that I’m actually nervous! I’ve been working fervently on this; in my gut I simply know this is right – this is where we need to go.
We’ll start this Wednesday night with the person who is considered perhaps the greatest Catholic mind of the 20th Century – who ‘way back’ 60 years ago began saying that the call is to love, and that Western culture writ large had come to a place, in the long telling of its overall story, that nothing else will have real traction.
Before the beautiful—no, not really before but within the beautiful—the whole person quivers. He not only “finds” the beautiful moving; rather, he experiences himself as being moved and possessed by it.
Hans Urs Von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord
This quote is from Von Balthasar. The Sacred Heart of Jesus image (Below) is on the cover of his book Love Alone is Credible. There is an incredible story about this image, we will talk a bit about that on Wednesday night.
So, sign up here, or come on and check it out anyway. 7-9 pm, online, you can find the links to the meeting on our Events Page. If you cannot make it Wednesday evening, the teaching sessions will be available on our YouTube Page the following week. Look for the Playlist called “The Way of Love”.
As an humble reminder, here’s how it works:
-The second Wednesday of the month there’s teaching/input.
-You will be given questions or thoughts to prompt journaling in response to that month’s topic: you can do with what you write as you like. Pray through it; read it one of the priests; share it with a trusted soul-friend; hide it away; burn it, bury it, frame it, tattoo it on your leg…
-The fourth week of the month groups will meet to discuss the topic and where it hits us. We hope (hope) to have groups on most nights of the week, to help with scheduling. Leaders are meeting this weekend to sort that out.
-Pray! Prayer journals are available hard copy Sunday morning, or here.
TOBY and SOPHIE heading to ROMANIA
This Sunday two of our own will share about their calling to Romania. Toby and Sophie Clayton-Gross leave in a little over a month. Follow them here: https://www.eucharisteo-ro.com
NURSERY RETURNS THIS SUNDAY!
I know the wee ones are missing “Miss Cheryl”. And why not? There’s a lot to love there. Nursery returns Sunday.
TEENS THIS SUNDAY AFTER SERVICE!
Speaking of Cheryl, she and I are missing our Sunday afternoons with the TEENS. That said, Sunday’s weather, our frozen mush of a yard, and an un-insulated barn are not looking like a great combination.
So here’s the plan: pizza, a few fun silly tactile activities, and starting our own version of thinking about Jesus’ Way of Love after service, in the foyer, 11.30-12.30ish.
Peace and blessings, friends,
Tim+
Wintry Weekend!
Friday January 28, 2022
THE WHOLE LIFE of Christ was a continual Passion; others die Martyrs, but Christ was born a Martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem, where he was born; For, to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the Manger as uneasy at first, as his cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas-day and his Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day.
-John Donne, beginning his sermon on Christmas Day, 1626, at St Paul’s Cathedral, London. The Incarnation Cycle (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany) closes on February 2nd (Wednesday), forty days after the birth, the celebration of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple. Though Donne was preaching on Christmas Day, he took as his text the Gospel for the Presentation, Luke 2.29-30.
Happy Wintry Weekend
POSSIBLE BLIZZARD - This Sunday Service Plan
I recognize that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for snow, but it looks as if we’ll have a bunch of it starting late tonight and well into Saturday. Likely this means that we will be online only at the usual time, 10 a.m. on Sunday (unless you are on campus at GCTS and would like to walk up and join us!). Should the storm shift and be further out to sea, then we may be able to gather in the usual way. We will plan to send out an email update in that case, but best to assume we will be online only.
THE WAY OF LOVE
The Way of Love begins soon! Our first once a month meeting will be Wednesday, February 9, online at 7 pm for the first teaching session. Learn more and sign up here! (It will be recorded, for those who cannot make it at that time.)
TEENS AND NURSERY
We are planning to restart Nursery during the service and Teens afternoon gatherings on Sunday, February 6. Looking forward to being with these wonderful young people and very young people!
CONFIRMATION and BAPTISM
Confirmation is a sacrament of the church – the laying on of hands and anointing with oil of our Bishop, +Andrew. It is a formal entrance to the Anglican Church, which is a wonderful thing, and, at least equally wonderful, it is a fresh outpouring or stirring of the Holy Spirit, and the expectation of sensing one’s gifts for serving the church and the world in the Name of Jesus.
Keep well and know our Lord Jesus’ presence and peace,
Tim+
The Friday Night Light
Giving Statements | The Way of Love | Bishop Andrew Visit
January 21, 2022
When the whole universe weighs upon us there is no other counterweight possible but God himself—the true God, for in this case false gods cannot do anything… Nothing can overcome this kind of infinity except the true infinity. That is why on the balance of the cross a body, which was frail and light but which was God, lifted up the whole world. ‘Give me a point of leverage and I will lift up the world.’ This point of leverage is the cross. There can be no other.
-Simone Weil
Dear friends,
Happy winter, and here’s hoping a quick and thorough fizzle-out to Omicron.
THE WAY OF LOVE
Friends, I’m getting ever more excited for this! Sign-ups are here, and our first topic, about the centrality and definition of love: The Path: What is meant to be the distinctive of followers of Jesus? What if we took this seriously as our mission?
-The plan is to start on Wednesday, February 9, 7 pm, with the first input/teaching session (probably online).
-Prayer Week for The Way of Love: prayer booklet/journals, walking you through a week of prayer in the lead-up to the course should be available Sunday. If you’re online these weeks and would like to pick one up from me or get one in the mail, let me know.
- Groups are forming - Sign Up Online Below
CONFIRMATION, BAPTISM and a VISIT from BISHOP ANDREW
We are preparing for a visit from Bp Andrew on Sunday, February 27th.
-if you are interested in being confirmed, do let me know. Cn Ross or Mother Wendy would also be happy to chat with you about this.
-What is CONFIRMATION? It is a sacrament that is considered a kind of a seal and complement to baptism: the Bishop lays hands on an adult (already baptized, either as infant or adult) and calls on them a refreshing of the work and gifts of the Spirit of Jesus, and formally enfolds them into the Anglican family. It’s lovely.
-And of course, if you, or your infant or child, have not been BAPTIZED but want to proclaim your love and commitment to our Lord Jesus in this way, please, by all means, let us know and we’ll be delighted to do that.
TRINITY ANNUAL DONATION STATEMENTS
Ericka, our Treasurer-extraordinaire, has emailed donation statements for 2021 tax purposes. More info in the box below
Peace and blessings friends,
Tim+
Giving Statements
2021 Giving Statements have been emailed to anyone who has given a donation in 2021. If you did not receive an email, or if you have any questions, please contact Ericka Shepard at treasurer@trinitynorthshore.org.
Please remember to check your spam and junk folders, your statement in generated and sent from Planning Center Online Giving. Once you download your statement, you will be able to save it and print it for your records.
Please note these 2 important points:
1. The automatic download link in the email sent to you will expire on 2/4/22 10:00am EST, after that, you can log into the Church Center App to access your statements, manage recurring donations, and set your donor preferences.
2. If you gave to any donation to Trinity through the ADNE, you will receive a separate statement from them.
Wisdom from Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. + The Way of Love Update
January 15, 2022
Dear friends,
I hope you are all well and taking care. Let’s all be praying and hope-filled that this post-holiday spike of virus will indeed fizzle, as some have predicted. In the meantime, a few things to share with you.
WISDOM FROM the REV’D DR. MLK, Jr.
In his doctoral work King had drifted into a new theology (alas, born here in Boston) in which God was conceived to have personality of his own but not necessarily to be personally, intimately in touch with individual people. But his work for justice and his determination to keep that work rooted in love led King to rediscover how near and intimate and loving God was towards him:
More than ever before I am convinced of the reality of a personal God. True, I have always believed in the personality of God. But in the past the idea of a personal God was little more than a metaphysical category that I found theologically and philosophically satisfying. Now it is a living reality that has been validated in the experiences of everyday life. God has been profoundly real to me in recent years. In the midst of outer dangers I have felt an inner calm. In the midst of lonely days and dreary nights I have heard an inner voice saying, “Lo, I will be with you.” When the chains of fear and the manacles of frustration have all but stymied my efforts, I have felt the power of God transforming the fatigue of despair into the buoyancy of hope. I am convinced that the universe is under the control of a loving purpose, and that in the struggle for righteousness man has cosmic companionship. Behind the harsh appearances of the world there is a benign power… in the truest sense of the word, God is a living God. …this God both evokes and answers prayers. (A Testament of Hope, p. 40)
And the night King recounts sixty-four years ago this month when he was exhausted from the work, spent a little time with his wife and their baby, and was just dozing off when he was roused by the telephone. An angry voice on the other end called him a racial slur and said they had taken enough from him and would be dealing with him soon (in fact on January 30 his home was bombed while he was at a meeting). He got up and began to pace; he went to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. He sat there and told God he was done. And then,
At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: “Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.” Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. (Stride Toward Freedom, p. 134-5)
THE WAY OF LOVE - Important Discussion After Service Sunday Morning or Online Sunday Night
Please join me Sunday to hear more and ask your questions about something I am very excited about and deeply committed to: The Way of Love. This is our initial run at something I believe will give us greater traction together in living at depth into a fresh encounter with the living Jesus, and being his Body in our place in our days.
-Sunday morning join me following our service, in the foyer-hall area.
-Or if you are not with us Sunday morning, join me online at 7 pm Sunday evening, using this link: https://meet.google.com/onm-qkxv-scz
Here’s the plan: starting in February please join us as we learn to walk The Way of Love.
-Once a month I (and maybe with help from others) will be teaching: I’ll give you a short written piece for that month, maybe an excerpt or two from a good and wise soul and voice…
-You will be given questions to which you can respond – journaling, really, not an academic paper – just where you and the Lord are with this. You can keep it; you can find a soul-friend to walk with you and share it with them; you can burn it or bury it (we’ll give you a brief liturgy for that if that’s a release); you can give it to me…
-Later that month small groups will meet and share together about how we are doing with the topic, what our challenges are, etc. All are invited to share; some should; none must. Group leaders will not be experts but fellow-travellers who are creating a safe space.
-And when you need deeper help the clergy will be available for confession or healing prayer or for pastoral counsel.
You can find a summary of the schedule and topics, below.
TEENS TAKING A BREAK FOR JANUARY
And as much as we hate to say it, Cheryl and I are sensing that in terms of the virus it’s probably best to pause on Teens for now. We are missing them and looking forward to getting back together – planning for Sunday, February 6th.
Peace and joy,
Tim+
THE WAY OF LOVE MONTHLY PLAN
February: The Path: the Centrality of Love
March: A Simple Spirituality of the Way of Jesus
April: The Wellspring: Growing Our Deep Inner New Self
May: The Author and Story-holder: Living the New and Beautiful, Beyond Anxiety, Façades, and Other Troubles
June-July-August: go frolic about for summer, as you like
September: The Foundation: A Simple, Sacramental, and Thoughtful Framework Woven Through the Whole of the Scriptures
October: The Body Personal: Living Embodied Among Others Trying to Live Embodied
November: The Body Politic (strictly speaking): Love AND Justice?
December: On Mission of and to Mutual Broken Vessels: What does love cost, and who pays that?
Epiphanytide + The Way of Love
January 8, 2022
“Expectant waiting is the foundation of the spiritual life.”
-Simone Weil
Dear friends,
I hope you are enjoying the snow as much as Cheryl’s and my Bernese Mountain Dogs are.
As we head into a new year together, I have a gathering sense of excitement and of conviction. My conviction is that our core gut sense at Trinity is right on track: we need a fresh encounter with the living Jesus Christ, and to go as deeply into that as we are able; what has passed for church in our society in the past has been tested and has floundered. This will require effort, intentionality, and learning to do many things afresh as church.
Which, actually, is what leads me to my sense of excitement. I believe we as a people at Trinity are ready to walk that path, and I’m looking forward to introducing you to our first run at doing this as a part of our life together. For now, here’s the gist: living out a fresh encounter with the living Jesus Christ means to be able to live the way of love consistently and as appropriate to every circumstance. That is the primary thing: the one who loves is the one who overcomes, who walks in soul freedom, who has a quiet confidence and soul satisfaction.
THE WAY OF LOVE
Here’s the plan: starting in February please join us as we learn to walk The Way of Love.
-Once a month I (and maybe with help from others) will be teaching: I’ll give you a short written piece for that month, maybe an excerpt or two from a good and wise soul and voice…
-You will be given questions to which you can respond – journaling, really, not an academic paper – just where you and the Lord are with this. You can keep it; you can find a soul-friend to walk with you and share it with them; you can burn it or bury it (we’ll give you a brief liturgy for that if that’s a release); you can give it to me…
-Later that month small groups will meet and share together about how we are doing with the topic, what our challenges are, etc. All are invited to share; some should; none must. Group leaders will not be experts but fellow-travellers who are creating a safe space.
-You can find a summary of the schedule and topics, below.
Dear friends, please join me Sunday next week, the 16th, after our celebration of Holy Eucharist (after the service) to hear more and have a Q&A about it. And let me know if you cannot manage that, and we’ll arrange an online meeting.
EPIPHANYTIDE – GLORY
These weeks of Epiphanytide our sermon series will be looking at how Jesus made God’s glory real to people.
NURSERY TAKING A BREAK
During this post-holiday Omicron—COVID spike we’re taking a break from nursery. The precious wee ones are too young for the vaccine, so this seems prudent.
TEENS OUTDOORS (probably)
And during this post-holiday Omicron-COVID spike we’ll (probably) be outdoors for Teens on Sunday afternoons. I’ll send an email around to parents on the weekend; if you have teens and have not gotten the emails in the past (which have not been weekly, but just as needed), do let me know.
Dear friends, take heart, believe, keep praying. And wait in expectation for his Glory to be among us.
Peace,
Tim+
THE WAY OF LOVE
February: The Path: the Centrality of Love
March: A Simple Spirituality of the Way of Jesus
April: The Wellspring: Growing Our Deep Inner New Self
May: The Author and Story-holder: Living the New and Beautiful, Beyond Anxiety, Façades, and Other Troubles
June-July-August: go frolic about for summer, as you like
September: The Foundation: A Simple, Sacramental, and Thoughtful Framework Woven Through the Whole of the Scriptures
October: The Body Personal: Living Embodied Among Others Trying to Live Embodied
November: The Body Politic (strictly speaking): Love AND Justice?
December: On Mission of and to Mutual Broken Vessels: What does love cost, and who pays that?
glo·ri·ous
/ˈɡlôrēəs/
adjective 1.having, worthy of, or bringing fame or admiration.
Similar: illustrious, celebrated, famous, famed, renowned
2. having a striking beauty or splendor that evokes feelings of delighted admiration.
Similar: wonderful, marvelous, magnificent, superb, sublime
4 pm in the Kaiser Chapel at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.
We hope you’ll join us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus together! December 24th, from 4:00 - 5:00 pm. You'll be home in time for your own friends and family celebrations!
🎄 Christmas Eve, 4 p.m.– simple and beautiful service of Holy Eucharist, open to all ages.
🎄 December 26th, 10 a.m.– adapted Lessons and Carols, following the nativity story in the Gospel of Luke.
Christmas Eve + Christmas Services
Advent Week Four - Joy
December 17, 2021
joy
/joi/
noun: a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.
"tears of joy"
Dear friends,
This Sunday is the fourth and last of Advent: after Sunday we next gather to celebrate Jesus’ birth, on Christmas Eve! Part of our focus this Sunday will, therefore, be on Mary – the Annunciation from Gabriel, her acceptance of a deeply-surprising and life-rearranging calling from God, one that would take her to the depths of human emotion and wonder, fear and hope. God’s writing himself into the story, as it were, could scarcely be otherwise…
THE GIFT OF LIFE
An apt parallel celebration, along with Mary’s courageous “Yes” to God, is of pregnancy and birth.
This Sunday there will be a special blessing of pregnant women – those present with us, and those you may represent and bring before God in your heart and imagination, who are not here present with us but are in your life – a relative or a friend in another state, or etc.
Jim Craig shared this lovely testimony with me, that speaks to the wonder of this blessing:
A couple of weeks ago, I came across this onesie (pictured above), and I would like to share an experience I had with all my friends at Trinity.
It was Advent 2018, the service was full with a litany of prayers. One of those prayers were for the “safety & protection of the unborn and the well-being of pregnant women”. I thought to myself that the prayer was really cool. That Sunday afternoon, Elizabeth & I were meeting my daughter & son-in-law for dinner. We exchanged some Christmas gifts before they headed off to Indiana.
One those gifts was the onesie letting us know they’d just found out she was pregnant.
I thought to myself how the Holy Spirit was working in me from the church to six hours later that afternoon. From that Advent Sunday, I meditated in prayer for the safety & protection throughout her pregnancy term.
I truly believe that God’s greatest miracle is the birth of a child.
On July 30th of 2019, my granddaughter, Kynlee was born. While my daughter was in labor the Holy Spirit put on my heart to pray a phrase from the Nicene Creed “The Lord giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and Son who with the Father and Son is glorified.”
I pray that God finds each of you in this Advent season to move towards Christmas with a renewed heart. To all my friends @ Trinity have a Merry Christmas.
God Bless
A BREAK FOR TEEN HOME GROUP
Teen home group will take a break this Sunday and the next two following: that’s December 19, 26, and January 2. Cheryl’s off to NJ this weekend for a family celebration, and then we’ll take a break during the holiday Sundays…
AND NO NURSERY THIS SUNDAY
And Cheryl sends her regrets that she will not be there this Sunday for the joy-filled time with the wee and wonderful ones.
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
PS: The O Antiphons have begun! Arguably the greatest Advent song of all (ok, it’s a given) is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. The verses are based on the O Antiphons – little prayers which are themselves based on OT prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, and that in monastic communities bracket the Magnificat at Evensong. Personally, I follow the English use, which begins on December 16, with one per day and going through December 23rd. You can get a sense of this here
Advent Week Three - Love
December 11, 2021
love
/ləv/
noun: an intense feeling of deep affection.
verb: feel deep affection for (someone)
Dear friends,
While the shortest daylight day of the year will be December 21st, you may rejoice that this past week we reached the earliest sunsets of this year, and by midway through next week the sun’s light will linger with us a touch longer into the evening every few days… I hope you are sensing the love that Jesus has for you, and it is warming your heart and is a light for your soul.
Here’s a bit of Advent and Christmas news:
CHRISTMAS SERVICES
We’re planning and excited for our Christmas services!
🎄 Christmas Eve, 4 p.m., in the Kaiser Chapel at GCTS – simple and beautiful service of Holy Eucharist, open to all ages.
🎄 The First Sunday of Christmas, December 26th, 10 a.m., in the Kaiser Chapel at GCTS – adapted Lessons and Carols, following the nativity story in the Gospel of Luke.
TRINITY TEENS - HOG HABIT (maybe)
Cheryl and I have been having a wonderful time with a new home group, made up of the teenagers of Trinity, which we are rather cornily calling HOG HABIT – Home Group Having About It Teens. Full disclosure, yes, we realize that the teens themselves may object to this corny name and come up with something better (being parents, we expect this sort of thing). We’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, part of the fun has been the whittling and knitting that has been happening in earnest.
We just had to share this image below – the first completed whittle:
Sting, Bilbo’s and Frodo’s sword. Well done, Daniel Fryling!
YEAR-END LETTER
Trinity’s year-end letter and giving appeal is online; we’ve had a wonderful birth and launch, and (thank you!), we’ve had what we need so far. We’re hoping to get a bump up at year-end, for some upcoming needs. Please read the letter here, and respond as you sense the Spirit of Jesus leading you.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
This Sunday and next, discussing the spiritual practice that was the theme of the sermon. This week, fasting.
Expectant,
Tim+
PS: As we continue our Advent pilgrimage of expectation here is a creative wreath for the occasion, by an English Anglican priest and theological doctor from the 17th Century, George Herbert. Notice that the poem works as a wreath in its structure in that the theme of the end of each line is repeated and developed further at the beginning of the next line. The effect is completed as the last line of the poem calls back to the first. Hence the strands throughout the poem are interwoven, holding the whole together in a beautiful, living circle: a wreath.
A wreathèd garland of deservèd praise,
Of praise deservèd, unto Thee I give,
I give to Thee, who knowest all my ways,
My crooked winding ways, wherein I live,—
Wherein I die, not live; for life is straight,
Straight as a line, and ever tends to Thee,
To Thee, who art more far above deceit,
Than deceit seems above simplicity.
Give me simplicity, that I may live,
So live and like, that I may know Thy ways,
Know them and practice them: then shall I give
For this poor wreath, give Thee a crown of praise.
Advent Week Two - Peace
December 4, 2021
peace
/pēs/
noun 1. freedom from disturbance; tranquility.
Hello friends,
I’m deeply glad to be walking this Advent season with you, anticipating our Lord’s arrival, and daily expecting his presence in the midst of all that is good, bright, and happy, and also in the midst of all that is dark and heavy.
Just a few, a happy few, things to share this week.
CHRISTMAS SERVICES
We’re planning and excited for our Christmas services!
🎄 Christmas Eve, 4 p.m., in the Kaiser Chapel at GCTS – a simple and beautiful service of Holy Eucharist, open to all ages.
🎄 The First Sunday of Christmas, December 26th, 10 a.m., in the Kaiser Chapel at GCTS – adapted Lessons and Carols, following the nativity story in the Gospel of Luke.
CHRISTMAS GIVING OPPORTUNITY
Our teens will be leading us in a giving opportunity this Christmas (and into January), a way for us to contribute needed items to Afghan families recently relocated to the North Shore. More to come soon, so keep an eye out!
YEAR-END GIVING
Trinity’s year-end letter and giving appeal is online; we’ve had a wonderful birth and launch, and (thank you!), we’ve had what we need so far. We’re hoping to get a bump up at year-end, for some upcoming needs. Please read the letter here.
Expectant,
Tim+
PS: and, of course, join us Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent, as we walk closer to our Lord’ birth. COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS return these next three Sundays, practicing the spiritual disciplines focused on that morning – ways of positioning ourselves to expect God’s presence in our lives.
EXPECATATION
November 26, 2021
hope
/hōp/
noun: a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.
Happy Thanksgiving friends,
This weekend I am (especially) giving thanks to our God for each of you and for Trinity. May you be blessed and well this holiday weekend.
ADVENT
This week we come to the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new church year, as we spiritually prepare for celebrating the coming of our Lord Jesus, incarnate. Advent is a season in which we wait, expectantly, in the darkest days of the year for the light to come: God present with us in the midst of it all, whatever that is for each one of us. Each of these four Advent Sundays we’ll look at a different way of locating ourselves to wait on God.
Expectant: Putting Ourselves in a Place to Wait on God
Advent 1: Gratitude
Advent 2: Contemplative reading of Scripture
Advent 3: Fasting (and Praying)
Advent 4: Silence (and Journaling)
Community Conversations
Community Conversations return December 5, 12, and 19. Each of those Sundays we’ll take time after our celebration of Holy Eucharist to discuss and try out the spiritual discipline of that day.
TEENS
No teens gathering this Sunday afternoon, but plan for them to resume on December 5th.
ARDF
After Simon introduced ARDF to us last Sunday a few of you have wanted to know more. Click here for more info
Expectantly,
Tim+
Baptism, Christ the King, and ARDF
November 19, 2021
Hello dear friends,
Just a quick update this time, about what’s up on the coming weeks…
BAPTISM, CHRIST the KING, and ARDF
This Sunday we celebrate Christ the King, the last Sunday of the church’s year. We’ll be going out with the proverbial bang, with a baptism.
We’ll also hear about the Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF) from our own Simon Glass, who is on the ARDF US Advisory Board. ARDF is a true network of love and care amongst Anglicans across this great globe, and unique in some important ways among relief organizations. Along with Trinity, ARDF is my recommended place to go if you are planning on year-end charitable giving.
Important: there will be no Nursery this week,
as our baptismal candidate is particularly close to Cheryl, and she just needs to be in the room for that happy occasion.
Teens are welcome chez Clayton this Sunday November 21, from 3-5 pm.
There will NOT be a teens gathering on Sunday November 28th.
THANKSGIVING WEEKEND and the FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
The next Sunday, November 28th, is the first Sunday of Advent – the beginning of a new church year, as we begin in earnest a time of expectation our anticipation of Jesus’ birth.
More to come about Advent and Christmas, but, dear friends, that happy time is near.
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
PS:
HELP ENABLE US TO MOVE ON TO NEXT STEPS
I am so grateful that our needs have been met these first six months, and that we have had the resources to do the things we’ve needed to do. We hope you'll join us and be a part of enabling us to move on and to the next steps. You can donate here
Sixth Month Celebration!
November 12, 2021
Hello dear friends,
and here’s wishing you a happy weekend!
SIX-MONTH CELEBRATION and GOD’S BIG STORY
This Sunday two special things are on at Trinity! The first is our six-month celebration brunch. After the service, we’ll move out to the patio and lawn area by the front of the Kaiser Chapel for brunch.
Bring a jacket and a blanket (in case there’s too many of us for the patio) and bring your own drinks. You could bring lawn chairs if you like, and of course, dogs are welcome outside after the service.
The menu is Indian food (say no more!), kindly provided for us by a generous family.
I’d also like to encourage you to sit with someone new to you, and simply chat about Trinity: Why are you here? What are your dreams? How is the Lord Jesus meeting you here?
The second special thing this Sunday will be that the sermon will be by our children’s ministry leaders, and from God’s Big Story, the curriculum we use. We’re doing this because I want us all to recognize that children are, in Jesus’ eyes, full members of his Kingdom, and to understand what we do in growing them in the faith – not the least to inform our imaginations, the better to pray for them and this important ministry at Trinity.
DO YOU WANT TO BE BAPTIZED?
If you or someone you know would like to be baptized, to talk about possibly being baptized, or would like to have an infant or child baptized, please let me know as soon as you are able. We are scheduled for a baptism on the 21st and would be happy to make it plural (baptisms).
TEENS
Cheryl and I are looking forward to having teens chez Clayton again on Sunday. Last week we forgot to figure in the time change, so we will gather together from 3-5 pm.
HELP ENABLE US TO MOVE ON TO NEXT STEPS
I am so grateful that our needs have been met these first six months, and that we have had the resources to do the things we’ve needed to do. Please join us and be a part of enabling us to move on and to the next steps. You can donate here
Peace and joy, dear friends,
Tim+
New for November
Friday November 5, 2021
Hello dear friends,
There are several big things happening starting this Sunday!
We’ll be in the Kaiser Chapel at GCTS, our cold-weather home for this winter. Please see our updated COVID guidelines, on the bottom of our Sunday Services Page. And be praying – moving into new worship space for the cold months is good, and also will be fun as we ‘tune in’ spiritually to the new space. We’ll have a break from Community Conversations this week. And the clocks ‘fall back’, so we’ll all have an extra hour in the morning.
This Sunday we’ll be talking about what it takes to be formed for the call our Lord Jesus has given us, and how to make that a part our ongoing culture. This is a big thing; I’ve been wrestling with this for a while and waiting on the Lord. I’m really excited to share what I’ve gotten so far, and to begin our collective conversation and discernment about these things.
The next Sunday, the 14th, after our Sunday Morning Service, we’ll have an informal brunch to celebrate our first (basically) six months. More to come but you will have the opportunity to respond to the simple question, “Why are you at Trinity?”
The following weekend, the 19-20th, we’re working towards a weekend prayer focus, where you can sign up to take an hour. We’ll be praying that we will be in step with Jesus, that as we’ve moved beyond our launch phase we will not settle but will push on towards the call our Lord Jesus gave us, and continue to go deep with him. More to come.
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
Join us for a Special All Saints + Baptism Service
Saturday October 30, 2021
Hello dear friends,
I hope the weather adventures of this week have not been too trying for you. I love a good storm (provided it doesn’t harm folks) – the energy, the ocean, the winds.
So, on the theme of weather, here’s regarding tomorrow and the weeks to come:
TOMORROW- Sunday October 31
Join us for a special All Saints + Baptism service.
I’ve just gone over to the Retreat House and the ground is (remarkably) firm. Even with all the rain; the ground there drains well down the hill. That said, tomorrow is a close one to call: the rain is supposed to stop in the early hours of the morning, and it should be 60 degrees by 10 am.
So we’re going to try for one last morning outdoors. We’ll have a look early in the morning and if for some reason it seems too wet, and we end up going inside, we’ll send an email in the a.m.
If we are outdoors, we’ll open up the glass porch for seating for those who may be chilly and needing an indoor space.
MOVING INDOORS STARTING NOVEMBER 7
Regardless of tomorrow, we’re planning to move to the Kaiser Chapel for the cold season starting November 7
Campus directions to the Kaiser Chapel are here, for a full campus map go here
Indoors we will be asking everyone to wear a mask.
Essex County is still in the CDC’s high range for transmission of COVID , and we want to honor our hosts: Gordon-Conwell’s campus policy is that when 10 or more people are gathered indoors everyone be masked. I realize that for many of us (myself included), this will be a return to a practice we were happy to be (for the most part) rid of, but I believe it is the better part of valor here.
Community Conversations:
This Sunday will be our third of three on following Jesus and caring for the natural world. We’ll be summarizing and discussing Laudato si’, St. Francis’ call to a deeply Christian spirituality that leads us to walk as God’s image bearers in a healthy way on the gift of this earth. You can download Laudato si’ for free. Just for fun, here’s a taste:
The rich heritage of Christian spirituality, the fruit of twenty centuries of personal and communal experience, has a precious contribution to make to the renewal of humanity. Here, I would like to offer Christians a few suggestions for an ecological spirituality grounded in the convictions of our faith, since the teachings of the Gospel have direct consequences for our way of thinking, feeling and living. More than in ideas or concepts as such, I am interested in how such a spirituality can motivate us to a more passionate concern for the protection of our world.
…“The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast” (Benedict XVI) For this reason, the ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion.
…not [to] a lesser life or one lived with less intensity. On the contrary, it is a way of living life to the full. In reality, those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the look-out for what they do not have. They experience what it means to appreciate each person and each thing, learning familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them. …On the other hand, no one can cultivate a sober and satisfying life without being at peace with him or herself. An adequate understanding of spirituality consists in filling out what we mean by peace…
A (potential) help for parents trying to get to Community Conversations, and a clarification: Cheryl is offering to teach knitting during that time to those aged 5-school years (your child might do this while you go to the Convo, or you might learn and knit through the Convo). Cheryl is (I can say it – she wouldn’t) an astonishing knitter who can knit pretty much anything, and – even better for this – has taught knitting before. As she points out, “The benefits of knitting has been shown to far exceed the obvious benefits of making wonderful things for yourself and friends, including a reduction in anxiety and stress.” There’s no fee - just a quick RSVP to cherylclayton@churchillprop.com so she can order supplies. The first community knit will be Oct. 31st.
Blessings and peace,
Tim+
PS: Look forward to our Trinity 6-month Celebration November 14, following our celebration of Holy Eucharist.
The Friday Night Light - More Autumn News
Friday October 22, 2021
Happy weekend dear friends,
I'm very much looking forward to our third in the little mini-series Intangible on Sunday. We’ll be talking about tenacious hope – even with eyes open to all that is broken and twisted in this world.
And there’s lots of other great stuff happening with Trinity. Here’s a summary of what’s on this weekend and some of what’s in the works…
Into Autumn and the Weather:
Generally speaking we will be outdoors if it is not raining and the temperature is above 50.
If we will be in the Kaiser Chapel we will send out an email and let you know.
Young people chez Clayton on Sunday afternoons:
Starting Sunday, teens are welcome chez Clayton (let me know if you need the address) from 4-6 pm. It’ll be super simple: pizza, maybe a lawn game or two, some time in the Scriptures, a simple check-in. Usually in the barn: this Sunday come prepared to be outdoors.
Community Conversation:
This Sunday our second of three on following Jesus and caring for the natural world. A sister in the Lord from Myanmar will be sharing with us about the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis in 2013, and the churches’ response in re-theologizing and in care for the effected.
A (potential) help for parents trying to get to Community Conversations:
Cheryl is offering to teach knitting during that time to basically anyone over 5 (your child might do this while you go to the Convo, or you might learn and knit through the Convo). Cheryl is (I can say it – she wouldn’t) an astonishing knitter who can knit pretty much anything, and – even better for this – has taught knitting before. As she point out, “The benefits of knitting has been shown to far exceed the obvious benefits of making wonderful things for yourself and friends, including a reduction in anxiety and stress.” There’s no fee - just a quick RSVP to cherylclayton@churchillprop.com so she can order supplies. The first community knit will be Oct. 31st.
Trinity’s First Baptism! Look forward to October 31st, and our first baptism, as we celebrate All Saints.
Trinity 6-month Celebration November 14. Bring your own brunch and celebrate with us after Holy Eucharist.
Peace and joy,
Tim+
P.S. There’s a great new class coming from Mother Wendy…
*Growing in the Spirit Part 2:
a new class with Mother Wendy.
Drawing Nearer to God through the Spiritual Disciplines
How do we minister in Love? By drawing nearer to God. And how do we draw nearer to God? By practicing some of the ancient, proven spiritual disciplines. Come learn and practice disciplines like fasting, silence, and solitude. Spend time with God through prayer, meditation and confession.
Week by week we'll read about, do, and share our experiences with the disciplines described in Richard Foster's book Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. As we draw nearer to God, we'll see how we become more like Jesus, how our hearts become more humble and kind, how we're refreshed with love and vigor, and how we're guided with clarity and enthusiasm into ministry in his name.
If you're interested in attending, email Mtr. Wendy at wendy@trinitynorthshore.org. She'll poll all of you who're interested and suggest a time to meet which hopefully will work for everyone.
Community Conversations + More New Things
Friday, October 15, 2021
Hello dear friends,
Here’s a quick update as to what is happening at Trinity. ☺
Our upcoming Community Conversations are profoundly timely and worthwhile:
17 October, Nathan Currie will help us think about what we’ve been taught about how our faith relates to God’s creation, and will share some of his story and insights, in part from the 2 ½ years he participated and then worked in New Zealand at the Creation Care Study Program (https://www.creationcsp.org).
24 October, May OO Lwin will share about the traumatic and devasting effects of Cyclone Nargis in 2013 on her home country of Myanmar; how that event has affected churches and Christian thinking there; and how the church is responding. Her story is a powerful insight as to how poverty, sea rise, and increasing intensity in hurricanes and such are already affecting many in the world.
31 October, I hope to have a special guest who is imminently qualified to lead us in a discussion of Francis I’s encyclical, Laudato Si’ (https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html). You may be stuck with me leading it, but one way or the other it’s worth it.
An humble reminder, or if you’re new, ☺ here’s how Community Conversations work:
After service, after we break the set and people mingle and chat, we begin. It’s basically 11.45-12.15ish.
Feel free to bring your lunch.
As a rule of thumb, I do not lead these (if I need to, as on the 31st, it’ll be someone else’s content): these are times when various people of Trinity share from their stories and experience, or content they have prepared from a book or so on, and invite the rest of us to think together about whatever it is that week.
These are great opportunities to get to know others. They are completely informal.
Intangible: Confident Humility
This week I will be teaching on our cultural commitment of Grateful and Truthful, or living in the joy of confident humility. It’s a way of holding one’s convictions and going out into the world with a spirit of adventure…
New Thing for Teens
Starting October 24th teens are invited chez Clayton Sundays, 4-6 pm. We’ll have pizza or burritos, maybe play some lawn games, occasionally watch a film, and most of all take a few minutes to talk together about our faith and life. I’m excited about this (and also still working on it, so pray with me!).
Home Groups
We’ve got a couple of home groups rolling and are needing to grow some new ones, so if you’re interested in a home group, let me know, to give me a better sense for how many to try to grow.
Coming up in November…
Six-month Celebration
In November (probably the 14th) we’re planning a Six-Month Celebration (honestly, it’ll be seven months at that point, oops). Something like bring your own brunch, and after our celebration of Holy Eucharist we’ll have a time to get to know each other a bit and share and celebrate together. More to come…
Membership
Also, we’ll be Working Together on Membership and what that means at Trinity.
Missions
And please continue praying for our ongoing discernment re Mission Partners: we’re looking into possible ways to be involved helping Afghan refugees, and possible partnership in more diverse areas of the NS.
Blessings and peace,
Tim+
All the October Things
Friday October 8, 2021
Hello dear friends,
…and happy lovely autumnal early October! This week a quick update to highlight a few things.
Children’s Ministry and Nursery
Just an humble reminder that we have children’s ministry and nursery happening, and it’s good! We’re using God’s Big Story, developed by some Anglican brothers and sisters at a great church in Vancouver in British Columbia. We have also have recently started nursery care during the sermon and through the prayers. Just a reminder, in case you are inviting a friend to Trinity, and they are wondering.
Community Conversations
This Sunday Brent Fryling will lead our conversation, as we talk about being a people who are Grateful and Hopeful. This is about being aware of the privilege we have, being grateful for God’s many gifts in our lives, and yet also remaining hungry for justice for the poor, the minority, etc., and filled with hope that is focused in the vindication and triumph of our Lord Jesus.
The following three weeks (October 10, 17, and 24) we’ll be talking about how being a follower of Jesus shapes our understanding of ourselves in relationship to the environment, the non-human creation.
And an humble reminder – feel free to bring your lunch.
Intangible
This Sunday and the two following our sermons will take a look at our three cultural commitments – the culture we want to live into at Trinity – and specifically looking at the core, underlying reality of God’s character and acts in our lives that is foundational to that week’s featured one of the three. So this week, for instance, we’ll be looking at God’s great love for us, which gives us the strength to be genuine about who and where we are even as we hope to be made whole.
Peace and joy,
Tim+
PS: This Sunday I’m looking forward to introducing another of our ministry interns, Megumi Komaba.
St. Francis | Blessing of the Animals
Friday October 1, 2021
Dear friends,
This week I have a few wonderful things to share.
The first is that beginning this week we will be starting Sunday Services at 10 a.m.
I hope this will make for a more relaxed Sunday morning in your household, and the idea is that it will let the sun get that touch higher and warmer.
This Sunday is also one of my favorites of the whole year: we will commemorate St Francis – a wonderful event each year that includes the blessing of the animals. I understand this as an act of what theologians call “realized eschatology”, which means in essence that God’s new world and his kingdom reign break in among us just a bit. In this case we recall that the first Adam blessed and named the animals in the Garden, and we, following the 2nd Adam (our Lord Jesus), recover that act and, by the Spirit of Jesus, do it as a proclamation of God’s new world. So bring your furry (or other) friend(s).
For those online or who cannot attend:
If you cannot bring them but would like them to be named and blessed online, send the name(s) to michael@trinitynorthshore.org by this Saturday Afternoon at 5 pm!
Community Conversations this week:
After our celebration of Holy Eucharist Rissy Buchanan will lead our Community Conversation – this one about another of the aspirations we have for our culture, that we would be Genuine and Whole, or, as Rissy put it as she prepared, that we would practice courageous vulnerability.
Finally dear friends, I am delighted to introduce Haechan Park, who will be a ministry intern with us this year. Haechan’s bio is below.
Peace and joy,
Tim+
Haechan grew up and lived in Seoul, Korea, until coming to Philadelphia with a newly-wed wife Kyunghwa for advanced graduate study of Law. After finishing school and bar exam with full support from the young wife, they moved to Washington, D.C. for his further study in computer science Master’s program.
After practicing law in big firms as patent litigation and procurement lawyer over 10 years, Haechan opened his own firm in Reston, VA and has been serving high-tech companies in patent litigations and prosecutions.
Loving to meet new people in different backgrounds and cultures, Haechan took over hospitality businesses, including a bed and breakfast in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. and a restaurant and lodging in Ocracoke, North Carolina.
Growing up in strict Confucian families, both Haechan and Kyunghwa led a traditional Confucian and avid Buddhist lifestyles, keeping a long distance from Christians, until Haechan met Jesus. In a business trip in 2014, Haechan met a pastor, who also was a Buddhist. The pastor drew Haechan to Jesus, telling him, “If Jesus were another religion, I would not have abandoned Buddhism.” Haechan postponed his flight back to Washington, D.C. and got baptized right away in Seoul.
Since then, Haechan followed God’s words by reading scriptures. However, realizing the weakness in learning words wihtout proper guidance, God led him to the seminary. In Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Haechan is struggling in the Master of Divinity program, praying for transforming him through His words and community of the same-spirited persons.
Haechan and his family have lived in Great Falls, VA for over 20 years. During school years, Haechan is living on campus with 16 other brothers in faith. He loves outdoor activities, such as hiking, camping, mountain biking, skiing and so on.
Haechan and Kyunghwa have been married over 30 years and have three children, William, Alexander and Catherine.
Haechan Park
Welcome to Autumn
Friday September 24, 2021
Hello dear friends,
Welcome to autumn!
This week just a quick note to say how much I am looking forward to our time together worshiping our Lord Jesus on Sunday.
This Sunday we will celebrate Holy Michael and All Angels. Among a few things being different (vestments, incense), you will also notice that we will return to the Ancient Rite for our liturgy, with a few special additions for the occasion. Also, during the announcements we will be talking about art and a new sculpture from Justin Kedl.
Following the service Dano Jukanovich and Josh Vanada will lead our Community Conversation, on the topic of the first of our three cultural aspirations: that we be a community that is marked by people being Gracious and Truthful.
And following that is the Great Ice Cream Challenge! Michael, Ross, and I are taking on any team of teens (or anyone, really) on Gordon-Conwell’s frisbee golf course. Truth be told, Michael and I had a practice round today, and I’m not sure the young folks have much of anything to fear (see the above video)… Winners get an ice cream gift card.
Peace and joy,
Tim+
Saturday Evening Bee
Saturday September 11, 2021
Dear friends,
Our dinner to welcome international students Wednesday evening was so very wonderful. We met students from China, Japan, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Zimbabwe. There was a moment when I got up to get dessert and then, standing to the side, just took a few minutes to wonder at the scene on the grass patio behind the Retreat House – the Body of Christ from nine nations (including Sierra Leone, Fatu’s birth nation, and the USA, the nation of Trinity host people), on a lovely, breezy evening, smiling and laughing or talking in depth at various tables.
(Inaugural) Annual Meeting This Sunday!
On Sunday I’m looking forward to our (inaugural) annual meeting. We’ll have a general overview update, financial update, and a few specific ministry updates. The meeting will begin between 11-11.15 and should last 45 min to an hour.
Community Conversations
Consider the meeting our autumn kickoff of Community Conversations. And, in case you missed the schedule that went out in August, here’s our schedule for those this autumn:
September 12: Inaugural Meeting – this will be an update on things overall, where we are financially, etc.
September 19: Especially for parents of young people aged 10ish-18 or so, a conversation with Peter Vanacore about what young people need from the church. (Peter is irenic and wise; he has worked with young people and churches or non-profits in various capacities for the past forty years.)
September 26, October 3 & 10: Trinity’s three core commitments for our culture
Gracious & Truthful: We all need a place where we can be open, yet also respectful of others and give each other the benefit of the doubt.
Genuine & Whole: We want to be real with each other, with all of our imperfections, even as we yearn to be made whole.
Grateful & Hopeful: We’ve been given the amazing gift of life and many other blessings, yet also in this deeply-broken world we want to be agents for good, mercy, justice, and love.
October 17, 24, & 31: Living as a Follower of Jesus in a Planet on the Edge. How our being created in the imago Dei shapes our role amongst creation.
November 7, 14, & 21: Continuing discerning Trinity culture and mission… beginning to wrestle with where we are called to be…
November 28 and into December: Advent (we’re working on these)
Staff vs Teens Cherry Hill Free Ice Cream Frisbee Golf Challenge
Cn Ross, Michael, and I have decided to go for it: we’re throwing down the gauntlet to challenge TEENS to a frisbee-golf round on Sunday, September 26th. Here’s how it works:
- Any teen is welcome to form their team of 3 (Trinity teens or other teen-aged friends) and enter the contest. Gather your team and inform Tim by next Sunday, the 19th (I need to know ahead of time in case we need to find discs.)
- On Sunday, the 26th, we will provide pizza for lunch for participating teams, during the Community Conversation time.
- Following the Conversation we’ll have the contest: Team scores are the total of each team member’s score on all holes.
- The winning team receives a Cherry Hill gift card.
- Anyone who wants to cheer on Ross, Michael, and Tim is welcome to stay and watch!
Blessings and peace,
Tim+
PS: As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 today, I’ve been mindful of the first certified death of the attacks in NYC: Fr Michal Judge, a FDNY chaplain who died while hearing confessions at the base of the World Trade Towers. We’ve been thinking about sacrifice these past weeks, and Fr Judge was a man who knew that another had been sacrificed for him. This was his prayer that day (and I imagine every day): “Lord, take me where you want me to go. Let me meet who you want me to meet. Tell me what you want me to say, and keep me out of your way.”
Happenings
Friday September 3
Dear friends,
Here’s hoping you have a wonderful, restorative long weekend.
And here’s some of the good things happening at Trinity:
Newly-arrived International Students @ GCTS
I had a lovely chat this week with a student newly-arrived from Nigeria. Before coming to further his studies he led a ministry to people in jail and to people in dire need. His wife and two teen-aged children are back home. He is full of energy and faith. Talking with him was a boost!
Dinner this Wednesday
Wednesday evening we’ll be on the lawn behind the Retreat House. Please let me know if you can bring food or would like to be there. Thank you!
Befriending a Student
We have a few households doing this, and I’m so glad! I’m looking forward to this. Now is the moment to sign up!
Outfitting a Bathroom
Sunday is the last day to bring bathroom supplies to be given to help newly-arrived internationals get settled in…
Nursery
We’ve got a few of our teens signing up as assistants as we get this going soon. We are also hiring a few other assistants to be in the rotation, if we find people we especially feel good about. If you know of a favorite, faithful, conscientious babysitter and they might be interested, let me know.
ARDF and So Much Trouble in the World
I sometimes find that what I am feeling but don’t have time to reflect upon in busy days manifests itself in the back of my head through the chorus of some song or other… Lately I seem to find So Much Trouble in the World, a classic reggae hit by Bob Marley, is on a bit of a repeat track.
ARDF (the Anglican Relief and Development Fund) is a wonderful part of our movement, and they will be working with partners in New Orleans and other places effected by Hurricane Ida, as well as carrying on their other good work with our brothers and sisters around the world. If you’re wanting to give to help folks in this time, they are a good place to go. https://ardf.org/blog/relief-hurricane-ida-1
Bishop Andrew and Bishop Todd Conference
I’ve sometimes said that Bishop Andrew and Bishop Todd are respectively the English and the California angles on the great perspective of God’s love and Gospel.
October 8-9 we have the opportunity to hear from them both. Check out the ADNE Reawakening Conference and register soon! Price goes up September 10. https://www.adnereawakening.org
Peace and joy,
Tim+
Upcoming Community Conversations
Friday August 27
Dear friends,
I’m very much looking forward to things getting back in gear in the coming weeks. As a big part of that, I wanted to share with you our schedule for Community Conversations coming this autumn (take this as a probable draft; there may be a little wiggle in it yet).
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS (following Sunday Morning Services)
September 12: Annual Meeting – this will be an update on Trinity North Shore overall; how things have been going, vision, conversations, prayers, finances, etc.
September 19: Especially for parents of young people aged 10ish-18 or so, a conversation with Peter Vanacore about what young people need from us as the church. (Peter is irenic and wise; he has worked with young people and churches or non-profits in various capacities for the past forty years.)
September 26, October 3 & 10: Trinity’s three core commitments for our culture
Gracious & Truthful
We all need a place where we can be open, yet also respectful of others and give each other the benefit of the doubt.
Genuine & Whole
We want to be real with each other, with all of our imperfections, even as we yearn to be made whole.
Grateful & Hopeful
We’ve been given the amazing gift of life and many other blessings, yet also in this deeply-broken world we want to be agents for good, mercy, justice, and love.
October 17, 24, & 31: Living as a Follower of Jesus in a Planet on the Edge. How our being created in the imago Dei shapes our role amongst creation.
November 7, 14, & 21: Continuing discerning Trinity culture and mission… beginning to discuss and prayerfully consider where we are called to be…
I’m looking forward to these times together!
And the time is right for signing up to befriend a new international student, arriving at GCTS these days. Sign up here!
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
PS: There are so many heavy things these days, especially the news from Afghanistan. I know we’re all praying and grieving. Times such as these, where (on many levels) so much is changing and seeming instable, are good times for pulling back to the big picture and remembering that God is present and always at work in the midst. This autumn may be a great time to see that big picture by getting the whole story of the Bible – dear friends of Cheryl and me began Bible Journey several years ago – it walks you through the Bible by taking you (virtually) to the places, and with excellent teachers… Check it out here or on YouTube Here
PPS: Two other kind reminders:
-coming in October, a great conference featuring Bp Andrew and Bp Todd Hunter: https://www.adnereawakening.org
-ARDF (the Anglican Relief and Development Fund) has put out its ‘Answers Series’ videos, addressing the questions about their work that they hear most often – they’re good! https://vimeo.com/showcase/8316980
A Call to Prayer from Archbishop Foley
Regarding the situation in Afghanistan, Haiti, and the ongoing COVID 19 Pandemic - more here
Relief Update - ARDF
This week, it seems the entire world is in crisis. Our global Anglican communion is experiencing deep suffering in many parts of the world. In the past weeks, we have received desperate pleas for financial help from many of our trusted partners due to COVID wreaking havoc – again – in many places. And today, our hearts break for the people of Haiti and Afghanistan.
The needs are great. And they are urgent. More here about the Joseph Fund
Follow Up Friday
Friday August 20, 2021
Dear friends,
This week we’re thinking about the coming transition from late summer into early autumn — the beginning of a new school year and all the rest. So today I wanted to bring a couple of really good things to you: a follow-up survey about racial justice and reconciliation, and the opportunity we have to welcome brothers and sisters from around the world to our little sliver of this particular one of God’s many planets.
FOLLOW-UP SURVEY REGARDING RACE MATTERS
It has been a delight to have Fatu Kanu as a ministry intern this summer (and here’s hoping Fatu will continue to be with us and involved with us), and a word of expectation as we welcome Jennifer Keifer as a ministry intern soon (more next Sunday, the 29th). This summer Fatu and Jennifer led our Community Conversations about the Body of Christ and race in our society. Many of you may have filled out the initial survey on these topics in early summer: whether you were able to then or not, we welcome you to respond to this survey, which will help us to get a sense for how we as Trinity have grown and still can press on. Thank you.
The Link to the Survey is Here
PARTNERING WITH GCTS TO WELCOME INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
One simple but real opportunity we have to make the Body of Christ manifest as creating a new humanity across all barriers is in partnering with Gordon-Conwell as international students arrive in the coming days. There are a dozen students (and a few of those with spouse and children) from nine countries showing up here, on the North Shore! There are three ways we can welcome them and show them hospitality:
Befriend a student: take them to the grocery store, your favorite beach, etc. Orient them to the NS. Help them get kitted out for winter. Have them over for dinner a couple of times a semester: there is nothing like this for feeling at home in a culture where you are not really home. This is a joy and a wonderful opportunity for us. :)
Sign up to bring bed linens and basic supplies for setting up a bathroom for newly-arriving int’l students.
Bring a dish and help serve at a welcome dinner at GCTS, sponsored by Trinity, on Sept 8th.
The Signup form to help these International Students is here
Peace and blessings all,
Tim+
PS: Community Conversations begin again after Labor Day… more to come, but generally we’re working on three topics for the autumn: faith and young people in our society; how our special status as creatures in the image of God speaks to our role as a part of this planet; and a few specific aspirations for our cultural DNA at Trinity.
-coming in October, a great conference featuring Bp Andrew and Bp Todd Hunter: https://www.adnereawakening.org
-ARDF (the Anglican Relief and Development Fund) has put out its ‘Answers Series’ videos, addressing the questions about their work that they hear most often – they’re good! https://vimeo.com/showcase/8316980
Opportunities on Our Doorstep
Friday August 13, 2021
Greetings friends,
This week we learned of a wonderful opportunity, right at our doorstep.
As Fatu and Jennifer Keifer and I have been looking for partners with whom we can build trust across racial and ethnic lines, one of the things we have been led to reflect upon is that the North Shore, for all that is lovely and wonderful here, is a place that may not be that simple to adjust to if one is from another culture, whatever that might mean.
So (while I have to confess a part of me wanted something more dramatic) we began to ask whether this work of more broadly manifesting the Body of Christ in its fullness may, perhaps, begin right here, at home as it were, with us intentionally showing hospitality to those of minority cultures in our own area. This led to me chatting with the Dean of Students at GCTS, and, Voilà!, a wonderful opportunity for us to embody the way of Jesus.
It turns out that over the next three weeks international students will be arriving at GCTS – a dozen trickling in from nine different nations! And not know how one gets to the grocery store; or how to find a doctor; or what on earth that strange thing is that people actually eat here (!); or why there aren’t public buses they can easily take; or why people here prefer coffee to tea; or – the most painful of all – what it actually takes to get invited to an American home for dinner… And, dear friends, we have the opportunity to do the simple thing: to befriend them and welcome them and let them know how amazed we are that the Body of Christ international is in our neighborhood.
I’ve done this before, in a few places, and it is a delight, truly a privilege. So I have given my contact info to the Dean of Students to pass along to the arriving international students, and I would love to have a list of us with whom I can connect students who contact me. So let me know if you’re willing to do this.
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
PS: Two good things to share:
-coming in October, a great conference featuring Bp Andrew and Bp Todd Hunter: https://www.adnereawakening.org
-ARDF (the Anglican Relief and Development Fund) has put out its ‘Answers Series’ videos, addressing the questions about their work that they hear most often – they’re good! https://vimeo.com/showcase/8316980
New Baby + News!
Saturday August 7, 2021
Dear friends,
It’s been a good week for Trinity.
First Baby
This week the first baby was born into our church! We welcome Oliver David White, born to Molly and Nick on Tuesday. I had the privilege of blessing (and holding!) newborn Oliver on Wednesday, and I’m happy to share that everyone is well. Rejoice together with me for this young family, and, if you are able sign up to bring them a meal (https://takethemameal.com/KNLR5041).
Back Outdoors
It was a delight to get back outdoors to our natural (no pun intended!) place of worship last Sunday, and to begin our new series, When God Says YES. We’re starting with the core stuff, trying to reset the wonder and joy and love in following Jesus. I’ve been itching to get going on this series — Cheryl says she knows how good the sermon will be on the Sundays that I am preaching by how irritable I am on Thursdays, as I prepare! Ye gads, unfortunately the more irritable the better the sermon… I don’t know for sure but I think she might be expecting a good one this week. At any rate, I am very much looking forward to this week’s installment, about the God who calls that which has no being into being (a nifty little phrase from Romans 4)… and does this for us, to give us our true selves.
Prayer Requests
Please be praying for the Parish Council, as we meet on a half-day retreat on August 14th. A part of what we will be doing will be working on discussions for this autumn about Trinity’s culture and DNA, to give them a framework for larger discussion by the whole church.
Fatu, Jennifer Keifer, and I are talking to various folks and looking for a good mission partner for us. We’ve got some interesting leads and some wonderful brothers and sisters to chat with. I invite you to be praying that we stay in step with our Lord Jesus, to hear Him, to sense His presence and clear direction.
Peace and joy,
Tim+
Be sure to check out the latest Events
The Friday Night Light
July 30, 2021
Be sure to check out the latest Events
Hello dear friends,
I personally have been a bit reinvigorated this summer as I have talked to friends old and new, near and far, about Trinity and who we are, why we are, and what we feel called to. What a privilege it has been to have something fresh to share, something around which I have great joy and deep conviction. Truly. It has taken me back (pardon the personal bit here) to younger days, and to a sense of freedom and simplicity in following Jesus, and in loving others in his name.
It has also deepened the conviction within me that these days call for a fresh and deep engagement with Jesus: there are many things happening in our society and in the church writ large, but I cannot help but feel that a big part of what is happening involves arguing over issues that matter but via questions that are inadequate to the size of the pain and the need.
So this late summer – August and September – we’ll be walking through a kind of a reset, if you will, of the realization of our God’s great love, expressed in his creative acts, his freedom, his generosity, his energy… I’m calling it When God Says YES. Just for fun, here’s the outline:
WHEN GOD SAYS, "YES," GET ONBOARD. BELIEVE.
IT’S WORTH SACRIFICE. BRING A SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE.
WE DO NOT LOSE HEART.
WHEN GOD SAYS, "YES"
1 August: The God who surprises
GET ONBOARD. BELIEVE.
8 August: The God who calls that which has no being into being
15 August: The God who simply is wants to share that freedom
22 August: The God who gives a gift so priceless that it has to be free
WHATEVER IT TAKES – IT’S WORTH SACRIFICE.
29 August: The God who fills more deeply than any desires
5 September: The God who is inexhaustible in wonder, life, love, joy…
12 September: The God who is love
BRING A SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE. WE DO NOT LOSE HEART.
19 September: The God who invites us into his life and creative work
Dear friends, one of my favorite things about these summer weeks has been the tingle of realizing that we at Trinity have signed up for something bigger than the sum of us but knowing our Lord’s pleasure in that. And, commensurately, hearing his voice consistently and clearly. My morning time in the Bible has become – all over again – my favorite part of the day, and my sense of expectation of his voice to me by his Spirit is stronger than ever. I hope through this series to share that with you.
Peace and Joy,
Tim+
Young Adult Gathering
PS: If you are a young adult, I’d like to invite you to an informal, open, no-commitment gathering to hear more about Trinity and to share it with friends – invite them to come along, especially the ones who are done with church, or very near so. (And if you would not consider yourself on the younger side but have found Trinity, I’m glad you are here too, and look forward to getting to know you.)
It has happened before, and it’s fresh every time… every so often – 400 or 500 years or so – God calls for a new beginning, a people going simple, opening up and looking for him with deep honesty and openness.
Trinity North Shore was born of the troubles of 2020: those things that had been there all along in our society but which the pressures of the COVID year brought to the surface and with uumph… Our response is the need for a fresh engagement with Jesus – the person, the message, the story, the sacrifice, the hope, the LOVE, in its context, digging for its meaning, and – from wherever one is – asking what it means for this moment in this world.
So we’re inviting young adults (basically 20-35) to an informal, no-commitment gathering to meet Canon Tim and Fatu Kanu, Matt and Bailey, and to hear the story and the ‘why’ of Trinity, and a possible way forward.
Join us Wednesday, 11 August, 7 pm, for a fire pit and dessert, chez Matt and Bailey Vaselkiv. RSVP to Tim (tim@trinitynorthshore.org) by August 8.
The Friday Night Light
July 16, 2021
This Sunday July 18
Due to rainy weather Saturday evening into Sunday, we will be moving indoors to the Kaiser Chapel, and as always, we are looking forward to a special worship service together. You can find more info here on our Services Page.
Updates and Opportunities
We wanted to remind you of a few updates and opportunities with you as we continue into the summer:
Sunday Brunch
This week will be having brunch indoors in the Hall outside of Kaiser Chapel. Bring some food and drink for you and your family and enjoy our time together after service.
Sunday CREW and HOSTS
We need a few volunteers each Sunday to get things set up and rolling and would love to have a rotation of many people. The jobs are simple and basically sort out to CREW and HOSTS:
-CREW: we need 1-2 people to show up at 7.30 a.m. to help with speakers, flowers, the altar table, etc. Michael, Ian, and Eric are there taking the lead – you simply provide muscle and smile, and then at the end do it again to put it all away.
-HOSTS: we need 1-2 people to show up 8.30 a.m. to put out parking signs, set up the welcome table, park for those needing valet, and then welcome newcomers as they show up. Fr Tim will help you get rolling. And at the end put it all away.
This works best if we have a large rotation of people, and then you also get to spend time chatting with folks you may not know as well. Also, I’m talking with a local bakery about getting coffee and sweets on a standing order – once we get that sorted, we’ll start taking a quick snack and prayer break together along the way…
Here’s the link to sign up, then we will be in touch about the rotation:
July Sermon Themes
In July Cn Ross will preach the first two Sundays on what it means to be a mediator in spirit – a basis and skills for handling tough times with so much conflict in our society. The second two Sundays of July Mtr Wendy will teach us regarding spiritual gifts – what are they, and how one might discern what theirs are? I am deeply grateful we have these two serving with us at Trinity, and I am looking forward to their teaching.
Vacation Pastoral Care
Cn Tim will be on vacation starting Monday, July 5th, and returning on Sunday, July 18th. If you need pastoral help during this time, please contact Mtr Wendy or Cn Ross.
Wednesday Mornings- Women’s Daily Office Morning Prayer:
Ongoing this Summer: Join Jennifer Keifer on Wednesday mornings to walk-and-pray this summer.
Contact Jennifer for more details
Saturday Evening Cookouts and Prayer:
Ongoing this Summer: Join the Keifers for a weekly summer Saturday evening cookout and/or prayer. Come at 6:00 for dinner (email an RSVP by Friday night each week so we have enough food on hand) and 7:00 for Daily Office Evening Prayer in the backyard. Come for either or both as able. No RSVP needed if coming for prayer only.
Peace and blessings to you all.
The Friday Night Light
July 2, 2021
Dear friends,
Here’s hoping you’ve been okay in the heat this week and are looking forward to the Fourth this weekend.
This past Monday was a very sacred and special time with the Erickson family as over 300 people of all ages gathered in Cambridge to honor the life of Lynus Erickson and pay their respects to his family. We hope that you will continue to pray and share your support with the Erickson family during this season.
A few of the local media and college publications in Massachusetts and New Hampshire have written very touching articles about Lynus' life, you can read some of those here under updates.
Also, thanks to so many of you who have donated to the Appalachian Mountain Club in Lynus' memory. Over $6,500 has been raised. You can still give to that fine organization here.
Updates and Opportunities
I wanted to share a few updates and opportunities with you as we head into the summer proper:
Community Conversations
In July these will be community brunches – please bring your own brunch and sit out in the shade on Gordon-Conwell’s lovely campus with others and enjoy some unhurried time together.
Sunday CREW and HOSTS
We need a few volunteers each Sunday to get things set up and rolling and would love to have a rotation of many people. The jobs are simple and basically sort out to CREW and HOSTS:
-CREW: we need 1-2 people to show up at 7.30 a.m. to help with speakers, flowers, the altar table, etc. Michael, Ian, and Eric are there taking the lead – you simply provide muscle and smile, and then at the end do it again to put it all away.
-HOSTS: we need 1-2 people to show up 8.30 a.m. to put out parking signs, set up the welcome table, park for those needing valet, and then welcome newcomers as they show up. Fr Tim will help you get rolling. And at the end put it all away.
This works best if we have a large rotation of people, and then you also get to spend time chatting with folks you may not know as well. Also, I’m talking with a local bakery about getting coffee and sweets on a standing order – once we get that sorted, we’ll start taking a quick snack and prayer break together along the way…
Here’s the link to sign up, then we will be in touch about the rotation:
July Sermon Themes
I am excited to share with you all that in July Cn Ross will preach the first two Sundays on what it means to be a mediator in spirit – a basis and skills for handling tough times with so much conflict in our society. The second two Sundays of July Mtr Wendy will teach us regarding spiritual gifts – what are they, and how one might discern what theirs are? I am deeply grateful we have these two serving with us at Trinity, and I am looking forward to their teaching.
Vacation Pastoral Care
That said, I also will miss one of the July Sundays – I will be on vacation starting Monday, the 5th, and returning to be with us on Sunday, the 18th. If you need pastoral help during that time, please contact Mtr Wendy or Cn Ross.
Wednesday Mornings- Women’s Daily Office Morning Prayer:
Ongoing this Summer: Join Jennifer Keifer on Wednesday mornings to walk-and-pray this summer.
Contact Jennifer for more details
Saturday Evening Cookouts and Prayer:
Ongoing this Summer: Join the Keifers for a weekly summer Saturday evening cookout and/or prayer. Come at 6:00 for dinner (email an RSVP by Friday night each week so we have enough food on hand) and 7:00 for Daily Office Evening Prayer in the backyard. Come for either or both as able. No RSVP needed if coming for prayer only.
Peace and blessings to you all,
Tim+
Join us after service on Sunday Morning's during July for Brunch together on the hillside after service around 11:15 am.
Bring your own food and drinks for you and your family and have fun connecting with our Trinity North Shore Family!
Sundays in July
News and Upcoming Events!
June 19, 2021
Dear friends,
Just a few kind reminders of happenings this week and next.
Over the past few days a number of us have attended Juneteenth Celebrations around the North Shore. If you have a chance to attend one in your area, please do so. It's a wonderful way to connect with our community, to show compassion, to pray, to be a part of the solution. You can find more info here
This Sunday we continue our community conversation from the past few weeks and we will also share a special time of both Lament and Hope together during our Sunday Morning Service.
Wednesday Night June 23 Trinity Town Hall Meeting with Canon Tim at the Dixon House in Manchester.
Join us at 7 pm outdoors on the lawn at 295 Summer Street, Manchester by the Sea.
Bring a blanket and a lawn chair for you and your family. It's going to be a lovely evening together with friends and family.
Wednesday Mornings- Women’s Daily Office Morning Prayer:
Starting June 23rd: Join Jennifer Keifer on Wednesday mornings to walk-and-pray this summer.
Contact Jennifer for more details.
Saturday Evening Cookouts and Prayer:
Starting June 26th: Join the Keifers for a weekly summer Saturday evening cookout and/or prayer. Come at 6:00 for dinner (email an RSVP by Friday night each week so we have enough food on hand) and 7:00 for Daily Office Evening Prayer in the backyard. Come for either or both as able. No RSVP needed if coming for prayer only.
Worship in Music (update from Michael):
Last week we spoke with a few musicians after service, which is really exciting. If you’re a musician or singer of any level, or any age and would like to be involved in our music ministry, you are most welcome.
We would love to have you join us. Please feel free to reach out to me after service, introduce yourself, find out how you can get involved. Or show up early on a Sunday morning (7:45 am) and help the music and production team get setup, it’s a great way to learn to work together, have fun and get to know one another. Or email michael directly at michael@trinitynorthshore.org
Hope for the Coming Season
June 11, 2021
Dear friends,
Last week we noted and gave thanks for the completion of our launch. This week as we continue on the adventure of Trinity North Shore, I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you the areas most on my mind for us to begin to develop as we move into our next phase. Some of these we will be doing somewhat over the summer, most of them we’ll be looking at our next step as meaning the autumn, and we will need to continue to develop all of these further beyond the autumn as well.
Core next pieces:
Top of the list is caring for our young ones – Children’s Ministry - Trinity Kids. We want to develop a ministry for our children that is consistent with the culture emerging at Trinity, which has been reflected in the input we’ve had from parents: valuing wonder, developmental-stage appropriate, giving children the overall flow of the story of God’s acts and our hope in him, and letting children be children and move about, get their wiggles out, and all that kind of thing. We have a small (and amazing) team working on this, and they have found a sister Anglican church in Vancouver that has developed God’s Big Story, kind of an adaptation of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Godly Play, and Montesorri… more to come, but we’re excited about this!
Nursery: I am talking with a wonderful person who is interested in helping us begin this; we need a few others as well. If you have experience with this or know someone I can talk with about this, please do let me know. (Note: just to be clear, we do not make open calls for volunteers for nursery or children’s ministry but calls for those who may be interested, with whom I talk and we consider.)
Teens: This summer Joe and Elspeth will be focusing on teens having the chance to recover a bit (as we all need to) from the past year and a half of life being out of sync… every other week they’ll be doing a fun event to get back to living! (Honestly, I’m feeling a little jealous!) In the larger scope I dream that we will be able to hear our teens share with us how the world and the future looks to them, and shape a ministry not only to them, but of them. Youth ministry is a place of paradigm shift in these days, so be in touch with me if you’d like to talk about this.
Missional presence: I would like to have a team of us to lead us in discerning one partnership here on the North Shore who we, Trinity, as a community can join and serve together. Maybe not forever, maybe not ‘perfect’, but a place where we go and serve a project on the North Shore that is acting for the common good.
Community: We want to do life together in meaningful ways, which of course will involve sharing life beyond Sunday mornings. These will be things that are directly spiritual and things that are fun and things that are work projetcs and etc… The Keifers have offered two great, relaxed, summery options:
Women’s Daily Office Morning Prayer: Starting June 23rd: Join Jennifer Keifer on Wednesday mornings to walk-and-pray this summer.
Saturday Evening Cookout and Prayer: Starting June 26th: Join the Keifers for a weekly summer Saturday evening cookout and/or prayer. Come at 6:00 for dinner (RSVP by Friday night each week so we have enough food on hand) and 7:00 for Daily Office Evening Prayer in the backyard. Come for either or both as able. No RSVP needed if coming for prayer only.
Worship in Music (update from Michael): As more of our church family is getting vaccinated we are excited to have more of our musicians involved in the services. If you’re a musician or singer of any level, or any age and would like to be involved in our music ministry, you are most welcome. Please feel free to reach out to me after service, introduce yourself, find out how you can get involved. Or show up early on a Sunday morning (7:45 am) and help the music and production team get setup, it’s a great way to learn to work together, have fun and get to know one another.
And finally, but worthy: I, and Mother Wendy and Father Ross, would love to visit with you in your space, your home, and simply get to know you and your story better. Don’t be shy about asking; and we may approach you and ask (and it is okay to say ‘not a good time’ or etc. if you need to). By the way, I love reading a story to little ones…
So, dear friends, remember Town Hall on June 23rd. We’ll be 6.30 pm at Mother Wendy’s house, on their lovely lawn (details forthcoming).
Peace and joy,
Tim+
PS: On Sunday mornings we need one or two people to help with our production sound setup, altar set up and take down, starting at 7.30 a.m. outside the Retreat House. We also need a couple of HOST volunteers to setup signs, (prayer, parking, etc.) welcome tables, etc., and to welcome folks, starting at 8.30 a.m. Please let us know if you can take a week. Thanks!
Reflections on a New Season
June 4, 2021
Dear friends,
This week as the glow of last Sunday’s celebration with Bishop Andrew has resided over us, I have been taking the time to give thanks to God for his gracious faithful presence through our launch phase. Remember ‘way back’ in mid-April? We said the weeks leading up to Trinity Sunday (our name day feast) would be ‘pre-season’, and then Bishop Andrew would come and give us his blessing to mark Trinity’s birth in a deeper way. Well, that day has come, and we have been deeply blessed.
I wanted to take a little space this week to mark and give thanks for some of what has been done, and just to take a little peek at the next season. There is so much that has been done – this is not all of it, but these are the things that have most come to my mind this week, for which I am excited and grateful:
We have gathered for celebrations of Holy Eucharist:
-In a space of beauty and holiness, with flowers and altar adorned
-In wonder over the beautiful and unique vestments coming of the creativity of one of our own
-Welcoming a gifted keyboardist to our music team
-Welcoming new clergy and delighted to have continuity with another
-Receiving Eucharist in a closer-to-normal way
-The Holy Days of Pentecost and Trinity have been powerful and, well, holy
-For me, my joy has come in the ‘feel’ or the ethos that is developing: Liturgical in the best sense – time and space set apart as sacred, yet accessible and with a spirit of freedom. One of you remarked to me over brunch last Sunday how being outdoors has helped to create an accessible spirit; another of you remarked that you originally weren’t at all sure about dogs being welcomed, but that their presence, too, has made its contribution to an open atmosphere, without compromising the reverence.
We have begun a habit of discussing together in our Community Conversations:
-The Deeply Formed Life has been a profoundly worthwhile book, touching categories deeply important for the church in our times and our context
-Key to me has been the excellent leadership of the discussions by four of us, who are not clergy.
A creative and gifted team has made a great start on a lovely children’s ministry, and we are headed in a very good direction (more to come on this soon).
People have used their gifts, time, and resources in all sorts of other incredible work:
-We are online with a great website and a creative online presence.
-People have responded to the call to leadership in our newly-formed Parish Council.
-Many of you and others have given financially to launch Trinity.
-We have brought a ministry intern onboard, who will be helping us think and learn about a fuller understanding of the body of Christ in terms of the breadth of the human family.
-Intercessors have been praying faithfully, and we gathered on Pentecost Eve for prayer as a people.
-And all manner of important and good work has gone on, in proverbial spades, behind the scenes (much more than I can name here) in areas such as onboarding staff, insurance, tax status, Trinity’s status with diocese, and etc.
For me, having the privilege of seeing all of this as lead pastor, the best of all of this has, as is so often the case with the spiritual life, been difficult to quantify but has been:
-Wonderful conversations with many of you about your hopes for what church can be.
-Beginning to get to know some wonderful new people.
-An emerging very real and still appropriate openness and vulnerability amongst us; a desire to go deep and be real in our walk with our Lord Jesus.
-Something intangible that I can only call the core ethos of what it means to be Anglican… something gentle but honest that deeply appreciates our God’s incarnation among us; that is sacramental at the Table, certainly, but also in terms of overall perspective regarding where God meets us and indeed all his creation, seeing greater space for God to be present and active, ‘organic’ for lack of a better word; this sacramental perspective coupled with the power of the Word of God, and with the presence of the Spirit of God.
Next week I hope to write about the next season, this summer, and leading into the autumn – to update you all about what we are working on and etc. For now, please pencil in Wednesday evening, June 23rd – I am hoping to have a Town Hall Q&A with the lead pastor that evening and am working on details.
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
PS: A quick reminder that starting this Sunday we will begin at 9.30!
PPS: This week we start a New Community Conversation beginning at 11:15 am after service. More resources here.
Trinity Sunday Update
May 28, 2021
Hello dear friends,
This Sunday
We are so very much looking forward to Sunday, Trinity Sunday, our name day feast! Bishop Andrew will be with us to give us his formal blessing and our official beginning. Here’s a few things to know:
The weather forecast is looking iffy as I write this, but it has been changing off and on all week. So plan A is join me in praying for good weather!
- We do have a backup plan: meeting in the larger Kaiser Chapel up the hill and will get that word out, if need be, on Saturday night or Sunday Morning. Rain or Shine, there will be a Trinity Sunday Service where we can all gather together!POTLUCK this week!
Our Community Conversation this Sunday will be informal fellowship – a potluck and time with Bishop Andrew. There is a chance we will be indoors in the hall outside the chapel, so bring your own food and drinks for you and your family.
Summer Shade
Regarding the weather, it’s beginning to warm up, and so starting the next Sunday, June 6th, we’ll begin a half hour early on Sunday mornings, at 9.30, and we’ll move over to the side lawn, where there is a bit more shade.
Juneteenth
Juneteenth (June 19) is the celebration of the end of slavery in the USA. From juneteenth.com:
Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863.
On Sunday, June 20th, we will incorporate elements of lament and of celebration into our liturgy regarding the reality of slavery in our nation’s past and regarding the end of slavery. I am looking for a few people who would be interested to research slavery here, on Boston’s North Shore, in order to help us lament well. If you would be interested in doing some research around this, let me know. ☺
Next week we will be sending a survey to get an idea of where we are at as a community regarding race and ethnicity.
Niños in Bolivia
Niños con valor (ninosconvalor.org) is an orphanage (and more) in Bolivia that several of our folks know and love. They have put out an urgent request for help because Bolivia is “in the midst of a terrible 3rd wave of the disease.” Two of the children there “are seriously ill and 9 others tested positive on Saturday, May 22... So far, two of our staff are positive and both are symptomatic. Quarantine floors/rooms are being set up and much more expensive testing, treatment, and protective measures are being instituted. This will be costly and our COVID 19 Pandemic Response fund is depleted.”
Dear friends, I know we have not used this space for these kinds of requests, and I know there are many, many worthy projects and needs in this world. I am sharing this news because this moment is exceptional and because Niños has had a serious turn with these positive tests. Please donate if you feel led.
Blessings and peace to you all,
Tim+
PS: I am so much looking forward to the unveiling of our white vestments this Sunday! Can’t wait for that… ☺
This Pentecost Weekend
May 20, 2021
Dear friends,
These past seven weeks we have been celebrating our Lord Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. This weekend we celebrate his gift of sending his own Spirit to his people, and we ask for a fresh filling with his Spirit.
Please join us this Saturday, Pentecost Eve, for a time of Prayer, and Picnic.
Starting at 3.30pm we will pray, spend some time listening to God, and also spend some time praying into the five categories from The Deeply Formed Life – praying both that as Trinity we would live deeply into these, and also praying for the Kingdom of God to go forward in general in these categories of life (you can see guidance for our praying into the five, below).
At 5pm we’ll have a simple bring-your-own-food picnic, just a good time to get to know one another a bit better…
If you can only make it to either the prayer time or to the picnic, please do come to that part!
Be sure to join us this Sunday morning at 10 am for a special Pentecost Service.
Peace,
Tim+
Some guidance for how we are praying together
1. Contemplative Rhythms
“Lord, fill us with a hunger for time with you and for your word to nourish and refresh our lives."
“Lord, show us how you want us as individuals, and Trinity as a whole, to engage in rhythms of prayer and scripture reading as we seek to draw closer to you and become the church you are calling us to be on the North Shore."
2. The Multi-Ethnic Body of Christ
“Lord, we confess that we don’t love people with the dignity that they have as people made in your image. Who do we need to change our vision of?”
“Lord, we confess that we live within a society that has deep systems of racism built into its political, economic, educational and social structures. Show us how you want us to live as a church so that these dividing walls come down and people are set free."
3. Interior examination
“Lord, give us grace and courage to allow ourselves to recognize and find healing in our individual areas of pain and brokenness. Show us the pains from our past that need your healing.”
“Lord, how can Trinity become a church where people are able to find healing? Give us a vision for what this could look like."
4. Wholeness of Body and Spirit
“Lord, you created us as body, mind, and spirit, to worship and reflect you with all three coming together as a whole. Open our eyes to how we divide or diminish who you created us to be so we can find healing and wholeness.”
“Lord, how can Trinity be a place that helps people grow in healthy ideas of masculinity and femininity? In loving and respectful marriages? In raising healthy and joy filled children?"
5. Hospitable Presence
“Lord, we confess that we so easily gloss over the physical and spiritual needs of the world around us. Soften our hearts and open our eyes to see the broken and needy world as you do.”
“Lord, reveal to us how you want Trinity to engage in meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the world around us. Is there a specific people group or need that you want us to focus on?”
Friday Night Light -
May 14, 2021
Hello friends,
I’m just back from my annual week with my covenant group – a week I very much look forward to every year, with twelve rectors from around the country and our wizened mentor, where we check in on family, personal, and ministry life as the years pass. Given the challenges we’ve all faced this past year-plus, it was especially poignant and wonderful to be with them this year. I’m refreshed, excited to be back, and looking forward to Sunday with you.
Two things I’d like to share this week:
A few thoughts about the special things we’ve been doing because of COVID, in light of the CDC’s new guidance this week.
A survey to help us continue to explore the best way to do our Community Conversations.
MASKS, DISTANCING, and ETC…
I know we all found the new guidance from the CDC to be very hopeful.
A few thoughts as we relax our practices regarding masks and etc:
Masks are optional for those who have been fully vaccinated and are past the 2 week second dose period (clear information here)
We will respect those who are more comfortable continuing to wear masks and we will all practice distancing.
We will continue to distribute the Eucharist in the manner we have been practicing these past few weeks.
We will continue to keep up to date with the overall situation regarding COVID.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS
Our Community Conversations are off to a wonderful start. I am delighted we are setting some DNA through the good content of The Deeply Formed Life. My vision for these times (Community Conversations overall) is that it would be great if we develop them as a time of Trinity overall discussing real issues in our world, working together on our culture and health as the Body of Christ, and building relationship depth and community. I envision that Community Conversations involve a range of topics and forms, for instance:
Book discussions, as we are currently doing.
Issue discussions, as we are planning for June regarding how Trinity can take initiative towards being a multi-ethnic expression of the Body of Christ.
Town meeting type moments where we face large decisions or challenges.
Testimonies.
Fun times where people share craft or art they have made, or etc.
And others as well…
I thought it might be helpful to give us all the opportunity to have input into this way for Trinity to have a healthy culture and sense of community, so I invite you to
share your insights through this survey:
Thank you all, and peace,
Tim+
We Would Love Your Help!
May 7, 2021
Greetings from the Trinity North Shore Parish Council and Staff!
As we continue to build this new community of worship both physically and spiritually, we need your help with a few housekeeping items.
To keep our costs low and our process streamlined, we will be using a staff of volunteers to share the day-to-day operational tasks of Trinity North Shore, and each member of the congregation will be able to help the cause by adding your information to the Church Center Application.
Church Center is organizational software that allows churches to centralize all of their information (church directory, calendar, giving, groups, registrations, events, etc) into one location.
There is a Desktop version and also a Smartphone/Tablet app that are extremely user friendly and can give you instant access to the church directory or giving information whenever you need it! If you've been involved with another church, you may have used "Church Center" in some form already.
Desktop Users
1) Browse to: https://trinitynorthshore.churchcenter.com/
2) Select 'Login', then enter your phone number - a verification code will be sent to your device.
3) Enter the verification code.
4) Update your information: name(s); email address; phone number; address; photos, etc.
Mobile/Tablet Users using the Church Center App
(Downloadable from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store)
1) Open the app.
2) If you are logged into another church, click "Log Out."
3) From the Home Screen click "Select a Different Church."
4) From the top menu tap "Enter Your Church Name"- type in "Trinity North Shore Anglican." You'll see our Purple Trinity logo pop up.
5) Select "This is My Church."
6) Enter Your Mobile Number - a verification code will be sent to your device.
7) Enter the Verification Code.
8) From the User Profile on the upper right side of the app, tap on your name, and update your information there: name(s); email address; phone number; address; photos, etc.
Please note-
If you have used Church Center for any church in the past, you will continue to be part of their database, even as you connect your information with Trinity's Church Center. When using the Church Center mobile app, you can always log out of one church location and into another.
Giving:
We are hoping that most of our parish will be able to use the giving platform through Church Center, as that will decrease costs and is a very secure and seamless method to give regularly. As we get up and running we would love your kind support at this time. The direct link to giving is here.
Paper checks and other gifts can still be accepted, please email Ericka Shepard at treasurer@trinitynorthshore.org to discuss and set up.
If you have any questions, please email Ericka at treasurer@trinitynorthshore.org or if you need help with the Church Center, please email Michael at michael@trinitynorthshore.org
Blessings and thank you for your help!
Keep Dreaming - Push Into the Real and Deep
April 30, 2021
Dear friends,
I’m deeply encouraged by what our Lord Jesus has begun at Trinity. This week in my prayers I heard him encouraging us to keep dreaming, to continue to realize this special moment of beginning, to push into the real and deep together on adventure with him.
Today I wanted to update you about what’s coming up and about a few simple ways to participate.
QUICK OVERVIEW
Our first two Sundays we’ve looked at the confidence that the earliest followers of Jesus had in God and at how belief in Jesus’ resurrection created a community that transcended societal barriers and made waves. This week we’ll see what kept that community authentic as it grew. On May 9th we’ll look at worship, the fire around which they gathered to warm their souls. And on May 16th we’ll learn from their commitment to being connected to people around them, in love.
Then we’ll celebrate Pentecost, expecting the Spirit of Jesus to meet us afresh. And the next Sunday, May 30th, Bishop Andrew will be with us for our official launch, on our name-feast day, Trinity Sunday.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
I’m very much looking forward to our Community Conversations. We’ll begin this week, discussing chapters 1&2 of The Deeply Formed Life. You can review the topics here
In June Jennifer Keifer and Fatu Kanu, our summer intern, will help us learn and grow in what it means to be a church where minority peoples feel loved and welcomed.
Remember to bring your BRUNCH!
GIVING LINK + CHURCH CENTER (more information below)
Good news! We’re off to a good start here and thank you to everyone who has given. All gifts are welcome, even if you feel yours might be small or even if you feel led to give a bundle.
The diocese has kindly been letting giving go through their system to get us going, but now you can give directly to Trinity.
One tweak here: we will be sending an email to those whose gifts went through the ADNE; if you gave through their site and do not receive an email within the next week please contact us at info@trinitynorthshore.org
Peace and blessings,
Tim+
Amazing and Beautiful
April 22, 2021
Hello friends,
It is a great privilege to begin a new church, and our Lord Jesus was with us at Trinity on Sunday in so many wonderful ways. We reflected this week on both the honor to serve, and the amazing, heavy, powerful and beautiful presence of God that touched so many of us this past Sunday as we met together. We are very much looking forward to this journey together with each of you.
I wanted to share about good things beginning this weekend and about opportunities to serve.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS:
This weekend we’ll begin our first Community Conversation. This first conversation is a discussion of The Deeply Formed Life, by Rich Villodas, a pastor in Queens, NY. This week we’ll discuss chapters 1&2, about being careful to feed our souls and to go deep with God.
You can prep for the conversation here on our conversations page.
And remember, you’re welcome to bring a brunch!
CLERGY VISITS:
I would love to come and visit with you in your home, to hear more of your story and get to know you a bit more. Sometimes I will have the honor of Mthr Wendy or Cn Ross being with me. You can sign up for a Clergy Visit here: https://calendly.com/canontim/fr-tim-visit (more dates to come available after I figure out my summer vacation plans!).
SUNDAY MORNING TEAMS:
The Sunday morning set-up and take-down is simple and a great way to serve, on one of two teams:
1. Set up and Welcome.
2. Take down and count (donations given in cash that morning).
We’ve broken these down into easy steps. Last week a kind soul and I walked through the steps to test them out and we had them done in 15 minutes or less. We would love your help, to get involved email me directly: tim@trinitynorthshore.org
GIVE:
Thank you for your generous donations so far! We have been able to get a new soundboard, some new microphones, our website up, our services online, not a few items of liturgical gear, signage, and etc… Our own giving page is coming soon but also you can give here:
WEATHER THIS WEEKEND:
Last Sunday we experienced weather so much better than was expected! That is very much possible again this coming Sunday, but at the moment it is not looking promising. So here’s the plan:
Plan A: pray for a change in the forecast.
Plan B: We do have some good ideas to continue to gather together in worship safely distanced indoors if it rains. If it continues to look ominous for Sunday morning then (probably on Saturday Afternoon) we will announce alternative plans.
Blessings and peace,
Tim+
Trinity is Beginning
Update from Cn Tim April 16
Dear friends,
I am very much looking forward to our time together worshipping our Lord Jesus on Sunday, Trinity’s beginning.
Today I wanted to update you about a few things for Sunday:
-Volunteers we’ll need.
-How we will be doing Eucharistic distribution.
-How to give.
-Children’s ministry this spring.
-Community Conversation and brunch.
Volunteers for Sunday(s)
There are two main categories we need for these early weeks:
-Set-up and take-down (parking signs, registration tables, etc).
-Check-in, welcome, orientation.
Ideally we’ll have enough folks volunteer that we could set up a rotation for folks to serve once a month. If you can help this week and/or be on a rotation, please let me know. Thank you!
How we will be doing Eucharistic distribution.
This is new, and we’ll be trying it out.
-We will consecrate wine and wafers (in the old, normal way, just covered as they are consecrated at the Altar), then two priests (in masks, with gloves; one for regular and one for gluten-free) will bring the Host to you and distribute it via long tongs, without touching you. Just hold your hands open to receive, as is normal, and the priest will drop the host into your hands.
-The wine will follow, brought around in a flagon to be poured into a small cup that you bring for yourself or your household. Should anyone forget a cup, we will have small, clean mason jars available and they will be able to go pick one up during the Peace, and which can be their cup during the Distribution.
-If for any reason you are not comfortable with this, we will also have the single-person wafer and cups available (what we have been using in past weeks).
How to give.
You can give now, here
And thank you.
Children’s ministry this spring.
We have a team ready to lead a children’s Bible story and reflection time during the sermon through the weeks of the spring. When the weather is nice they will be meeting under a tree; if the ground is wet then in the glass porch. More to come, but for the moment I’m glad to share this news.
Community Conversation and brunch.
We want to set a culture of good and open conversation. We’re going to take our first shot at this on Sunday mornings: we’ll celebrate Holy Eucharist together; take a break, put some stuff away, and greet each other; then those who are able join together for Community Conversation.
This Sunday, April 18th, we’ll keep it informal and do some catching up and Q&A with the rector, and one another. Starting April 25th, we’ll be doing this by discussing Rich Villodas’ The Deeply Formed Life.
Feel free to bring brunch and a thermos of coffee for these times! As more people are vaccinated and etc., we hope to be able to do coffee/bagels together or something similar, but let’s start here.
Dear friends, there’s lots of good stuff happening, and I look forward to sharing more with you all. In the meantime, please pray for Trinity every day. What I am praying is along these lines:
-That our Lord Jesus would be raising up for his own glory a church that is greater than the sum of us; a community only He could bring about.
-For our hearts to be filled with a fresh confidence in our God, a fresh joy, a fresh humility, and a fresh expectation.
-That Jesus’ Spirit would call those he wants to call to join us at Trinity, including some new people from the very beginning.
-For fresh eyes to see our lives and our world through his Kingdom vision, and to long for his Kingdom to come, even in our midst.
Blessings and peace,
Tim+
From Canon Tim -
Trinity North Shore - The First 5 Weeks
April 10, 2021
Dear friends,
I’m looking forward to Bishop Andrew’s visit on Sunday April 11, and both to blessing CTR and to his blessing, formally sending Trinity North Shore into our new life and work. I wanted to get some details and opportunities to you.
Next week I’ll be sending out quite a few important updates:
Trinity’s founding Vestry
Exciting news about a summer intern
Children’s ministry this spring and in longer-term
Ministry of youth
How we will handling the Distribution of Communion this spring
But for now, here’s a few key items (all of these are great to share with your friends!):
sign up to continue receiving these updates
here is my new email: tim@trinitynorthshore.org
you can find us on social media…(Links are below-please take a moment to “like, follow, subscribe” to our pages)
As we prepare for the coming “pre-season” weeks of April 18-May 16, (we’ll be meeting outdoors at GCTS, on the Green at the Retreat House, at 10 a.m. each Sunday) here are some core teams we’d love to have folks join as we get going (more to come, but these are the first three). Let me know if you’d like to pitch in on any of these fronts:
Set up and take down
Welcome
Hospitality after service (coffee and bagels or muffins or etc)
Finally for today, a quick word about where we are going in our first weeks together:
April 18-May 16 being the five remaining weeks of Eastertide, we’ll be forming Trinity’s earliest weeks in view of what it means to be a community living as a people formed by resurrection hope. We’ll be doing this in two ways: our sermon series will explore the five distinctive perspectives the resurrection formed in the earliest followers of Jesus.
We’ll also be starting Community Conversations: for our first one we’ll be reading and discussing together a fantastic book by a pastor in Queens, NY, whose church represents some seventy-five nations in its people (wow – Body of Christ, indeed). Rich Villodas, in his The Deeply Formed Life, has taken those same five distinctive perspectives of the earliest followers of Jesus and adapted them to the secular, progressive NorthEast of our day and, violà!, the Body of Jesus is springing up. (Probably after our services each Sunday.)
In the meantime, dear friends, I cannot tell you how excited I am for us to get going. I recognize that, of course and quite reasonably, people are in various stages of processing and catching up to the change that we are experiencing, and I hear and respect you and your process, wherever that is. I simply want you all to know that our Lord Jesus is on the move – lovingly, patient, and kind – and that as we begin to walk with him in this He is going to be with us, every step. He is already.
Peace to you,
Tim+