Beyond Resolutions: One Word

— BEYOND RESOLUTIONS —

If you’re like me, you come to January 1 every year with a fistful of good intentions. This year, I tell myself, I really will fix all my bad habits at once! And of course it never works. We all struggle with the ways that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, as St. Paul says. Or the ways that we do what we do not want to do - again, one of Paul’s struggles. The deformation of our will is part of our fallen nature. But at the same time, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for us to change. I invite you to read Curtis Hoberman’s article below, and to join me for the next two weeks in the Adult Forum as we talk about ways to grow in virtue and holiness of life in ways that go beyond the futility of New Year’s resolutions. I’ll see you then!

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

— ONE WORD —

Curtis Hoberman

Forget resolutions. What is your one word for 2023?

What is the one word that will lead you, guide you. encourage you, and propel you for this year?

I was introduced to the idea of one word in an F3 workout in Philadelphia in late 2018, prior to the start of F3 Princeton in April 2019. The F3 Brother from Charlotte who led the workout that day shared the impact it had in his life in giving him clarity of mind, focus on direction, and help in his interpersonal relationships.

In each of the last four years I have had one word: 2019 – Integrity; 2020 – Fearless; 2021 – Hope; 2022 – Fortitude. In each year, my one word has challenged me to be a better person, to be a man of prayer and of action and to grow in resilience and durability. Little did I know on the choice of “Fearless” in January 2020, how I would be challenged every day to be “fearless” after the middle of March with the onset of the pandemic. My faith in God grew very much that year, as I sought to “live by faith, and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

The process to discover your one word:

1. Prepare your heart. Take the time to shut down the media sources around you and disengage from them. Allow yourself time of quiet reflection: What do I need now? What is in the way? What needs to go?

2. Discover your word. Ask God for discernment of your word. In my case, it occurred to me at unlikely times, yet I sensed immediate confirmation. “That’s it. That’s my one word.” Sense the confirmation of the Holy Spirit within you with your one word. Be alert to be ready to recognize it and receive it.

3. Live your word. Live it out and be stretched by it as you live it out. You may easily see immediate opportunities to live out your one word (low-hanging fruit”) and difficult areas of application of it can come later. Own your word. Personalize it. Internalize it. Create visible reminders of it. Share your word with your “stretch team” (close family and friends), the persons who stretch you and can help you grow. Give them permission to check in with you on progress or challenges in living out your “one word.”

My One Word for 2023: PREPARE

As an older guy, I have been delaying taking actions to prepare for the future, and my dear and loving sister, Nancy, has gently prodding me to take these actions. (Last will and testament, the “everything notebook” of accounts and locations of important items, the preparation of my preferences for the memorial service, etc.) With the word “Prepare,” I want it to move me to take action.

At Trinity Church, we started this process as a church family in year 2020, but our efforts and attention to it withered out with pandemic that year.

Let’s try again…

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

This Terrible Joy

Jay DeFeo, The Annunciation, 1957/59.

Why do you leave the ordinary world, Virgin of Nazareth… / Why do you fly those markets, those suburban gardens, / You have trusted no town with the news behind your eyes. / You have drowned Gabriel's word in thoughts like seas / And turned toward the stone mountain…to the treeless places.

— Thomas Merton

On the fourth Sunday of Advent this year, the Lectionary tells us the story of Jesus’ birth from Matthew’s gospel: “When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” While Luke gives us our familiar nativity scenes of manger and shepherds and friendly animals, Matthew confronts us with the reality of a what a surprise pregnancy meant in Jesus’ time and place: shame, ostracism, and as our reading says, “disgrace.” But what Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts share is that the angel of the Lord appears to announce God’s plan for the world, a plan that is set into motion because Mary said “yes.”

At this point in Advent, as we look towards Christmas, we are in the time of Mary, the time of the Magnificat. In Luke’s gospel, we rejoice as we hear Mary’s joy, in what C.S. Lewis famously called “a terrible song,” meaning a “dreadful, frightful, and fearsome” song.  The Magnificat shakes the foundations of all we know, or all we think we know, as Mary reveals that the cosmic events she’s gotten caught up in are nothing less than the pivot of the ages. God visits Mary and Joseph with news so stunning it would take the rest of their lives to understand it all. The reversal of wrenching circumstances, the lifting up of the lowly, the exaltation of the humble that Mary sings about shows us that this is how God works.

Christmas is a time to rejoice in the glory of the Lord, but it’s also a time to be confronted by the very human reality of the story of Jesus’ birth. Neither Mary, nor Joseph, nor Jesus, are two-dimensional figures acting out a sentimental tale. They are real people, caught up in the most real situation possible – the situation of God’s action towards us in the Word made flesh. It is a time of awe. It is a time of joy.

May the blessing of our newborn Savior
be with each of you this season,

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

All I Want for Christmas

Allan Rohan Crite (1910-2007)

I love Christmas music. I’m one of those people who could listen to it all year long. Deck the Halls, Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World, I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas, and of course, everyone’s favorite … All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth).

Well, maybe that’s not your favorite, but I have been thinking about the song because, frustratingly, I can’t get it out of my head. As a result, I’ve been pondering over and over that since I have my two front teeth … What do I really want for Christmas? To ask for more “things” seems ridiculous. I already have all that I need and, in fact, more than I need.

Amid this pondering, I came across a beautiful Advent poem by Saint John of the Cross, whose feast day is December 14.

If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road
pregnant with the Holy and say,
“I need shelter for the night.
Please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.”
Then, under the roof of your soul,
you will witness the sublime intimacy,
the divine, the Christ, taking birth forever,
as she grasps your hand for help,
for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us.
Yes, there, under the dome of your being,
does creation come into existence eternally,
through your womb, dear pilgrim,
the sacred womb of your soul,
as God grasps our arms for help:
for each of us is His beloved servant never far.
If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the street,
pregnant with Light, and sing!

— Advent Poem, St. John of the Cross

In these holy days, if you want … the Virgin comes, the Holy comes, God comes, Light comes, Love comes and says, “Please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.”

What do I really want for Christmas? I want a heart that is open and ready to receive the Holy One and within my soul “to witness sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ, taking birth forever, as she grasps [my] hand for help, for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us.”

That’s what I say that I want, but when the Virgin comes “walking down the road pregnant with the Holy and [says], ‘I need shelter for the night. Please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.’” Will I say — Yes? I pray I say — Yes!

Advent Blessings,

The Rev. Paul Jeanes III,
Rector

Expectancy

In the expansive realm of religious belief, there are so many Biblical stories into which we can delve, about which we can debate, stories we can research and refute. Passages of Scripture one can exaggerate, de- mythologize, or critique historically, literally, structurally, or theologically. Verses which inspire one to moralize, spiritualize, or from which to extrapolate great apothegms.

And then there is this beautiful narrative we are preparing ourselves to tell — One special child’s birth. A marvel. A puzzlement. A story of breathtaking proportions that no amount of the usual rhetoric can undo: The child is born, the angels sing, and every day people gaze on the newborn face of God. The prophecies of Isaiah are fulfilled. The promises of archangel Gabriel have come true. The Messiah, the Christ has been delivered into the world by a young woman in an unassuming spot.

What a curious way for the Almighty God to behave. What a modest means to move the world towards redemption. God in flesh appearing as a helpless baby boy bundled up on a bale of hay. Not much of an entrance for a Savior, is it?

So I have to wonder, Why do we need these days of Advent to abide in anticipation of this story we long to tell? What is it about these days of waiting that have the power to shatter and rebuild our whole world of faith? What is it that the coming of a newborn baby Jesus can do that God Almighty can’t?

Perhaps we need time to anticipate His birth because it promises us a new life. Jesus will redefine humanity by living within it from his very beginning. Perhaps we need time to accept that the Holy One promised to us will be born of a woman in absolute humility. Might this impress upon us the vulnerability of holiness, and the sweetness of God?

There was a time when Jesus was entirely dependent on human beings to come into this world, survive in this world, and that time has not come to an end yet.

As Mary carries the child, it is we who are expecting. Expecting the disruption and radical rearrangement that the birth of any child brings — reassessment of our priorities, of our beliefs about what is important, our beliefs about who is important. Expecting to love, really love, — painfully, poignantly, powerfully love — the sacred nature of all humanity with a delight and joy unlike any other. Expecting reason to hope for ourselves, and all that we cherish. This Advent may our hearts abide in Hope and may our Spirits stand transfixed, expecting. Expecting to recognize that our attention to all that which is Holy is most urgent.

The Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt, Associate Rector

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

The Too-short Season

I have an Advent calendar that gives you a little pot of jam for every day. I had the same one last year, and it’s really one of the better options out there. (It came from Bonne Maman in case you’re still looking for one. They have not paid me for this advertisement…) I confess that while I love it, and I always enjoy getting an unexpected flavor like lavender-pear-yuzu-whatever, by the last week in Advent I am tired of eating toast and jam for breakfast. It gets old.

But for me, the season of Advent never gets old. In fact, it always feels like it’s too short - especially since Christmas encroaches upon it by the time we get to the fourth week. I would like to linger in it a little while longer. So, even though this week we anticipate Christ the King, and Advent won’t begin for another eight days, I’m already ready. Advent is a season of quiet, a season of deepening winter and fading daylight. It’s a season of unadorned holly and pine, wrapped around the wreath. It’s a time of lighting candles and longing for what has not yet happened, but which has also already happened. It’s a time when we experience the thrill of saying “Aslan is on the move,” as we read in C.S. Lewis’ classic Chronicles of Narnia.

Advent is the Janus-faced season, in which we look back so that we can look forward. We look forward to the final coming of the Kingdom of God, we look forward to that day when Jesus will come again to judge the quick and the dead, to make right all that is not right. It’s a time when we look around, and look within ourselves, and say “Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come quickly and fix all this.”

But who is the one who comes? This Sunday, the day of Christ the King, tells us who. He is the king of glory, but he is also the Prince of peace. He is the one precisely because he is the other. His reign is one of mercy. He has come as a powerless infant, he has been crucified as the one who refuses violence, he will come again as the one in whom love, justice, and mercy are one and the same.Will you wait with me? I invite you to spend this season in prayer and anticipation, and hopefully in quiet as you can find it, so that every heart may prepare him room.

Aslan is on the move.

Yours in anticipation of the coming of the King,

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

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. — Isaiah 65:21

Surely it is God who saves me;
I will trust in him and not be afraid. — Isaiah 2:2

Isaiah 65:17-25

Global Babies, by The Global Fund for Children (Infant +)

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Little Guys, by Vera Brosgol (PreK 3+)

Luke 21:5-19

So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom, by Gary D. Schmidt (PreK 4+)

Note: This week’s resource corner focuses on the Hebrew Bible text from RCL Track 1 and the Epistle and Gospel texts from both RCL tracks. Typically, we read the RCL Track 2 texts at Trinity on Sundays.

When they were exiled from their homeland, God’s people left everything behind—homes, gardens, and ancestral places of worship. In this week’s text from Isaiah’s prophecies, God offers hope to the exiles—they will build houses and get to live in them, plant gardens and get to enjoy the fruit they produce. Animals will live peacefully with each other—"the wolf and the lamb shall feed together.” Babies will grow up into adulthood, and old people will enjoy their old age. Global Babies, published by the Global Fund for Children, is a celebration of babies and a fun way to prepare for the Incarnation of Jesus at Christmas. The babies pictured in the book are from all around the globe. As you look through the pages at their tiny faces, breathe in God’s expansive love for all of God’s people, and breathe out a prayer of blessing for babies from all around the world and for the diverse cultural expressions of God’s image.

In this week’s text from 2 Thessalonians, Paul issues a command to his readers. He instructs them, in no uncertain terms, to avoid people in their community who are idling their time away instead of working to contribute to the good of the community. What Paul says is harsh! It is really important to remember the context of his words – some people in the Thessalonian church had stopped working because they believed the rumors (from last week’s text) that Jesus was returning soon. They were just waiting around! Other communities throughout history have taken his words, about who should get food and who should not, and made them into strict laws on social welfare. The Jamestown settlement is one example from early American history. In one commentary on this passage, scholar Mariam Kammel writes, “This passage has nothing to do with whether a social welfare should be in place to catch the helpless in society; this is entirely concerned with those who should and can work but refuse and instead direct their energies to causing chaos in the community.” The Little Guys, by Vera Brosgol, illustrates the mischief caused by (tiny) agents of chaos with the hilarious hijinks of some small, but mighty forest dwellers. All their showing off throws the entire forest into upheaval. The little guys have power, because there are so many of them and they work well together. How could they channel this power to work for the good of the forest and its creatures?

In this week’s text from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reminds his disciples that following him will not be easy. They will encounter hardships, difficulties, and trials. He also reminds them not to give up hope because he will be with them, giving them strength to endure what comes. Many of us have experienced hardships in the past few years due to the pandemic, isolation, political upheaval, and related uncertainty about the future. Practicing perseverance and cultivating hope for and in God is something that we can help our children learn amid these experiences. Gary Schmidt’s story, So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom, connects well with these themes. Sojourner Truth (named Isabella Baumfree at her birth) was born into slavery, and so Schmidt’s story begins in “Slavery Time—where hope is a seed waiting to be planted, when Chains tore families apart like the wind frays a flag.” She grew up in New York and endured many horrors because of enslavement. When she was freed, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth and began living in “Freedom Time— when hope kindled a fire in the dark and Happiness winked over the horizon.” Jesus tells his disciples in the gospel passage that they will have opportunities to testify before kings and governors and that He will give them the words and the wisdom for this testimony. After she gained her freedom, Sojourner Truth traveled the country testifying to the horrors of slavery and of perseverance and faithfulness to God through these horrors. Her story is a powerful depiction of the kind of courage, tenacity in faith, and hope in God that Jesus offers to us.

Note: Because of a loophole in the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, many people in our nation still live in Slavery Time, although the details are different from institutional slavery on plantations before the Civil War. Just this week, in ballot initiatives, four states in the US (Alabama, Vermont, Oregon, and Tennessee) outlawed slavery as punishment for a crime. This is good news! But the struggle is not over. Louisiana rejected a similar ballot measure.

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