150 Years - A Living History

This Sunday when you arrive at the church you will notice two new features, both of which are related to our 150th Anniversary Celebration.

The first is the parish demographic map, which was created by parishioner Jill Barrett with the assistance of parishioner and projects coordinator, Kathie Wilson. The "map" gives a graphic representation of where Trinity parishioners live -- through virtually every town in the Greater Hartford area and beyond. It is quite a awesome sight to realize that this community of faith draws its strength from such a wide region -- truly a testimony to our mission, our ministry, and to our congregation. Thank you to Jill and Kathie for organizing and creating this map.

The second feature is immediately noticeable when one enters the Nave. Around the perimeter walls of the Nave stretches a timeline representing aspects of our parish history from the first days in 1859 to 2018, reaching for the future. The Parish outreach committee is responsible for the Sunday Adult forums in November, and as part of its observation of the 150th anniversary they have created the timeline to mark the significant outreach activities of the parish throughout its history. Parishioners are encouraged to periodically study the timeline and, if you notice some aspect of our outreach mission is missing, simply write it on a sticky note, place it on the appropriate spot on the timeline, and the calligrapher will then write the information in the appropriate spot. This is one way to continue recording a relatively complete history while those living can still help to create it. Note: The time line is designed so that up to three other parish activities can develop their own history in this timeline format. Please speak to either me or Fr. Ron if you wish to engage in writing your history on one of the remaining lines.

Sunday night promises to be a great night at Trinity with Evensong at 5 p.m., at which time several of the members of the Choir School of Hartford will receive promotions and new ribbons as part of their involvement in the Royal School of Church Music Voice for Life program. At 6 p.m., immediately following Evensong, the Trinity bell will toll 25 times for the children in Connecticut's Foster Care system who are in danger of "aging out" of adoption eligibility if they are not welcomed into a loving home. We will then have a pot luck supper followed by a wonderful speaker, Bill Faude, who will speak about life in Hartford around the time Trinity was first established. It promises to be a wonderful evening. Many thanks to Sara Carson who helped to organize the event and arranged for Bill to speak.

Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+

Trinity Celebrates A Sunday of Healing

Sunday October 25 was a "healing Sunday" at Trinity. Both services featured a Litany of Healing, special healing prayers, hymns that recall in their lyrics God's healing power, and opportunities for laying on of hands, anointing and praying intercessory healing prayer with individual prayer teams in the Nave. This is the third in a series of quarterly healing services planned by Trinity's fledgling healing ministry, now approaching its one-year anniversary. Sunday's Gospel story of Blind Bartimaeus, his unlikely meeting with Jesus and his restoration to sight is a reminder that all of us have a need for physical, emotional and spiritual healing, and that it is a type of "spiritual blindness" that acts as a barrier to our recognition of that need.

If you believe you may be called to a ministry of healing and would like to explore that call, I invite you to be in contact with either Mother Barbara or Deacon Pat for further information. This ministry is one of many ways in which together we can make our congregation a House of Healing.

Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+

Diocese of Connecticut Makes History

The 225th convention of the Diocese of Connecticut made history today when it elected the Rev. Dr. Ian T. Douglas as the 15th Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut. Election came on the second ballot. The history-making came in the fact that Connecticut has never before elected a bishop who was not from the Diocese of Connecticut. Bishop-elect Douglas has been on the faculty of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge and canonically resident in the diocese of Massachusetts.

During these next months our Diocese will enter into a transition period, with Bishop Andrew D. Smith retiring as of the end of January 2010. Bishop-elect Douglas is scheduled to be consecrated as the 15th Bishop on April 17, 2010 at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. Prior to that, a majority of the standing committees in all dioceses of The Episcopal Church must approve his election.

Please give thanks for all four of the fine candidates who offered themselves for election. Please pray for them as they discern their next steps in God's service. Please pray for Drew and Kate Smith as they enter into this transition period and discern their next steps in their family and in their ministry. Please pray for our new bishop and for our diocese.

A full report on Diocesan Convention will be offered on Sunday morning between the services and following the 10 a.m. service in the Sunday Symposium in the Library.

Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+

Your Worship or Your Health: Part III

This is the third in a three-part series in which I reflect on public health issues arising out of our corporate worship. This segment is concerned with Holy Communion:

With respect to communion, debate rages over several options:
 whether it is safer for people to drink from the chalice (counterpoint: they spread the disease with their lips);
 to intinct the consecrated bread into the chalice (counterpoint: now you have multiple fingers in the cup rather than multiple lips); or
 whether the priest should intinct the consecrated bread in the chalice and lay it on the tongue of the communicant (counterpoint: now you have the priest’s fingers touching multiple tongues, confounding the partisans of the first two approaches).
 Several churches I know of have gone to wiping the chalice with a vodka-soaked cloth – not appropriate for Trinity as a church where we actually offer consecrated grape juice for those who cannot or choose not to consume alcohol.

Welcome to my world. With considerable reflection and prayer, and in consultation with others, I have thought it wiser to re-frame the question: Instead of asking,“How do we change what we are doing to minimize risks of the flu?” I have considered the question, “How can we continue to provide a worship environment in which the members of our congregation and our guests can at the same time freely worship God and feel safe?”

With this question in mind, I have concluded that the following approach is the simplest, most prudent, most effective and the most faithful for this congregation with respect to Holy Communion:

Perhaps the most helpful information here is a reminder of one of the fundamental principles of our theology of the Eucharist: That reception of communion under either species alone (bread or wine/juice, Body or Blood) is full and sufficient participation in the entire sacrament. In other words, one receives the full grace and blessing of the Eucharist by receiving only the consecrated bread. The Roman Catholics administered communion this way for centuries. So, rather than entering into ultimately unsatisfying suggestions about how we might modify our procedure for administering the chalice, we will leave it up to each person to follow the practice that they think is best for them. If you are concerned about the possibility of contracting either flu virus by participating in the common cup, my suggestion is that you refrain from the common cup until such time as you are comfortable resuming the practice. After you have received the consecrated bread, simply return to your seat without waiting for the Eucharistic Minister. At the same time, everyone else will be free to continue to receive communion in the manner in which they customarily receive it.

Some further considerations:

If you think you have the flu or a flu-like virus, public health departments suggest that you stay at home. The spread of flu may be decreased if people with flu-like illness stay home for at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (considered 100.9°) without the use of fever-reducing medications.

If you are at high risk of contracting the flu or of medical complications from the flu, consider the risks of attending any gatherings – at church or otherwise – where you will have increased exposure if there is widespread flu in our community.

I hope that you find this review helpful, and that you will continue to feel comfortable worshipping with our community in a manner that is both uplifting and safe within the limits of public worship. Please feel free to call me with any questions or concerns.

Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+

The African Children's Choir Comes to Trinity

I am taking a one-day break from talking about public health issues in worship to talk about what an extraordinary day yesterday was at Trinity. Starting on the eve (in the best Judaeo-Christian tradition), on Tuesday night the African Children's Choir arrived at Trinity and met their host families. Thirteen girls and 10 boys between the ages of 8 and 11, along with their chaperones, spread out across the greater Hartford area for the evening. Meanwhile, Hyacinth Miller and her Loaves and Fishes crew were hard at work preparing the lunch for 150 or so people that was served today at Loaves and Fishes Ministries on Woodland Street.

Yesterday morning the children and their chaperones (some of whom double as teachers) arrived at Trinity after having breakfast with their host families for a day of rehearsals and study. (Yesterday was a math day where some of the children learned about Roman numerals and others learned about "expanding numbers" -- apparently a new math concept that is well beyond my abilities to fathom!). Before we blessed the food at dinner time (dinner prepared by the families of our Choir School), the children were more than eager to share with me what they had learned today.

But the best was yet to come. In an 80-minute concert that could alternately provoke tears and shouts of joy, the children sang and danced their way through stories of faith and hope. Members of the Choir School of Hartford, based at Trinity, served as hosts for the event and did a marvelous job. In addition to the free-will offering that was taken up at the concert, the Choir School members have decided to enter into a relationship with the African Children's Choir by tithing the proceeds of their recent tag sale to assist in the development of the new choir school for the African Children's Choir back in Uganda. Great leadership by example!

This morning the children will be departing for their next venue in Groton, CT. If you wish to make a donation to the African Children's Choir, or if you want to be a sponsor, you can go online to africanchildrenschoir.org -- we will try to post a link on our website in the next few days.

Tomorrow: Your Worship or Your Health! Part III. Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+

Your Worship or Your Health - Part 2

Yesterday I introduced the background to the considerations about how, if at all, to modify our worship practices in light of concerns about the seasonal flu and the newer threat from the H1N1 virus. Today we consider the practice of exchanging the peace of Christ with one another after the liturgy of the Word and just bvefore the Offertory.

With respect to the peace, the question becomes: What benign social custom can we substitute for handshakes, kisses and hugs? The first two involve the aforementioned hands and mouths, and the latter involves close personal contact.

Welcome to my world. With considerable reflection and prayer, and in consultation with others, I have thought it wiser to reframe the question from “How do we change what we are doing to minimize risks of the flu?” to “How can we continue to provide a worship environment in which the members of our congregation and our guests can at the same time freely worship God and feel safe?”
With this question in mind, I have concluded that the following guidelines are the most prudent and the most faithful for this congregation:

The Peace. At least twice a year, and on other occasions as well, we at Trinity are accustomed to welcoming members of other faiths for whom it is improper for a person of one sex to touch a non-family member from the opposite sex. Our practice at these times is that if the person you are about to greet does not offer to reach out to touch you, you should not reach out to touch them. In this circumstance, a simple folding of the hands and a bow, a smile and a “The Lord’s Peace be with you” or some similar non-contact greeting will do just fine. Some have suggested fist bumps. It has also been suggested that a simple hug may be the most hygienic in that the hands only touch the other person’s clothing. Or if some people want to continue to embrace, that is up to them.

So, to summarize, two rules of thumb: Follow the other person’s lead, and then do what seems appropriate for the two of you. It may be awkward for a couple of weeks, but remember that we start from the premise that we are there as brothers and sisters in Christ, worshipping in love.

Tomorrow we will take a look at practices around communion at the Lord's table.

Don't Forget: TONIGHT: THE AFRICAN CHILDREN'S CHOIR, BENEFIT PERFORMANCE. NO ADMISSION CHARGE - FREE WILL OFFERING TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE VOICE FOR LIFE PROGRAM WITH THE AFRICAN CHILDREN'S CHOIR.

Have a blessed day. Your brother in Christ, Don+

Your Worship or Your Health? Part I

Fellowship, Communion and Viruses:
Considering Our Worship and Our Health

One cannot avoid hearing or reading about the concerns over both the seasonal flu and the much-heralded H1N1 virus (which has nothing to do with pigs.) I have received a host of advice about how the church should respond, via e-mails and journals, in the daily news, and in discussions at deanery meetings and clergy days with the diocese. I have drawn four conclusions from all of this input:

1) It is not clear which is filthier – our hands or our mouths;

2) We minimize the risk of spreading disease if we wash our hands for at least 20 seconds (the time it takes to hum Happy Birthday twice) frequently, or use an alcohol-based sanitizer;

3) We minimize the risk of spreading disease if we sneeze or cough into a handkerchief or our sleeve at the elbow; and

4) Having done #2 and #3, and short of sealing our houses with plastic wrap and staying inside (as one local resident did a few years ago), there is not much else we can do.

At the same time, many organizations – especially schools and communities of faith – are struggling with the question of how to modify institutional practices to minimize the risk of spreading the flu. The main question at Trinity comes up in the context of worship, specifically during the exchange of the peace and at communion. The usual proposed solutions are commonly an ecclesiastical version of the quintessential hold-up line: "Your Money or Your Life!" Posed by churches, it comes to: "Your Worship or Your Health!"

Tomorrow I will continue this discussion with the exchange of the peace during worship.

And don't forget -- the African Children's Choir comes to Trinity Church on Wednesday evening for a 7 p.m. concert -- don't miss it! There is no charge for admission, but a free-will offering will be taken to support the work of the African Children's Choir School in Uganda.

Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+

Traditions of Christian Education

Sunday morning we had a fascinating and entertaining discussion at the Sunday Symposium about the experience of some of our members in religious education classes outside of the United States. The discussion was part of our 150th Anniversary celebration's look at educational models during this month of October. Clement and Ifeoma Mogor shared their experiences from Nigeria; Hyacinth Miller shared her formative Christian experiences from her home country of Guyana in South America; and Fred Bohlen shared his experiences from Liberia. From the audience, Robin D'Oyen and Deacon Pat Jackson, both from Jamaica, offered their own experiences.

Those in attendance got to know the panelists much better, but also were able to piece together some common threads:
1. The importance of early formative experiences in the church.
2. The importance of the ties between family, church and school, with each complementing and reinforcing what is learned in the other.
3. The importance of family sabbath time, in which family time is sacred and nothing else is scheduled.

Many thanks to Elaine Coffin and the Adult Christian Formation team in organizing this informative and enjoyable morning, and many thanks to our panelists!

Tomorrow: Fellowship, Communion and Viruses: Part I of III

Have a blessed day. Your brother in Christ, Don+

Exploring Other Faiths -- And Urban Ministry

Last night at Trinity we had the first of a series of 5 explorations of Christianity and other faiths. We started with a delicious soup supper consisting of a hearty, homemade soup provided by John Hinkston. This was followed by a video presentation hosted by Bill Moyers and featuring Huston Smith in which the two of them engage in a fascinating discussion comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity. Following the video, those attending joined in a discussion led by Trinity (college) professor and Trinity (church)Priest Associate Frank Kirkpatrick and his wife, Liz, a librarian and media specialist.The twenty or so people in attendance enjoyed a great meal, a stimulating video and engaging discussion.

There will be no session next Wednesday as we take a break to enjoy THE AFRICAN CHILDREN'S CHOIR, which will be in residence at Trinity mid-week. But picking up on Wednesday, October 28 and the three following Wednesdays, we will explore the common ground between Judaism and Christianity and Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and the Baha'i faith. Please call the church office if you plan to attend so we know how many to plan on for dinner.

* * * *

Today, Fr. Ron, Mother Barbara and I travel to New Haven to attend the third gathering of a newly-organized group of clergy serving urban parishes. We are meeting to come up with ways in which we can develop strategies to better serve our urban and metropolitan communities, and make urban ministry a more viable part of our diocesan mission.It is an exciting opportunity to think outside the box and revision some ministries that are struggling in tough economic times.

Have a blessed day! Your brother in Christ, Don+