Mind the Gap

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

A Note to the Parish

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

On May 11, we will celebrate the 190th anniversary of Trinity Church! So, in ten short years, we will be 200 years old as a Parish — hard to believe!

As we look toward our future, we want to be confident that we have a plan to ensure that Trinity will continue to be a vibrant, loving, and caring community for generations to come. People just like us have called Trinity their church home for 190 years.

They, prayerfully and faithfully, did what they needed to do to ensure that Trinity would be here for us, and now it is our turn and our responsibility to do the same for those who will come after us.

This means looking at all aspects of our life together: worship, learning, serving, and finances. Our financial reality is a topic that cannot be avoided and must be discussed openly and honestly. The pandemic has had a negative on the overall level of support for the church, and this is not unique to Trinity. In addition, we have lost members over the course of the past three years due to death and moving from New Jersey.

Those two factors alone account for nearly $200,000 of lost annual support. While we remain very strong financially, we have to consider different ways to support the church and our level of commitment to Trinity.

As you know, we have been seeking your thoughts and insights to cast a vision for the future of Trinity, along with the formation of a strategy and the specific steps we need to take to make our vision a reality.

To that end, Fr. Paul and I would like to invite the entire Parish to a meeting on Sunday, April 23 at 9:30am in the Pierce-Bishop Hall. I am asking for your full participation in this process as, together, we find our way forward that will ensure a strong and healthy future for Trinity Church.

David Schneider

Senior Warden

Agape Meal after Easter Vigil

Holy Saturday, April 6, 2023
after the 7pm Easter Vigil
in Pierce-Bishop

Trinity will be holding an agape meal, a time of fellowship and celebration, in Pierce-Bishop Hall following the 7pm Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, April 6.

The agape meal is a tradition that dates back to the early church. Our feast will be a time to break bread in community, to reflect on the joy of Easter, the sacrificial and triumphal love of Jesus, and to strengthen the bonds among us, especially after the darkness of the preceding days.

Volunteers are needed!

We will need some volunteers to help set up and clean up, before and after the event. Please email Carol Thomas at carolbrooksthomas@gmail.com for more information and to sign up to help.

VCNJ presents ‘Fields of Gold’ on May 13

Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 4pm
at Trinity Church

Under the direction of Dr. David A. McConnell, our upcoming concert features songs of love, romance, and the promise of spring from a range of modern composers including Sting, Dolly Parton, and Carly Simon. In this concert, VCNJ also concludes their rendition of Folk Songs of the Four Seasons by Ralph Vaughn Williams with the spring and summer sections of the work. 

The texts speak of sky, fields, stars, meadows, birds, rivers, light, merriment, spring, and love.

Rob Long, a singer with the chorale, finds the music in the concert to be

“[B]oth uplifting and sometimes unexpected. Like when a friend gives you a great hug that you didn’t know you needed.”

Adult: $20
Child/Student: $10

For additional information, questions, or concerns please email this event’s coordinator Linda Silber at lindafsilber@gmail.com.

Did You Know?

Did you know that your contributions to Trinity Church may be eligible to be matched through your employer's charitable giving program? Many employers now rely on technology platforms to support their charitable giving efforts. One of these providers, Benevity, includes Trinity Church in its catalog of eligible charitable groups. Hundreds of employers use the Benevity platform, including Billtrust, which is headquartered in Lawrenceville. Last December, Tom Scott used the Benevity platform while employed at Billtrust to match a contribution to Trinity Church. Benevity then sent the matching gift in early February and it was processed by Lily Leonard, our Finance Officer. It helps if you alert Lily by email (leonardl@trinityprinceton.org) after you initiate any matching gift so that she can watch for the payment. If you have any questions about matching gifts or if your employer's platform does not yet include us as an eligible organization, please contact Tom Scott, Vestry member, at tomascott@comcast.net.  We'd like to ensure that the major charitable giving platforms permit matching gifts to Trinity Church. 

Last Saturday’s Stations of Reparations

Dear Friends,

This past Saturday the Stations of Reparations Liturgy was held at St Peter's Chruch in Freehold. Working with my colleagues of the History sub-committee of the Reparations Commission to create and present this service is among the most rewarding experiences of my justice amd anti-racism ministry undertakings.   Stories from five parishes in our Diocese were featured in this liturgy. There are many more stories of parish history with enslavement and racism to tell, and I believe this was an important (if small) step in our Reparations work.

Please take a moment to look at the video below — the prayers are moving, the music is beautiful, the stories are compelling, and this history needs to be known. 

The Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt, Associate Rector

Queering Church

Stories of Queer Affirmation in the Church

organized by the Center for Theology, Women, and Gender

Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 6:30pm
in-person at the Erdman Center
or virtually on Airmeet

“Making church more queer and more inclusive of queer folks is a project that includes everyone and benefits everyone! Because the work of making churches more inclusive is a group project, this is an event for ‘church people’ — whether you sit in the pews, stand at the front, or maybe a little of both. Whether you’re familiar with the latest lingo and research on religion and gender, or whether you feel a little overwhelmed by it, we want you to come!”