Come Celebrate Joanne

Dear friends,

I invite you to join us this Sunday, as we celebrate our beloved Joanne and give thanks for her faithful and transformative ministry at Trinity church. What a blessing Joanne has been to us and to so many beyond the walls of Trinity.

We will honor Joanne at each service this Sunday and then following the 10am service, we will gather in Pierce-Bishop Hall for a festive reception to give thanks for her ministry and to send her forth with our love and blessings.

In Christ,

The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector

Unsentimentalized and Undomesticated

The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre of pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire.

— T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding

I think I’ve already talked to you recently about the church at Little Gidding, but on this weekend of Pentecost I have another story about it for you. It’s a story about the work of the Holy Spirit. In 2008, after a year and a half of not knowing what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I took a trip to the UK and ended up at the church at Little Gidding — setting of the T.S. Eliot poem and home of the 17th century Anglican clergyman Nicholas Ferrar. (Ferrar, as you might recall, was the first to re-institute something like a post-Reformation monastic community in the Church of England.)

Anyway, I was eating breakfast in the kitchen of the tiny retreat house at Little Gidding when a gentleman walked in and sat at the table. He wasn’t a guest, but was apparently a priest who lived in the neighborhood. We began talking, and he asked me where I was from and why I was there. I told him a little about myself, and that I had just left my job with the government and was trying to figure out what might be next. Then, completely out of the blue, he said “you should get a PhD in theology and then you can do something very special for the Church.” Hearing this was alarming — and not a little terrifying. It was certainly unexpected.

Friends, I only vaguely considered going to seminary at all at that point. That encounter, with a man I had never met before and have never seen since, was one of the clearest examples of the Holy Spirit’s work in my life that I’ve ever experienced. It was the moment I received my vocation from God, though I only could clearly realize that in retrospect. But as Eliot describes the descent of the Holy Spirit in the excerpt above, there is something frightening about it. All too often we can sentimentalize and domesticate the Holy Spirit, turning the third person of the Trinity into a generalized source of good feelings. While it’s true that the Holy Spirit is named in Scripture as the Comforter, this is a comfort far different from what the world knows. The Holy Spirit opens up to us possibilities we never could have imagined, drawing us closer to God in ways that are not always easy or pleasant, but which are always sanctifying.

Where might God be speaking into your life, calling you to things you never thought possible? Where is God inviting you to draw near to the purifying fire of the Spirit that does not kill, but gives eternal and abundant life? This week, look around and listen. You might hear something unexpected, too.

Yours in Christ,

The Rev. Cn. Dr. Kara Slade, Associate Rector

Right This Minute

This coming Sunday, May 21, Youth Group will be leading our worship services at both 8 and 10:30am, as I’m sure you have heard by now! Sometimes, when people hear that the youth are leading a service, they imagine it will be, perhaps, a simplified and sweet form of worship. I can assure you that these services will be complex, thoughtful, and evocative.

The teenagers of Trinity have written reflections on the scriptures which will reveal to you the depth of their own spiritual perceptions and will challenge you to consider deeply what they have to say. Our youth have written prayers which will put before you their greatest concerns and will bid you to respond with action to their priorities.

Some of the most thoughtful spiritual insights I have ever heard have come from the youth and children of Trinity Church, so  I heartily commend these services to you.

Personally, I am profoundly grateful to all of my colleagues who work with the children and youth here at Trinity: Emily,  Connor, Annie, Kara, Paul, as well as our seminary interns. Everyone interacts with the kids with dignity and respect. The spiritual and personal integrity of every young person is valued. Here, our children and young people are talked to, and talked with, and never talked at, or down to. I know none of us would expect otherwise, but this doesn’t necessarily happen in every congregation. The baptismal vow to “respect the dignity of evey human being” has taken hold in this commuity, and the fruit of this committment it readily visible in the consistently growing Youth Group and the joyfully, increasingly crowded north transept.    

It is a commonplace in christian communities to say that children and teenagers are the future of the church. When I put that idea before our youth and asked them what they thought of that,  they were adamantly happy to point out they are not the church of the future, they are the church of right this minute. 

Of course, they are charming, and energetic, and creatively expressive. These are not naïve limitations; these are essential gifts. When Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,” Jesus was not urging us to make sure kids are tolerated. Jesus is offering an admonition to recognize that young people have spiritual sensitivities — just as we had when we were young, that must not be overlooked, nor taken for granted, nor go unheard.

It will be a blessing to us all to hear directly from our youth this Sunday.

May the vitality our young people bring to worship invigorate us all with a joyous energy that will lead us all — of all ages, all together — to grow into the full stature of Christ.

See you Sunday! 

Most faithfully,

The Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt, Associate Rector

Welcoming Wesley

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

It is with great joy that I announce that Wesley Rowell will be joining our staff on July 1.  Wesley will serve as our full-time Lay Pastoral Associate. Wesley’s role will include assistance and support for pastoral care, youth and family ministry, and community engagement.

Wesley is a May 2023 graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, where he is receiving his MDiv, with concentrations in both Black Church Studies, and in Theology, Women & Gender. He was recently awarded the Edward Howell Roberts Scholarship in Preaching.

A Fayetteville, North Carolina native, Wesley moved to Princeton in 2020, after 24 years of living in New York City, where he was a member of Middle Collegiate Church. Raised in the AME Zion Church, and the grandson of a pastor, Wesley was confirmed in 2022, and is currently in the ordination process for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Wesley ministered at Middle Church and has interned at our own beloved Trinity Episcopal Church. He also served on the search committee to select the Rev. Dr Jonathan Lee Walton as the new president of Princeton Theological Seminary. 

In NYC and Chicago, Wesley was a professional musician, and has sung in the choirs of St. Thomas Episcopal Church NYC, Grace Episcopal Church NYC, and Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, as well as several regional opera companies throughout the country. Wesley earned a BM from Methodist College in Fayetteville, NC, and was an MM vocal performance major at the University of Illinois.

Wesley’s passion for ministry and deep commitment to Christ can be summarized in his own words, “I’m still astonished by John 1:14 ‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ Wow.” 

Outside (and perhaps inside) of church, Wesley loves to dance (sometimes badly and always boldly), sing karaoke (where he is viciously competitive), and read (voraciously). He loves all kinds of music, from Bach to Blues to Bartok to Beyonce, and loves the Duke Ellington quote, "there's only two kinds of music; good and bad.”

Wesley's interests in the intersections of race, trauma, justice, gender, families, queerness, Jesus, and the Church led him to Princeton Seminary and Princeton, NJ, and ultimately to Trinity Church Princeton, where he is excited to further his ministry.

Join me, in welcoming Wesley to Trinity!

Peace,

The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector

Simul Iustus et Peccator

As I’ve been sick this week, Greta took care of me as only a good dog can. We had hours of snoozes together. And as I write this, just as I was starting to feel much more like myself — just then — she threw up on the bedroom carpet. In our little domestic drama of 11 Mercer Street, we stumbled upon one of the most important doctrinal debates of the Reformation: how good Christian people (and good dogs) still metaphorically throw up on the carpets of our lives. We are saved in Christ, and yet how often do our lives look relatively unchanged? (Quite often.) This is the question of Christian identity as what Luther called simul iustus et peccator — being both a sinner and a saint.

Our friends at Mockingbird Ministries have a nice explainer of the topic:

The Reformers believed that people who believe in Jesus live by faith in him…This does not mean that the Christian life is unconcerned with doing good, only that it is important the good that might be done not cause us to forget the fundamental neediness of the person doing it. In other words, the Christian is someone who needs to be given a fish every day. Luther described this state as being ‘simultaneously justified and sinful at the same time,’ or simul iustus et peccator in the Latin.

So Christians are two things at the same time, both enduringly sinful and completely forgiven and justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ. Their identity is dual. This is not a half-and-half relationship; it is 100% and 100%. Paradoxically, we are fully saved and made righteous in Christ, and at the same time we are still the same old sinner we used to be. A Christian is seen by God as “hidden in Christ” (Colossians 3:2). As the Apostle Paul puts it, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Luther was a man of tremendously troubled conscience who spent many days as a young monk worrying if he was holy enough to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he realized that our righteousness in God isn’t based on making it 75 percent towards Christlikeness, or what have you. It isn’t about keeping up a passing average. We rely on what God has done that we can’t do for ourselves, and we forge ahead knowing that every day we need Jesus just as much as we did the day before.

The Rev. Cn. Dr. Kara Slade, Associate Rector

Ensuring the Future

Dear Good People of Trinity,

I want to extend my sincere thanks for your participation in our parish meeting last Sunday. It was informative and truthful, challenging and inspiring, positive and hopeful.  There was a wonderful spirit of true dedication and love for our Church and an evident bond of affection between us, as the people of Trinity.

I am so thankful for our leadership team, staff, and all of you!

“Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitelymore than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God fromgeneration to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesusfor ever and ever. Amen.”

— Ephesians 3:20,21

There are more conversations to have, dreams to articulate, plans to develop, strategies to employ, gaps to close, and work to be done. I am most confident that we are up to the tasks, challenges, and opportunities before us.  We are Trinity Church! Now is our time to do our part to ensure the future of Trinity. Now is the time for us to do what must be done to leave our legacy of love and faithfulness for those who will come after us. 

More to come!  Forward in faith!

In Christ,

The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector

Review slides below for insight into our conversation!

Mind the Gap This Sunday

Parish Meeting on Sunday, April 23 at 9:30am in Pierce-Bishop Hall

Come and See, Go and Tell

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

On Palm Sunday, we journey with our Lord Jesus Christ as he enters Jerusalem. We are invited to raise our palms and join the chorus, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" We gather in the upper room for the Last Supper and partake of the bread and wine. We feel the hands of our Lord as he washes our feet. We go with him to the garden with intentions of faithfulness and alertness, but our weary bodies succumb to sleep. Noise and chaos awaken us. Our Lord is being arrested. Dazed, frightened, and confused, we join the crowd as Jesus stands before Pilate. Our hearts pounding and minds racing, the mob shouts, "Crucify him, crucify him!"

And…we … we say nothing, do nothing. We stand frozen in fear and disbelief.

With a crown of thorns and the weight of the cross, Jesus makes his way along the crowded streets with jeers and insults beating upon him. We follow at a distance. He passes by. We look up for just a moment. The Lord looks directly into our eyes. We turn away. Guilt and shame envelops us. Our hearts sink. We weep. Lord, have mercy on me! Too much to bear, we cannot look as he is nailed to the cross, but we hear. We hear the hammer crashing against the nails. We hear the shouts of the crowds and the cries of those crucified. For the Lord was not the only one.

He is lifted high up on the cross with a man to his left and another to his right. They hang there. Beaten and suffering unspeakable pain, they hang.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.

It is finished.

It is almost impossible for us to envision such a scene. Impossible for us to see ourselves as participants in such a scene. Yet, this Sunday, Palm Sunday, we are invited to live, breathe, hear, and feel it. We are invited to experience the reality of our Lord's betrayal and passion.

I urge you to join us for worship and to open your eyes and ears, your mind and body, your heart and soul to experience the fullness of the chaos and pain of our world as manifest in an angry mob, but also to experience the expansive healing love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amidthe worst the world has to offer, Christ embodies unquestionable, unconquerable, undeniable love. The profound truth of John 1:5 is realized, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

Come, come and see, come and hear, come and experience the Good of New of Jesus, and then, dear ones, go and tell. Go and tell the world the glorious life-giving message of Holy Week; the darkness did not, cannot, and will not ever overcome the light of love made known to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Peace to all,

The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector