Stewardship 2021: Week 4

Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice;*

            let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication

 

If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, *

            O Lord, who could stand?

 

For there is forgiveness with you;

            therefore you shall be feared.

 

I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him;

            in his word is my hope.

 

My soul waits for the Lord,

            more than watchmen for the morning,*

            more than watchmen for the morning.

 

O Israel, wait for the Lord,

            for with the Lord there is mercy;

 

With him there is plenteous redemption,*

            and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

 

(We will pray Psalm 130 during this Sunday’s All Souls’ commemoration)

 

 

Dear Trinity Church and friends,

 

Grace and Peace to you from God in Christ.

 

After “waiting for the Lord” for what seems so, so long, we greet this early Wednesday still in the depths … still with the watchmen. This morning we realize that our turn on the late shift has not ended as we hoped, and our waiting persists. We look for signs. We search for strength.

 

Take heart, parish family, for you do not wait alone. We wait with one another … wall clocks ticking, vote counts inching … and we wait in the company of God. God who was with us last week and last night – the God of every tomorrow – is the God with us today.

 

Seeking the deep comfort of this good company, I invite you to consider the consequential, practical steps you can take in prayer and presence with your Trinity Church community:

 

 

I invite you to join – or rejoin – the continuing Vigil for Our National Life.  Beginning last Sunday at 8 p.m, we covenanted 89 hours of prayer to surround Election Day. Though we received commitments for every hour, we have reopened registration for five slots/hour, for the final 25 hours, beginning this morning at 10 a.m, and running through the last hour at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Whether or not you feel called to commit an hour in this way, please find here the prayer materials we assembled for the Vigil, which we hope may be a resource to you today and during the days ahead.

 

At 12:00pm tomorrow (Thursday, November 5), I invite you to join the Service of Noonday Prayer, which will conclude our Vigil. Gathering via Zoom, this spacious liturgy intends to make room for the meeting of God’s Spirit and our hearts during these days. Come as you are, bring what you bring, feel as you feel, and let us trust that God will greet us.

 

On Sunday, I invite you to join us for our All Souls Communion From Home this Sunday (November 8) at 9:45am. Gathering via Zoom as we did last Sunday, we will begin our prayers by lighting the simple tealight candles we received in our Home For Faith Kits. For some, lighting this memorial candle will create a sacred space and mark a Communion setting, while, for others, the candle will light an “Altar of Remembrance” – a bookshelf, a dining table, or garden adorned with photographs and keepsakes of those who have died that members of our parish are remembering.

 

For months now, our choirs have stretched every bound of these days’ technology to lead our All Souls prayers with the singing of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem.  Adding to the power of this music, we will pray a visual necrology during the Requiem, threading photographs of those you are remembering on this occasion. If you would like to include in our worship a photo of your Altar of Remembrance or of those personal friends and family who have died, we invite you to share 3-5 photographs (one photo of each person) by clicking here.  So that we can ready the liturgy, we ask that you submit these photographs by this afternoon (Wednesday, November 4).

 

We will share Communion From Home to mark All Souls. Having learned from last weekend’s disappointing technology failures, we believe we have created a sturdy, promising, live worship experience. For those who were not able to participate last week, or who have bread and wine remaining from your Kit, we invite you to join with those elements.  For those who may have consumed all of the consecrated bread and wine, we hope that you will join us in the spirit of our “Table Prayer” liturgies from last spring and summer, and share your morning table with us.

 

Before worship begins, we invite everyone to set a table wherever you are: a simple covering (on the church altar, a “corporal”); a plain plate for the bread wafers (a “paten”); and a plain glass for the wine (a “chalice”).  After praying an amended Eucharistic Prayer A from our Book of Common Prayer, we will announce the familiar Invitation: “The gifts of God, for the people of God.”  We will then – from our many and varied “home chapels” and settings – consume the bread and wine, saying in turn, “The body of Christ, the bread of heaven;” and “The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.”

 

Despite the technology trouble, seeing everyone via Zoom make their Communion together was incredibly powerful last Sunday. Whether with one’s morning table or the consecrated bread and wine, we believe this Sunday’s experience will be all the more moving given the richness of the All Souls' liturgy and prayerfully anticipated audio-visual cooperation.

 

Finally, please find our Stewardship updates below this letter. Especially in the heaviness of all these days, I am giving thanks to God for the privilege and responsibility of sharing with you our Home For Faith at Trinity.

 

Waiting for the Lord,

 

The Rev. Morgan S. Allen

Rector

 

MAKE YOUR 2021 PLEGE HERE.

 

Last Sunday’s Sermon

For Week 3 of our Stewardship season, Morgan related The Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Have Died” to Jesus’ declaration of defiance in the Gospel of Matthew’s Beatitudes.  “Standing on the brink of whatever happens next,” we hope you will take heart in this message, which, has video and clear audio, as well as the text of the sermon.

 

 

Last Sunday’s Testimonial

We also welcomed to our worship Cindy and Bill Mackey, who shared their long and meaningful faith home at Trinity.  Making a difference “from generation to generation,” don’t miss the Mackeys’ inspiring reflection.

 

 

Share your love and make your pledge!

For those new to the idea of “Stewardship,” during this season at Trinity, we invite the people of our congregation to make a financial commitment for the upcoming year. We call that commitment a “pledge,” and our pledge is a promise that we will make a priority of our relationship with God. Our pledge partners us in the reconciling, saving work into which God commissioned the Church. Our pledge grafts us into a movement greater than ourselves, an undertaking greater than what any one of us could accomplish alone. Our faithful pledge confirms our share in every ministry of this remarkable congregation.

 

We invite you to make your pledge as soon as you are ready.  We welcome you to make your pledge here on the secure page of our website at any time, or to mail your hardcopy pledge in the church-addressed envelope you will receive in your Kit.

 

 

Share Your Spire!

As a sign that you have made your pledge, we invite you to assemble the paper spire included in your Home For Faith Kit and to share your creation – and your love – with your whole parish family. Responding to the simple prompt, “Trinity Church Is My Home For …” we hope you will decorate your spire with words, drawings, or collaged images expressing how Trinity Church is a home for you.  As your spire signals your love and commitment, please take a photo or two and send them to our Communications team by clicking here. We will then share our parish spires via the website, by email, and on social media.

 

Prayer On The Square – Suspended by Governor’s Advisories

With a recent rise in Massachusetts’ coronavirus cases, Governor Baker has limited outdoor gatherings to 25 or fewer. With sadness, then, we are suspending our in-person services at this time. When the state advisory changes, we will pick up with the remaining cohorts, in the order we had planned: last names beginning K-O; then P-S; and then T-Z.