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For the first half of 2021, the pandemic precluded in-person meetings for adult education. Using the facilities of “Sunday at Home”, Paul Dietrich provided a virtual five-week Lenten series: “Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death, a production originally done for PBS. To be human is to wrestle with this truth and with the great unanswered question: How do we live with death in our eye? This documentary series featured fascinating, unexpected voices from various walks of life: old and young, believers and nonbelievers, the dying and the healthy, well known and obscure. “Into the Night” created a safe smart place that allowed people to talk about a subject of universal importance. As restriction lifted, more inperson adult education offerings were available. Parishioners Elizabeth Thomas, Alix Coolidge and Laurie Volk spearheaded a four-week Sunday evening session on “Faith, Race and Justice.” This is Trinity’s response to Bishop Curry’s call for the Episcopal Church in America to prioritize the ministry of reconciliation. The national office, as well as the Diocese of Virginia, has resources for undertaking the work of reconciliation as “the spiritual practice of seeking loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God and one another, and striving to heal and transform injustice and
brokenness in ourselves, our communities, institutions, and society.” With the Vestry’s leadership, Trinity seeks to participate in this calling by offering opportunities to learn and to practice the way to racial reconciliation. We at Trinity started with a series of four Sunday night programs, viewing segments of “The Black Church,” a PBS special developed and hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. We met in Cox Hall for a simple supper, followed by an hour for the video and discussion. An effort was made to introduce various sensory elements of the black experience as well. We offered cookies made from an African American Church Ladies cookbook, music by Mahalia Jackson, and a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a good time. Everyone learned from the presentations and from each other. We hope to keep the momentum going in 2022 . We are already in conversation with the newly appointed Diocesan Missioner for Racial Justice and Healing. We welcome adult and teen members of our Parish to join us in thinking about ideas for new programs. There is much to learn and much to do. Please be in touch with questions and suggestions. Sunday Morning in-person sessions were also offered in the Fall. Parishioner Paul Coyer lead a discussion “On the Crossroads of 31
“This is Trinity’s response to Bishop Curry’s call for the Episcopal Church in America to prioritize the ministry of reconciliation”.
