Regathering Updates

Dear parish family,

 

Though we have enjoyed our creative connections during the pandemic, we are ready – so ready! – to regather in person and be that vital Trinity Church community God calls us to be. Like many, then, we rejoiced at last week’s update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Just as our state and civic officials are now considering their responses to the guidance, so, too, are our Diocese of Massachusetts and your parish leadership proactively discerning the same.

 

We recognize that our coming together as a church community – a large, complex, and broadly inclusive congregation located in a tourist and city center, drawing worshippers from all over Eastern Mass (and, in summertime especially, from all over the world) – presents peculiar challenges and opportunities. Therefore, as we carefully consider the science, mind the social data, and hold fast our plans to return in-person on Sunday, September 12, our strategies and timelines will necessarily be different than those of our local Costco or favorite pizza parlor. Our Regathering Task Force has called a meeting for tomorrow to touch base about the new guidance, in advance of our regular meeting next Wednesday, May 26. The Task Force will then present to the Vestry at its June meeting, and will be in touch with the whole parish soon thereafter.

 

Importantly, we are eager to hear of your hopes, anxieties, and readiness for our regathering. To that good end, we will launch a short survey this Thursday, May 20. We ask each member of your household 16 and older to complete the simple questionnaire by Sunday, May 30.

 

In the meantime, we can now announce the glad return of our “Prayer on the Square” outdoor worship, beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday, June 6! An in-person, morning liturgy hosted from the West Porch of Trinity Church and facing Copley Square, we will first complete the rotation of parish subsets (divided alphabetically by last name) that we began last fall:

 

. June 6: K-R

. June 13: S-Z

 

Pandemic conditions allowing, any and all can join us on the Square every week beginning Sunday, June 20 (noting that our 9:45 a.m. “Worship from Home” liturgies will also continue throughout summer).

 

We are pleased to report that our broader procession back to Copley Square continues apace, as well, following the steps we named earlier this spring. Last week, we concluded our Easter-season “Touching Home” and home-Communion pilgrimages, with scarcely an appointment left open. We give thanks to everyone who made this program possible, offering special gratitude to our Visitor Services team and to the many members of the parish who participated.

 

Moreover, we have now celebrated our first in-person marriage rite since the pandemic began, and this Saturday of Pentecost weekend – come, Holy Spirit, come! – we will host our first baptism since last year. These small-group pastoral liturgies will continue during weekends through late June. All the while, we continue to schedule baptisms, weddings, and funerals for the fall, when we pray constraints will be fewer. If you have a service you hope to schedule, we invite you to be in touch with Alison Poor apoor@trinitychurchboston.org .

 

Finally, from the last week of June, to the first week of August, our collective attention will turn more exclusively to Trinity Boston Connects’ TEEP (“Trinity Education for Excellence Program”). TEEP annually serves 120-150 seventh-twelfth grade youth of color in Boston with a values-based enrichment curriculum focused on personal and community growth. Along with the Trinity Boston Counseling Center, TEEP began as a ministry of our parish, and we host its centerpiece, summer program in our Copley Square spaces.

 

The joy and energy of these July weeks of TEEP make not only our hearts, but our very buildings sing! This will be the first program TBC has hosted in-person since the pandemic began, and we are absolutely committed to doing our part to ensure its best success within the necessary precautions. That commitment will require the full attention of our facilities and interconnected staff teams, and we ask for your prayers as we welcome the TEEP community back home.

 

As always, we give thanks to God for the many blessings of our parish family. While our coordination continues, we ask for your grace, patience, and understanding. You can trust that we have set our whole hearts to this joyful labor of our safe regathering, and, with the Holy Spirit’s stirring and sustenance, we trust that we will be together soon.

 

Looking forward to being with you,

 

Dr. Niven R. Narain

Co-Chair Regathering Task Force

 

The Rev. Morgan S. Allen

Rector