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TRINITY EPISCOPAL
CHURCH
Weekly Announcements
September 24, 2021
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Message from Interim Rector |
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Thinking About Leaving a Legacy |
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Dear fellow travelers at Trinity,
Today we continue the theme of emails focused on preparing for our parish retreat, Friday, October 8 (6 pm to 9 pm) and Saturday, Oct 9, (9 am to 3 pm, with a light breakfast at 8:30 am as people gather). If you are unable to attend all three sessions (Saturday is broken into two sessions, morning and afternoon), please join as you are able. We want to hear as many voices as possible. If you are in need of childcare or transportation, please email Geoff (office@TrinityChurchHP.org).
On Tuesday I wrote about the possibility of moving forward quickly with the call of a new rector, beginning with a survey of the members and creation of a search team. Today I want to explore briefly the opposite of that choice: the decision to end Trinity’s ministry as a congregation. That is, I am sure, a decision no one would take lightly. Nevertheless, it is an option that many churches in our diocese will be facing in the next 10 to 15 years. The combination of demographics and decline in religious practice make it inevitable that many churches will close.
If Trinity were to do so around its 150th anniversary, an advantage would be that it would be in a position of relative strength and financial health, and therefore in a good position to determine what legacy it might leave. There is plenty of time to make thoughtful decisions about which church might receive Trinity’s members, how Trinity’s assets would be managed and for what purpose, and what would happen to Trinity’s property, including finding a permanent home for Trinity’s columbarium. Long-time member Mary Seaver, now living in North Carolina, recently sent the vestry a list of questions that would need answering, such as:
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What happens to Tri-Con? Would Trinity be a part of the plan to relocate the school and its belongings?
- Who makes decisions about the church building and rectory?
- What happens to all the sacred vestments, vessels, furniture, the organ, the windows?
As you can imagine, each of those questions would need thoughtful and prayerful response, and all of them would be better answered with the freedom to take time to discover good answers. Like writing a will and planning one’s funeral, it is the kind of thing best done without the pressure of a crisis.
I write all of this not to put a downer on the weekend but to get us thinking. I know this is not the path that many at Trinity would choose to take. And yet I think it important that during the retreat we truly pray with all options to see where the Spirit might be leading. What would it be like to imagine that Trinity would bring its ministry to an end? How would you feel? What would be most important to you to pass on as a legacy?
I know it is a difficult thing to consider! And yet by engaging this option, we may discover surprising and creative new directions.
Bryan
P.S. If you want to watch a bit of the conversation about my book, This Assembly of Believers: The Gifts of Difference in the Church at Prayer, you can see it at this link: https://youtu.be/ZzyZiX6jm1Y It is a bit long! So feel free to skip around.
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Formation and Fun with our Episcopal Friends in Deerfield
About eight “Trinitarians” traveled to St. Gregory’s in Deerfield last Sunday for the first of our “Tell Me the Truth about Racism” series. Our next meeting will be at St. Gregory’s on October 17. Trinity will host the conversation on November 21 and January 16. (More on that later!)
Those meetings are part of this year’s “Building a Beloved Community” series, which includes a movie discussion of the movie Traces of the Trade on Sunday, September 14 beginning at 6 pm, a series of “Sacred Ground” conversations about racism beginning on September 28 and convening every two or three weeks until March 15, and a discussion of the book Just Mercy (time TBD). These direct us toward a civil rights pilgrimage open to all ages to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, March 21-23. St. Gregory has provided a brochure which will be available at the back of the church; you can also find the information by following the link below.
St. Gregory also invites members of Trinity to join them for some October social events related to their annual “pumpkin patch.” (If you are free tomorrow at 11 am, you can stop by St. G’s at 815 Wilmot Ave. and help unload; if you have time to help sell pumpkins, they are also looking for volunteers. Proceeds benefit feeding ministries.) Follow the link below for the list of events.
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Sunday Services, Sept. 26
Invitation to the Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost:
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9 a.m. CDT -- in-person service with communion, outdoors; weather; guidelines
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11 a.m. CDT (3:30 p.m. UTC) -- online service set up as a recurring Zoom meeting (login link and information below remains the same every week).
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Chapel of Transfiguration,
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (2010).
U.S. National Park Service image.
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To attend by telephone,
call (312) 626-6799
Meeting ID: 948 1489 8440
One tap mobile:
+13126266799,,94814898440#
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"Sunday Paper Junior" is a handout in the pdf format that Trinity makes available to our parish children during the Sunday service. The Sunday Paper Junior, to which Trinity Episcopal Church has a paid subscription, is forwarded / posted with permission of the author / illustrator, Gretchen Wolff Pritchard. © Gretchen Wolff Pritchard, The Sunday Paper, 19 Colony Road, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, www.the-sunday-paper.com. All rights reserved. This is copyrighted material and should not be further forwarded or distributed.
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Thursday Morning Prayer Service
Please join us online for for prayer on Thursday mornings at 10 a.m.:
- attend via Zoom
- attend by telephone: (312) 626-6799
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Meeting ID: 930 0814 5876
- One-tap mobile: +13126266799,,93008145876#
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Did you know...
Links to Trinity's online Thursday and Sunday services are also available on our website, TrinityChurchHP.org
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Scripture Study Meets Saturday Mornings
Please join us on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. (2 p.m. UTC) on Zoom for our Scripture Study.
Participants take turns facilitating prayer and reflection on any or all of the current Sunday's lectionary readings, which are available at https://www.lectionarypage.net (We use Track 2, if there is a choice.)
Weekly facilitators choose any or all of the readings and simply come prepared with a few wonderings or questions (not "quizzes") based on their selected scriptures to stimulate reflection--including questions they feel they cannot satisfactorily answer. Beyond that, leaders may prepare as little or as much as desired and employ whatever props or helps they wish.
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To attend by telephone, call (312) 626-6799
Meeting ID: 864 0421 0027
One tap mobile:
+13126266799,,#864 0421 0027
(This is set up as a recurring Zoom meeting, so the above meeting information is the same every week.)
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Holy Conversations: A Parish Retreat
Trinity Church will gather on Friday, October 8 in the evening, and Saturday, October 9 in the morning and afternoon for a parish retreat to discern the congregation’s next steps in the interim process.
The retreat will follow a process called “Holy Conversations,” which aims to identify gifts and opportunities, reconcile hurts and disappointments, and imagine future possibilities. The Rev. Mary Slenski will lead our retreat and will preach at the Sunday eucharist on Sunday, October 11. Friday dinner and Saturday breakfast and lunch will be provided.
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Book Club to Discuss First Friends
The Trinity Book Club will discuss First Friends by Gary Ginsberg on Wednesday, October 20 at 6:30 p.m.
The book is an entertaining, enlightening and fun read about the powerful unsung (and unelected) people who shaped our presidents. The meeting will be held on Zoom.
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To attend by telephone, call (312) 626-6799
- Meeting ID: 812 8976 5702
- Passcode: 008018
One tap mobile: +13126266799,,81289765702#,,,,*008018#
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Volunteers Needed for Services
We are in need of volunteers for both our online Sunday services at 11 a.m., and our 9 a.m. Sunday in-person services.
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Parishioners
Ingeborg Diebel, Horace Seely-Brown, Richard Monzingo, Paula Moss, Fred Putz, Susan Tappert.
Relatives & Friends
Sheila Brennan (friend of Jennifer Ould)
Shannon Findley (friend of the Cones family)
Erika (friend of the Johnston family)
Susan Craig (friend of Mary Seyfarth)
Jim Frein (friend of Seely-Browns and Malcolms)
Amy Hoogasian (family friend of Hilary Junkin)
Ryan Kao (nephew of Bobbie Monzingo)
Elly Kennicott (sister-in-law of Susan Tappert)
Carlos Lebron (family friend of Jack Alix)
Victoria Munsey (aunt of Paul Nelis)
Wayne and Mary Outland (friends of Jennifer Ould)
John Parti (brother of Cathy Mossler)
Suzy Schwartz (friend of Hood Seely-Brown and the Malcolms)
Those serving in the Armed Forces and their Families
Ben Chellew (nephew of Cynthia Hines)
Capt. Pierce McKean (nephew of Jenny & Chip McKean)
Remembering all those we love but see no longer, especially those buried here in St. Michael's Chapel.
David Kennicott, brother of Susan Tappert, passed away peacefully from lung cancer on Aug. 31.
If you would like to add or update a prayer request:
- For prayer requests for family and friends, please remember to include the relationship when sending us the request.
Thank you.
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BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES |
1 India Fiocchi
1 Yvonne Markos
4 Claire Esker
6 D.R. Smith
9 Rae Malcolm
11 Terri Fey
15 Ginny Schulte
17 Stephen Wolpert
23 Diane Beckway
24 James Roselle
24 Ted Kasemir
26 Violet Noga
30 Trude Roselle
Early October Birthdays
1 Jill Lauer
2 Steve Lauer
2 Whit Shepard
4 Monika Makoski
4 Victor Przysiezny
5 Claire Anderson
5 Reed McCann
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3 Chuck & Yvonne Markos
8 Chad & Lesley Haycock
12 Jack Alix & Rob Linton
13 Steve & Jill Lauer
Early October Anniversaries
5 Chris & Hannah Green
7 Dennis & Terri Fey
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PayPal account not required; credit cards accepted. |
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FATHER BRYAN CONES,
Interim Rector, Trinity Church
(773) 786-6803 (mobile)
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PARISH ADMINISTRATOR
Church Office:
(847) 432-6653
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Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
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