In 1974, the first women were ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church. You can watch the acclaimed documentary on this pivotal event in our church's history at PBS from now until June. Here's a link if you want to watch on your computer, tablet, or phone:
https://www.pbs.org/show/the-philadelphia-eleven/
You can also view it through the PBS app on your smart TV.
Dear Beloved of Trinity,
Since Kara “broke the ice” on Sunday with her reference to David Brooks, I’m going to follow suit—thank you, Kara! Someone recently shared with me a 2023 article by Brooks, The Essential Skills for Being Human, and I couldn’t help but think: Isn’t this exactly what we strive for every time we come together as the Body of Christ? In worship, formation, and service, we are continually learning and growing in these essential skills.
The Gospel calls us to be more fully human, and to be more fully human is to live more deeply into God’s desire and dream for each of us. To embrace our full humanity is to become more Christlike—to live into the gift of who God created us to be at our very core.
As we begin our Lenten journey, I wanted to share a few of Brooks’ insights that seem especially meaningful for us:
Be a grower. Always strive to grow—to become a better version of ourselves. Take an honest but grace-filled look at who you are, and then take just one small step forward.
Be open-hearted. Kindness, compassion, and a posture of openness are essential to our humanity. Be respectful, accepting, and truly present to others.
Be an illuminator, not a diminisher. Illuminators help others feel seen, valued, respected, and alive. Diminishers, on the other hand, make others feel small and insignificant. Choose to lift others up.
Be a good listener. True listening requires full presence. When we truly pay attention, we honor the humanity of the person before us.
Be an accompanist. (Not in the musical sense, but in life!) We walk this journey together. We certainly can’t fix everything, but we can be present with one another amid the realities of our lives.
Stand in their standpoint. Seek to understand the perspective of another. Ask questions, listen deeply, and receive their story with what Brooks calls “tender receptivity.”
Live with abiding love. May everything we do—how we see, support, understand, communicate, and respond—be rooted in abiding love.
May this Lenten season be a time of deepening—of growing in these essential skills for being human and becoming more fully who God created us to be.
Peace and Blessings,
Paul
Attention LGBTQ+ Folks of Trinity!
Oasis, the LGBTQ+ Fellowship of Trinity Church, is rebooting! We will meet on the third Sunday of the month immediately following Choral Compline. Come to Compline and stay for fellowship and conversation. Our first meeting will be March 23 at 5:30 PM in the George Thomas Room. Contact Kara for more information (sladek@trinityprinceton.org), and add your name here to join the mailing list:
The Adult Confirmation Class will meet on Sundays at 2 PM starting this Sunday, March 9, in the George Thomas Room. Join us if you're interested in Confirmation, or if you'd like a refresher about the Episcopal Church.
With the growth of our Nights of Support in Princeton, Good Grief is now able to support more grieving children and families. We now offer peer support groups on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evenings.
With a new night added, we are looking for compassionate and kind volunteers who would like to become a peer support group facilitator. Our next facilitator training is May 2nd-4th at Good Grief in Princeton. Our facilitators make all the difference by creating a safe and caring environment where grieving children and their families can express themselves.
Interested individuals can contact volunteer@good-grief.org.
On Saturday March 1, twenty-one parishioners from Trinity volunteered at Arm in Arm's food warehouse in Hamilton. According to Shariq Marshal, Development & Community Engagement Coordinator at Arm in Arm, “We sincerely thank you all for your time and efforts this past weekend. Your group prepared over 200 bags, stocked all of our shelves with the incoming donations, prepared 100 snack bags for kids and cleared space for our next shipment of inventory in the process. This is a huge impact!”
Thank you to all our volunteers. You made a real difference!
The Center of Theological Inquiry invites the Trinity community to join them for a special lecture by the Rev. Dr. Andrew Davison on Monday, March 10 at 5 PM. You may remember Dr. Davison from his time at CTI, when he led the Adult Forum and helped out at the parish on occasion.
Our wonderful Carol Brooks Thomas who normally runs the agape meal will be out of town and can't be the point person the day of, although she can get food and everything ready beforehand. The meal is simple, mostly fruit and cheese. It takes place directly after the Easter Vigil on April 19.
Volunteers are needed for set up and clean up, but right now the priority is finding someone to run the show day of.