Beloved friends,
Sometimes change is illusive other times obvious; regardless it is indeed ever present. Some change is welcomed while other change is feared. There are times when we beg and plead for things to change and perhaps, just as often, feel we would do anything to avoid the discomfort of navigating change at other moments. Whether we are talking about parenting, housing, employment, aging, the weather, an illness or disease, the way a community gathers or worships, the songs we sing, or the prayers we speak—regardless, change is the one constant in our lives. And as we continue to live into this next chapter together slowly coming out of our homes more and more and shifting back into safe ways to be together, change is ever-present every day. It feels like a dominant theme in our collective life weaving its way through our days in ways both large and small.
Here are but a few examples of how change is making its presence known at Trinity.
Office Moves: Over the past 3 weeks your Trinity staff has been hard at work packing up our offices as we prepared for this week rearranging our workspaces in significant ways. Each one of us is being reassigned to a new office so we can collaborate and support each other better in ministry. We have been living with books, supplies and resources in boxes scattered all over and rooms full of piled up furniture so that carpets could be cleaned. It has been messy, chaotic and disruptive but also a very necessary step in the process of what we hope and pray will be a wonderful new arrangement going forward.
Music Ministry Transition: Over the past 7 months we have been living into a leadership transition in our Music Ministry. That too has presented its own set of challenges with staff changes occurring mid-pandemic. It has been full of exciting opportunities as well- the birth of our Ukulele Choir (soon to debut at a Trinity@Home upcoming service), a season of wonderful music making for the choir with Chelsie Cree stepping in as Interim Choir Director, welcoming a new section leader during the pandemic as well as saying goodbye to some of our music staff. Throughout we have indeed made a “joyful noise.” We are hopeful that soon we will be able to share our plans for the next iteration of leadership for this vibrant ministry.
Re-gather Plans: As announced last week, we are now enjoying some new ways to start coming back for some in-person connections. Wednesday 12noon Eucharist has returned, one of our weekly formation classes is gathering in person (along with the option to Zoom-in) and Pop-Up Dinners are being offered in July and open for sign-ups now. And this Sunday, we will gather for our first All-Parish Picnic from 1:00-3:00 at Levis Square (one block down from church). It is a welcomed change to be seeing each other again!
September NEW Sunday Schedule: Also announced last week, we believe we have landed on the next best step for us when we do plan on coming back for in-person worship on Sundays starting in September. We never could have imagined that Trinity@Home would have lasted over a year and/or garnered such meaningful engagement from both Trinity members and new Trinity friends around the world! So, after significant discernment we are making the decision to try to do both. We understand this will require a lot of us, AND we feel it will be well worth it as we yearn to stay connected and grow faithfully with everyone who has or will find Trinity either from walking through the doors or tuning in to our Trinity@Home service.
Starting in September- we intend to follow this new schedule:
9:00 In-person Community Breakfast resumes
9:00 Trinity@Home premiers online
10:00 In-person Formation- Youth & Adult
10:00 Trinity@Home Coffee Hour
11:00 In-person worship
12:00 In-person Coffee Hour
As I think about the change all around and inside us, I find myself having two distinct reactions; first, I hate messes and unknowns, and second, I love the birth of new things and seeing God’s amazing grace showing up in our lives. I share this because these two reactions have always felt obviously contradictory, and yet I am beginning to realize they are really inseparable, and in fact, maybe two sides of the same coin.
From the time before our ancestor’s ancestors began to tell the story of creation, never has there been an instance in which something new and wonderful wasn’t born out of the void, the mess, the chaos, the inconvenience, the noise, the disruption, the disarray, the turmoil, the disappointment, the frustration, the impatience and/or general pandemonium.
Large or small, made of human hands or Holy Spirit, the creative process is predicated on change and therefore a time between what is and what is yet to be is as holy as any other. In theological circles that time is sometimes identified as the time of transformation, the movement of God in our midst. And oh, how helpful that is to me this day when I am just as prone to call things a “red hot mess.”
So, if you too, hate messes and times of unknowing – you are not alone. What I invite you to consider is a slightly revised point of view and one that I am trying earnestly to embrace as we walk through the plethora of changes in our common life. When anxiety creeps up, I have started to say to myself- “Welcome, Holy Spirit- glad to see and feel this creative energy alive and well all around us!”
So, let’s let all this change find a home in us trusting the journey to lead us right through the necessity of some really big messes—moments of transformation. And then, not unlike the story we hear in Genesis, may we arrive safely at the place of newness together, look around and in one united voice thank God and claim “It is very very good.”
May you never forget that you are loved,
Lisa