Beloved Friends,

We are now in the church season we call “Ordinary Time,” the long “green” season that extends from now to the end of November. This is the season when we focus our hearts and minds on the fullness of Jesus’ ministry, rather than periods of focused contemplation on the mysteries of his Incarnation (Advent and Christmas) or his Passion (Lent and Easter). It is the longest season of the church year and offers a sacred time to seek out and find God’s presence in our everyday lives and in all things.

What this means for our Trinity community is an intentional time of seeking out ordinary ways to connect with each other; ways we hope will deepen the ties that bind our hearts one to another. In the next few weeks a number of people have stepped forward as possible “Pop Up Dinner Hosts” and will gather to explore what this means and the next steps we will take to schedule a number of Pop Up Dinners in September open to the entire community. Then during the last week of June we will open our doors wide to host a Music Camp for nearly 40 Syrian refugee children. Outreach & Community Development Coordinator Heather Meyer is working diligently with many of you who have already said yes to volunteering during the week of camp. Everyone is also invited to come to our evening work party to help us get ready- see more info in this edition of Trinity Topics about date and time. And whether you have time during the week, we hope that as many of us as possible will be able to come support the children for their performance Friday (6/29) at 7:00pm for what will sure to be an amazing way to end an anything but ordinary week! These are just 2 of the ways we are welcoming “ordinary time”- reminders that it is sometimes in the smallest and sometimes overlooked moments, that we find what is sacred and most holy.

As we continue to enjoy the warmth of the season outside and find ourselves relaxing into a slower schedule for some or at least a different rhythm for many outside of the school year, I hope that we can make time to take time for God in some intentional ways. On the evenings when I am at home I am blessed to find myself sitting outside on our deck looking out on our pond and am reminded of the sheer beauty and magnitude of all of creation. Watching a hummingbird, seeing a heron land, marveling at the plethora of colors as far as the eye can see- none of it seems ordinary or mundane.

Contemporary Nigerian-American poet, Enuma Okoro describes this season with eloquence when he writes in these selected stanza of his poem, Passing Ordinary Time:

This ordinary time is gifted with days,
weeks of mundane grace
routinely following the liturgy of hours anticipating creation
turning its prayer and praise
to the rhythms of incarnate love…

This ordinary time is gifted in its quiet, marked passing
 Christ slips about calling and baptizing,
sending and affirming,
pouring his Spirit like water into broken cisterns,
sealing cracks and filtering our senses,
that we may savor the foolish simplicity of his grace.

Join us Sunday as we continue the journey together, savoring the “foolish simplicity” of Christ’s grace.

May you never forget that you are loved.
Lisa

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