150 Years of Welcome, Hope and Healing
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ! I hope that you and those you love have had some time during the summer months for some time of rest and re-creation.
This month we begin the celebration of Trinity’s 150th anniversary as a parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. It was on September 10, 1859 when 12 families from the Asylum Hill neighborhood petitioned the Diocese for status as a new congregation to serve the Asylum Hill neighborhood and environs. The kick-off of our anniversary observance will be THIS Sunday, September 13, when Diocesan Bishop Andrew D. Smith will be our celebrant and preacher. This will be followed with our annual Parish Picnic in the Memorial Garden and a “moon bouncer” and other activities for children in the Sigourney Street courtyard. Our celebration will extend a full 10 months, culminating in June 2010 with a visit from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as we mark the 150th anniversary of our official status as a parish in the Diocese.
From its very start, the core values of Trinity have been to seek and serve Christ in all persons, striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being – all foundational tenets of our Baptismal covenant. These values have never been just words on paper – they are embodied in the decision of our founding families to be a “free church,” where “no one is higher in right or privilege than another, this common and equal right being based on the common and equal need which each one has for divine help.”
For nearly two years, a committee of the Vestry has been planning events and presentations which highlight the many ways in which the people of Trinity Episcopal Church have developed and lived out these core values over the past 150 years. But without more, such an observance could also be an extended obituary of glories past and archived only in memory. It is because of that the committee has also been working closely with our ministry teams to assure that the thrust of our 150th anniversary celebration is a look to the future – to consider and reflect on the ways that the people of Trinity are called by God to live out those core values in the 21st century.
I invite you to join with your brothers and sisters in Christ as we enter into what I pray will be an exciting and formative time of celebration, discernment and renewed commitment for the future.
Your brother in Christ,
The Rev. Donald L. Hamer, Rector
This month we begin the celebration of Trinity’s 150th anniversary as a parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. It was on September 10, 1859 when 12 families from the Asylum Hill neighborhood petitioned the Diocese for status as a new congregation to serve the Asylum Hill neighborhood and environs. The kick-off of our anniversary observance will be THIS Sunday, September 13, when Diocesan Bishop Andrew D. Smith will be our celebrant and preacher. This will be followed with our annual Parish Picnic in the Memorial Garden and a “moon bouncer” and other activities for children in the Sigourney Street courtyard. Our celebration will extend a full 10 months, culminating in June 2010 with a visit from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as we mark the 150th anniversary of our official status as a parish in the Diocese.
From its very start, the core values of Trinity have been to seek and serve Christ in all persons, striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being – all foundational tenets of our Baptismal covenant. These values have never been just words on paper – they are embodied in the decision of our founding families to be a “free church,” where “no one is higher in right or privilege than another, this common and equal right being based on the common and equal need which each one has for divine help.”
For nearly two years, a committee of the Vestry has been planning events and presentations which highlight the many ways in which the people of Trinity Episcopal Church have developed and lived out these core values over the past 150 years. But without more, such an observance could also be an extended obituary of glories past and archived only in memory. It is because of that the committee has also been working closely with our ministry teams to assure that the thrust of our 150th anniversary celebration is a look to the future – to consider and reflect on the ways that the people of Trinity are called by God to live out those core values in the 21st century.
I invite you to join with your brothers and sisters in Christ as we enter into what I pray will be an exciting and formative time of celebration, discernment and renewed commitment for the future.
Your brother in Christ,
The Rev. Donald L. Hamer, Rector
posted by Don+ @ 10:09 AM
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