Come, Holy Spirit

Dear friends,

As we approach the feast of Pentecost this Sunday, I’m reminded of one of my favorite vignettes in Anglican history, the 1739 conversations between Bishop Joseph Butler and a young priest named John Wesley. Wesley, with his revivalist outdoor preaching, was accused of spreading “enthusiasm” among the people. Bishop Butler told Wesley, “Sir, the pretending to extraordinary revelations and gifts of the Holy Ghost is a horrid thing, a very horrid thing.” Wesley responded, “I pretend to no extraordinary revelations, or gifts of the Holy Ghost: none but what every Christian may receive, and ought to expect and pray for.”

Having attended a Methodist seminary, I confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for John Wesley. In a time when the predominant strain of Anglicanism was heady and philosophical, Wesley called the church to be attentive to the real, powerful work of the Holy Spirit today, not just in history. He reminds Anglicans, and indeed all Christians, that the Holy Spirit is alive and active, changing hearts and transforming minds.

Edgardo Colon-Emeric, Duke’s current Dean of the Divinity School, writes,

When John Wesley first stepped out of the walls of the church in order to reach people working in fields, mines and markets, he preached from the passage from Jesus’ inaugural sermon: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). This textual choice was not free from controversy. The 18th century dismissed those who talked about the ongoing work of the Spirit as ignorant and irresponsible. 

Against the theological currents of his day, John Wesley refused to limit the Spirit’s presence and power to the age of the apostles or the institutions of the church. The rise of Methodism was for him proof that the power of Pentecost was still at work in the world. The Spirit was still active in history, particularly among the marginalized.

According to Scripture, the love of God is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (cf. Romans 5:5). For Wesley, the social dimension of this love is made visible through works of mercy. Pentecost’s power is at work when we feed the hungry, visit the sick and welcome the stranger. It is also at work when we call sinners to repentance and encourage Christians in the way to holiness.

As we look to Pentecost this Sunday, I invite you to pray with me that perilously life-giving prayer: Come, Holy Spirit. I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to enliven and empower our parish for ministry, and set us on fire with love for the God who has given us this Good News to proclaim. 

Yours in Christ,

God Speaks in the Silences

Last week, I had the pleasure of going with a group of folks from Trinity Church to Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY, for two and a half days of prayer and renewal. On the second day, our Trinity group gathered for Bible study to discuss this passage:

1 Kings 19:4-16
[Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.* When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

*In other translations, this is “a still, small voice.”

I chose this text because of the important role that silence plays in the life of the community at Holy Cross. The monks (and their guests) observe the Great Silence each night from about 8 PM to 8 AM, when no talking is allowed at all. At noonday prayer, 10 minutes of silent prayer are included in the liturgy – something I struggled with mightily! The most striking experience for me, however, was singing the Psalms at each service. 

As someone who prays the Daily Office every day, the Psalms are a significant part of my prayer life. If you look at the Prayer Book, or at the bulletin next Sunday, you’ll see an asterisk at the halfway point of each verse. In monastic communities, it’s a common practice to pause at the asterisk for around 3 to 5 seconds before continuing to the next part of the verse. Every time we paused at the asterisk, something anxious within me wanted to leap forward, to continue speaking, to fill the silence with words. But as we read in 1 Kings, God speaks to us in the silences, in the pauses, in the times in-between. 

We live in a time of anxiety, when our culture surrounds us with noise 24/7. But beyond that, it’s hard to stay silent - to listen for the still, small voice - when stillness means being present to our own thoughts as well as to God. The temptation to flee towards distraction is always there. This summer, as we pause to remember, reflect, renew, and dream a future for Trinity Church, I pray that we will always be ready to hear God’s voice, speaking to us in the silences of our lives. 

Yours faithfully in Christ,

The Rev. Canon Dr. Kara Slade

Associate Rector 

PS We have another retreat scheduled for November 22-24 (the weekend before Thanksgiving). Mark your calendars and join us if you can!

The Faith of Thomas

Last Sunday we heard the story of Thomas’ encounter with the risen Jesus. Recall that back in John 11, Thomas was ready to follow Jesus back to Judea and into danger. “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” he says. Thomas is ready to run towards death, but in his meeting with Jesus in that fateful room after the resurrection, he needs to hear an invitation to new life. He needs to hear the word of peace for himself, and not second hand. 

We know all too much about death. We know all too much about preparing for the worst. But it can be a terrifying thing to trust that things might just work out better than we expected. It can be a terrifying thing to believe that in Jesus, it actually can’t work out any better than we trust it will. 

Thomas responds to that invitation to life with worship: “My Lord and my God!” Thomas ascribes to Jesus the name that is also the name of the God of Israel, making a bold confession of Jesus’ divinity. Only God can bring that kind of life, hope, and peace, and Thomas would be so compelled by it that he would become the messenger of the Gospel far outside the Roman Empire - as tradition has it, as the apostle to the people of India and south Asia. 

In each of our lives, we find there are times when we struggle to trust that Jesus is there, alive and active. Yet we still believe for each other until we can see and trust again. That’s one reason that we say the creed on Sunday: we believe – and we believe together. 

In the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter, Jesus says “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” This is how we come to faith, 2000 years after the risen Jesus met his disciples. At the same time, we do have the chance to see, to touch, to taste Jesus. We have that chance to encounter him face to face at the altar, every time we come to Trinity Church where Jesus shows up in word and in sacrament. He shows up because he promised to do so, and because he is faithful to the promise. Every time we come to church, Jesus invites us once again to hear the word of life and peace, to feel the breath of the Holy Spirit, and in response to exclaim in worship – “my Lord and my God.”

All In

In my office there’s a little sign that says, 

O priest of God,

say this Mass 

as if it were your first Mass,

your last Mass,

your only Mass. 

That little saying is a traditional reminder to priests about the dangers of complacency. Sometimes, if we aren’t careful, we can take for granted what we do each time we encounter Jesus Christ in the Sacraments – and especially each time we receive Him in the Eucharist. Sometimes, if we aren’t careful, we can start to take the Church for granted. 

Four years ago this week, Bishop Stokes sent out a message closing our churches for public worship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That Holy Week was one of the lowest points for me, personally, in my 10 years of ordained ministry. There’s nothing I love more than walking with the parish through those momentous days of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. During those days in 2020 when we proclaimed that Christ’s death and resurrection are still conclusively, unalterably true, I resolved anew never to take this time of year for granted. I resolved to live each moment of Holy Week as if it were the first time, the last time, the only time, I would be able to observe those liturgies and share the Good News of Christ’s resurrection. I resolved to be “all in,” all the time, every time. 

Holy Week is coming soon, and we have so much to celebrate here at Trinity Church. Our attendance continues to rebound to almost pre-COVID levels, such that our current average Sunday attendance puts us in the top 2% of Episcopal churches nationwide. Our stewardship campaign was a smashing success. There is a wonderful spirit in the parish, with so many people joining us for the first time, getting involved, or deepening their involvement in our many ministries. These, too, are gifts we can never take for granted. 

This year, I encourage you to join us for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday. I especially encourage you to come to this year’s Easter Vigil as we welcome Bishop Sally French as our celebrant and preacher. 

I’m “all in.” Are you? 

In Christ,

Kara

20's-30s and Oregon Trailblazers: Help out with Lent dinner!

Our fellowship groups will be providing two of the Lent dinners for the Wednesday evening programs. We invite you to help out the parish and spend some time with old friends and new! 

If you're part of the Oregon Trailblazers ('vaguely middle-aged people'), or would like to be, we'll be doing the dinner on March 6th. Sign up here to contribute soup (including vegan and gluten-free options), salad, or bread:

https://forms.gle/3yjR5Lc9pEPfSMzaA

20's-30's Fellowship will be providing dinner on March 13th. Sign up here if you can help out! We need soup, salad, and bread, including vegan and gluten-free soup. 

https://forms.gle/NgnuMJTEAY4PvaMVA

Exploring Our Anglican Heritage: A Pilgrimage from Canterbury to York

Information Session Sunday, February 25th after the 10:30 service

Over the course of my life, I have been blessed by the time I’ve spent on pilgrimages in England, learning and worshiping in the cradle of our Anglican tradition. This time, I invite you to come with me – and with our Trinity Church family.
After flying from Newark to London, we’ll travel to Canterbury, where we will stay at the Canterbury Lodge within the Cathedral precincts. We will spend a day at Little Gidding, one of my favorite places in the world and the birthplace of post-Reformation Anglican monasticism. It’s also closely associated with the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, of which I’m a Priest Companion. We’ll then make the short trip to Cambridge and visit the collections of the Parker Library in the company of the Rev. Dr. Andrew Davison, followed by a journey east to Norwich before heading north to Lincoln, York, and Durham.
Throughout the trip, we will spend time in prayer, observing the Daily Office and celebrating the Eucharist. I’ll guide the spiritual aspects of the pilgrimage, and at each stop we will have the help of local guides who know the history and architecture of each cathedral. 
We have been planning this pilgrimage for a long time, and I hope that you’ll join me in what promises to be a wonderful, Christ-centered journey. You can learn more about the pilgrimage here:

https://lightlinena.com/pilgrimage/exploring-our-anglican-heritage-a-pilgrimage-from-canterbury-to-york/
Yours faithfully in Christ,
Kara

We Announce...

In the early Church, one job of the bishop was to calculate the date of Easter each year and transmit that information to every priest. It’s one duty that Bishop French is happily freed from, although she might prefer that to processing the pile of email she receives every day! Because written calendars were rare, and because few laypeople could read, the priest would in turn announce the date of Easter to the congregation. The Noveritis (Latin for “we announce”) was chanted at the Eucharist on the feast of the Epiphany. It was an appropriate time to do this, as the liturgical calendar moved from seasons governed by the fixed date of Christmas to seasons governed by the movable date of Easter.

At our Epiphany service (5 PM this Saturday), I will read the Noveritis for 2024 and announce the date of Easter to the people of Trinity Church. Why do this in an age where we have calendars on our phones as well as on our walls? Besides than the fact that I think ancient practices like this are fun, it’s above all a reminder of how central the Resurrection is to our life as a Church. Every year revolves around Easter, and every Sunday is a feast of the Resurrection of our Lord. We live our lives as Christians illumined by the light of Christ that is kindled every Easter.

I hope to see you on Saturday evening! Not only will you find out when Easter is happening, you will also hear some wonderful music from the choir - and you can take home some chalk to bless the door of your house. But in case you can’t make it, here is this year’s text:

Epiphany Proclamation 2024

Dear friends, the glory of the Lord has shone upon us, and shall ever be manifest among us, until the day of his return. Through the rhythms of times and seasons let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.
Let us recall the year’s culmination, the Easter Triduum of the Lord: his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial, and his rising celebrated between the evening of the twenty-eighth day of March and the evening of the thirtieth day of March, Easter Day being on the thirty-first day of March.
Each Easter — as on each Sunday — the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death. From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the fourteenth day of February.
The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on the ninth day of May.
Pentecost, joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the nineteenth day of May.
And, this year the First Sunday of Advent will be on the first day of December.
Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the Passover of Christ in the feasts of the holy Mother of God, in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints, and in the commemoration of the faithful departed. To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history, be endless praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

Yours in Christ,

Kara

Anglican Prayer Seminar

On Saturday, January 13, the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in New York City (“Smoky Mary’s” in Times Square) will host a seminar with Dr. Derek Olsen entitled “Life, the Universe, and Everything: Finding Holiness in Anglican Prayer.” The seminar will last from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM and will include Morning and Evening Prayer as well as the Eucharist. For more information, see this link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/life-the-universe-everything-finding-holiness-through-anglican-prayer-tickets-779606974447

If you’re interested in attending, contact Kara at sladek@trinityprinceton.org. We have some train tickets to Penn Station leftover from a choir event and can go as a group if you’d like.