TIDINGS Trinity’s Mission: Acting in God’s love, Trinity Episcopal Church welcomes everyone to enthusiastically live the Christian faith. We call our members to worship and prayer, lifelong education, spiritual growth, cheerful giving, and active ministry with our community. All members serve as witnesses to Jesus Christ.
Vol. XXV No. 9 September 2016
Visioning, Re-Visioning and Variety by The Reverend Kit McLean, Associate Rector
Inside this Issue Stewardship page 2 Christian Formation page 3 Children, Youth and Family Ministries page 4 Young Adults page 5 Mission and Outreach page 5 Trinity Connections pages 6, 7
Visioning, re-visioning (otherwise known as change!) and variety will characterize our Christian Formation opportunities for 2016-2017. As we experience this liminal time as a parish family, our formation priorities are going to center around worship, prayer and listening. Listening to and for God and to and with each other is a vital part of any transition but particularly a transition as significant as a search for a new rector. Our hope is to provide time and space for this to occur alongside more strictly informational sessions. The Reverend Michael Carlisle will be teaching a class entitled, “What We Do and Why We Do It,” on three Sundays in September and October to help us understand more about how our search process is structured, how our church polity functions and why we do what we do in worship. Some changes are being made to our Wednesday night offerings. Beginning on Wednesday, September 14, our celebration of Holy Eucharist will resume at 5:30 pm. However, the liturgy will take place in the chapel and will include the liturgy known as “A Public Service of Healing.” Much of Jesus’ ministry and the ministry he passed on to his disciples involved healing of all kinds. With so much divisiveness and polarity in our world, hope and healing can seem very distant. As followers of Jesus, we are all called to work toward reconciliation and wholeness everywhere, but particularly within the Body of Christ. The sacrament of anointing and prayers for healing is available to anyone who desires healing support for themselves or for others for physical, emotional and spiritual needs, including healing of relationships and memories and freedom from addictions. Confidentiality is strictly observed, and participants may come forward in silence or with a specific request or not at all. If you have never participated in a healing service, I think you will be surprised at how powerful and peaceful it can be. Please note that the 10:30 am Thursday healing service will continue as usual. There will be no dinner or program on Wednesday evenings until October. During October, the Search Committee will hold several “Listening Sessions” on Sundays and Wednesdays (see box on page 2). Please make every effort to attend one of these. An online survey will be sent out as well, and your thoughtful and prayerful response and participation both online and in person is appreciated and needed. These meetings and the survey will provide valuable feedback that the Search Committee will use to create our parish profile. Our profile will outline Trinity’s history, mission, goals, hopes and dreams and the qualities we seek in our next rector. Discipleship, stewardship, Anglican identity and what the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, the Most Reverend Michael Curry, speaks of as the “Jesus Movement” will be topics of programming and classes later in the year.