Free Tickets to Princeton U Chamber Choir Concert

Dear Trinity Church Members:

The Princeton University Chamber Choir’s upcoming concert is one not-to-be-missed: a complete performance of Joby Talbot’s 21st Century Masterpiece for unaccompanied choir - Path of Miracles.

Path of Miracles was composed by Joby Talbot in 2004 for the famed British choir Tenebrae, on a concept which I developed in partnership with Tenebrae’s conductor Nigel Short and the City of London Festival. In the twenty years since, it has come to be seen as one of the ultimate experiences of 21st Century choral music, embracing a thousand years of history and a dozen European languages on the pilgrimage route – the Camino Frances - from Roncesvalles in the Spanish Pyrenees, to the glorious Cathedral of St James in Santiago de Compostela. The music is truly symphonic in scale, and the extraordinary text, which connects ancient monastic fragments with modern verse, beautifully evokes the irresistible urge to see the world, to better know our fellow human beings, and to find answers to life’s most elusive questions. Here's a clip of the third movement, named for the city of Leon…

The performance takes place in Richardson Auditorium on Saturday March 29th at 7.30pm.

We are delighted to offer all Trinity Church members two free tickets for this event!

To obtain your tickets, visit tickets.princeton.edu and use the promo code CCSING for two free tickets.

Candidate for Director of Family Ministries

Dear Trinity Church Community,

The Family Ministries Committee has been hard at work conducting a search for the Director of Family Ministries. We will be joined this Sunday by a candidate for this position, Chesirae Valentine-Karlin.

The church community is invited to a forum this Sunday, March 16, immediately following the 10:30 am service. We will be meeting in Pierce-Bishop Hall. Parents are strongly encouraged to attend and share feedback with the Family Ministries Committee following the forum. Childcare with lunch for children will be provided.

Also on Sunday, Chesirae will teach Sunday School for our younger students at 9:30 am, and attend Playful Worship during the 10:30 am service.

Please join us for this important event as we work to strengthen our family ministries program.

Blessings to all!

Family Ministries Search Committee

Luther’s Chicken

WARNING: This article contains sermon spoilers. Come on Sunday to hear the rest of the story!

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

wandering from the fold of God;

he, to rescue me from danger,

interposed his precious blood.

This Sunday, we will hear a beautiful passage from the Gospel often called Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem. Warned by the Pharisees that Herod was out to get him, Jesus says “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” What a wonderful image of the tender care that God extends to each of us in Christ. It’s also one of the passages in Scripture where God’s love is described in feminine terms, and it had a significant influence on Julian of Norwich’s extensive (and famous) meditations on Christ as Mother. 

Now, my dad grew up on a farm in Mississippi, but I grew up in the suburbs where both eggs and chickens come in a package from the grocery store. In preparing for this week’s sermon, I spent some time doing some extremely intellectual research, by which I mean watching videos of chickens on YouTube. Like this one: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocvs3rKaWiQ

Before I did my chicken research, I read that passage of Scripture as only about nesting, about how the mother hen keeps the chicks warm in the nest. That’s part of the story, but it’s not the whole story. There is something much more dynamic at work. Outside the nest, the mother hen spreads her wings over her chicks to protect them, and in fact places herself between her chicks and any perceived danger. She is willing to come to harm first in order to protect her babies. 

This image also shows up in Martin Luther’s description of what he calls imputed righteousness, where God sees us through Christ, and reckons Christ’s perfect righteousness to us despite the fact that we remain sinners in this life. He writes, “On account of this faith in Christ God does not see the sin that still remains in me. For so long as I go on living in the flesh, there is certainly sin in me. But meanwhile Christ protects me under the shadow of His wings and spreads over me the wide heaven of the forgiveness of sins, under which I live in safety.” (Commentary on Galatians)

I think I’ve shared this with you before, but here’s a video that Sonia and I put together on imputed righteousness and infused righteousness, which is the more Catholic view. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYor6YJMdJA

Thanks be to God that in Christ, we are kept safe from every danger by his own willingness to sacrifice everything for us, in love. Come back on Sunday for the rest of the story!

In Christ,

Kara

Philadelphia Eleven Documentary Streaming Free on PBS

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. 

The Essential Skills for Being Human

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

Oasis Meeting

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:

https://forms.gle/fCYFF5hZusm3fV1P6

Subscribe to Trinity’s email updates