Service Saturday at Arm In Arm

Saturday, April 1, 2023
from 10am–12:30pm
at Mill One in Hamilton

We are seeking a group of Trinity volunteers to help pack grocery bags for Arm in Arm’s mobile pantry food truck distribution throughout Trenton. Arm in Arm, one of Trinity’s local ministry partners, delivers food to several sites in Trenton to communities where there is great need. This service day is suitable for adults and families with children 8 years and older. It is a great way for teens to get community service credits for school.

We will be working inside at their Mill One location in Hamilton and there is ample off-street parking. We will gather on the circle at Trinity Church by 9:30am and can drive down to Mill One together. If you need a ride please let us know. 

Please contact Phil Unetic at phil.unetic@gmail.com or 609-844-0801 if you would like to join!

A Letter from the Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt

Dear Friends,

It is with fullness of heart that I write to announce that I will be retiring from Trinity Church in mid-June of this year.

It has been a great joy to have served as Associate Rector at Trinity, and I am deeply grateful to Our Lord and to you all for extending to me such kindness, support, and love throughout these six years.

Sharing and growing together in our faith in Jesus Christ through the joys and challenges of this time has been an honor for me, and is a gift I will hold in my heart and will carry forward in all my ministry to come.

Trinity is a vital and thriving church growing in meaningful and exciting ways, and it has been a privilege to serve among you in this vibrant community in Christ. I will miss all of you as I set out for a new phase in my ministry and my family’s life.

Faithfully in Christ,

The Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt
Associate Rector
Trinity Church

Announcing Search for Trinity’s Next Music Director

Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.

— Psalm 81:1-2

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

I bring you good news! Our Music Search Committee is hard at work and the process is well underway.

For nearly one hundred and ninety years, Trinity Church has been a beacon of faith, hope, and love in the very heart of Princeton. We are in an Episcopal congregation in the Diocese of New Jersey devoted to striking, spirit-filled worship in the Anglican prayer book and choral traditions, lifelong Christian formation and fellowship, and the care and comfort of those most in need in our community and in the world, always aspiring to be a visible and tangible sign of Christ’s ineffable love.

We welcome all people, regardless of gender, race, age, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, economic circumstance, family configuration, or difference of ability. We celebrate the worth, dignity, and gifts of every person as a child of God and invite all into the full life of the church.

I offer my sincere thanks to our team of both Trinity members and community partners who are faithfully and prayerfully dedicated to this important work.

Matthew Baglio
Carol Burden
Gabriel Crouch
Cheryl Evans
Barbara Gonzalez-Palmer
Andrea Hyde
Mark McConnell

Eric Plutz
Wesley Rowell
Iris Sikma
Trudy Sykes
Cindy Westbrook
Mike Williams

Co-Chairs: Leslie Edwards and Clancy Rowley

I bid your prayers for all involved that we will indeed be open to the Spirit’s leading, as we live into this next season of our common life together as the people of Trinity Church.

Forward in Faith!

In Christ,

The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector

From the Search Committee

Dear members and friends of Trinity Church,

We are writing to provide an update from the Search Committee for the Trinity Director of Music.  The Search Committee began work in December with the recruitment of members and the development of an aggressive timeline in which to complete the search.  Members have worked together to draft a job description that has been carefully and thoroughly reviewed and was published this week and can be viewed on the Trinity website.

At the same time, we have developed a survey for stakeholders:  congregation members, past and present choir members, and those who are deeply invested in the music program at Trinity Church Princeton.  The results of the survey will guide our selection of potential candidates, inform our interview process, and be considered in the work of the music program steering committee once a candidate has been selected.    

The survey has eight questions and is available online, as a PDF that can be printed and returned to the church, and in paper format, available starting Sunday, February 19 before and after all services.  

It is our goal to be as open and transparent in the process as possible.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact any of the members of the search committee.  

With gratitude for this opportunity, 

Leslie Edwards & Clancy Rowley

on behalf of the Director of Music Search Committee:

Matthew Baglio, Carol Burden,  Gabriel Crouch, Cheryl Evans, Barbara Gonzalez-Palmer, Andrea Hyde, Mark McConnell, Eric Plutz, Wesley Rowell, Iris Sikma, Trudy Sykes, Cindy Westbrook, and Mike Williams

Plough Monday

January 9, 2023 at 6:30pm
at the Front Entrance
of Trinity Church

The Blessing of the Plough with songs and molly dances by Handsome Molly to mark the occasion will take place on Plough Monday, January 9, 2023, 6:30pm, at the front entrance of the church.

Plough Monday is the first Monday after Epiphany. In medieval times, the ploughboys were to return to work on this day to start the new ploughing season, but the day provided one last day of festivity as the ploughboys would disguise themselves and go from house to house threatening to plough up the yard if the landowners did not provide them food and drink. Trinity Church has been marking this day for many years now. Please come.

Trenton Music Makers

Monday, January 16 at 6:00pm
at Trinity Church

Trenton Music Makers will give a community concert at Trinity on Monday, January 16 at 6:00pm, in honor of Martin Luther King Day and the National Day of Service.

The concert follows the growing tradition among El Sistema-inspired organizations throughout the United States, celebrating the spirit of youth empowerment and community service that the holiday encompasses. They are inviting the audience to lean into the holiday’s significance by contributing non-perishable foods, or a monetary donation, for another of Trinity's ministry partners, Arm in Arm.

Trenton Music Makers, launched in 2015, is a five-day afterschool orchestra for Trenton students in Grades 1-12, and is the sibling program of Music for the Very Young and Trenton Children’s Chorus. The orchestra includes string and percussion majors, daily orchestra rehearsal, small-group instruction, theory, improvisation and chamber music, together with academic support, hot meals, and transportation from selected schools. The Trenton Music Makers Orchestra has performed with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, with local and regional partner organizations in Paterson, Newark, Union City and Camden, for the Greater Trenton annual awards and the Mill Hill Historic House Tour, and as onstage guests of the NJ Symphony. They are members of the El Sistema NJ Alliance, and national partners of Carnegie Hall Play USA.

Faith & Justice Book Group

Mondays, January 30, February 6, 13, & 20
6pm to 7:15 pm on Zoom

OUT OF THE SUN
On Race and Storytelling
by Esi Edugyan

Esi Edugyan is the author of the internationally bestselling and award-winning novel “Washington Black”, and other fine novels.

OUT OF THE SUN are her essays for the esteemed Canadian Broadcasting Massey Lectures, broadcast on CBC Radio in January of 2022. This book asks us to consider: “What happens when stories normally at the margin gain centrality. How does that complicate who we are, as individuals, as nations, as human beings? Through the lens of visual art, literature, film, and the author’s lived experience, OUT OF THE SUN examines Black histories in art, offering new perspectives to challenge us.”

Please join in our Zoom Book Group 6pm-7:15 pm, Mondays, January 30, February 6, 13, 20.We are sure to have some lively conversation about the book, and how it informs and intersects with our Christian faith.

Contact me, the Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt at epplyschmidtj@trinityprinceton.org to signup, and I will send you the link.

OUT OF THE SUN is available at local libraries, or special order at local bookstores, and online sellers.

Advent Wreath-making

Angel Tree 2022

The Angel Tree project will be back in full force this year. Look for the tree inside the church doors on November 27, right after Thanksgiving. We will have the tags with the gifts that families and children have requested hanging on the tree or in baskets. Sign up sheets will be on a table nearby. We have three Sundays to pick a gift and return it wrapped to the church.

I will need all gifts by December 13 so the charities can have their parties to distribute the presents to the families and children. Gifts should be in the range of $25-$50 if you are purchasing a gift card.

The Angel Tree project supports three agencies in our local area:

Arm in Arm, formerly known as Crisis Ministry, was started by Trinity Church and Nassau Presbyterian in 1980. They have three areas of assistance where they help local families in need with food, housing stability and workforce development. This year we will concentrate on those individuals that are in the Workforce development program. This area offers training programs, resume writing, and online computer training. These individuals also work in the food pantries to get hands on experience.

We will be providing gifts cards to the adults who are enrolled in this program.

Housing Initiatives of Princeton provides transitional housing to families for 24 months. In addition to housing, HIP provides individualized case management services for clients to succeed independently. Housing is coupled with job searches, budgeting, educational assistance, and access to food pantries. Assistance is also offered in locating permanent affordable housing, and help with the first month’s rent, and security deposits if needed.

Your gifts will go to families and their children in the three housing units.

Urban Promise of Trenton is equipping Trenton’s children with the skills necessary for academic achievement, life management and spiritual growth. Staff and volunteers help empower the children by providing tutoring and homework help along with enriching activities in their afterschool programs. The Street Leaders program employs teens to help lead and mentor the younger children and keep them off the street. They have a 100% high school graduation rate and many continue their higher education. Urban Promise has two locations in Trenton: Camp Truth at Trinity Cathedral, and Camp Grace at East End Community Center on Clinton Ave.

This is our largest agency because of their concentration on children and your gifts will go to all ages of children from elementary age to teens.

Thank you for your support of this tradition,

Martha Lashbrook