Stewardship 2020: October 27 and November 10

Dear Trinity Church and friends,

Grace and Peace and Tuesday greetings! I hope this message finds you well this fall day. As our 2020 Stewardship season nears, I write to you with a preview – focusing on details about Sundays October 27 and November 10 – of our upcoming program, which will begin on October 20, and conclude on November 24.

Continuing our “Known and Loved” theme, our Stewardship season will include worship, formation, and fellowship programming, and I first want to invite you to help us ready for October 27, an especially important day that will powerfully combine all three of these elements:

Sunday, October 27: All Souls’ Commemoration

8 a.m. • Holy Eucharist

9 a.m. • Parish Breakfast

10 a.m. • Holy Eucharist, featuring choral pieces from Duruflé’s Requiem

& the praying of the Necrology

11:15 a.m. • Day of the Dead Altar & Remembrance Circles

6 p.m. • Holy Eucharist, featuring Duruflé’s Requiem

7:30 p.m. • Day of the Dead Altar & Remembrance Circles

On this special Sunday, we will pilot a different Sunday-morning rhythm. With morning scents of bacon and coffee wafting upstairs, a hot meal will be served in the Commons and Forum until 9:45. We have scooted the early-morning service back to 8 a.m., so that its congregation can more easily join us the around café-style, round breakfast tables – we don’t want anyone to miss this rich time together! In worship, all services will commemorate All Souls’ Day with special prayers and scriptures, including choral pieces from Duruflé’s Requiem at both the 10 a.m and the 6 p.m. services.

Also at the 10 a.m. service, we will pray aloud the Necrology, a list of those who have died. In addition to those who have been buried from Trinity Church during the last year, we hope to pray the names of those family and friends that you continue to carry nearest your heart, whether they died recently, or many years ago. If you would like us to remember aloud someone you love, please email our Worship Administrator, Derby Swanson, at dswanson@trinitychurchboston.org, by the end of business on Wednesday, October 23.

Finally, all ages formation will begin at 11:15 on that day, and, in the same spaces where we will have shared breakfast, adults will regather at round tables for “Remembrance Circles” – conversations about grief, home, and our memories of those who have died and remain dear to us. We will gather for Remembrance Circles after the 6 p.m. service as well. As expressions of the memories we will bear that day, we invite the parish to share small framed pictures or mementos of those they love and see no longer – for display in our Chapel as a “Day of the Dead” remembrance altar. (Click here for instructions on how to share your mementos.)

We will return to our regular schedule on All Saints' Sunday, November 3.

Sunday, November 10: Knowing And Loving Our Neighbors

I hope you will mark your calendars for Sunday, November 10, when we will welcome the Rev. Austin K. Rios, the fifteenth Rector of Saint Paul’s Within the Walls of Rome, Italy, as our guest preacher at the 7:45, 9:00, and 11:15 services. The former Canon for Spanish-Speaking Ministries, and Vicar of La Capilla de Santa Maria in the Diocese of Western North Carolina, Austin also serves as the Executive Director of the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, Rome’s only day refugee center, which daily serves 200 guests, from West Africa and beyond.

In the same spirit of turning toward our neighbors, during the Formation hour we will celebrate the ministry of Louise Burnham Packard, who formally retired this month. During this special Sunday, she will tell us once more the TBC-Trinity Church story, and we will echo back to her our love and admiration for all she has done for us, for our parish, and for the city we serve. Readying for this glad morning, we invite everyone to share a favorite memory, photo, or message of gratitude for Louise and her leadership of Trinity Boston Connects. The first 100 submissions will be printed into one, beautiful set of cards – called an “AwesomeBox” – to be presented to Louise that morning. Sharing a memory only takes a minute and would mean a lot! Share your memory here.

Please watch for a follow-up message next Tuesday, when I will share a further good word about the exciting opportunities we will offer during the balance of our Stewardship season.

Looking forward with love,

The Rev. Morgan S. Allen

Rector