Trinity Stories

Dear Friends,

I am still basking in the glow of our first Sunday together. I hope you are, too.

I know that big transitions (in any aspect of our lives – church is just one) can feel like an unsettling time. The nature of the experience is change. And change often means we won’t know what to expect.

Our transition at Trinity is still ongoing – it didn’t just end because I’ve arrived. Now we’re into the part of the transition that involves us learning more deeply about each other. What change will we bring to each other’s lives and to each other’s experience of the practice of faith? The reality is, we will change each other. That’s why we’ve been called together – not to stagnate together, but to grow together.

If we’re wise, we’ll look at this season of transition as more than a season. If we’re wise, we’ll embrace this time as a road map for embracing the truth that we are being called to grow together – to always be in transition together.

I know inertia can be a powerful force, but community inertia only has as much power as we give it. I pray that we will resist it. I pray that we will commit to growing together. I pray that we will live in transition – not for a season, but as a central element of our vocation.

I look forward to discovering the ways that I will grow through you and with you.

Blessings,
Jon+

Dear Friends,

In this week’s lectionary readings, we find a conversation and ritual between God and Abram. This is a passage for which I have a deep love. We read the details: God promising Abram not just an offspring but the land of the Canaanites. What we really see is something even better. Abram, who has long arranged sacrifices in a specific way, FALLS ASLEEP waiting on God to seal the covenant between the two.

Why is that a big deal?

In the Ancient Near East, animals were slaughtered as a way to seal an oath. Two people would walk down this bloody path, and if one of them broke the oath, a curse was accepted along the lines of, “if I am to break this oath, may I become like the slaughtered animals.” Abram, waiting to walk down this path, falls asleep, and CAN’T MAKE THE PROMISE. So instead of leaving Abram and his offspring cursed and solely responsible for the future, God does the unexpected. God appears like a smoking pot and pillar of fire (two incarnations we see God as in the exodus) and goes down the path by Themself and takes responsibility for the future. This is why I love this passage. So often we read parts like this in the Old Testament and skip over the incredible history and imagery behind it. It’s a perfect example of the beauty and mystery in the poetic nature of God.

Friends, we have been on a long journey to get to where we are this week, and at times, in the silence, some of us may have felt like Abram. Accidentally falling asleep waiting for God to show up and do what God said God would, afraid of the repercussions of choosing or doing the wrong thing. And what happens when Abram falls asleep? God shows up, and God takes responsibility for Abram’s future. Even here, this is our God of hope and promise.

Trinity in two years has had three priests, and we have not ceased praying for this community because we believe in hope. We have not stopped the momentum over the past two years of what God is opening our hearts to do in this community because we believe in promise. And my friends, the Spirit has brought us home to this Sunday. We did not have a smoking pot or pillar of flames, instead, a search committee and a vestry, guided by the Spirit to this weekend. And for that, we, like Abram, give thanks to the Lord.

Grace and peace,
George

Dear Friends,

This weekend, we will usher in Daylight Savings Time at 2:00 a.m. EST on Saturday, March 9th, by “springing” our clocks ahead an hour. With it comes extended daylight hours and the anticipation of warmer weather. Spring is approaching.

Like all changes, there are challenges even when we anticipate and welcome them. We switch our external clocks an hour forward while our internal clocks lag a bit, trying to catch up. For many of us, our biorhythms take much longer to adjust to this hour shift.

Time, or the changing times, seems to have that effect on us. Whether we’re adjusting the hands of a clock or witnessing history unfolding before us, we can all agree that change is often an unsettling yet undeniable constant. Still, it endures, just as we do.

Lent is also upon us, just before our time change on Saturday. A sacred time of sacrifice, giving, and prayer. One could imagine no bigger change or uncertainty than Jesus’ experience as he walked into the desert ahead of his impending death. Alone, weary, tired, hungry, tempted, afraid, yet persisted for us and with us.

As we walk through our metaphorical clocks springing forward, watching the world in all its chaos swirl, let us be reminded of the persistence, faith, and hope of Jesus during his 40 days and nights in the desert. That the loss of an hour is no comparison to the loss of a life for us and our sins. However, we choose to sacrifice, give, or pray during this Lenten season, a time of change and a change of time, let it be knowing that we can do so with the assurance that no more tremendous sacrifice was made than that which he made for us. And he will rise, as will we. Through trials and uncertainties, chaos and hatred, he suffered, died, and was buried…but rose again. So shall we.

Karen Keune

Dear friends,

It is hard to believe that March is Saturday. After January lasting for three years, and February seeming to fly by, we look forward to the season of Lent and a time of exciting change. If, somehow, you have not heard, our new Rector Jon M. Richardson, and his husband Michael arrive on the 16th for their first Sunday. But before we get there, we have some exciting news about a new team member!

This Sunday you will see a few new faces around our humble corner of Adams and St. Clair, specifically in our nursery. I am excited to announce that Trinity has hired a new Nursery Attendant, and her name is Nichole Ramirez. Nichole is a Toledo native and is a graduate of Performing Arts School of Metro Toledo and went on to Albion College on a preforming arts scholarship.

Having worked at Children’s Discovery Center for a long time, Nichole has a lot of experience working with children from pre-school to middle school ages. She also has a little one of her own who will be here from time to time. Aside from spending all this time with children, Nichole really enjoys reading, attending live theatre, art museums, but really enjoys her time with her partner, daughter, and four cats. We are thrilled to say to Nichole and her family, WELCOME HOME!