Noël McCormick, Soprano
Connor Martin Lidell, Baritone
Dr. Margaret Harper, Director
Joseph Ferguson, Organist
to benefit the
Saturday, November 8th
6pm to 9 pm
Fifty dollar admission includes:
Childcare will be available vegan & gluten-tree options will be available
It’s that most wonderful time of the year here in Princeton, when the leaves begin to turn, the weather gets cool, and the radiance of fall is all around us. This time of year lends itself well to quiet contemplation, to thinking more deeply about our world – which is in the first instance God’s world. For me, it’s a time to revel in the beauty of creation and the joy of being a creature in relationship with God.
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about beauty and the role it plays (or doesn’t play) in our culture, especially after reading a marvelous interview between Peter Wehner and the novelist and nonfiction writer Marilynne Robinson. Robinson is, I think, our greatest living chronicler of the dignity of humanity as God’s creatures – a humanist in the classic sense.
Here’s a link to the article, which I commend to you enthusiastically. (I hope the gift link doesn’t die…)
Our contemporary culture, Robinson says, has fallen into a functionalist and materialist aesthetic sensibility, so that anything that points at beauty and the soul is seen as somehow untrue or – at best –an unnecessary luxury:
“It’s like we have made beauty into something falsified. Calvin says there is not a blade of grass that God created that was not meant to ravish us with its beauty. The idea of the beautiful is a signature of God, I think for Calvin and Jonathan Edwards and many other people. This distillation of the joy, the sensory joy, of being among things in the world.”
Despite any cultural claims to the contrary, we live in an enchanted world, shot through with the glory of God and the fellowship of human souls both living and in that “great cloud of witnesses” who rejoice in God’s nearer presence. The spiritual aspects of life are as real (or more real) than the material. As Robinson puts it, the enchantment of the world is “reality clearly perceived.” She continues, “I think God enchanted things and it is for us to acknowledge the fact.”
In this beautiful season of the year in our community, I pray that you will find time to slow down, take a breath, and look for those signatures of God in the enchanted world all around us.
Yours in Christ,
Kara+
A couple of years back, some members of Trinity Church traveled with our Rector, Paul Jeanes, and The Rev. Keith Marsh and to the Holy Land.
It proved to be a marvelous and spiritually uplifting experience for all who made the pilgrimage! After retiring in June of 2023, Keith started Spirited Pilgrimages, a business devoted to planning, promoting and hosting unique, small-group pilgrimages around the world for people of faith.
Two pilgrimages have been planned for the fall of next year and you are invited to join:
The Footsteps of Paul – September 9-19, 2026 – travel through Turkey and Greece by land and sea - visit sites from the Book of Acts associated with St. Paul on his missionary journeys: Ephesus, Patmos, Corinth, Athens and more, including the islands of Crete and Santorini
Celtic Christianity – October 12-24, 2026 – follow the path of Christianity’s early years in the Celtic kingdoms, beginning in Ireland and expanding into Scotland and northern England – trace the spread of Celtic Christianity from its introduction by St. Patrick to its demise at the Council of Whitby.
These pilgrimages will be led by Keith, an experienced pilgrimage planner and host. To learn more about these two all-inclusive pilgrimages – expansive itinerary, roundtrip airfare, lodging and meal details, price and deadlines, as well as how to reserve your spot – visit the Spirited Pilgrimages website at: spiritedpilgrimages.com
In August 2026, our choir will be on tour in the UK, first at Ely Cathedral and then at Westminster Abbey.
Trinity is putting together a trip for any parishioners who would like to support the choir while they are in London - and see the sights in London and beyond.
Whether you are a chorister parent, a spouse or friend of an adult choir member, or a Trinity parishioner who enjoys music, liturgy, and history, this trip is for you!
The tour will include day trips to Canterbury Cathedral and to Oxford, as well as activities in London itself. We will attend daily Evensong at Westminster Abbey, as well as the Sunday Eucharist at which Trinity's choir will sing.
If you're interested in the tour and wish to be added to the list, fill out the form at the link below:
Are you looking for a way to start Advent in a prayerful way? Would you like to get away from Princeton to a quiet, historic retreat center?
Join us for a two-night pre-Advent retreat at the Community of St. John the Baptist in Mendham, NJ. We’ll spend time in prayer and reflection, as well as enjoying the community’s natural beauty. The cost for lodging and meals is $250, and we need a firm number of attendees by October 14.
Register at the link below, and contact Kara at sladek@trinityprinceton.org to sign up.
A warm welcome to all visitors & newcomers.
At Trinity Church, we believe God’s love is expansive and unconditional and that through Christ, God has called us to love one another as God loves us. We welcome all people regardless of gender, race, age, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, family configuration, political affiliation, or difference of ability. We celebrate the worth, dignity, and gifts of every person as a child of God.
We warmly welcome the presence and participation of children.
They are a blessing and gift to our worship experience.
Dear Good People of Trinity Church,
I want to bring your attention to two important updates to our bulletin.
The first is a small but significant change to our long-used words of welcome. After prayerful reflection and meaningful conversations with several Trinity members, I have added “political affiliation” to our litany of welcome. I never thought such words would be necessary, but in this season of intense political division, I believe they are. As followers of Christ, we are called to be a community that welcomes all. Trinity Church will not be a “Left” church or a “Right” church, but rather a church that imperfectly yet faithfully strives to follow Jesus Christ and live out the Gospel message for the healing and transformation of the world. This is not easy work. It is work that will not be completed in our lifetimes. Yet each day, in small but meaningful steps, we move closer to God’s dream for our broken world.
The second addition is a welcome directed especially to families with children. Children are essential to the life and vitality of the Church. While their sounds and movements may at times feel distracting, without them there is no future for the Church. These movements and voices are signs of young believers beginning to find their way into the sacramental life of the community we call Trinity. We know how much effort it takes for parents and caregivers to prepare children for worship—and how much energy is spent helping them participate once here. Their efforts deserve our deepest encouragement and our warmest embrace. We must support them with open hearts, open minds, and open arms.
We are especially blessed in this season to have Anne Thomsen Lord, Catherine Breed, and Donte Milligan guiding and nurturing our children and youth. Please reach out to them—or to me—if you feel called to help grow this vital ministry.
I close with the prayer I offered at last Sunday’s forum, a prayer I hope will remain before us as we continue the work of being Trinity Church:
Quicken, O Lord, we pray, all members of your church, that we may be alive to the opportunities and responsibilities of our times. Save us from complacency and from fear of new ways; inspire our minds with the hope of your kingdom; give us joy in what lies before us; and stir our wills to pray and to work until your will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Peace,
Paul+
Dear Good People of Trinity Church,
I invite you to join me this Sunday for our Adult Forum time, which will serve two important purposes.
First, we will kick things off with an update on our Comprehensive Campaign. We are steadily closing in on our $7.5 million goal to secure the future of Trinity Church. Our dedicated co-chairs, Jeannie Garner and David Schneider, will share the latest progress and outline the steps ahead as we work together to cross the finish line.
The majority of our time together will be devoted to reflecting on the current state of our country—particularly the ways we speak and listen to one another. In light of the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, we are once again reminded of the divisions, hostility, and intensity that characterize our national life.
As Christians, we are called not to withdraw from this reality, nor to wield our faith as a weapon to dominate others. Instead, we are called to enter the conflict with humility, courage, and love.
A friend recently shared with me the book Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division by Robert P. George and Cornel West. This conversation models civil discourse and robust intellectual engagement around vital questions of truth. Along the way, they remind us that truth-seeking requires conditions such as freedom of speech, and virtues such as intellectual humility and courage. To their call to be “truth seekers” and “truth speakers,” I would add this: we are also called to be truth listeners.
Too often, we speak in order to persuade or to win an argument, rather than to share honestly from our own hearts. Likewise, we listen not to understand, but only to prepare our rebuttal. This cycle keeps us locked in hostility and division.
This Sunday, I invite us into something different. Let us practice speaking with honesty and humility, and listening with openness and grace. When we do, we create the possibility of genuine understanding and deeper unity.
I look forward to being with you. Let’s talk… and let’s listen.
Peace and Blessings,
Paul+