TrinEast

Newsletter and bulletin changes coming soon

2012-01-26T15:44:00.000-05:00

Bi-monthly Citadel
Starting in March, the Citadel becomes bi-monthly. We will publish 6 issues per year of the print edition: January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August, September-October, and November-December. This is also the last issue that is going out to everyone on the “big” Citadel list.
In this issue you will find a post-card. We are asking each household to fill this out and send it back or put it in the offering plate. We are asking for your preference:

I want the bi-monthly print Citadel mailed to me.
I will pick up the bi-monthly print Citadel at the back of the church on the Mission Table.
I will read version of the bi-monthly print Citadel on the parish web-site when it is posted.

It is very important that when you complete the post card that you fill out your name, address and your e-mail address. We need your e-mail address even if you choose to get a print edition mailed to your home.
We will also set up a similar survey on our web-site using a web-based tool called Survey Monkey.

Deadlines for Citadel and other media and mailings.
2012 Print Citadel Deadlines are as follows:

February 19 for March/April
April 22 for May/June
June 17 for July/August
August 19 for September/October
October 21 for November/December
December 16 for January/February.

Wednesday noon is the deadline for the weekly e-Citadel and the bulletin.
Facebook, Twitter, Blog and web-site news goes up as often as needed up to once a day.
Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, All Saints, Stewardship and special event mailers or post cards as well as quarterly financial statements will still go out via US Mail. Statements will go on the Mission Table for two Sundays before to be picked up in Church before being mailed.

Why the change?
There are three things that are driving the change: cost of postage, cost of copying and effectiveness.
On January 22nd, postal rates went up again. The cost of mailing is driving us out of the mass-mailing business. We just aren’t big enough. While bulk rate does save money over first class, the savings are decreasing while the work we have to do increases. For example, we have to “test” our mailing list for errors using special software and then print the labels so that a bar code appears. Doing this saves us money per piece than if we just pre-sort and let the post office check for errors or bar-code. The more work we do to prepare a mailing, the less it costs per piece. But that cost per newsletter does not include the cost of the software…about $100/year. If an address is wrong or if a person’s forwarding address expires, we have to pay the post office for returning it to us—at first class rates. Finally, the cost of the permit is also fixed and we pay that every year as well.

We can send 75-100 first class pieces to the homebound, shut-in and those who do not have a computer for less than the cost of 325 to every household in the church and every friend or former member outside the parish.

The second cost is copying. We use up a lot of dead trees running things off in the copier and the cost to do that has gone up, too. A complete copy of the print newsletter can be viewed on line as a PDF file, is searchable and doesn’t require printing. The same is true with the parish calendar. We could handle the ministry assistant schedule the same way.

What balances the second issue is effectiveness. We don’t know who opens or reads the print Citadel but we do know how often the electronic versions are opened. No less than 65% of you who receive the e-Citadel every week by e-mail open it (and that number is higher if you open it without the images or as a text file which we can’t count). We also know that the PDF version of the print Citadel that we post on the web-site is viewed and opened about 500 times by about 350 unique visitors. While we can’t count how many people open the print Citadel that comes by mail versus those who throw it right into recycling, the number indicates that people are used to opening and reading the newsletter on line. We see fewer people use the on-line calendar but we think it is because fewer people know that tool is there.

In other words, we have now reached a point where enough of you use the internet and e-mail that those forms of parish news are reaching you. Not as many people in the parish use our Facebook page, Twitter feed and parish blog, but these have a decent reach outside the parish and can become normal for people in the congregation.

Help!
We need to have more information, and here is how you can help. Fill out the postcard and mail it in or go on line and use the on-line survey that will appear in the e-Citadel staring on February 3. This will determine how we make this change, if at all.

Another change in print media: A Simpler Bulletin
The Worship Committee and the office staff are working on a simplified bulletin. We hope to roll out the new design in Lent for your feedback. Our basic plan is to stop printing hymns (except for hymns that don’t appear in the Hymnal 1982 and service music) in the bulletin. We will also print less of the text of the liturgy and point to the prayer book more. On seasons when we use alternative Eucharistic Prayers from Enriching Our Worship, we will print booklets for the pews. Look for more about this at church in weeks to come.
On Sundays where the liturgy is very different or where we expect a large number of visitors, like weddings, funerals and major feasts, then we’ll print the service in the bulletin entirely.

Why?
Cost and effectiveness. Again, we want to kill fewer trees. Even if one bulletin per household goes home for the week, we end up recycling most of the bulletins we print. We can’t change that, but we can print fewer pages that go to the recycler.

We also want people to become at home with the Prayer Book or simply to look up from the bulletin and see what’s going on, and hopefully feel more apart of the liturgy.Again, we will survey people’s experience in a variety of ways including an on-line survey using Survey Monkey.

Questions, ideas, concerns?
Please speak to Father Gerns, call the parish office or e-mail us at parish@trinityeaston.org.

An Evening with C.S. Lewis, Friday, March 2, 2012

2012-01-06T15:10:00.004-05:00

Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton Pennsylvania to host British actor David Payne and his recreation of An Evening with C.S. Lewis, March 2, 2012 at 7:00 P.M. Trinity Church is located in downtown Easton on 234 Spring Garden Street between Second and Third Streets. Tickets are $20.00. Students with id may buy tickets for $15 and groups of 8 or more may buy tickets at $15 per person. Tickets are available here.

An Evening with C S Lewis takes you into the unique world of a British author, C.S. Lewis. Lewis’ writings spanned a broad range of subjects and continue to be popular.. He is best known as for his classic children’s series- The Chronicles of Narnia. His academic books still remain essential reading for students of English literature and he is known as one of the 20th century’s foremost Christian writers.

An Evening with C S Lewis recreates an informal talk to a group of American writers who are visiting England in 1963.. They have come to Lewis’ home, just outside of Oxford, and are eagerly anticipating hearing the man who has become a legend in his own lifetime. They are not disappointed. Despite his failing health, Lewis is in great form. His audience is spellbound as, with a display of oratory and humor that made him one of England’s most famous public speakers, he recounts the significant events and the people that shaped his life.

David Payne is a British actor who has gained a considerable reputation for his portrayals of the famous author C.S. Lewis. He has played Lewis in a number of productions of Shadowlands, in his self-penned Weep for Joy and in numerous presentations of his much acclaimed one-man show, An Evening with C.S. Lewis. Trinity Church is located in downtown Easton on 234 Spring Garden Street between Second and Third Streets. For more information call Peg Gerns at 610-657-3657 or go here to purchase tickets.

Father Gerns' Illustrated, Simplified and Painless Bible Study: Jesus’ Prayer Book (and ours): The Psalms

2011-12-28T22:36:00.000-05:00

*with apologies to Marshal Efron

This is not the Bible for dummies. But it is for people who feel dumb around the Bible.Wednesdays, 6:15 to 7:30 p.m., in the Charney Room at Trinity Easton.Call the Trinity office for more info and/or to sign up: 610-253-0792Next session: January 4 – February 15: Jesus’ Prayer Book (and ours): The Psalms

Imagine a book in the Bible where God doesn't tell us what to do, but where we tell God how we feel!

That's the Book of Psalms!Have you ever wondered if there really is a God? Have you ever wondered if God really cares about you? Have you ever wondered why God would allow evil to exist or let evil triumph over good? Have you ever had to make a choice but weren't sure which way to turn? How you ever been awed by the beauty of nature? Have you ever been so sad that you did not know how to go on or felt so happy that you wanted to praise God in every way you could?The Psalms express every possible human emotion and honestly explore every human experience. The Psalms are the record of how people react to God every day. When we pray the psalms, we are using the very same prayer book that Jesus used. We are praying the words he prayed, we are summing our feelings, our questions, our experiences, before God just as Jesus did.

We will look at some of the Psalms to get a flavor of the depth, power and poignancy of this book.

January 4, 2012 - Happy or Wicked: You Choose! (Psalm 1)
January 11, 2012 - The Majesty of God (Psalm 8)
January 18, 2012 - The Forgiveness of Sin (Psalm 32)
January 25, 2012 - A Lament for the City (Psalm 79)
February 1, 2012 - God's Dwelling Place (Psalm 84)
February 8, 2012 - Revenge! (Psalm 137)
February 15, 2012 - I Will Praise God (Psalm 146)

Please sign up in the back of the church or call the parish office to sign up.

2011 Christmas Services at Trinity, Easton, PA announced

2011-12-06T19:38:00.001-05:00

Saturday, December 17:

12:00 PM–Ark Soup Kitchen Christmas Dinner

5:00 PM– Holy Eucharist & Healing

Sunday, December 18 – The Fourth Sunday in Advent:

8:00 AM– Holy Eucharist, Rite I

10:30 AM – Advent Lessons & Carols with Holy Eucharist, Rite II

Wednesday, December 21:

12:10 PM– Holy Eucharist & Healing

Saturday, December 24 – Christmas Eve:

12:00 PM – Ark Soup Kitchen

4:30 PM – Choral and Organ Prelude

5:00 PM– Family Service with Holy Eucharist, Rite II

10:30 PM– Choral & Organ Prelude

11:00 PM– Service of Light with Holy Eucharist, Rite II

Sunday, December 25 – The Nativity of Our Lord:

10:00 AM– Holy Eucharist, Rite II

12:00 PM – Jacob’s Christmas meal Serves the Hungry at Third Street Alliance

See the Trinity website for more information!

Jesus’ Prayer Book (and Ours)

2011-11-17T09:28:00.003-05:00

Father Andrew’s Simplified, Painless and Illustrated Bible Study

Imagine a book in the Bible where God doesn’t tell us what to do, but where we tell God how we feel! That’s the Book of Psalms!

Have you ever wondered if there really is a God? Have you ever wondered if God really cares about you? Have you ever wondered why God would allow evil to exist or let evil triumph over good? Have you ever had to make a choice but weren’t sure which way to turn? How you ever been awed by the beauty of nature? Have you ever been so sad that you did not know how to go on or felt so happy that you wanted to praise God in every way you could?

The Psalms express every possible human emotion and honestly explore every human experience. The Psalms are the record of how people react to God every day.

When we pray the psalms, we are using the very same prayer book that Jesus used. We are praying the words he prayed, we are summing our feelings, our questions, our experiences, before God just as Jesus did.

We will look at some of the Psalms to get a flavor of the depth, power and poignancy of this book.

January 4, 2012 – Happy or Wicked: You Choose! (Psalm 1)
January 11, 2012 – The Majesty of God (Psalm 8)
January 18, 2012 – The Forgiveness of Sin (Psalm 32)
January 25, 2012 – A Lament for the City (Psalm 79)
February 1, 2012 – God’s Dwelling Place (Psalm 84)
February 8, 2012 – Revenge! (Psalm 137)
February 15, 2012 – I Will Praise God (Psalm 146)

Please sign up in the back of the church or call the parish office to sign up.

Remembering a Day of Remembrance and Hope

2011-09-12T16:24:00.006-04:00

Revised. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make today's Interfaith Service of Remembrance and Hope such a powerful, moving success. The church was full of people from all over Easton, the Lehigh Valley and beyond. Many people saw the service live on the web.

Here is a sample of some of the local media coverage of the event as well as the many memorials, remembrances and tributes around the Lehigh Valley.

There were two reports of the service on WFMZ-TV, one version is here.

The Easton Patch had this photo array of the service and other Easton events, including the City of Easton's Tribute to First Responders, which included a performance by the same members of the Metropolitan Opera chorus that performed at Trinity, accompanied by Dale Grandfield.

The Easton Express-Times at lehighvalleylive.com had this print story about the observances in the area including this:

The service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton was filled with song and prayer. Members of the New York City Metropolitan Opera, a chamber orchestra and the Easton Area High School choir serenaded the audience. Local religious leaders representing Jews, Christians and Muslims read from their holy books. One of the leaders, Rizwan Butt, who was representing the Easton Phillipsburg Muslim Association, read passages from the Quran in Arabic then in English.
At the beginning of the service, two column-like candles were lit in memory of the World Trade Center towers in New York City.
In an open letter to those who attended, Trinity Episcopal Church's the Rev. Andrew Gerns reflected on the people who chose good on Sept. 11 and those who chose evil.
"Many thousands of other people chose without prompting the good ... and helped keep descending evil from overwhelming us all," Gerns wrote. "We remember all of them today."

The Express-Times put the number in attendance at 150, but we counted closer to 300 based on the number of filled pews and candles and programs given out.

The Morning Call's web-site has a number of photographs from the Interfaith Community Service of Remembrance and Hope. If you go to this link, you will see the photo array. Slides taken at the service are numbers 17-26

Photo 26 shows the Easton Area High School Choir performing.

Photo 17 shows Rob Maher, Trinity's next door neighbor, performing with the members of the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera.

One of my personal favorites is number 22, which shows Rabbi Melody David, of Temple Covenant of Peace, and Rabbi Jonathan Gerard lighting two candles of remembrance at the start of the liturgy.

The service marked our first experiment in live web-casting the service. While only a few people viewed the whole prelude and service, we estimate that 50-60 people tuned in for at least a portion of the event. You can go to this site to see an archive of the event. The actual service starts about 26 minutes into the broadcast.

This post was very helpful in getting the word out. It was made a few days before the event and appeared on laini's little pocket guide.

The idea for the service started to take shape a year ago for Father Andrew Gerns, rector at Trinity Episcopal.

“I was, frankly, appalled at some of the hateful rhetoric that was flying around the Ground Zero Mosque controversy,” he said.

He realized that steps needed to be taken to avoid having fear and hate become the focal points of the 10th anniversary. So he began talking with members of his congregation and other area religious leaders to make plans for an appropriate event that would integrate elements of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths into one service. Everyone will come together Sunday for the culmination of their efforts. The service begins at 2 p.m., with an organ prelude starting at 1:30.
In addition to Trinity Episcopal Church of Easton, the following congregations are taking part in the service: Bnai Abraham Synagogue, College Hill Presbyterian Church, First United Church of Christ of Easton, First Presbyterian Church of Easton, St. John’s Lutheran Church of Easton, Temple Covenant of Peace and The Easton-Phillipsburg Muslim Association.

We had a photographer present and as soon as those pictures are ready, they will be posted on the parish's web site with a link to this blog.

The picture above was taken by Terry Gangaware, a member of our parish. A few of the runners from the VIA/LVHN marathon that went from Allentown to Easton--and which was wrapping up just as our service began-- ran over the Trinity, Easton to pay their respects. We appreciate how they brought these two important community events together.

To all the members of the Music & Arts Committee which organized the event, all the volunteers, the clergy and religious leaders who took part and especially to all the singers and musicians...thank you! Not only were the Met Singers and the orchestra great, the EAHS choir was fantastic. God bless you all!

--Father Andrew

Parish Picnic

2011-09-09T14:10:00.001-04:00

September 25th!

As we wind down the summer and get ready for back to school, we are happy to announce the return of Parish Picnic. It is scheduled for Sunday, Sept 25th, following the 10:30 service, right here at the Church. Tables and activities on the front and side yards, games in the parking lot and parish hall. There will be plenty of food and activities for all to enjoy. If you would like to volunteer, or have any suggestions for this event, please contact Carol Reed, 610-253-6518 or creed21993@yahoo.com. There will be sign up sheets in the back of Church for various food items.

August 28, 2011 Services cancelled because of "Irene"

2011-08-27T22:11:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,

After conferring with the Wardens, we have decided to cancel worship services for tomorrow, Sunday, August 28, 2010.

Hurricane Irene is approaching and the Lehigh Valley is now under a Tropical Storm Warning thorugh Sunday evening. This means that the Lehigh Valley is expected to experience anywhere from 40-60 mph winds with gusts up to 70 along with heavy rains and flooding. It appears that the eye of the storm will track along the New Jersey shore, so we are will inside the storm area.

We have posted cancellations on the following sites:

WFMZ WEBSITE (WWW.WFMZ.COM)
TELEVISION (CHANNEL 69) and the Accuweather Channels on Service Electric and RCN.

I would ask a couple of things:

Please contact friends and fellow parishioners, particularly those who don't have the internet to let them know about the cancellation.
Please keep an eye out for people in our parish and in your neighborhoods who are vulnerable should power go out or for whom severe weather would be a risk, including the elderly and those who are physically disabled and who live alone.
If you know of an emergency situation, please call the appropriate authorities.
If you know of a pastoral need, please don't hesitate to contact me on my cell phone or by text.

You can still pray and worship while you are riding out the storm . Here are some worship and prayer resources:

The Daily Office (pages 74 - 102 of the Book of Common Prayer. You can also find it here.
Here is a PDF copy of the Sunday bulletin with the Scripture lessons, the Prayers of the People, announcements and reflections on the Sunday's scriptures.
Here is a PDF copy of this weeks Prayers of the People.
I will post my sermon on my blog: http://andrewplus.blogspot.com soon.

Please pray for all who are affected by this storm, for those whose work we depend on during storms and emergencies such as the emergency services, medical personnel, utility workers and other upon whom our common life and safety depends.

My prayers are with all of you!

Faithfully yours,

Andrew+

Interfaith Service of Remembrance and Hope

2011-08-19T10:48:00.001-04:00

The service will be on September 11, 2011 to remember the Tenth anniversary of the attacks on 9/11/2001. We will have a Double Quartet from members of the Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera in NYC, a local 8 piece Chamber Orchestra, and singers from Easton Area High School Choir. Father Andrew will lead the service with the participation of area clergy. There will be an Organ Prelude at 1:30 with the service beginning at 2:00. We need many ushers and volunteers to help with this important day! Please contact Terry Gangaware (610-258-2611) or Peg Gerns (610-657-3657) to offer your help as soon as possible. There is a sign-up sheet in the back of the church. We are continuing to request donations! And if you would like to name a loved one In Memoriam, please contact Peg Gerns at 610-657-3657 or gernsp@gmail.com Names will be listed in the Program.

A Day of Prayer, Vision and Hope

2011-07-22T14:30:00.002-04:00

Planning for Christian Formation at Trinity Church
Saturday, August 27, 2011, 9:30 – 1:30 pm

Trinity Church will have A Day of Prayer, Vision and Hope on Saturday, August 27 from 9:30 am – 1:30 pm.

We will start with breakfast and then prayer. We’ll look at the rich assets in our parish. After that, we will develop an outline for the year’s program and marshal the resources to make it happen. We’ll have lunch together and all along we will ground our work in prayer and do some fun stuff, too.

The goal is to come out of the day with some solid and creative ideas for teaching our children the Christian faith, doing fun things together as a parish, and building each other up in Christ. Together, we’ll come up with dynamic, practical ideas that will involve as many Trinitarians as possible in ways that are both meaningful and exciting.

If you are interested, please contact the parish office. Sign up in the back of church to bring a food or refreshment item for breakfast and/or lunch. If you have any questions, please talk to Father Gerns at Church, call him at church (610-253-0792, or cell/text: 610-392-4112) or email him at rector@trinityeaston.org.

"A Festival of Patriotic Songs" on Heritage Day, July 10

2011-06-16T12:58:00.012-04:00

Updated! Patriotic Hymn Sing at 2 pm on Sunday July 10, 2011 as part of the Easton’s Heritage Day Celebrations. The Hymn Sing, called “A Festival of Patriotic Songs,” will be led by Dale Grandfield, Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church. “The program will have thirteen songs to celebrate the original colonies and will cover the major benchmarks and epochs of American history, with two bookend hymns to tie it all together. Examples of songs that are part of the program include “Yankee Doodle” to acknowledge our country’s Pre-revolution period, “The Star Spangled Banner” to remember the War of 1812 and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” to commemorate the Civil War”, Grandfield said.

The historic church building will also be open for tours from just after the reading of the Declaration of Independence on Center Square until 5 pm.

Trinity has participated in Heritage Day celebrations for many years primarily through offering free tours of the historic church in the afternoon of the festival, having a food concession stand at Center Square, and by hosting Sitgreaves Coffee House in the evening. The Patriotic Hymn Sing has been added to the tour schedule to bring a new family activity to the downtown. “I hope the fun of singing these songs will help us recall the privileges of citizenship that we celebrate on Heritage Day and honor those who have served our country. Music has the power to bring us together as a community. These songs talk about our growth as a nation and can draw us together”, stated The Reverend Canon Andrew Gerns, Rector.

Trinity Episcopal Church is located at 234 Spring Garden Street, between Second and Third Streets, in Easton, Pennsylvania.

World Mission Sunday: Trinity New Hope Primary School.

2011-03-10T13:39:00.003-05:00

During our capital campaign, we built nine classrooms…one of which was in Easton. We built two kitchens…one in Easton. We built a library, a faculty dormitory and offices, too; but not in Easton, in a little village in Kajo-Keji, Southern Sudan called Sodogo. When we tithed our capital campaign to New Hope, we joined with the rest of the Diocese of Bethlehem and paid a significant portion of the cost of this new school. This past winter, the Trinity New Hope Primary School was opened and Charlie Barebo was there for the dedication. Come to church this coming Sunday and hear about the Trinity New Hope Primary School, see pictures of the school and the children who attend it and learn how our ministry and generosity become a blessing to people across the globe! Charlie will preach and present pictures at the 8 and 10:30 service and will be at the coffee hours to answer questions.

Adult Confirmation and Inquirers Class

2011-02-10T10:25:00.003-05:00

Classes for Adult Confirmation & Reception will begin on Sunday, March 6 following the 10:30 liturgy and will be led by Anne Szlivko, Mike Burke and Father Gerns. Confirmands will be received by The Rt. Rev. Paul V. Marshall on May 15, 2011. Any adult over 18 who is interested in being confirmed, or received from another Christian tradition (where you've already been confirmed) are welcome. These classes are also for those who wish to publically renew their baptismal vows before the Bishop.

All sessions are Sundays at Noon in the Charney Room and normally scheduled for 90 minutes unless otherwise noted. Please note: there are two Saturday morning sessions.

If you need child care for the sessions, please let Father Gerns know in advance so we can arrange this.

Attendees should have with them a Bible and a Prayer Book (if you don't own one, or want a new one, we can help you). We will be following the text Welcome to the Episcopal Church by Christopher L. Webber and using The Episcopal Handbook and as well as videos from a variety of sources.

March 6 – The History of the Episcopal Church
March 13 – The Worship of the Episcopal Church
March 20 – The Bible in the Episcopal Church
March 27 – The Teaching of the Episcopal Church
April 3 – The Spirituality of Episcopalians
April 10 – The Prayer of Episcopalians
(Break for Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter)
May 1 – The Ministry of Episcopalians
May 8 – The Mission of the Episcopal Church
Saturday, May 14, 9:30 am - Noon - Rehearsal for Confirmation/Reception

Please call the Parish Office (610-253-0792) to speak to Father Gerns or you can e-mail him (rector@trinityeaston.org), Anne Szlivko (aslivko@gmail.com) or Mike Burke (michaeljburke@hotmail.com) if you have any questions.

Renewal Assembly, February 19, 2011

2011-01-14T16:10:00.002-05:00

Registration is now available on www.diobeth.org for the Renewal Assembly, “The Call to Prayer and Discernment,” on February 19, 2011. The Assembly will be held in six locations across the Diocese of Bethlehem. Registrants will be assigned to the most appropriate site. Registration is found by clicking on the “Register for Diocesan events” on the right column of the homepage. Registration closes on Feb. 9.

The Renewal Assembly, sponsored by the Renewal Committee of the Diocese, will be held on Saturday, February 19, 2011, 9 AM – 1 PM, in six locations across the Diocese: Christ Church, Towanda; Trinity Church, Carbondale; Trinity Church, West Pittston; Trinity Church, Pottsville; St. Anne’s, Trexlertown; and, the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. Lunch will be provided.

Members of the Renewal Committee and the Lifelong Christian Formation Committee will present the program, which will focus on the call and practice of personal and corporate prayer, and Bible Study. The Assembly will begin with a DVD presentation hosted by Bishop Paul with Mo Laura Howell and Fr. John Francis. A copy of the DVD will be presented to a representative of every parish.

Fr, Gerns has sent a letter to every Vestry member (and prospective Vestry member), and many ministry leaders in the parish to set aside this day and take part in this important assembly in the life of our parish and congregation. Folks from Trinity may attend the Assembly at the Cathedral or at St. Anne’s, Trexlertown.

For information contact Fr. Gerns at rector@trinityeaston.org, call the parish office or speak to him after church. You may also call Fr. Cesaretti, chair of the Diocesan Congregation Renewal Committee: charles.cesaretti@yahoo.com

"'Bethlehem People, God Has Chosen You to Come’ to Kajo Keji"

2011-01-04T16:34:00.010-05:00

by Charlie Barebo

Our November mission trip evidenced a greatly changed Kajo Keji that awaits the January 9 referendum with eager anticipation. On approach, as the MAF flight passes over the dirt airstrip to insure it is clear of the ubiquitous goats and sheep, we see the addition of several new western-style buildings and two new cell towers.

It has been an arduous day on the twin engine Cessna; eight hours with seven take offs and landings, a regular milk run. Stephen Tomor and Bishop Anthony complete with his posse greet us at the airport. The ride to Romogi is fast and smooth, a pleasure after 22 hours in the air.

Evidence of the economic recovery brought on by five years of peace is all around us: five times the livestock we have seen on previous trips, no protruding ribs on people or animals, no rags passing for clothes, flip flops or shoes now the norm. We pass five automobiles on the first ride to Romogi, more than we saw on the entire trip in January 2007. On Monday as we drive to the school opening in Sodogo, we pass a car with a large sign on the roof: “Kajo Keji Driving School.” Who ever would have thought…

Secondary level needs are now being fulfilled and we see sunglasses, radios and iPods; soccer balls and bikes are more in evidence. This place is no longer bleak house; the feel is upbeat. There is a political overtone in the air. Here there is no unending bickering between out of step political parties but people talking about voting for their freedom and self determination, a first since the colonial period started, 150 years ago. Voter registration starts while we are here. We watch Bishop Anthony register. There are proud smiles on the faces of those registering. A legitimate census has been done and indicates that there are 193,000 inhabitants of the county. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement states that for the New Sudan to gain its independence, 60% of registered voters must vote and for independence to pass it must have only a simple majority, 51%.

We inspect the New Hope Schools at Romogi and Gaderu and officially open the Kitchen-Dining Hall at the college as well the New Hope Primary Schools in Liwolo and Sodogo. The Romogi School wins the Bishop Marshall Prize for the best kept gardens and grounds. We meet with the college management team and the students, more on this in a later issue.

I want to share the story of the opening of the Trinity Easton New Hope School in Sodogo. This school will always hold a special place in my heart as Trinity Easton stepped forward and tithed their own capital campaign to New Hope. Before our very eyes, two dioceses witnessed God’s people in Christ’s church doing precisely what Christ asked us to do in the Great Commandment. These school openings are always a joyous occasion, a day of fulfillment, both functionally and spiritually.

Sodogo is a long drive and you must take the small all-wheel drive vehicles through a small river. Boys are playing in the river; a mother is doing the family laundry. There are no crocodiles in this shallow section. We are met two miles outside of the village and led by a joyful throng, singing before us and holding high banners of the cross. Could this be what Christ and the Apostles felt like on Palm Sunday? I say a prayer of dedication and Archdeacon Stringfellow cuts the ribbon. Adrenalin pushes the jet lag out of my mind. We move over to the parade ground where we will sit for the two-hour program. Have you heard that the Kukus like to make long speeches? The PTA President announces he has a few brief comments. Archdeacon Stringfellow spies six pages of single-spaced typed notes.

The landlord who donated the land for the school to the Diocese of Kajo Keji stands up to make a speech. “I am Wilson Rembe,” he says. “I am 84 years old. My ancestors gave me this land. All these days, I have been waiting for this school like a bride waits for a groom. The fox used to run on this road. When I was a boy my father and I built a bridge over the stream. I think he knew there would be a school built here one day. People used to make fun of us and say, ‘Did you build this bridge for fox or for people?’ Now the little children are my foxes who will use this bridge to go to school. Who are these people from across the sea who give their money so our children can go to school? I tell you they are God’s people. Thank God for the people of Bethlehem. I am Wilson Rembe, landlord.”

Now there is feasting, singing, and dancing. A choir from the school sings a response song for us. There is so much going on it is hard to focus. The Holy Spirit cuts through me like a knife and I hear the words, “Thank You, Bethlehem people, God has chosen you to come.”

Late at night when I have doubts about why God would let his people suffer so much or when my daughter or children who attend New Hope presentations at various parishes ask how a loving God would let His children suffer so much, I find my answers in that chorus. God’s people in Kajo Keji and the southern Sudan have suffered. But God always knew he would choose us. He chose us to help heal his wounded children. God chose us to give sight to the blind, to lift the yoke of oppression, to raise up the foundations of many generations. We have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We have been truly blessed.

[Charlie Barebo is chair of the New Hope Campaign and Development Officer for the Diocese of Bethlehem. More about Charlie here. This article first appeared on newSpin, the blog of the Diocese of Bethlehem.]

Epiiphany at Trinity, 2011

2011-01-04T12:32:00.002-05:00

Come celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany at Trinity Church on Thursday, January 6th at 7:00 PM with Holy Eucharist in the Church.

Christmas Worship Schedule at Trinity, Easton

2010-12-24T09:08:00.001-05:00

Friday, December 24 – Christmas Eve:
5:00 PM – Family Service with Holy Eucharist, Rite II
10:30 PM – Choral & Organ Prelude
11:00 PM – Service of Light with Holy Eucharist, Rite II

Saturday, December 25 – The Nativity of Our Lord:
10:00 AM – Holy Eucharist, Rite II
12:00 PM – Jacob’s Christmas Serves the Hungry

Sunday, December 26 – The First Sunday after Christmas
8:00 AM – Holy Eucharist, Rite I
10:30 AM – Lessons & Carols with Holy Eucharist, Rite II

King's College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

2010-12-24T08:41:00.001-05:00

While you are driving around doing last minute Christmas errands, puttering around doing last minute Christmas preparation, sitting at your desk doing last minute work or just near a radio, tune to WHYY to listen on the radio or on-line. It is also on WVIA-FM.
More here.

11th Annual Easton Interfaith Thanksgiving Choir Festival

2010-10-28T21:41:00.002-04:00

11^th Annual Interfaith thanksgiving Choir Festival: On the afternoon of Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 4:00 p.m., Trinity will host choirs from churches, synagogues, and meeting places of various religious creeds for the annual Easton area Interfaith Choral Festival of Thanksgiving.

This is a time when we express our gratitude to God, just before Thanksgiving Day, by sharing our musical gifts and traditions.

A reception will follow in Conine Hall. The offering will support the work of ProJeCt of Easton ASSIST program. We hope that you will plan to join in the celebration.

If you have a question or have an Easton area church or synagogue choir, contact the parish office at 610-253-0792 or e-mail parish@trinityeaston.org.

Healing Prayers on Sunday, October 31

2010-10-28T21:25:00.003-04:00

This coming Sunday, October 31, is the fifth Sunday of the month. Every fifth Sunday we have laying on of hands and prayers for healing.

If you would like prayers for healing please come forward to the chancel steps shortly after the announcements at both services (giving the Celebrant time to greet folks as they leave).

Healing Prayers are also offered during the Saturday Holy Eucharist at 5:30. The Saturday liturgy has prayers for healing every week.

Feasts of All Saints (Nov. 1) and Faithful Departed (Nov, 2)

2010-10-28T21:23:00.004-04:00

Corrected! Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton announces their worship services for the Feast of All Saints and All Faithful Departed.

There will be a celebration of the Holy Eucharist on Monday, November 1, 2010 in the Chapel at Trinity Episcopal Church at 7p.m. to celebrate The Feast of All Saints.

The next day, on Tuesday, November 2nd, there will a celebration of the Holy Eucharist in commemoration of All Faithful Departed (commonly called All Souls Day) at 12:10 p.m. in the Chapel.

On All Saints, we remember all the Saints and heroes in the faith known and unknown to us over the life of the whole church.

The Feast of All Faithful Departed is a celebration of all faithful Christians who have died. At this service, we will pray for all who have died in the parish in the past year, giving thanks for their life and ministry, as well as all those remembered interred in the Memorial Garden.

To have a loved one remembered at these Eucharists, please complete the envelope enclosed in the last Citadel, or found on the mission tables or in the pews and place them in the offering plates at this weekend’s liturgies. You can also bring them into the parish office.

On being honest and resting in God

2010-10-05T13:25:00.001-04:00

Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them.

"Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." Romans 12:9

--Fr. Gerns

h/t to Episcopal Cafe

Heritage Day at Trinity, Easton, July 11, 2010

2010-07-08T11:18:00.002-04:00

Here is what is happening at Trinity, Easton on Heritage Day, July 11, 2010

Saturday evening Holy Eucharist with prayers for healing, 5 p.m. in the Church.

Sunday morning Holy Eucharist, Rite I, 8 a.m. in the Church

Heritage Day Worship by the Downtown Covenant Council of Churches will start at 9:30 a.m. at St.John's Lutheran Church, 4th and Ferry Street, followed by a festive brunch in the fellowship hall.

Trinity Church open for Tours: 12 - 5 p.m.

Trinity's Hot-Dog & Concession Stand will be in the vicinity of the Circle from 12- 5 p.m.

Patriotic Hymn Sing and Organ Recital at 3 p.m. in the Church

Sitgreaves Coffee House (5th Anniversary) in Conine Hall starting at 6:30 p.m. (Enter from the entrance on Spring Garden Street, next to the church.) This is both the fifth anniversary of the Coffee House and the first of the Parish Hall and new addition since construction began last summer! Learn more here.

Trinity Easton receives $25,000 UTO grant

2010-05-26T16:41:00.002-04:00

Remember all those quarters that you have put into Blue Boxes for so many years. Well, some of them have come home in a very big way!

This week we learned that Trinity Episcopal Church was awarded a grant by the United Thank Offering to be used to purchase kitchen equipment to support our parish’s weekly Ark Soup Kitchen and other ministries that we house. The equipment will be installed in the new kitchen area that was built as part our 190th anniversary year capital campaign, “Fed by our Past, Nourishing our Future”.

Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton was awarded a grant by the United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church for kitchen equipment to support the parish’s weekly Ark Soup Kitchen and other ministries housed there.

The $25,000 award was announced in a letter to the Rt. Rev. Paul V. Marshall, Bishop of Bethlehem, on May 19, 2010 is to be used between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011.

"I am happy to see Trinity's ministry recognized at the national level.” Bishop Paul said. “The grant is both a material support to the parish, and also an enormous encouragement to all who labor to make our churches effective witnesses of God's love."

The United Thank Offering is known to many Episcopalians through the famous “blue-boxes” into which people put in loose change as offering for anything about which we are thankful. Trinity, Easton has supported the work of the United Thank Offering since its inception and the UTO is now one of Trinity’s “Mission of the Month” offerings.

The mission of the UTO is “To expand the circle of thankful people and To achieve this mission, we encourage daily prayers, offerings, and awareness of the abundance of God’s blessings.” They give grants to projects that “significantly impact the lives of women and children because of Christ’s love” and on “projects that implement significant change toward alleviating profound human suffering that the Millennium Development Goals address.”

The Ark Soup Kitchen at Trinity Church has been in existence since 1995, when a group called the Servant Circle began a Saturday lunch program for the poor, homeless and those in special need in Easton. The first lunch served some 30 guests, and over the years, the Ark Soup Kitchen has grown to average 60-80 meals each week.

The weekly meal serves a cross-section of people who live in and around the downtown area where Trinity is located. There are “single room occupancy hotel” residents, those with chronic addiction and/or mental health issues, and a considerable number of the working poor and their family members who just do not have enough money to get by each month.

Held in the parish hall of Trinity, Easton, the Ark Soup Kitchen has become a community. It is a social outlet as much as a place to eat and many of the guests look out for each other there. The newly enlarged space and kitchen facility will provide more room both for preparing food, and for relieving the very cramped seating by adding 18-24 additional seats to the hall. It will also allow Trinity to offer improved space to the 12-Step groups that rely on the space on a regular basis – and will allow the parish to offer ministry in new and creative ways.

The kitchen equipment that the grant will make possible include a new exhaust hood and fire suppression system (already ordered or installed because of construction requirements), a new stove and double oven, a convection oven and warmer, a commercial dishwasher, freezer and refrigerator, and a double sink for pot-washing. The commercial grade kitchen will both be easier to clean and allow community and church groups that volunteer to staff the Ark Soup Kitchen to cook meals on the premises instead of simply warming food prepared elsewhere.

The kitchen area is expected to open in June or early July. A grand opening celebration/dedication is planned for early September.

Bishop Anthony's visit to Trinity, Easton

2010-03-08T21:29:00.009-05:00

Bishop Anthony Poggo of the Diocese of Kajo Keji came to the Diocese of Bethlehem to learn more about our diocese ministry and to update us on the work in his Diocese of Kajo Keji in Southern Sudan. As parat of that trip, he came to Trinity to learn more about us and meet members of our parish.

He came to Trinity, Easton Wednesday, March 3, 2010 to have lunch, tell us about Southern Sudan and Kajo Keji to see our construction and renovations and to hear about our ministry here. He also told us about the school we are helping to build in Sodogo, which will be called the Trinity Easton New Hope Primary School.

He had lunch with a group of vestry and other lay ministry leaders representing a cross-section of our parish and ministries, and looked at our own building project.

In the first picture, Bishop Anthony and Father Andrew stand in the site of the new kitchen being built behind Conine Hall and discuss the building of Trinity's addition and the primary school in Sodogo, Kajo Kejo, Southern Sudan.

Barbi Haigh gives Bishop Anthony a short tour of the church.

During lunch, vestry member Barb Edwards speaks with Bishop Anthony.

Bishop Anthony speaks to vestry members and lay leaders of Trinity Church, Easton during a lunch on March 3, 2010.

Bishop Anthony Poggo of Kajo Keji to visit Trinity Easton

2010-02-25T15:56:00.002-05:00

Bishop Anthony Poggo of the Diocese of Kajo Keji is visiting the Diocese of Bethlehem and he is coming to Trinity, Easton for lunch on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 to see our construction and renovations and to hear about our ministry here.

Over lunch with a group of vestry and other members representing a cross-section of parish and ministries, Poggo will also update us on the work of the Diocese of Kajo-Keji and in particular tell us about the plans for the New Hope Trinity Easton Primary School in Sodogo, Kajo Keji County, Sudan. This is school is being made possible through our own capital campaign.

If you want to hear meet Bishop Poggo and learn more about the ministry of Kajo Keji and our part in it through the Diocese of Bethlehem’s World Mission Committee and the New Hope Campaign, here is a list of other public events in the diocese.

Tuesday, March 2: 6:30-8:00 p.m. –– St. Stephen’s Pro-Cathedral, Wilkes-Barre
Thursday, March 4: 6:30-8:00 p.m. –– Christ Episcopal Church, Reading
Friday, March 5: 7:00-9:00 p.m. –– Meeting especially (but not entirely) with youth 6th to 12th grades, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
Sunday, March 7: 10:30 a.m. –– Preaching at Christ Episcopal Church, Sayre, followed by reception and conversation at noon

2010 Annual Kay Butler Gill Memorial Lecture in Christian Spirituality

2010-02-05T12:44:00.009-05:00

The 2010 Annual Kay Butler Gill Memorial Lecture in Christian Spirituality will be held at the Center for Christian Spirituality at The General Theological Seminary 21st Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenue in New York City on Tuesday, March 9th at 8 pm. The lecture will feature Janet K. Ruffing, RSM, on “Love Mysticism: Relic or Contemporary Reality?” There is a $10 donation which includes a reception. For more information e-mail Caitlin at the Center via goodspeed@gts.edu.

The lecture is named in honor of Kay Butler Gill, who died last year and who was married to past Rector, the Rev. Jim Gill. Kay was an important spiritual mentor and retreat leader at Trinity, Easton, in the Diocese of Bethlehem and in Maine where she and Jim retired.

Janet Ruffing is a Sister of Mercy from California, and was previously was professor of spirituality and spiritual direction at Fordham University. She has published five books: Uncovering Stories of Faith: Spiritual Direction and Narrative, Mysticism and Social Transformation (ed), Spiritual Direction: Beyond the Beginnings, Elisabeth Leseur: Selected Writings, and To Tell the Sacred Tale: Spiritual Direction and Narrative. She was a founding member of Spiritual Directors International and is currently vice-president/president elect of The Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality. She has been an associate editor for The Way and serves on the Editorial Board for Presence.

Amid the ruins, Episcopalians in Haiti respond to the earthquake

2010-01-22T18:07:00.005-05:00

This is a video from the Wall Street Journal describing what life is like in Port au Prince, Haiti, after the earthquake on January 12th and the response of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, the largest and fasting growing diocese of the Episcopal Church.

The Wall Street Journal writes:

In earthquake-stricken Haiti, an Episcopal bishop is providing relief to as many survivors as he can while they wait for the arrival of official aid. Jean Zache Duracin speaks with WSJ's Charles Forelle on how he's trying to help.

Here is the Episcopal Relief and Development page on Haiti, with links for donation and other ways you can help.

Music Events at Trinity

2010-01-22T13:40:00.007-05:00

UPDATED

Choral Evensong: On Sunday, February 21, 2010 (NOTE CHANGE OF DATE!) we will celebrate the Last Sunday in Epiphany with our regular Sunday morning services as well as with a half-hour organ recital at 4:00pm followed by choral evensong. This will be the first of our regular monthly evensongs. Please plan to join us each month for this opportunity to pray and sing.

Organ Recital: Director of Music Dale Grandfield invites you to come and experience the music of the Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, and Modern eras on Friday evening, February 19, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at an organ recital. Donations will support the work of Episcopal Relief and Development in Haiti A reception will follow.

Pray for the people of Haiti.Here is how you can help.

2010-01-13T20:09:00.002-05:00

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ at Trinity,

We have been watching the terrible devastation in Haiti on the news since last night. As the situation unfolds, we find that it is more grim that we could have imagined. Both the Presiding Bishop and Bishop Paul have communicated to Episcopalians about how we can help. Here is what they said:

Bishop Paul wrote to the clergy of the diocese:

"You do not need me to remind you of the importance of praying and acting in the wake of the Haitian earthquake, but I offer a few notes.

"The PB has said: "The people of Haiti have suffered a devastating earthquake, and it is already clear that many have died and many more are injured. Even under “normal” circumstances, Haiti struggles to care for her 9 million people. The nation is the poorest in the western hemisphere, and this latest disaster will set back many recent efforts at development. I urge your prayers for those who have died, been injured, and are searching for loved ones – and I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief & Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed."

"Haiti is the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church. Many of our sisters and brothers are suffering."

You can donate directly to Episcopal Relief and Development by credit card, as it gets funds moving quickly. This can be done at www.er-d.org. This is incredibly easy to do this on-line, as I discovered this afternoon.

Jack Moulton, our Diocesan ERD representative says:

"Over 92% to 96% of each dollar given to ERD goes directly to the program be it for disaster relief or for development. ERD has the highest efficiency rating of all of the Global Relief and Development agencies that is in Haiti as of this moment assisting in the disaster relief effort. They have a reputation of being one of the first Global Agencies to respond to the disaster and they will be one of the last to leave. They are working through the Diocese of Haiti so ERD's efforts are very local in nature directly helping the people there addressing their greatest needs.

"It is comforting to note that ERD is our Global Agency as they are a branch of our National Church. Please prayfully consider helping ERD in its very important ministry in Haiti by making a donation to ERD. It is through ERD that each of us can be most effective in directly helping the relief efforts in Haiti to ease the suffering there and else where in the world."

So on a "bang-for-the-buck" basis, I urge you to use this vehicle to offer assistance.

Keep the people of Haiti in your prayers.

Faithfully,

Fr. Andrew

Trinity's Annual Meeting-Sunday, January 24, 2010

2010-01-08T13:53:00.002-05:00

Please mark your calendars for Sunday, January 24, 2010 for the Annual Parish Meeting to be held directly following the 10:30 liturgy at Third Street Alliance. While the formal agenda has yet to be set, we know that the meeting will cover the following topics:

• We will elect Vestry members and delegates and alternates to Diocesan Convention will take place that day.
• We will review the financial situation of the parish in 2009 and review the budget for 2010.
• We will review the Capital Campaign and progress to date.
• We will update the congregation on how our construction projects are moving along.

Nominations for Vestry and Convention Delegates sought.
The Nominating Committee has sent out letters to potential nominees for the posts of Vestry and Delegate to Diocesan Convention. If you are interested in being nominated for one of these positions, please call the parish office or speak directly to the Rector or one of the members of the Nominating Committee: Karen Lohrman, Anne Slivko, Maryann Corona, Justin Serfass or Alison Bono.

Please have all committee reports to the parish office no later than Wednesday, January 13th!

Christmas and Epiphany worship at Trinity

2009-12-23T16:57:00.000-05:00

Christmas and Epiphany worship times have been announced at Trinity Church, Easton.

Christmas Eve will be highlighted by two special candlelight services, one at 5 p.m. and one at 11 p.m.

The early service at 5 p.m. designed around families with children with plenty of chances for children to sing familiar Christmas carols, take part in building the Christmas creche with Father Gerns and hearing the Christmas story told.

The later service will be a sung, choral Eucharist with full choir and special soloists. It will be preceded by a special choral and organ prelude of Christmas music starting at 10:30 p.m.

Christmas Day will see a quieter liturgy at 10 a.m. also with carols. It will be a Holy Eucharist service in the church.

Christmas Lessons and Carols with Eucharist following will be the liturgy on the First Sunday of Christmas on December 27th at 10:30.

The Feast of the Epiphany will close the Christmas season on Wednesday, January 6th with two liturgies: 12:10 p.m. with a quiet, meditative noon-time Holy Eucharist and a choral Eucharist at 7 p.m.

A complete schedule is found on the parish web-site here.

Peace Light burns at Trinity, Easton

2009-12-23T16:56:00.000-05:00

Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton will continuously burn a lamp through the Christmas season whose flame was taken from an oil lamp in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, West Bank, Israel. The original flame burned in an oil lamp that has burned continuously for centuries in the grotto that is the tradition site of Jesus' birth.

Each year since 1986, a child from Austria travels to Bethlehem to light a flame from the one that burns in the grotto at the birthplace of Jesus. The flame is then flown to Austria where it is distributed to delegations of scouts from across Europe, North America and the world. The Peace Light is then taken by scouts back to their home countries to share with others.

This year, the peace light traveled by way of Austrian Airlines from Vienna to New York City's JFK International Airport on December 4. It was presented to the Boy Scouts of America for distribution to councils across the USA. It will travel to Fort Hood, TX and Fort Bragg NC, to show appreciation to all those who serve our country.

The Peace Light arrived in Bethlehem, PA two weeks ago. It was transported to Minsi Trails Council in Allentown earlier this week.

Tammy Frasca, a member of Trinity,, Easton, contacted Father Andrew Gerns with news of the Peace Flame and wondered if it could burn at Trinity Church through Christmas. Canon Gerns arranged for the Peace Flame to be delivered to Trinity Church by members of Troop 50 in Philipsburg, New Jersey.

The light will burn in Trinity Church through Epiphany. All of the candles in the church and used during the Christmas season liturgies will use this flame.

Photos of the Peace Light in transit and in use around the world may be seen here.

Jacob’s Christmas

2009-12-11T09:32:00.003-05:00

It’s that time of year again when we prepare for Jacob’s Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day in the morning. Last year we did 200 meals. We expect this year will be even greater: 1. Due to the state of the economy; 2. The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a snow laden week for the Christmas period. Many are already through time, money, food and gifts for this ministry and we are grateful. Please consider giving, as you are able, of your time and/or a donation to help defray the cost. A sign-up sheet is on the Mission Table at the back of the church if you can give of your time. Donations should be made out to: Trinity Episcopal Church , clearly marked, “JACOB”. Then, meet us for Holy Eucharist at 10:00 a.m. followed by preparation and serving at noon. Take it from experience, the smiles one receives at Jacob’s Christmas are best gift possible. They truly warm your heart.

Seeing the face of Christ everyday

2009-11-29T20:28:00.003-05:00

Sister Patricia-Michael is a vowed solitary in the Diocese of Bethlehem, a spiritual director and the parish administrator in my parish, Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton, PA.

She has been inspired to start a blog that focuses on the theme of seeing the face of Christ in ordinary people in everyday places. It is called "When did I see you?", which she describes as "the daily intention of seeking and finding Christ in all things, in all places and in all ways." This is an outward expression of part of Patty's rule.

We invite you to follow her blog here.

Youth missioner to speak at Trinity, November 1

2009-10-30T12:26:00.003-04:00

Ministry by and with youth on All Saints Day! Our speaker and Adult Forum presenter this coming Sunday will be Kim Rowles, Youth Missioner of the Diocese of Bethlehem. Kim and Jensen Appleman will talk about last summer’s high school mission trip to New Orleans and during Adult Forum Kim will talk about ministry to young people in the Diocese of Bethlehem. This is a great day to learn more about ministry to young people in the diocese and to think about how we can minister to and with young people in our own parish!

Spooky stories in a darkened church around candles!

2009-10-30T12:25:00.000-04:00

On All Hallow’s Eve we will celebrate the Eve of All Saints with a special Service of Light during the Saturday 5 p.m. liturgy on October 31. Come hear “spooky Bible stories” (Daniel in the lion’s den and the Witch of Endor!) in a darkened church around candles!

On recent emanations from Rome

2009-10-21T14:50:00.014-04:00

A word from the Rector:

You may have noticed the story which supplanted the “balloon boy” as this week’s “holy cow!” news event: the Vatican has announced a process to receive en masse disaffected Anglicans around the world into the Roman Catholic Church. I have received enough inquiries, questions, and news stories forwarded to me by e-mail from parishioners that I feel I need to say to all of you what I have said to some since yesterday morning.

What the Pope has done, apparently (if some press reports are to be believed) against the advice of his ecumenical advisers, has set up a process wherein whole groups of unhappy Anglicans and other long separated former Anglicans can now become Roman Catholics in such a way as to allow them to keep their prayer books and the clergy to keep their wives . A denomination which broke from the Church of England in 1991 applied to Rome for recognition and became the occasion for this new scheme.

The intent of the new rule is scoop up newly separated Episcopalians and other Anglicans around the world who are mad over the ordination of an openly gay bishop, the ordination of women and prayer book revision. Some of this unhappiness stretches back forty or fifty years!

What appears to be envisioned by Rome is an “English rite” church-within-a-church, which would have its own Anglican-style liturgy, married priests and even the possibility of their own seminaries. The idea is somewhat reminiscent of the Byzantine Rite Catholics, who worship in a manner similar to the Orthodox but who live under the Pope’s authority. There is a catch. Every Episcopalian or Anglican who availed themselves of Roman hospitality would find that only their baptisms and marriages would count: they would be confirmed anew (no big deal) and the clergy would be ordained again as if they never were (a bigger deal).

The Pope’s plan does nothing to regularize Anglican orders which were declared “null and void” in 1898 by a previous pope. The current Bishop of Rome had a chance to fix that and instead reiterated the dogmatic nature of that move. If anything, the new policy exacerbates the divisions between us.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops already has a so-called “pastoral provision” that allows unhappy Episcopal clergy to become Roman Catholic clergy, which this new policy would more or less regularize around the world. In the three decades that this “provision” has been in place, something like 30 formerly Episcopal clergy have availed themselves of it.

It is sad to hear that the Bishop of Rome did not have the courtesy to include the Archbishop of Canterbury in his consultations but not terribly surprising. This reveals another aspect that this plan does not change which revolves around the intangible question of ethos. One priest I know, a former Roman Catholic, said in response to my question “Does this change anything for you?” said essentially “Why should I give up Anglican freedom?” The Roman Catholic Church may try to create an Anglican-style ‘church within a church’ but they cannot re-create what has taken 450 years with intervening American and industrial revolutions to form.

The way we Episcopalians live into Catholic tradition, read and “inwardly digest” scripture and make our moral choices will not—and by definition cannot—be carried over to this new thing the Pope is inventing. The Episcopal Church has a unique charism of both Catholic order and democratic polity that few other Anglicans, let alone Roman Catholics, fully appreciate.

Certainly the Roman Catholic Church disagrees with us on a number of things and chief among them is our understandings of what constitutes Christian unity. The Roman Catholic Church defines Christian unity entirely on recognition of the office of Pope as authoritative and they see the entire deposit of faith emanating from there. We understand Christian unity as a present gift of the Holy Spirit, conferred by Christ and it is on us to live into what Christ has already achieved on the cross.

Often what divides us from other Christians is not what we believe, but where we see the implications of our beliefs taking us. One example is how we interpret the meaning of the outward signs of how Christian life is ordered—the community of baptized Christians, the three-fold ministry of deacon, priest and bishop, the nature of the sacraments. Both Catholics and Episcopalians understand that these point us to a greater unity of mission which is not our sole possession but Christ’s. At the same time, we see implications that our Roman Catholic counterparts do not: we welcome all baptized Christians to communion, we do not limit ordained ministry to just males, and we know that it is possible for all kinds of people, gay and straight alike, to live as a wholesome example to Christ’s people.

To note what we share is not to say there isn’t a certain sting when we read the headlines. Benedict XVI has managed all at once to intrude into our own church’s internal struggles for a very narrow strategic purpose; insult the very validity of who we are; and, at the same claim to value what we offer. The move seems designed to divide us. Some may take joy in this, but I do not. It feels something like coming home to find that the burglar has left a note on the coffee table complimenting us on our decor.

It would be a shame for this turn of events to further deepen the divide between our churches and between our two traditions. Certainly, we owe a great debt to Roman Catholicism with which we share much. The most important thing we share is our common calling is to serve as Christ’s ambassadors to a world that still suffers poverty, war, disease, starvation, and limited but misused natural resources.

My experience tells me is that the vast majority of ordinary believers will not be fazed by this. Most laity know intuitively what we clergy often forget: that God is bigger than all this and that the Holy Spirit is present every day in ways that transcend mere denominational differences.

I want to emphasize to those parishioners who have joined Trinity, Easton, from the Roman Catholic Church either through marriage or for reasons of conscience, and to those members whose partners remain Roman Catholic, that nothing has changed. Christ is still present to you in this community and in the sacraments. All baptized Christians are always welcome to Holy Communion, “commonly called the Mass,” in the Episcopal Church. The pastoral care of your parish is still here. Your parish family here at Trinity embraces you. This parish and our diocese will still do the often amazing ministries that God has called us to. We remain a church where Catholic order and tradition is uniquely mixed with freedom of conscience, genuine hospitality, and Christian charity.

May God continue to bless you in the good work you do in Jesus’ name!

Read more on the Episcopal Cafe: here, and here .
See also Thinking Anglicans here, here and here. More blog responses here.

Just who are Episcopalians? Would you believe Ninjas?

2009-10-19T22:10:00.006-04:00

Updated: Version 2.0

Learn more here and here.

Crop Walk is Sunday, October 11th!

2009-10-09T13:01:00.001-04:00

Please join us for the 32nd Annual CROP Hunger Walk. The walk will begin at St. John’s on Ferry St, Easton, PA. Registration starts at 1:00 p.m. and kick off at 1:30 p.m. See Jan Billings or Richelle Pinto to sign up to walk or donate. Your Gift Will Make a difference!!!!

Trinity Takes a Field Trip

2009-09-30T16:54:00.003-04:00

Trinity is planning a trip to Cathedral Stained Glass on Saturday, October 17th to tour the facility that is restoring our Trinity stained glass window. We plan to meet in the Trinity parking lot around 9 a.m. and carpool to Cheltenham, PA. After the tour, we will gather for lunch and head home. Please sign up on the Mission Table if you are interested in coming or call the parish office (610-253-0792). Google Maps are provided and can also be found on the Mission Table.

Happening #19 – November 13-16 at Kirby House

2009-09-29T10:37:00.004-04:00

Happening is a spiritual retreat presented by teenagers for teenagers, with the help of thoughtful adults. The weekend provides a sacred, safe space where youth may deepen their relationship with Jesus, or meet him for the first time. A wonderful prelude or follow-up to confirmation, Happening is the chance for youth to build a foundation for their own unique lives of faith. All of this happens through lively worship, daily prayer, shared insights, music and the arts, indoor and outdoor games, and a few great surprises. Happening encourages youth to go out into the world to live and proclaim what they have learned and to participate fully in the life of their home parishes.

Only youth grades 9-12 and adults over the age of 24 who have never attended Happening before are invited to attend. Friends outside the Episcopal Church are absolutely welcome to attend as well, so feel free to bring a friend!

Cost is $100 per participant. (Members of Trinity, Easton, please note: contact the parish office before you register since Trinity will pay 50% to members who register on-time!) Register online at www.diobeth.org, “Events”, “Happening #19”.

PLEASE NOTE!!!
You are NOT considered registered until the 2 page medical release and community life standards form are completed and returned to Diocesan House. These forms will be available on the diocesan website — www.diobeth.org/ministries/youth/youth.html. Please return forms to the following address:

Diocesan House
Attn: Happening
333 Wyandotte St.
Bethlehem, PA 18015

Wayne Sherrer to be ordained to the Priesthood

2009-09-17T13:11:00.002-04:00

The Right Reverend Paul Victor Marshall, Eighth Bishop of Bethlehem, will ordain:

The Reverend Timothy Scott Albright
The Reverend James Douglas Moyer
The Reverend Christina Nord
The Reverend Wayne Calvin Sherrer

To the Sacred Order of Priests
In Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

On the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
Tuesday, The Twenty-ninth of September
Two Thousand and Nine
At Seven O’clock in the Evening
The Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Three Two One Wyandotte Street
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Your prayers and presence are requested.

Pride in the Park: Episcopal Presence

2009-07-24T14:18:00.001-04:00

Once again the Episcopal Churches in the Lehigh Valley will have a tent at "Pride In The Park" on Sunday August 16 from Noon until 6pm at Cedar Beach in Allentown. This is a major evangelism effort that positively markets the Episcopal Church to our community. This was a huge success last year and the attendees were quite impressed that we were the only denomination to have a presence at the largest Gay Pride event in NE PA. Those who volunteered last year found it to be a rewarding experience and the human to human contact was far more effective than "remote" advertising. Our contact people this year are Terry Gangaware and Anne Szlivko. Please also speak to Sister Patricia-Michael and/or Father Gerns (who will both be taking part). Please sign up at the mission table at the rear of the Church or outside the Chapel to take part!

2009 Bishop’s Day for Kids: The EXODUS GAMES: Xtreme Faith Stories!

2009-07-24T14:17:00.001-04:00

For children in grades 1-5. Saturday, August 15 from 9:30am to 2:30pm at The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Register Online now! Go to Event Registration at www.diobeth.org. Parents are welcome and those planning to attend must also register online. No Walk-ins. For more information, contact Anne Kitch at (610) 691-5655 x237.

Opening the Gates: An Experience in Urban Ministry

2009-06-17T15:02:00.003-04:00

A residential camp program for high school students. Learn, live, love, grow, serve homelessness, poverty, literacy with a food, fun & fellowship “Nightprayer” in the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem from Sunday night, July 12th through Wednesday afternoon, July 15th. Register by contacting Dsmith@nativitycathedral.org or by calling 610-865-0727. R$25 per registrant.

Buy Stock in a Young Person Doing Mission

2009-05-29T13:35:00.001-04:00

The Senior High Youth of the Diocese of Bethlehem is making another mission trip to New Orleans from July 25th to August 1st 2009. They are going to be doing various things once they are are there: the 16 and older group is going to be working with gutting and rebuilding houses while the under 16 group is going to be focusing on landscaping and projects with soup kitchens, shelters, schools, etc. Each participant is paying a personal donation to go on the trip, but they also need to raise funds for rest of the trip. Once again they are seeking donations and selling "stocks." Each stock costs 10 dollars and they enitle the "stockholder" to one free ticket to a slide show dinner after the trip at a church in the Diocese and a postcard from the young people while they are down in NOLA.

Our own Jensen Appleman is taking part in the trip. To "buy stock" in Jensen, please make a check out to "Trinity Church - Youth Mission Trip" (wriite "Stock" in the memo line) and give it to Jensen, or place in the offering plate or send it to the parish office. You will recieve a "Stock Certificate" by mail from the church or in person from Jensen. (If you wish to donate without buying stock, simply write "Donation" in the memo line.) Jensen will be in church on Sunday, June 7 to sell stock in person at the Mission Table.

2009 Bishop’s Day for Kids--The EXODUS GAMES: Xtreme Faith Stories!

2009-05-22T16:18:00.004-04:00

For children in grades 1-5. Saturday, August 15 from 9:30am to 2:30pm at The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Register Online now! Go to Event Registration may be found here. Parents are welcome and those planning to attend must also register online. No Walk-ins. For more infomation, contact Anne Kitch at (610) 691-5655 x237.

Trinity Youth Car Wash

2009-04-29T14:24:00.003-04:00

Trinity’s youth Confirmation Class will be holding a car wash on Sunday May 10 during the 8 am and 10:30 am services. Proceeds will be used to purchase food for the Ark Soup Kitchen, which they will be preparing and serving on May 9 (with parents’ help?). Since the class is relatively small, we are asking for a few volunteers to fill the ranks. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Pete Olieman by email at pnolieman@rcn.com or by phone at 610-253-2143.

Becoming Part of a Community

2009-04-24T09:37:00.003-04:00

Alex Cooke gave this talk after church services on April 19th.

My husband and I moved to Easton around five years ago as we were tired of renting outside of NY and I didn't want to raise a family there. Although having both graduated from Kutztown University, we knew very little about Easton. Caswell "happened" upon it one day with his dad and when he brought me to the area several weeks later on a "house-hunting" trip, I feel in love with the town and the rest is history.

As soon as we closed on a house, Caswell started working on a job which took him out of town for the first two months so I was left to make the transition and find "things to do". Having come from a Catholic family who attended church every weekend—not just Christmas and Easter, I decided it was time to find a local church.

I first attended St. Michael’s (across the street before it closed) and felt greatly disappointed when no one seemed to care that I was a new face in the crowd. I was even more stunned when I went to shake the priest's hand after service and he "moved me along" as if he had someone or something more important to do. It wasn't hard to make the decision that I would continue my search for a more welcoming church.

I knew the following weekend I would "try out" the Episcopal Church across the street. I was a little nervous as I always felt more "secure" going into an Episcopal church with my husband who was raised Episcopalian and knew the service better than I did. When we attended services in each others churches, we had little ways of helping the other one through it. For example, the Catholic Church splits the "Our Father" prayer in half so I would squeeze Caswell's hand so he knew when to stop "mid-prayer" and then continue with everyone.

The following weekend I attended Trinity and, like the other Episcopal churches I attended, I felt welcomed. People introduced themselves to me and I even made it through the service without the help of my husband-the “real” Episcopalian!”

The week following that Sunday I received a welcome card and a loaf of bread from congregation member Sue Ann. The decision was easy after that—a church that loves baked goods as much as I did was the church for me! I have to admit, I was also thrilled that the Celebrant that weekend, Mother Donna, was a women. Since my job is in a male-dominated field, I respect other women who pave the sometimes difficult path of gaining respect and doing what they love despite the limitations society places on them.

I found myself actually enjoying going to church on a more regular basis and wanting to become more involved. Any guilt I felt by not being able to go to service on particular Sundays was no longer driven by the “Catholic guilt” of “You better go to church if you want to go to Heaven” but by the disappointment of not seeing friendly faces and missing out on a really good sermon.
I began to feel I was becoming apart of a community. The more I got involved, the more I needed that community. This became even more crucial with the arrival of our daughter Grace. With so many friends facing the difficulties of trying to have a child, I felt truly blessed and thankful for the gift of her. While the parents of a child always feel guilty for any disruptions their child causes during service, once again, Trinity came through. You made us feel welcome to have a cooing baby in the pew and just in time formed a nursery so that she could “play” while mommy and daddy could get an hour of “adult time” and prayer.

Grace joyfully looks forward to receiving communion which she calls “get bread” and always asks for more. Even at such an early age, she can’t get enough! It is wonderful to watch her grow and feel as though Trinity is going through the same growth process of becoming bigger with each passing day.

The Capitol Funds Campaign is extremely important to Trinity as I feel the church must continue to grow in order to accommodate the needs of it’s people. Everyone talks of the economy and the bad state that it is in and while I do not deny this, it’s hard to believe it as a member of this congregation when week after week, month after month-whether it is backpacks or food for the soup kitchen or volunteers for special events, this congregation comes through for all that is asked of it. That tells me that the people of this church put others before themselves and realize the importance of the community of this church and that it extends beyond the walls that so desperately need to be repaired.

The architectural supports of this church may be compromised but the people of this church are the real support braces.

Being a parent comes with many sacrifices but there are many, many rewards that are immeasurable. This is also the case with Trinity. While it will take sacrifices to put extra money towards the Capitol Fund Campaign, the rewards will be immeasurable. Think of all the sacrifices the people of this parish before us made in order for us to have a place to come and worship and be thankful. Ask yourself what legacy you want to leave behind—not just for your children or your family—but as a member of this family here at Trinity.

2009-04-23T11:31:00.001-04:00

CARE CIRCLE

The Care Circle will meet at the home of Alma Elo on Sunday evening, May 3 from 6:30 to 8:30. We will be joining together for dessert, a study of the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday, and fellowship. We welcome all who would like to join us. Please contact Alma (610-837-4747) for directions to her home. Also, please call Kathy Counterman (908-454-5727) , Anne Nourse (610-258-4449) or Alma for further information on the Circle.

2009-04-21T15:47:00.003-04:00

Upcoming Adult Forums: 5/10, 17 and 24

On these dates, there will be a discussion of the first three chapters of C.S. Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity. The book is readily available at libraries and book stores.

Easter Plant Distribution

2009-04-03T14:49:00.001-04:00

We will follow our usual custom of distributing plants to the home-bound or hospitalized immediately following Easter Sunday’s 10:30 a.m. liturgy. Please plan to take a plant or two to those who can’t be with us.

Maundy Thursday Footwashing

2009-04-03T14:47:00.001-04:00

A sign-up sheet is on the Mission Table at the back of the church for those who would like to take part in the Maundy Thursday footwashing ritual. This important symbol of our humility and desire to be Christ-like is important to our Lenten journey. Fr. Gerns would like to have at least 8 people signed up. Please help make this Holy Week deeply meaningful for yourself and for those who witness this age old tradition.

Going on retreat

2009-03-21T08:44:00.009-04:00

This coming week, I am going on retreat in advance of Holy Week and Easter. And in June, we are planning a parish retreat with the Rev. Jane Tomaine to learn about our Baptismal Covenant and the Rule of St. Benedict.

So what is this retreat thing all about? Why are we at Trinity always talking about retreats, quiet days and spiritual direction? Here is one answer that another Episcopal priest writes for the Boston Globe about why he is going on retreat:

This coming week, I’ll be stepping away from life in Needham for a short while. I’ll be spending several days on retreat with the Benedictine monks of Mt. Saviour Monasteryin Elmira, NY. While I hope the time away will be relaxing, a retreat isn’t the same thing as a vacation—my time at the monastery will be filled with prayer and study, two of the things I do here at Christ Church, just done more intensely while I’m away. It will be like a training weekend where the focus is on a few aspects of what I do as a priest and pastor. But the important part of going away on retreat is that I’ll be doing these things in a place that’s away from my usual surroundings. Going on retreat will give me some space and distance from my home and my work, which will let me examine myself and life in Needham from a different perspective.
As Skip Windsor, the senior priest at Christ Church, reminded me last week, a retreat isn’t just about getting away: it’s about preparing to come back. The purpose of going on retreat is to come back with fresh eyes and ears; to come back with a new spirit or some new discovery about the circles we usually move in. Taking a retreat means removing yourself from what is routine and familiar and spending time living in a different way, so that when you return to “ordinary” life, you’ll be more attentive to those details you usually take for granted. Maybe you see something that can be improved; maybe you return with a greater appreciation for what you missed while you were on retreat.
I think everyone can benefit from finding ways to take a retreat from time to time, whether that time is for a week, or a weekend, or just a day. It’s so easy to become entrenched in our habitual ways of working and interacting with neighbors or family; even the ways we take time for rest and relaxation can become stale and routine! Retreat time offers an opportunity to break out of the usual molds that govern our days, and also allows time to focus on just a few important things that are otherwise scattered among all the other “urgent” activities that occupy our time. The focus and renewal that a retreat offers helps keep the tasks of ordinary life fresh and interesting.

I will be on retreat from Tuesday through Friday at Holy Cross Monastery in Hyde Park, NY.

--Father Andrew

Read the rest: Speaking of Faith: Stepping away to come home - Needham - Your Town - Boston.com

Trinity Announcements

2009-03-20T14:38:00.003-04:00

We have been away from the blog for a while, so we decided to catch up on what is going on and block post all the announcements we've missed. We will work to do better at getting events up on the blog more quickly. -- atg+

TRINITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Current and Upcoming:

Adult Forum: Fr. Andy and Alison Bono lead us in a five-week discussion on The Lord’s Prayer, based on the study guide, “Lord, Teach Us to Pray.”
Christophany Goes Green! The DioBeth Youth Council invites 6-12 graders to their spring retreat April 24-26, 2009 at Watson Homestead Retreat Center, Painted Post, NY. Information and a link to online registration can be found at www.lifeistasty.org. Registration closes March 31st!
Fr. Gerns on Retreat: Fr. Gerns will be on retreat from March 24th through the 27th at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY. The purpose for this retreat is to bring the soul to a place of centering in preparation for Holy Week and the Easter Season. Please keep Fr. Andy in your prayers as he seeks to be centered in the Holy.
Trinity Store Sale! With your purchase of one book from our store ($10 or more) you will receive the newly published Episcopal Handbook! This is a great little reference book that you will educate and amuse you. Speak to a Trinity Store “Shopkeeper” to take advantage of this offer.
Palms for Palm Sunday: A donor is needed for the Altar Palm. This is also handled through Lynn’s Florist for $45 plus $5 delivery Please note: during the season of Lent, with the exception of the Fourth Sunday (Mid-Lent, Mar. 24), Trinity orders a dried arrangement that is used for four weeks. A check made out to Trinity in the amount of $15.00 is the only charge. If you have signed up for any of those weeks, please remember to send in your check as you will not be billed. Many thanks!
ProJeCt’s Food Pantry-Updated March 2009: Current most-needed items for Project's Easton Area Food Bank are: LOW SUGAR CEREAL; CANNED POTATOES, POWDERED MILK (envelopes, 3 qt. boxes); DIAPERS (newborn & size 5); PANCAKE SYRUP & PANCAKE MIX; HYGIENE PRODUCTS (deodorant, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc.); BROWN PAPER BAGS (grocery store size.) Also needed are gift cards for pharmacy, clothes & food; school supplies; flash drive memory sticks; brochure rack; 2 new or gently-used 4-drawer file cabinets; new or gently used computer speakers; cd player &/or tape recorders; volunteers and tutors. See complete list on bulletin board in Conine Hall. Please continue to help needy families and individuals by contributing to the Food Bank. Donations may be placed in the large basket in the back of church. Thank you.
Diocesan Training Day: Saturday, March 28 at St. Stephen’s Wilkes-Barre. Anyone involved in or wanting more information on the following are strongly encouraged to attend: Wardens/Vestry members; Lay Eucharistic Visitors; Stewardship; Parish Website; ChurchPost training; Christian Formation; Treasurers’ Workshop; practical tips for the part-time church organist; building a youth ministry program. For more information on these workshops, go to: http://diobeth.typepad.com/diobeth_newspin/2009/01/diocesan-training-day.html.
Lenten Materials at back of church: Devotional booklets, daily readings, coin folders, children’s activities and more can be found on the mission table at the back of the church. Please use these materials as a way of going deeper and enriching your Lenten journey.
Millie Sherrer Walks for Autism! On Saturday, April 18, 2009 at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, PA, Millie Sherrer and her team, “Ryan’s Warriors” will walk to raise awareness for Autism. To support Millie and her team, go to www.walknowforautism.org , select “PA—Lehigh Valley”, on the next screen, look for the “Team Rank” block on the right side bar of the screen and click on “more”; then scroll down until you see “Ryan’s Warriors” and click on it. Then just follow the instructions to make your contribution. Thanks!!
Looking for Pastoral Drivers: We have members who are of limited mobility or who get around just fine but don't drive. They don't have any special needs except perhaps a walker or cane. These folks have largely stopped coming to church but would love to joining us in Church even just once or twice a month. Father Gerns is looking for people who can drive other members of our parish to church. We are looking to pair up persons and have them work out travel to church as often as the rider needs it, and only in nice weather. We are looking for flexible, mobile, friendly people to become the core of what Fr. Gerns wants to call "The Trinity Taxi" ministry. Please speak to Father Gerns after service, e-mail him at rector@trinityeaston.org or call the parish office if you are interested.
“Fed by our Past, Nourishing our Future” Celebrating 190 years of ministry!...

Cottage Meetings: If you missed the cottage meeting you were invited to in March, here is your chance! One last cottage meeting will be held in the Parish Hall after the 10:30 service on Sunday, March 29. A simple lunch will be served. Please contact Helen Forshaw (610-837-3033,) Anne Nourse (610-258-4449) or the church office (610-253-0792) to let us know you're coming!
Prayer Vigil, April 17 & 18: Sign up for the 24 hour prayer vigil led by the Daughters of the King and the Spirituality Circle. It begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 17 and ends with the Eucharist at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 18th. For this to work best, we need people to sign up for every hour through the night. Every hour will be staff by a member of the Daughters of the King and/or Spirituality Circle, so no one will be in the Church alone and the building will be secured. Sign ups on the Mission Tables.
Kick off Luncheon at Noon, Sunday, May 3: Please mark your calendar for that special day. There will be music, great food, and we are even planning special events for the kids!

I am Episcopalian

2009-02-25T14:04:00.001-05:00

Welcome to I am Episcopalian, launched this Ash Wednesday 2009, the beginning of Lent.

The Episcopal Church is a big, colorful, vibrant church. We hope you will see that in the wide spectrum of its members represented here on this site.

In our Church you may touch ancient traditions and experience intelligent inquiry. It is an expansive Church, a loving Church, with strong ties to our roots as a nation. We are a thoughtful, inquiring, freedom-loving and welcoming body, and we thrive not only in the U.S., but also throughout Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Learn more here.

A Vision for Mission

2009-02-06T17:54:00.007-05:00

Here is the slide show that was presented at the January 25th annual parish meeting describing the upcoming capital campaign.

A Vision for Ministryoject Introduction

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Religion & Spiritual Presentations & Slid

Fr. Matthew on Evangelism

2009-01-11T18:14:00.001-05:00

Father Matthew talks about "Why Have Evangelism?"

Bishops Day with Youth 2009

2008-11-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

A note from Youth Missioner, the Rev. Demery Bader-Saye:

Just a note to let you know that registration opens up tomorrow, December 1, for Bishop's Day with Youth (6-12 graders) which is set for Friday and Saturday, January 30-31, 2009. We'll be going to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine's Nightwatch program in New York City again this year, as well as visiting Dave & Buster's arcade.

There is a reduced price this year of $20 per person. See the attached flyer for info. Be sure to register soon -- space is limited!

You may register by visiting www.diobeth.org or going to www.lifeistasty.org.

Please note: registration is not considered complete until the medical release/community life standards forms have been completed and mailed to diocesan house. The forms may be found on lifeistasty.org. Please see the attached flyer for information regarding adult chaperones.

Please also note: You must contact the parish office and one of our Youth Leaders/Teachers, Mike Burke, Pete Olieman and/or Barbara McCarthy, to let them know you are going. This is so we can plan for the proper number of chaperones from our parish.

See the e-postcard here and open the attachement to read the flyer for complete information about the event.

Advent Conspiracy

2008-11-22T14:01:00.001-05:00

Christmas can [still] change the world.

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.

So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

Welcome to Advent Conspiracy.

All Saints Memorial List - 2008

2008-10-31T16:23:00.004-04:00

This is the Memorial List for All Saints Day.

Page 1:
Click on the image to see it full size.

Page 2

Father Gerns’ illustrated, simplified, and painless Bible Study.*

2008-09-12T08:00:00.007-04:00

Do you suffer from....

...spiritual doldrums?

...run down faith?

...the common hang-ups due to excessive exposure

to harsh or dull religion?

Then Father Gerns’ illustrated, simplified and painless Bible Study* could be just what the doctor ordered!

This new-fangled Bible Study group on Wednesday evenings is starting October 1st through November 19th from 6:15 – 7:45 p.m. (just before Choir) in the Charney Room.

This is not the Bible for dummies.

But it is for people who feel dumb around the Bible.

If you…

• … feel you ought to read the Bible but whenever you try, you fall asleep.

• … know the Church thinks the Bible is important but for the life of you can’t figure out why.

• … can’t imagine what people two- (or four-) thousand years ago have to say to people today.

• … feel that you need to run & hide (or check your wallet) whenever someone starts quoting the Bible.

• … have questions, and want answers …but not in the way you’d expect!

• … have been given lots of answers, but no one ever listened to your questions.

• … really want to know what Jesus did and taught and want to follow his example.

…then Father Gerns’ illustrated, simplified and painless Bible Study* is for you!

We will center on how the earliest Christians responded to the words, actions and teachings of Jesus.

Step right up!

Come to one, or come to all!

You'll be glad you did!

Father Gerns’ illustrated, simplified and painless Bible Study*

is open to everyone in the parish and the community.

(Fr. Andrew says: I really need a count of how many materials to make and/or buy, so please sign up in the rear of the church or call the parish office.)

* with apologies to Marshall Efron

Bishop's School for Fall, 2008

2008-08-27T11:41:00.000-04:00

Canon Jane Teter writes:

The Fall Semester of Bishop's School will be held at St. Peter's Church in Hazleton from 10 to 3:30 on September 20 & 27; October 4, 18 & 25; November 1, 8, 15, 22; and December 6 (December 13 is reserved for a snow day).

The morning class will be "The Message of the Old Testament" led by The Rev. Daniel Gunn; the afternoon class will be "Church History" led by Mr. Brian Pavlac.

Because the focus of Bishop's School is to prepare vocational deacons and locally licensed priests, the curriculum is designed to meet the canonical requirements for those ministries. The classes rotate on a four year cycle so that someone may enter at the beginning of any semester and continue through the four year program.

People who are in the ordination process may only miss one session and still receive credit for the course.

Although the focus is on preparation for ordination, anyone is welcome to register and attend all or any of the courses. A $75 fee per course is payable with registration.
To register please email Canon Teter at jteter@diobeth.org or send a note to her at the address below. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address. We need to be able to reach you in case of inclement weather or other schedule changes. Checks should be written to: The Diocese of Bethlehem, marked for Bishop's School. If you have questions, please contact me.

The Rev. Canon Jane B. Teter
Canon for Ministries and Diocesan Deployment Officer
610-691-5655, ext 228
jteter@diobeth.org

Read the rest, including reading requirements here.

Parish Picnic - August 24, 2008

2008-08-25T10:45:00.005-04:00

Here are pictures from our parish picnic yesterday at Trinity. We set up the Trinity Heritage Day booth and cooked up hot dogs and burgers. There was a lot of great food from members, and tons of games, relays races and activities for the kids. Folks gathered on the front lawn for food and conversation.

In Our Prayers This Week

2008-06-30T10:00:00.003-04:00

Updated: August 24, 2008
Week of The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

During our Daily Offices and mid-week worship, we will remember these concerns, people and ministries. We ask you to include them in your prayers this week.

Pray for the Anglican Communion, especially Rowan, Archbishop of Canterbury, Katharine, our Presiding Bishop, and the clergy and people of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

Pray for the Diocese of Bethlehem, especially Paul our Bishop, John our Assistant Bishop, The Diocesan House Ministry Team and our partner Diocese of Kajo-Keji in the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, especially Karekabi Parish and our adopted school, Loopo Primary School.

Pray for those who hold us in their prayers, especially Sr. Marcia Hobart, Anchoress.

Pray for our nation and all in authority: George our president, Ed our governor, and all in positions of public trust.

Pray for those who serve our country in the armed forces at home and abroad, especially Rob Caplette, Will McCabe, Chris Motsek, Joshua Orndorff, Paul Cataldi, Heather Cataldi, Samantha Sandt, Gabriel Gonzalez, Michael Ashby and Jesse Hauze.

Pray for peace and an end to war, Pray for peace and for the victims of violent conflict anywhere in the world. Pray for those who work for peace.

Pray for our congregation, especially: Andrew our rector, Wayne, Postulant and for all members of our parish; Norma Johnson; Carol Jones; George Jones; Peter Junker; Joseph & Michelle Kamin; Maureen Kane, Jacob Lacorte; Thomas, Lisa & Logan Kase and Robert & Cherie Kavanaugh.

Pray for our congregations’ several ministries, especially our lay leaders, clergy and staff; our Music Ministry, The Care Circle and our Mission of the Month, ProJeCt.

Pray for the sick, those in special need and those who care for them: Ginna Kogler, Joe Godfrey, Doris Pierce, Hazel Kogler, George Slezak, Rose Sandt, Ron & Gail Williams, Sr., John Garvey, Heather Todak, Dick Cline, Julia Burns, George Marion, Jr., Terry Motsek, Ada Mae Sardegna, William Doyle, Carl Woronowicz, Jean Wadnik, Chuck Harding, Alexis Lockard, William Hazzard, Sue Scott, Phoebe Deck, Jan Wedderman, Prudence Long, Fr. Jeffrey Funk, Adele Hartman, Robert Sandt, Laura Miscavage, David Evans, Daniel Gallagher, Carmen Wilson, Fr. Stephen Marsteller, Harold Locke, James Arrizzo, Jr., George Marion, Sr., Donna Watson, Jim Yedlock, Charles Potocek, Kay and Jim Gill, Carolyn Cushman, Mary & Andrea, Pat Lockard, Tammy Gordon, Ann Thornton, Amy Williamson, John Gumpy and Sue.

Pray for the homebound and shut-in: Winifred McCluskey, Trudy Hunter, Bob & Phoebe Deck, Marcia Hobart, Bertha Long, Carol Jones, Mim Conine, James & Dorothy Stitt, Jean McCray, Martha Stout, John & Peggy Garvey and Mildred Piatt.

Pray for those who have died: Howard Swick, William & Lillian Swick (for whom the altar flowers have been given) and Kenneth Kohler, Joseph P. Corona Sr. and Robert W. Hughes (for whom the Sanctuary Lamp burns) and Victor Marshall.

Pray for our young men and women who died recently in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families: Adam T. McKiski, 21; Stewart S. Trejo, 25; Michael H. Ferschke Jr., 22; James M. Hale, 23; Daniel A. C. McGuire, 19; Jacob J. Toves, 27; Kristopher D. Rodgers, 29; Janelle F. King, 23; Donald C. Carwile, 29; Paul E. Conlon Jr., 21; Jonathan L. Luscher, 20 (of Scranton); for the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan who have died, unnamed and unknown to us, and their families ... and for an end to war.

Summer Book Club starts June 29

2008-06-13T10:16:00.000-04:00

Anne Slivko and Alison Horn will co-lead a book group on Sunday mornings during the summer. We will read Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt starting Sunday, June 29 at 9:15 am. in the Charney Room.

From the Anne Rice official website is this description:

This new introduction appears in the paperback edition of the book, released November 1st, 2006:

This book seeks to present a realistic fictional portrait of Our Lord in Time. It is rooted in the faith that the Creator of the Universe became human in the person of Jesus Christ and “dwelt among us.” The magnificent mystery of the Incarnation is accepted and affirmed as fact. Scripture is the inspiration for the emotions and powers of the Child Jesus as they are envisioned here. History as well as the gospels is the source for this picture of a world in which Our Lord might have lived, as a little boy, in war and in peace, from day to day.

Ad majorem Dei gloriam. July 12, 2006

Sign up in the back of the Church or outside the Chapel so that we will know how many books to buy. (We are using the large paperback book club edition with extra materials.)

Here is a great summer beach book and a great group of people to talk about it. Contact Anne (610-515-8021) or Alison (484-851-3367 ) or call the parish office (or e-mail here).

You may read an excerpt here.

Church School raises $1850 for New Hope

2008-06-11T13:36:00.000-04:00

The Church School at Trinity Easton has a missionary offering every program year. They undertake a small fundraiser or two, but mainly they collect spare change from their alowances, their families and fellow parishioners at Trinity from mid-September through May.

The 2007-08 Church School Missionary Offering was designated for the New Hope Campaign. At both Sunday services, children from the church would take turns collecting small change in two specially made "school houses," made by Trinitarian Carmen LoBaido Wilson to underscore that one of the tasks of New Hope is to rebuild school buildings in Kajo-Keji. At each service, the children would present their gifts at the altar along with the regular offerings of money and food, bread and wine.

During the year in class, they learned about Loopo Primary School, our adopted school, and other activities to learn about the Diocese of Kajo-Keji.

When Bishop Paul came to visit on April 20th, he was presented a check for $664, which was collected up through Easter. But they weren't done. The Church School collected a total $1850 for New Hope through this year's Church School Missionary offering.

See the DioBeth blog newSpin here

A prayer for Lambeth using Anglican rosary

2008-06-10T16:26:00.002-04:00

The Lambeth Conference will be held at Kent University in Canterbury from July 16 - August 3 with a retreat preceding it from July 10 - 15. Lambeth is a conference of BIshops from all over the Anglican Communion hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury that meets once every ten years. The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, has asked that Sunday, June 22 be set aside as a Day of Prayer for Lambeth.

Trinity will hold a mini-Prayer vigil on that day from 9:15 to 10 am and then have others times during the day for prayer. People will be invited to pray wherever they are for the Anglican Communion and for all those in attendance. Keep your eye on this blog, your e-Citadel and bulletins as plans develop.

Prayer for The Lambeth Conference

(Phrases in quotations are taken from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s letter to the Episcopal Church dated June 4, 2008)

Sr. Patricia-Michael Hauze, Solitary

CROSS: Most merciful and compassionate God, Keeper of the Eternal Covenant, be present with our Bishops at the Lambeth Conference; guide them to “examine the fruit of our colonial history, engage that diverse harvest, discover its blessings and challenges and commit themselves to the future of this network.”

INVITATORY: “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:20-21.

CRUCIFORM: Remember the “varied nature of the body of Christ.”

Unite our Bishops, O Lord, with “openness of spirit”

Unite our Bishops, O Lord, with “vulnerability of heart”

Unite our Bishops, O Lord, with “eagerness of mind”

Unite our Bishops, O Lord, with “a peaceful spirit”

Unite our Bishops, O Lord, “to see the Spirit at work in each other”

Unite our Bishops, O Lord, with “a lessening of tension”

Unite our Bishops, O Lord, with “a real willingness to work together”

END: O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. BCP, page 515.

Christophany in the Springtime

2008-04-25T10:01:00.000-04:00

From Fr. Andrew's blog:

The apostle's creed as spoken by some young disciples.

And while we thinking about young friends and apprentices of Jesus, please remember all the young people of the Diocese of Bethlehem who are taking part in Christophany this weekend at Spruce Lake Retreat Center in Canadensis, PA. Pray especially for those taking part from Trinity, Easton: Jensen, Alex and Aric.

Learn more about youth ministry in the Diocese of Bethlehem here.

HT to Thoughts from Jeff.

Alex wins!

2008-04-24T18:54:00.003-04:00

Updated: Friday, April 25:

Thank you, Easton Trinitarians! Thank you, Croutons!

Thanks to those of you who voted, Alex House (aka Alex Cooke) of Trinity, Easton, won first place in the on-line voting in the Purina Pet Comedy Challenge! She is on her way to Saint Louis for the finals. They will be held on Friday, May 2nd at The Pageant in St. Louis, where she will compete in the finals against nine other comics.

She could not go to the finals last year because of the birth of daughter Grace. Now that you've voted, please hold Alex, husband Caswell and baby Grace in your prayers as they make the trek to St. Louis later next week.

Here is what Alex wrote:

Well, I was notified this afternoon that I was in fact the on-line winner for the Purina Pet Comedy Challenge. I can honestly say I couldn't have done it without your help so thank you for giving me the opportunity! I just wanted the chance to finish what I started last year. Just going makes me feel like a winner (although coming home with a check wouldn't be so bad, either!) Many thanks for all of your support as it means a lot to me.

;)

Alex

Speaking as Alex's Rector (and campaign manager?) I can say that it has been a fun to support our parishioner in this way and we at Trinity appreciate your assistance.

Here is Alex's website!

Update: Alex is flying out alone and only staying Thursday and Friday night. This means that as I write this she in the Gateway to the West! She says she will be back Sunday for Church. We can hear all about it! Keep on praying, just the same! atg+

We're having a boatload of baptisms!

2008-04-14T09:13:00.008-04:00

This coming weekend, April 19 and 20, we are having a boatload of baptisms!

Saturday night, we will baptize Gabriella during our monthly Spanish-language service!

Then on Sunday, when Bishop Paul visits, we will baptize Kameko, Danielle, Kristopher, Kierstan, and Logan.

We are initiating six people into full membership in the Body of Christ!

There are special days we like to baptize people: The Sunday after the Epiphany (Jan 6): The Baptism of Our Lord (see more below); The Great Vigil of Easter; Pentecost Sunday; The Sunday after All Saints and whenever the Bishop is present for a visitation. It is a very special thing when the Bishop takes part in Christian initiation! That is what will happen this Sunday!

Here is a summary of what baptism is, as described by Father Matthew at Christ Church, Rye, NY.

At Trinity, Easton some other things will happen that are not shown in the video--every parish does things in their own way, even though the basic action of the liturgy is the same!

During the Baptism, we ask everyone to promise to do everything in their power to uphold the candidates in their life in Christ. And we all say "We will!" in big loud voices. At Trinity, we put our promise in writing. Everyone who is baptized here gets a really, really big baptismal certificate that everyone Not just the priest (or in this Sunday's case, the Bishop) signs, and not just the parents and godparents either. Everyone in the congregation! Everyone who came from out of town to be with their friends when their children were baptized signs. And, most important, every member of Trinity who is present signs too!

These certificates look great and are a great reminder of a great truth! I have seen these certificates, covered with signatures, hanging in children's bedrooms, a tangible sign that they are now a part of a community, a branch on the vine of Christ, and a member of the Body of Christ.

Something else happens. They receive a candle that is lit from the paschal candle which reminds us that the newly baptized shares in the light of Christ and that they are Christ's light in the world, and that the Holy Spirit animates and lights their heart, mind and spirit. We suggest that every April 19 or 20th, the family lights their baptismal candle and say some prayers--at dinner time around the table is good--giving thanks for the child and reminding them of this important day!

But wait! There's more! Each candidate puts on a new garment, as a sign that they have put off the old life of sin and put on immortality, renewal, and abundant life in Jesus Christ. In the ancient church, candidates literally took off old clothes and put on new white garments as a sign of their new identity in Jesus Christ. We symbolize and model that with these new, white garments.

This Sunday, because Bishop Paul will be present, we will be put in mind that baptism is an action not just of individuals but of the whole church! Bishop Paul will anoint each of the newly baptized with Chrism, making clear that each of these new members of the body of the Church will sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ's own forever.

Finally, each child will receive Communion as a sign of their full membership in the Christ's body, the Church.

Then, we'll go the parish hall and have cake! Wow! What could be better? A fitting celebration for a glorious day!

Oh, yeah...every January, on the Sunday after Epiphany (that's January 6th) we do a "reunion of baptismal vows" where we invite those who have been baptized at Trinity in the past year, and five, ten and fifteen years ago to come back to their "home" church with, if possible, their parents and godparents, to renew their baptismal promises with the rest of the congregation.

Baptism is a big deal to us in the Episcopal Church because it is how we are adopted into Christ's family and given the grace to be Jesus' friends and apprentices!

Come this Sunday and join in the excitement of watching six people enter into new life in Jesus Christ at Trinity! As Fr. Matthew says...come on in, the water's fine!

C'mon! Help a funny lady out!

2008-04-01T14:52:00.001-04:00

Alex House, a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, Easton, PA, is a semi-finalist in the 2008 Purina Pet Comedy Challenge. She will get to go to the finals if she can garner enough on-line votes starting April 1^st. So members of her church are rallying around to support her, even if it means stuffing the ballot box.

This is the second try at the finals for the contest. She could not make this phase during her last attempt because her daughter, Grace, was being born right when the finals took place in 2007. She placed third in the regional contest this year which took place at the Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia. To make it to the finals, she must garner the most votes at the Purina Pet Comedy Challenge web-site, http://www.petcomedychallenge.com/.

Here is what was written in the Morning Call about Alex and her act last Saturday:

With a screaming baby in the background, two pugs at her feet and a pancake in her hand, Easton stand-up comic Alex House has quite a ''tail'' to tell about her second try at winning a national pet comedy challenge.

House, a veteran of the New York Comedy scene who performs Tuesday in Allentown, placed third in the Philadelphia tryouts of the Purina Pet Comedy Challenge. That means she didn't make the finals, but still has a chance to get into them.

Four first- and second-place winners from four regions became automatic finalists, but the third- and fourth-place winners can only make the finals by public vote.

House's act, along with eight others, will be online at Petcentric.com starting Tuesday through April 22. The two acts with the most votes get to go to the finals in St. Louis on May 1.

House, a Kutztown University graduate, was one of the eight finalists in 2007, but couldn't compete because her daughter was born on the day of the finals.

She was asked to compete that year by the Helium Comedy Club, the site of the Philadelphia competition. She worked there regularly and the club knew she used her two pugs, Amadeus and Bella, as material for her act.

House performed what she calls ''family and pet friendly'' and came in second…
House uses material that is true to her life experiences. She jokes about her pug, Bella, saying, ''I call my female dog 'special little girl' because I'm pretty sure she rode the short little yellow bus to the adoption agency.'' She says her male pug, Amadeus, ''has the worst breath. I think it's because he's a little dog and there is a short distance between one end and the other.''

“From April 1st-22nd, make it part of your automatic routine -just like putting on your underwear. In fact you can vote for me while wearing your underwear and it only takes a few seconds out of your day (voting for me-you should wear your underwear the whole day!).”

Trinity’s Rector, the Rev. Canon Andrew Gerns urged everyone at church on Sunday to log in and vote. He said: “As they used to say in Chicago ward politics: vote early, vote often.” News of the contest and how to vote for Alex will appear on the parish’s blog, e-newsletter, bulletin and whatever list-serve the Rector can think of.

Or as Alex says, “Come on, help a funny lady out!”

You can see Alex here and vote for Alex everyday between April 1 and April 22^nd by going to www.petcentric.com.

Living water

2008-03-06T12:13:00.001-05:00

Gushing in Bethlehem, flowing in Kajo-Keji

[Editor’s Note: Archdeacon Howard Stringfellow and Charlie Barebo, chair of the New Hope Campaign and member of Diocesan Council, visited our companion Diocese of Kajo Keji in Southern Sudan on behalf of the New Hope Campaign and the Diocese of Bethlehem during late February 2008 to strengthen the ties between our dioceses, meet with the person who is to be Bethlehem's representative in Kajo Keji during the Campaign's construction of schools and the Canon Benaiah Poggo College, and inspect the progress of those constructions.]

For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
1Corinthians 10:4b

[Kajo Keji in Southern Sudan, February 2008] “Archdeacon Howard, are you taking enough water?” Bishop Anthony asked me on Friday just as I was taking a small swig from the Rwenzori bottle, the bottled water we found ready for us in Uganda and in Southern Sudan. “You should take at least four bottles, two liters, a day.”

When Charlie Barebo and I were returning from Kajo-Keji, and we were in Uganda, I washed my face in the lavatory in my hotel room. In just a few seconds, my fingers pruned—not enough hydration—just as though I had swum a mile. I had needed to drink more water. Probably I still do.

On Sunday, Charlie and I were part of Anthony’s retinue that traveled to Kiri. He was making his first episcopal visitation there, and Kiri is the parish where his predecessor, Bishop Manesseh, worships.

For the record, the service was Morning Prayer with one lesson, Exodus 17:1-7, and Moses struck the rock at Massah and Meribah in our hearing, and the water flowed once again. For the record, also, the service lasted three and three-quarter hours, despite an Archdeacon’s decision to cut the second lesson, almost unbelievably, “to save time,” as Anthony later told me. He read the second lesson in the context of his sermon. It was Saint John 4, the Samaritan woman at the well at Sychar, the interview in which Jesus breaks down every social convention and constraint, and causes the water to flow in her: “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” He had told her many things, but especially he told her: “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” Anthony preached these lessons within the circumstances at Kiri: opportunities, “springs of water,” that had been missed when the clergy neglected some educational possibilities he had provided, and opportunities before them—all the people—to do the will of God and to refuse the evil for the good. He was clear that Christ is among them and that he continues to offer living water. Unmistakably he fervently desired his people to yearn for the living water, to be like the people in an old, American folk song (whose title refers to another liquid): “them that refuse it are few.”

A gentleman, an engineer I believe, from Juba, a city to the north, most courteously translated the entire service for me. He had come down to attend a meeting about the construction of the Cathedral at Romogi. And while I listened to him and to the service, I reflected on the living water that Christ offered me to choose in taking the journey to Kajo-Keji. Despite the heat, that reached forty degrees centigrade that day, the wind, and the dust, and the brush fire not far behind us, I knew that the decision I made was a long drink at the right well.

Two days before the service at Kiri, we visited Romogi, the site of the Canon Benaiah Poggo College being constructed by the New Hope Campaign. We saw the college’s old building, the building that needed a roof when I first saw it, 13 months ago. We saw how, with a roof, its rooms served simultaneously as classroom, dormitory, and storage space. And we appreciated how, when the construction is complete, doubling and tripling the use of a room will no longer be necessary.

The speed of the construction surprised me. The New Hope Finance Committee had met on January 14 and approved the first transfer of funds. Five weeks later we saw progress on the dormitory and the administration building of the College.

The construction teams we visited employed local and international labor. Kenyans and Ugandans joined Sudanese in the work. And Garry Ion, an engineer with the Church Mission Society, at our and Anthony’s request, looked over each project and foundation.

The long flights during the return journey gave me the opportunity to reflect on the New Hope that I had seen at work in Southern Sudan. New Hope begins with Christ who continuously offers to us the living water that he speaks of at Sychar. And it continues with the living water that springs forth in everyone who chooses to drink at his well. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a witness to the gushing of the water of eternal life. A journey of 15,000 miles can do a lot to broaden horizons and to enlarge perspectives. But I hadn’t expected this: I have seen first hand that the living water that gushes in Bethlehem flows 7,500 miles away in Kajo-Keji. I brought some back.

See DioBeth newSpin: Living Water.

Holy Week and the Great Three Days

2008-03-05T11:13:00.002-05:00

We are closing in the climax of the Church Year. Here is when we tell the story and celebrate again Christ's victory over sin and death. Here is where we enter abundant and eternal life with God through Christ's passion, death and resurrection. Here is when we celebrate the joining of earth to heaven.

Watch these videos from Trinity Wall Street that explain Holy Week.

The first Sunday of Holy Week explained.

"What's a 'maundy' anyway?"

"What's so good about it?"

About the first Celebration of Easter.

What it feels like to celebrate Easter.

Here is when we celebrate at Trinity, Easton:

PALM SUNDAY: The Passion of Our Lord

Sabado, 15 de Marzo

5 p.m. Domingo de Paion; Domingo de Ramos

Liturgia de las Palmas y Santo Eucharista

Sunday, March 16,

8 a.m. - Liturgy of Palms, Procession, Holy Eucharist (I)

10:30 a.m. - Liturgy of Palms, Procession, Holy Eucharist (II) Nursery care provided.

MAUNDY THURSDAY, March 20

7 p.m. - Ritual of foot washing, Eucharist & Stripping of the Altar

GOOD FRIDAY, March 21

7 p.m. - Good Friday Liturgy, Church

EASTER: The Resurrection of Our Lord -

Saturday, March 22: 8 p.m. - The Great Vigil of Easter

Sunday, March 23:

8 a.m. - Holy Eucharist & Sermon

9 a.m. - Easter Brunch, Conine Hall

10:30 a.m. - Holy Eucharist with Choir & Sermon Nursery care provided.

Pastoral Letter, March 2, 2008

2008-03-04T15:42:00.001-05:00

[In case you missed it, here is the Pastoral Letter that was read at all services of worship this past weekend (Mar 2) in the Diocese of Bethlehem.]

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,

In a few weeks Easter will have dawned and we will again luxuriate in the light of the Lord’s Resurrection, celebrating the gift of new life that the Cross and Empty Tomb lavish on us.

As I celebrate Easter this year it will be with profound gratitude for what we as a diocesan family are doing. Construction has begun in Sudan and our Social Ministries Committee is preparing to make grants for new social ministries in our parishes. This work is possible because so many hearts have already responded with Christ’s own love for the weak and powerless.

With the active phase of the New Hope Campaign three-quarters over, we have gifts and pledges totaling $3,022,000 (as of February 24), putting us a bit ahead of schedule. Our goal of $3.6 million is well in sight.

Since last September I have been spending a few hours each week at the Trinity Soup Kitchen in Bethlehem, trying to be of use to some of Trinity’s guests for whom life has been harsh. I come away from Trinity each Monday and Friday more convinced than ever that our New Hope decision to assist parishes with seed money for social ministry is God-pleasing and necessary. I am aware of plans in Mt. Pocono and Scranton to undertake ministries of compassion, and know there are more being formulated. My own commitment to New Hope has increased because of this hands-on experience. I share this story as one paltry example of the grand truth that caring for others changes us, takes us out of ourselves, transform our souls. I know that many of you have had similar experiences of feeling that you have received a gift when you made an effort for those in need.

On this New Hope Renewal Sunday, I ask that you take a moment to listen silently to what God is calling you to do. If you are still waiting to make your commitment to New Hope, now would be the perfect time.

It is my growing hope that on Easter morning, 2008, we will have met our goal, and this is my heartfelt invitation to each of you to be as much a part of this ministry as God has enabled you.

This comes with my best wishes for the holy days ahead.

Faithfully yours,

+Paul

Coffeehouse website back online!

2008-02-25T22:55:00.002-05:00

The Sitgreaves Coffeehouse website is back online!

A music player has been added to the top of the site, so whenever you open the site it automatically plays a random song from our archive of performances.

You can stop the player if you want, or you can skip ahead to another song.

Sitgreaves Coffeehouse is an evening of open-mic music in a family-friendly atmosphere. The Coffeehouse is every second Sunday evening in Conine Hall of Trinity Church. The music starts at 6:30 and we wrap up at 9 p.m.

This ministry of music and companionship has been going since July, 2005.

Click here.

Lent Mini-Retreat: Ancient Irish Spirituality

2008-02-24T19:04:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, March 1^st, Noon to 4:45 p.m. Br.

Chad

-Anselm of the Companions of Saint Luke, OSB, will lead an afternoon introduction to Ancient Irish Spirituality, followed by a special Ancient Irish Eucharist in the Chapel.

Here is the schedule. Come to what you can. Come for all. Come for some.

Noon – 1PM (Charney Room) Pre-Christian Ancient Irish culture and the development of the unique insular Christianity by the study of ancient prayers and poetry. Followed by a break

1:15-2:15 (Charney Room) Irish Martyrdom Sts. Brigid, Finnian, Columba and Brendan the Navigator. Green, White and Red Martyrdom. Followed by a break

2:30-3:30 (Charney Room) Anamchara–Soul Friend followed by a break.

3:45-4:45 (Charney Room) Ancient Irish Christianity through Irish art.

5:00 - 6:00 (In the Chapel) Historic Eucharist:
This service had been said (chanted) by Irish monks beginning in the late 6th century. It was formally written down in the 9th century. The service proposed is an English translation then adapted to a contemporary idiom for use in modern Anglican churches.

So what is a “Canon Pastor?”

2008-02-20T17:19:00.006-05:00

On January 25^th, during the celebration of my 25 years as a priest, Bishop Paul announced that I have been appointed “Canon Pastor to the Bishop.”

One of the more common responses was “Congratulations!” (Long pause.) “What’s a Canon?”

Former Roman Catholics can think of the title “monsignor,” but I don’t know what this is, so I don’t even know if I’d believe it. In England, I suppose, I would be called a “non-residentiary canon” since I am not on the staff of a Cathedral and yet I have a specific job to or for the Bishop.

Bishop Paul’s description of my duties, while written in a lighthearted manner, describe a serious purpose: “the maintenance of the spiritual health of the bishop through stated retreats and repeated checking in, even when such checking might be unwelcome.” He also wrote that “the Canon Pastor has the task of assisting the bishop in maintaining perspective, hope, and a sense that God always works the divine purpose out, despite or through our best planned efforts.”

As I understand it, this is a role that is not that different from what I am supposed to do with you. Be a pastor. Check in with how things are going. Reflect with you on how we perceive God at work in our lives. Pray for you and with you. Offer pastoral support when times are tough, including offering and coordinating the services of the church. Sometimes ask possibly uncomfortable questions about your prayer life or spiritual health. Listen.

(There are other things Rectors are to do: Teach, preach, lead worship, chair vestries and take part in the councils of the church, etc. etc.…and these won’t change. But I am talking about what we in the States call the “pastoral” role.)

Obviously, this appointment was not a total surprise. We had been discussing this since about a year after the previous Canon Pastor, the Rev. Cn. F. Bryan Williams, died. Bishop Paul and I had been trying this role on for size for about that long.

I see myself following much the same pattern that I followed back in my hospital days, especially when I was chaplain to staff who were higher up the “food chain” than me. I am neither a confessor nor a spiritual director, but as a person who accompanies another person through this portion of his spiritual journey.

As a Clinical Chaplain, I was professionally and ethically bound to undertake regular supervision with a colleague of equal or greater pastoral experience. The idea was that by discussing ones ministry with a trusted colleague, one could gain “super” vision—see the big picture—and also perhaps hear the voice of God that might get obscured in the noise of everyday work. Just so you know, I have a spiritual director with whom I meet about once every other month for this very purpose. From time to time, I have entered into supervisory or coaching relationships as well. I meet with a peer supervisory group.

This is why you have heard me suggest in my sermons that people who are going deeper in their spiritual life should seriously consider working with a spiritual director. Part of the pastoral role of a parish priest is to offer some of that same “super-vision” to parishioners.

Bishop Paul said that “Alone among the clergy, the Canon Pastor to the Bishop has the right and duty to nag the bishop.” Well, it is not my style to nag, but you get the idea. I am happy to say that I am not alone in this. The Bishop has surrounded himself with others who support him in various ways. My counterpart, the Rector of Trinity, Bethlehem, Mother Laura Howell, helps the Bishop maintain hope and perspective by serving as the “Foole to the Bishop.” An modern update of a medieval office, this person speaks truth to power, often in humorous or ironic ways. Mother Laura is also a clinical chaplain, so we bring some similar skills. I guess I am just not that good with a joke.

The truth is that all clergy need to gather around themselves trusted, skilled, honest and compassionate people to help maintain perspective, give a sense of hope and equilibrium in what can be a very stressful ministry. It is good for the parish that they be intentional about this practice.

Bishop Paul once told us (clergy) that our parish’s prayer life or stewardship will never rise above the level of our own. A challenging thought. He has not said this, but I expect he is demonstrating something when he does in public what could have been easily accomplished in private: that the prayer, stewardship, and self-care of the clergy—or the congregations as a whole—cannot rise above the level of their bishop.

Adult Forum during Lent & Easter

2008-02-07T22:15:00.000-05:00

Sunday mornings at 9:15 in the Charney Room

Fr. Andrew will offer an eight week video/discussion study called "Christianity's Family Tree" which covers the basic beliefs and practices of eight strands of Christian tradition. It will have a corresponding book which will be available through the Trinity Store for $10. (Sessions are not consecutive, as we will make room for Mission of the Month speakers during February & March. Come to one or come to them all!)

The eight sessions are:
February 10 - Orthodoxy: Mystery, Liturgy, and Tradition
February 17 - Catholicism: Sacrament and Mass
February 24 -Lutheranism: Word and Faith
March 9 -Presbyterianism: The Sovereignty of God
March 16 - Anglicanism: Common Prayer
April 6 or 13 - Baptists: Baptism, Conversion, and Scripture
April 13 or 20 - Pentecostalism: The Power of the Spirit
April 20 or 27- Methodists: People of the Extreme Center

Lenten Series: Finding Faith in the Movies

2008-02-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

Lenten Series – Thursdays from February 7^th through March 13^th in the Charney Room at 7 p.m.

“Finding Faith at the Movies (and Television)” We will gather in the Charney Room for Hot Chocolate and Lenten Popcorn (whatever that might be…) and see clips from recent movies to find how we both explore and deepen our faith through the goldmine of stories and images we get in the movies. (Each session stands alone…you can come to one or come to all of them!)

Last week we did “Contact” with Jodie Foster. –Truth, Science & Faith

Feburary 14: Heaven’s Above! (Peter Sellers, Brock Peters and Cecil Parker) –Integrity

February 21: Hotel Rwanda (Don Cheadle, Sopie Okonedo, Nick Nolte) – Faithfulness, Sacrifice

February 28: Groundhog Day (Bill Murray, Andie McDowell) - Redemption

March 6: Schindlers List (Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes) – Empathy & Justice

March 13: The Simpsons: “LikeFather, Like Clown” (Jackie Mason) -Forgiveness

Lent at Trinity, 2008

2008-02-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper – Tuesday, February 5^th in Conine Hall, 5 – 7 p.m.

Ash Wednesday, February 6 – Holy Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes

7 a.m. in the Chapel;

12:10 p.m. in the Church;

7 p.m. in the Church.

Lenten Series – Thursdays from February 7^th through March 13^th in the Charney Room at 7 p.m.

“Finding Faith at the Movies (and Television)” We will gather in the Charney Room for Hot Chocolate and Lenten Popcorn (whatever that might be…) and see clips from recent movies (and two TV shows) to find how we both explore and deepen our faith through the goldmine of stories and images we get in the movies. To sign up, e-mail the parish office.

Early Communion Classes – Sundays in Lent starting February 10^th. For ages 7 and up.

Sundays in the Chapel after the 10:30 a.m. liturgy.
Early Communion students will be presented at the Maundy Thursday liturgy, March 20^th.

Instructor: Deborah Todak. To sign up, e-mail the parish office.

Stations of the Cross –Wednesdays in Lent starting February 13^th through March 19^th at 7 p.m. in the Church.

Jazz Vespers: Sunday, February 24^th at 7:30 p.m. The Brass Roots Trio who will offer “The Way of the Cross: A Lenten Musical Meditation” a sacred program of music and word with contemporary and jazz arrangements of familiar hymns and spirituals interspersed with readings and meditations.

Lenten Mini-Retreat – Saturday, March 1^st, Noon to 4:45 p.m. Br. Chad-Anselm of the Companions of Saint Luke will lead an afternoon introduction to Ancient Irish Spirituality, followed by a special Ancient Irish Eucharist in the Chapel. To sign up, please call or e-mail the parish office.

Palm Sunday: The Passion of Our Lord, Sunday, March 16:

5:00 p.m. (Saturday, 3/15 en Español) – Liturgy of Palms, Holy Eucharist (II) - Chapel
8:00 a.m. – Litrugy of Palms, Procession, Holy Eucharist (I) – Conine Hall & Church
10:30 a.m. - Litrugy of Palms, Procession, Holy Eucharist (II) – Conine Hall & Church

Maundy Thursday, March 20:

7 p.m. – Ritual of footwashing, Eucharist and Stripping of the Altar

Good Friday, March 21:

Noon – Ecumenical Good Friday Liturgy, Downtown Easton
7 p.m. – Good Friday Liturgy, Church

Easter: The Resurrection of Our Lord, Sunday, March 23

Saturday, March 22: 8 p.m. – The Great Vigil of Easter with Baptism
8 a.m. – Holy Eucharist and Sermon
9 a.m. – Easter Brunch, Conine Hall
10 a.m. – Festival Choral Eucharist and Sermon

Daffodil Days at Trinity, March 29 & 30

2008-02-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

Canon Pastor Annoucement

2008-01-31T01:44:00.000-05:00

Bishop Paul Marshall named Father Andrew Gerns, rector of Trinity Easton, Canon Pastor to the Bishop. Bishop Paul made the following announcement during the 25th anniversary celebration at Trinity Church (Sunday evening, January 27) of Canon Gerns’ ordination to priesthood.
**************
From 1996 until his death in 2006, The Rev. Canon Fr. Bryan Williams served this diocese as Canon Pastor to the Bishop. His duties were to provide the pastoral care which any Christian would expect to receive, but which our church oddly neglects to provide for bishops, with particular attention to the maintenance of the spiritual health of the bishop through stated retreats and repeated checking in, even when such checking might be unwelcome. Alone among the clergy, the Canon Pastor to the Bishop has the right and duty to nag the bishop.

Together with the Reverend Laura Howell, who created, asked for, and functions well in the office of Foole to the Bishop, the Canon Pastor has the task of assisting the bishop in maintaining perspective, hope, and a sense that God always works the divine purpose out, despite or through our best planned efforts. I note that Mother Howell prefers the Title of Foole to that of Canon. She is, oddly, no fool.

I have waited nearly two years to replace Canon Williams for a number of personal and professional reasons, but the time has come, for my sake and yours, to fill his place.

I have the joy tonight, as we celebrate his twenty-fifth ordination anniversary, to appoint the rector of Trinity Easton to this office and responsibility, and he may and ought from this moment style himself The Reverend Canon Andrew Timothy Gerns. He will, of course, find himself called upon to explain to Roman Catholics that this is our version of Monsignor, and he will be for the most part right, but they will not believe him.

Canon Gerns has been chosen for many reasons. Chief of them are his outstanding record as a chaplain, his intuitive pastoral sense, and his utter inability to lie to his superiors—as far as we can tell. He is a capable communicator, a clear thinker, and is possessed by a zeal for Christ’s kingdom.

It is no secret that Canon Gerns and I have been acquainted for the best part of thirty years. In appointing him, as was the case with his predecessor, I appoint someone I cannot easily deceive about the state of my soul.

Some canonries are strictly honorary. Inasmuch as no stipend attaches to this canonry (except for the occasional lunch) and it is for life, it may be considered honorary. Inasmuch as Canon Gerns accepts with it a job that will require all of his cunning as I avoid taking care of myself through the ruse of the complexity of my calendar and my many ghostly preoccupations, he will need your prayers and so must be considered a working canon.

Nothing in the foregoing is or ought to be read as endorsement of or encouragement to any baseball or football team headquartered more than a Sabbath day’s journey (on foot) to the north or east of the Cross Bronx Expressway at its eastern-most point.

Given under my hand this twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand and eight.

+PAUL
Bethlehem VIII

Baptized Life, Writ Large

2007-06-21T17:38:00.000-04:00

This is Father Andrew Gerns' sermon on June 20, 2007 at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity on the occasion of the first Annual Vows of Sr. Patricia-Michael Hauze as a solitary religious in the Diocese of Bethlehem. Sr. Patricia-Michael is the Administrator at Trinity, Easton, PA, and was a member of Trinity, Bethlehem, PA. She is now under obedience to the Bishop of Bethlehem. The Gospel lesson was Matthew 16:24-27.

See Sr. Patricia-Michael's reflection downstream: "The Next Step."

May only God’s name be spoken.
May only God’s name be heard and believed.
Amen.

You may have noticed that we have in our culture a strange ambivalence about people in vowed life.

If you don’t believe me, turn on Turner Classic Movies sometime; when you see on one day Ingrid Bergman in nun’s garb, and then on another Anne Bancroft, you will know what I mean.

When I was a chaplain in a Roman Catholic hospital sponsored by a religious order in the middle of the Bible belt, ambivalence was in the air. On the one hand, there was a lot of nostalgia for “The Nuns.” On the other side were the Sisters who sponsored that hospital, who gave up their habits and veils long ago. Over and over again, patients would wonder out loud to the staff chaplains—some of whom were in fact Sisters of St. Joseph—about where the nuns went and how much they were missed! When this community gave up their habits for lab coats and picture IDs, they did not realize that they would be trading one kind of transference for another.

Back at the movie house, there is another film rubs our faces in that ambivalence as only a relentless British satire can do. Remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Just before Arthur comes across a crowd of peasants who want to burn a witch just for the fun of it, a group of monks pass in front of the camera chanting

Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem.

before they hit themselves in the head with a board or something. It is a transitional scene, a throwaway, but startling just the same. The audience thinks it’s hysterical. Even though we’ve forgotten that the scene is really making fun of another kind of film that they don’t make any more, people still find it funny. The truth is that I think it’s funny…but for different reasons.

For most people—most Christians, too, I have no doubt—vowed life is met with a degree of suspicion. We love the people who choose it. We respect them. We are curious about them. And deep down we hope our daughters never become one.

So as much as I hate to admit it, Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said that following him would mean something like carrying a cross. Following Jesus will mean that we will have to confront how the world counts power and importance, and we will challenge that. The world does not take kindly to that.

Choosing to live life as Sister Patricia-Michael does, as a publicly vowed person who is living out her vows in the world for all to see is, as far as the world is concerned, crazy. To give up a good job at a high powered office to work for peanuts in a parish church is crazy enough, but to also give up the trappings of success and comfort in our society to live a vowed life is crazier. To live life in voluntary obedience in a world that values individual freedom is crazy with a capital "k." And to do that in a way that makes one stand out for all to see is like, well, hitting yourself on the head with a board.

It may be crazy. It is crazy. Like a fox.

Patricia Michael is in the process of taking on a life focused entirely on God. She has chosen to organize her life around Jesus. She has chosen to train herself to listen to the Holy Spirit.

She is choosing to live a life of intentional obedience. That means that she will not only listen for God, she will listen for God through Christian community—that’s us. By being a solitary, it means that the Community she listens for God through, the community through whom she expresses obedience, will be the messiest, least predictable and at times the most contradictory of Christian communities. And that would be us.

Patricia-Michael is choosing to live a life of chastity. That means, that against all the advice of the world, she will live modestly and subject her “stuff” to God’s will.

And she is living a life of prayer. Here she deliberately places herself between God and all of the pain, the hopes and dreams of the world and will plead our case before God. To pray this way means that she knows that to rest in the heart of God is to rest in the heart of creation.

To rest in God’s love, to know the stability that the Spirit brings is not to live apart from the world, but to be intentionally God’s person in the middle of the action.

I have a question, and be honest: Does any of this sound the least bit threatening to you?

Does it make you a little uneasy that here is a person who has come before us not to take on a role of leadership, or fame or renown, but who has come to us seeking our help to live this life of obedience, stability and conversion of life—giving up the things we work so hard to attain—make you a tad ambivalent? I don’t think I am alone in this room.

Because if we think that we are here to wave farewell to Patty on this leg of her journey, we are going to be disappointed. If we harbor any ideas that by supporting her, we let ourselves off the hook, forget about it.

You see, what Patricia Michael is doing is living Baptized life writ large.

We all took vows, you know. At our baptisms, we promised to do some things as well. To say prayers, break bread and gather in community to learn what the apostles taught. We promised to seek Christ in all things and in all people, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We promised to strive for justice and peace and to respect everyone’s inherent dignity. We promised to proclaim by what we say and what we do the Good News of God in Christ.

So we are crazy too. It’s just that we can hide it better.

Just when thought all this was about keeping gothic buildings open, heated and paid for; just when we thought that all this could be done once, or if we are really good, twice a week, along comes God calling people like Sister Patricia-Michael to say out loud that she will take on what we all have taken on, all the time.

If she is crazy, then we are too. If Patricia-Michael has taken up her cross, then so have we and if she has decided to put stand between God and a world spinning in it’s own despair, then so have we. She is not the only one in this room who has taken on something radical, something of God.

Sister Patricia-Michael has heard God’s call to align her will to God’s will and to let go of the outcome. She has heard God’s call and chosen to live among us as a solitary Christian standing between our need and God’s love in prayer. She has chosen us in the Diocese as her community. It is crazy but it is true: this is baptized life, writ large.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Next Step

2007-05-30T22:02:00.000-04:00

by Sister Patricia Michael Hauze

As I am coming to the close of my two year novitiate, or time of testing, and begin to take the next step in my journey, that is to begin taking annual vows, I want to begin again by thanking all of you who have kept me in prayer. Without your prayers and support I surely would have stumbled more than I have.

The two years I have spent testing the waters have shown me that I have more strength than I thought possible. All this, of course, is only possible through prayer and trust. I have received my certificate in spiritual direction; my companionship in this area has grown to more than I imagined! With the help and guidance of my own spiritual director, I have taken some on-line courses to enrich my spiritual life, read and studied much more than I would have believed and have been asked to do workshops on prayer and meditation and forums on the religious life and what it means to be a solitary. All of this is secondary to my vow of prayer and my intercessions for you, this community, the church and the world.

So, what happens now? That’s a question I cannot know and most possibly cannot comprehend. I will continue in the practice of spiritual direction. I will continue to study and learn and hopefully digest the meaning of it all. I will continue to serve the community of Trinity, Easton and the Diocese of Bethlehem. I will continue in a life of contemplativeness, solitude and prayer, and I will continue to depend upon the guidance of the Holy One and the support of my community.

Please join me, and if you cannot be physically present, I ask you to hold me in prayer on Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00 p.m. at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity as The Rt. Rev. Paul V. Marshall receives my first annual vows.

Wayne Sherrer: Advent 3C Sermon 12/17/2006

2006-12-29T18:46:00.000-05:00

Advent 3C, December 17, 2006 Zephaniah 3:14-20; Luke 3:7-18

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

As we meet John the Baptist in today's gospel, we can hear echoes of an earlier prophet. John sounds surprised by the size of the crowds which were flocking to the banks of the Jordan River and almost disappointed by their repentance. You may remember how Jonah preached “Repent!” to the wicked city of Nineveh and then took a seat on a nearby hill so he would have a good view of the heavenly fireworks that would burn that great city to the ground. When the people did repent and God spared them, Jonah was mighty disappointed. Listen again to how John greeted the crowd: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Of course it was John himself who had warned them. He had exposed their sins. He had been warning the guilty to avoid God's wrath, but he expected to be ignored-- just as the former prophets had been. However, his speeches of fire and brimstone disturbed the self-satisfied. They recognized the truth in John's words. Many had been content to live as they pleased with an occasional sacrifice in the Temple to make sure God wasn't too angry at them. John showed them the error of their ways—Temple sacrifices were not get out of jail free cards that allowed a person to ignore God's commandments. God wanted them to treat one another honestly and compassionately. God expected right conduct on a daily basis.

So, day after day the crowds came to see this prophet down by the river. They listened and they asked questions. After many were baptized, they went home and told their friends. “Have you heard about that John fellow down by the Jordan? He scared me, but he makes a lot of sense. He says that soon God is going to settle the score with all the greedy cheats and thieves who don't shape up. He told the tax collectors to stop overcharging. He told the rich to share with the poor. He even told me to stop putting my thumb on the scale when customers buy at my shop. Maybe you ought to go down there too. I know you are no better than I am.” And the crowds continued to come.

As we look around our communities today, we do not see crowds gathered around a prophet down by the Delaware. Most of the crowds this week will be gathered in the parking lots, aisles and checkout lines of countless stores who preach a different sort of guilt than John did. They suggest that all the wrong things you have done and all the people you have neglected -- all can be forgiven and forgotten IF you spend enough money and IF you buy the products offered in their store. Commercials have implied that although a few experiences may be priceless, for the rest of life Mastercard is there to grease the way. Show the depth of your love by the size of the debt you carry into February, March and beyond.

But there are other crowds and other voices this week. Christmas pageants, cantatas and Christmas eve services will fill these pews and the pews in many other churches. Some people will travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles to return to a home, a family and often a church family to maintain a tradition. They want to preserve a golden moment of peace on earth which they remember. And woe to anyone who dares change the sacred rituals of Christmas eve which were commanded by Jesus himself. “It's just the way I remember it” is the highest possible praise for some that night. For almost all of us it is a chance to return for just a moment to a time of innocence or simplicity, a place where we were cared for and where we can forget the problems and struggles of our normal day. For an hour or two we can imagine the possibility of peace on earth. For a week or two or three we can witness an outpouring of generosity toward the poor and the stranger in our midst. For a week or two the homeless are fed, shivering children are clothed, needy tots receive toys and strangers smile as they pass one another. That's what God wants, isn't it?

Looking back at Luke's gospel, we see that John's instructions for ethical behavior don't end the passage. People still have questions and John denies having all the answers—but on one point he is crystal clear: he is NOT the Messiah. Another is coming, someone more powerful, someone whose authority and baptism are fundamentally different from John's. John baptized with water, but the one to come would baptize with the Spirit and with fire.

To help understand the difference between the baptisms of John and Jesus, I invite you to look at this glass. Over time this glass can become dirty in many ways—fingerprints, dried milk, lipstick, even hard water deposits. It might be used to scoop potting soil or dog food. It could become so filthy that it was no longer transparent and would certainly be unfit for its intended purpose. But water is capable of dissolving and removing most types of dirt. Water can restore this glass to its original condition and prepare it to be used again as its designer intended. The effects on people of John's baptism with water were similar to water's effect on this glass. The people who came to the Jordan to see John returned home to their former lives. Through his baptism their repentance was recognized, their sins were forgiven. Their guilt and shame were washed away. Their relationships with God and neighbor were restored. The tax collector returned to collect the proper tax amount. Soldiers returned to their assigned duties, not to extortion, bribery and thuggery. Common people returned to their common ordinary lives.

Now let us consider the effects of fire on this glass. A hot enough flame will cause this glass to melt, to become partially liquid. In that condition it can be molded---reshaped---transformed. A drinking glass could come out of the fire and be changed into a bud vase or a candy dish or a glass chalice. A new shape leads to new function, new purpose. And during that process many dirt particles and other impurities are destroyed and removed from the glass just as completely as the water had done. The baptism of Jesus with the Holy Spirit and fire can certainly cleanse our lives from the sins and impurities we accumulate as we live our lives. But that baptism can do so much more. That baptism transformed simple first century fisherman and tax collectors into apostles and evangelists. That baptism continues to transform each of us throughout our lives. That baptism of fire can lead us into ways of ministry that we never expected. Just ask our church school coordinator or our Children's Chapel teacher or the cabaret singer in Sitgreaves coffeehouse or the sewer of the St. Nicholas bags if they imagined such a ministry for themselves. For that matter, ask yourself if you imagined your current ministry and ask whether you can believe a new ministry might lie in your future. By changing each of us, that baptism molds and reshapes this parish to prepare it for the future to which God calls it.

In this Advent season we see the Light of the World drawing near to us. It is easy to doubt its power. It is easy to be skeptical like John and think the world and the people in it will never change—that we cannot change. It is tempting to hold on to the status quo. But God has a better idea. He sent his Son to show us the way. Let us welcome the light, let be open to the Spirit. Let us face God's fire without fear. Let us trust that he will shape each of us in the months ahead so we are well suited to the form of service that awaits us. Let us be alert to the all the opportunities for ministry God places before us. Let us sing aloud and rejoice, for the Lord our God is in our midst, and he will renew us in his love. Amen.

Jensen Appleman: P3 Youth Network Meeting

2006-12-29T18:26:00.000-05:00

On the weekend of December 1-3, I had the privilege of attending the Province III network meeting in Philadelphia. A few teen and adult representatives from different dioceses of Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C, and Delaware met for a fun weekend together. There were small group activities, community service, worshipping, and touring of Philadelphia.

When we arrived Friday night, we made name tags and played some ice breakers to get to know each other. We went over the rules and activities for the weekend. At the end of the night, we had evening prayer. Our diocese, the Diocese of Bethlehem, was in charge of setting up and running Compline. The Rev. Demery Bader-Saye brought lights, decorations, music, and a slide show and our group made the room look festive, and made sure everything was ready. The three teen reps- Katie, Annie, and I- took turns reading the prayers aloud. It was a really nice evening.

Saturday, we met up with Fr. Julius Jackson at St. Mary’s church. He introduced himself and told us about the church. It was very colorful- the walls by the altar were pastel blue and purple! We also helped with the soup kitchen there. We helped make and serve the food. After that, we were on our way to The Church of the Advocate to talk with Fr. Isaac Miller. It was huge. The church was also really beautiful. There were carvings in the walls and paintings hung everywhere. It was definitely the prettiest church we visited. On our way to the next church we were able to walk around and visit the Liberty Bell for a little bit. When we arrived at Christ Church Philadelphia, we met Bishop Bennison, the bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia. He gave us information about the Diocese of Philadelphia. Then we learned about Christ Church and it’s history. We learned some really neat things, and it was really interesting. That night we had a worship service and the part that sticks out the most for me is the Prayers of the People. There was a bowl for each category, and each bowl had a different set of rocks. When that category was selected, anybody that had a prayer came up, said their prayer and put that certain marble into the glass bowl of water. I thought it was a very clever idea.

Unfortunately, Sunday was time to leave, but when we reflected on our weekend, everyone really enjoyed themselves, and a good time was had by all.

Jensen Appleman

Ark Soup Kitchen: Jacob's Christmas

2006-12-29T18:07:00.000-05:00

These are pictures taken by Fr. Andrew during the 2006 Christmas Day meal of the Ark Soup Kitchen. 100-110 people were served by about 30 volunteers from around the Lehigh Valley, some coming from as far as San Francisco to take time from visiting relatives to volunteer with us.

The Express-Times of Easton did a pretty good job of covering a new ministry that has grown out of our weekly Saturday Ark Soup Kitchen. We served a special meal on Christmas Day.

Some clarifications to the story below: I counted actual heads. We served about 100 people. There were 28 volunteers. The story gives a different impression.

An additional 24 meals were boxed up and taken to the Hotel Lafayette, a downtown single room occupancy hotel where many of our Ark Soup Kitchen regulars live. We have found that many of our regulars are "creatures of habit," so to speak, so they don't think to come to the Ark on weekdays. If the Safe Harbor meal is closed (as they are on Thanksgiving and Christmas Days) then they don't explore. Instead, they don't eat. So we brought the meals to them as our gift.

The main meal was provided by Wegmens and ice cream sundaes were served by the owners and staff of The Purple Cow in downtown Easton.

In addition, there was a free book giveaway table featuring remaindered and deassessioned library books that was planned and staffed by Peg Kenyon, a member of the Daughters of the Kings chapter at Trinity.

Trinity members of the Care Circle, Choir and the Church School came to volunteer as well. This is the third year that the Ark Soup Kitchen has served a special meal on Christmas Day, and each year the numbers we served has grown. We outgrew our parish hall and went across the street to the parish hall of Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church, where we hold our Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas party (with gifts and a visit from St. Nicholas).

We find that this ministry, like the Ark Soup Kitchen does the other 52 Saturdays each year, is a ministry both the guests who are served and to the volunteers who serve. Over half the volunteers who worked Christmas Day were not members of Trinity, and many in fact had no church relationship at all.

We plan to work even more closely with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the police, downtown churches and local agencies to increase our reach next year.

2006 Christmas Day Meal

A Child of Might- Pageant, 2006

2006-12-29T17:36:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken on the evening of Christmas Eve, 2006 just before the 5 p.m. service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton, PA in the Diocese of Bethlehem.

The Pageant this year was "A Child of Might" by Gretchen Wolf Prichard.

Note a few special moments. The Appleman family all were in the pageant, with Luke playing "Baby Jesus," Jensen playing "Mary" and Jeff playing "Joseph." Drew, Karrie and Shae all played Shepherds.

We were happy to have back in our parish Fr. Samuel Jinadu, retired preist of the Church of Nigeria. He bravely took on the role of "God"--and dressed the part!

Gretchen Reed played the role of "Angel Gabriel." Many other people took part as well. The play was directed by Terry Gangaware with the help of Barb McCarthy.

2006 Christmas Pageant

Adult Forum: Novement 12

2006-11-10T17:24:00.000-05:00

Jack Moulton (formerly a parishioner here), the diocesan ERD coordinator, will be with us for the Adult Forum at 9:15 am. Jack has traveled considerably in the Third World, and will tell us about the Millenium Development Goals (aka "MDG's"). Please join us to learn more about how small steps can make mighty strides!

The General Convention affirmed the MDG’s (Millennium Development Goals), and asked ERD to be a vehicle to encourage diocesan and parish support. So what’s an MDG you say? There are 8 of them – enacted by the United Nations in the ‘90’s, and really beginning to take hold now around the world. The goal is for many groups, including churches, congregations, individuals, and our government to commit .7% of their budgets to

1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;

2) Achieve universal primary education;

3) Promote gender equality and empower women (particularly, but not exclusively in developing countries);

4) Reduce child mortality;

5) Improve maternal health;

6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases;

7) Ensure environmental stability;

8) Develop a global partnership for development.

Our diocese has already committed to the .7%, and Trinity has for some time supported at least some of the goals with .7% of our budget. We urge you as individuals to consider doing the same – not just through this offering, of course, but through means of special importance to you.

Adult Confirmation Classes in English & Spanish

2006-11-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

These classes are for people new to the Episcopal Church, for those who wish to learn more about us or simply to refresh our knowledge. It is for those seeking to be received into the church or confirmed by the Bishop. It is especially helpful for those seeking to be married in the church, who are presenting a child for Baptism, or who seek to join Trinity Church. Classes are offered in English and Spanish using The Discovery Series: A Christian Journey in two different formats.

o In English: Rescheduled from Monday evenings to two weekend sessions! Rather than meeting on ten consecutive Monday evenings as originally publicized. In deference to the tight schedules many working couples and families experience, this class will meet on two weekends, with a Friday evening (7-9 pm) and a Saturday (10 am – 1 pm) session. The two weekends would be: December 8 & 9, 2006 and January 12 & 13, 2007.

o In Spanish: Tuesday evenings from 7-9 pm from November 14-January 23 We have added retreat to be held at the Church and led by Father Anthony Guillen, Hispanic Missioner of the Episcopal Church. The retreat will be held at the Church on January 6, 2007.

o En español: Tardes de martes a partir de la 7-9 P.M. a partir del 14 de noviembre hasta el 23 de enero. Hemos agregado el retratamiento que se sostendrá en la iglesia y conducido por Padre Anthony Guillen, Missioner Hispánico de la Iglesia Episcopal. El retratamiento será llevado a cabo en la iglesia el 6 de enero de 2007.

Please speak to Fr. Gerns at the parish office or by e-mail (rector@trinityeaston.org) if you have any questions. Sign up in the rear of church or chapel at the Mission Table.

Family Fun Day

2006-11-10T17:17:00.000-05:00

Sunday, November 19 at 1 pm at Bar-Don Lanes (behind the Redner’s shopping plaza on William Penn Highway at Stones Crossing. The cost will be $10.00 per child (not adult) for two games of bowling, shoes, pizza and drinks! This is for everyone in the parish and all your friends! This is a great time to invite a neighbor or a friend of your child for a time that is just plain fun, even if they don’t go to Trinity! Questions? Please contact Carmen Wilson at 610-258-0968. Sign up on the Mission Table.

Children's Chapel Returns

2006-10-20T18:36:00.000-04:00

Starting Sunday, October 22nd Children's Chapel returns to the 10:30 am liturgy under the leadership of Dick Morrison. The purpose of Children's Chapel is to provide a child friendly liturgy of the word, teach them the basics of how to do things in church (learning the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, when to stand, sit and kneel, etc.) and to bring them the day's scripture lessons in a way that is both fun and worshipful. It is designed for kids from age 4 through Third Grade. Kids go out at the Gloria and come back at the Peace. Parents are welcome to sit in anytime. Thanks to Dick for taking on this very important ministry which has been a part of worship life for many years!

Safe Harbor: Dollars for a Dishwasher

2006-10-20T18:33:00.000-04:00

October Mission of the Month…Safe Harbor…Ingathering October 29

We heard a story at our Forum on the 15th which may encourage you either to return your SH envelope now, or perhaps send a little additional if you’ve already given. You may or may not know that this local support organization was hit not once, but twice, by the recent floods. They had to replace floors, parts of walls, heating ducts, plumbing, wiring, etc., etc. The heartbreak was that what they replaced this summer was almost all the new materials that had recently been installed. Insurance covered some the second time (the City owns the building), but there are always the extras. They have now, on top of all the other expenses, been required to replace – at considerable cost - their aging industrial dishwasher, which, as you can imagine is essential to their operation. We thought we might be able to defray at least a major part of that expense by asking our generous parishioners for some “Dollars for the Dishwasher”. Safe Harbor is a temporary shelter and place where many folks are assisted in returning to a healthier, more productive life. SH works very hard at maximizing their own financial health in order to be able to assist as many of “the least and lost” as possible in a multitude of ways. We hope you will respond in your usual generous fashion to this “extra” request. Either use a Safe Harbor envelope, or clearly mark your offering when you send it to the Church. Thanks so much!

Volunteers for Meals on Wheels Needed

2006-09-29T14:11:00.000-04:00

Trinity has been a route supplier for Meals on Wheels since it began at Easton Hospital in 1971. In those days, there were probably 5 or 6 routes, with 8 or 9 meals/ route. Today, we work out of Bethlehem Meals on Wheels – a modern, state of the art facility just off Rte 191 in Bethlehem Twp. – where there are now 3 sets of routes done each day. The MOW three-fold goal is to deliver a hot meal, and a light cold supper to area folks who can no longer cook, need special diets, etc., to help the elderly or disabled remain in their own homes for as long as possible, and perhaps most importantly, to provide a friendly visitor to check on the clients. The delivery team consists of a driver and a “runner” who delivers the meals. There are now 12 Easton routes, with an average of 12 to17 meals/day. At present, when all our volunteers are able to go, we can staff just 7 Routes…leaving the MOW staff to arrange for the others to be covered. Our assigned day is the 4th Monday of each month. We report in at 10:30 AM, pick up our meals, and return the meal transportation containers to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (the one near the hospital) in Wilson when we have completed our run. (This means you do not have to go back to Bethlehem!) We usually finish, depending on the route, between Noon and 12:30

Adult Forums in October

2006-09-29T13:51:00.000-04:00

October 1- Tyson Sprandel of Safe Harbor discusses the work of our Mission of the Month.

October 8 – Dr. James Pain, Pfeiffer Professor of Religion and formerly Dean of the Casperson School of Graduate Studies at Drew University, will discuss Orthodox Spirituality through the icon “Holy Trinity” or “Hospitality of Abraham.”

October 15 – Jeff Lewis, Eastern Manager of the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, will demonstrate the Concerto Digital Carillon 720T like the unit that is being made for Trinity Church as a gift in memory of Michael Motsek. (The unit will be demonstrated after the 10:30 liturgy as well, weather permitting, outdoors.)

October 22 – Speaker: David Rose, Lehigh Valley Friends (Quaker) Meeting – “A Weekend of Faith & Action on the Death Penalty.” A discussion of the current use of the death penalty in Pennsylvania and in the US and the work of Christian churches to abolish it.

October 29 – “Voices of Young Adults: Listening to twenty-somethings talk about the Church.” Video and discussion.

Royal Treatment

2006-09-25T16:24:00.000-04:00

A Sermon for the 16^th Sunday after Pentecost, September 24, 2006
Proper 20-B~RCL
Wayne Sherrer

Mark 9:30-37

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Many have said that Jesus was a great teacher. If we were to look only at the performance of his students, we could easily question that. Instead of friends and apprentices of Jesus, the disciples seem more like apprentices of Donald Trump. Jesus reveals to them that he will be killed and their response is to play king of the mountain.

Who's going to take Jesus' place? Who will be the new leader--the new number one? I will. No you won't. I will. For several hours they carried on about it--all the way to Capernaum. They behaved like a bunch of children, not grown men. It wasn't what Jesus expected and certainly wasn't what he had taught them. So the great teacher patiently sat down to teach it one more time.

The lesson was one that the disciples and later the church had difficulty in grasping, because it asked them to look at ambition and status in a totally different way. “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” To illustrate his point Jesus brought a little child into their midst. He said that by welcoming such a child, a disciple would also be welcoming Jesus and his heavenly father.

The contrast between the child and God could hardly be greater. Children in Jesus' day had no status or power and were little better than slaves or other property. Welcoming children and others who are equally powerless—the poor, the stranger, the handicapped—in the same way we would welcome God is a mindboggling idea.

Has anyone here ever been visited in their home by Queen Elizabeth? Don't be bashful. Raise your hands so we can see them. What? None of you? Well then, how about her son Prince Charles? Still nobody? I'm not surprised. We aren't accustomed to royalty here in Easton and we share an American belief proclaimed in the declaration of independence that "all men are created equal".

Throughout history in most of the world it has been considered a great honor and privilege to welcome a reigning monarch into one's home.

The home would be the focus of elaborate preparation--cleaning, decoration and the use of one's finest dinnerware and the serving of the best food one could offer. If the king or queen could not personally appear, their personal representative would be welcomed with the “royal treatment”.

Today Jesus is telling the disciples and us that the people on society's bottom rung are personal representatives of him and of God the creator. If we believe Jesus, then our welcome of the poor and powerless is not an act of charity on our part. By welcoming his representatives, we acknowledge God as our lord, and he in turn honors us with his presence. If, like the disciples, we are ambitious to be number one in the kingdom of God, the path to that status is a path of service to those on the edges of society.

But our attitude is as important as the service that we render. We do not act out of pity for them. “O look how little they have. What can I do to help?” Rather we need to approach each of them with the respect and dignity due God's representative and to remember their very presence is a gift from God to us.

How might this gospel affect our ministry here at Trinity? I think that the people of Trinity have been extremely generous in their gifts of money to the appeals for charity. The responses to the various missions of the month and to special appeals like Katrina relief and Kajo-Keji have been spectacular. I think that today's gospel might renew our sense of welcome. Let me give a few examples.

First, has anyone noticed the fading of our coffee hours after Sunday services? When I looked over the signup sheets last Sunday, I saw they were virtually blank. I don't know why that is. I do know that visitors—strangers to our community—are frequently present. Fr. Andy extends them an invitation almost every Sunday to come over to Conine Hall for fellowship and refreshment so we might get acquainted.

When no refreshments are seen, parishioners walk through Conine Hall without stopping and there is no fellowship possible for the stranger who wanders in. Imagine for a moment how we might host coffee hour differently if we expected to entertain a royal visitor that week. Imagine if we expected Jesus to attend our worship and we wanted him to linger awhile so we could get to know one another a little better. I am not saying that lace tablecloths, bone china and professional catering are the standard we should seek. I am suggesting we understand coffee hour as a ministry of welcome to God's representative. She could go anywhere, but she is coming here and we are honored by her presence. Hosting coffee hour is then not a burden, but a privilege.

A second existing ministry is our Ark Soup Kitchen. This afternoon begins a project of replacing the carpeted floor in Conine Hall with a new tile one. I think this could be a first step in the transformation of that space into one that is both inviting and “fit for a queen”. And I am not proposing that we gild the chandeliers. I think we have people far more creative than I who can design that kind of transformation and accomplish it inexpensively. Beyond the transformation of the physical space is the transformation of our worldview. How many of us look at the soup kitchen guests as members of God's Board of Trustees for the world? How many of us welcome them as movers and shakers of society? Can we see the Ark soup kitchen as God's Pomfret Club or his country club? Whenever we serve in the soup kitchen, we are rubbing elbows with God himself. How is that for high-level networking. What possibilities await us.

A third ministry here that could be affected by today's gospel is our welcome of children. They were explicitly named by Jesus as representatives of the Father and of himself. Yet, a close look at our ministries to children and youth reveals that our church school staff has shrunken from eleven to five, that we have no nursery, no Vacation Bible School, no youth group and no longer have Children's Chapel. Imagine for a moment that Mary and Joseph show up at our doors next Sunday with baby Jesus in their arms and there is nowhere for Mary to lay him and no one to watch him so his parents can devote their complete attention to God for a brief hour. Imagine that a ten year old Jesus shows up for Church School, but his questions go unasked and unanswered because he sees the teacher is busy enough. Our current Church School staff has some exciting ideas for this year and several opportunities for other adults to be involved in ways other than teaching. Of course, they would welcome volunteers to teach, as well. I invite each of you to prayerfully consider how God might be calling you to take part in Trinity's welcome of God's pint-size representatives.

Once upon a time each of us was a child, each of us was a stranger, each of us was welcomed by the community and ultimately received into this family we call Trinity Episcopal Church. We may not have received the “royal treatment”, but that is what Jesus calls us to extend to those he sends to us. When we serve them, we serve Jesus. When we welcome them, we welcome the one who sent Jesus, the God and Father of all humanity. And He graciously honors us with his presence.

Amen.

Wayne Sherrer is a licensed lay preacher at Trinity, Easton.

Welcome Back

2006-09-06T22:19:00.000-04:00

We begin our regular fall schedule this coming Sunday.

Our later service returns to 10:30 am.

In addition, Church School and Adult Forum both begin at 9:15 am in the Christian Education building. Choir starts again with rehearsal at 10 am Sunday (with the regular weekly rehearsal starting at 7:45 on Wednesdays).

Soon everyone on the Citadel mailing list plus about 2400-2600 of our neighbors in Forks, Palmer, Williams, Wilson, Easton and Phillipsburg will be getting a post card describing our church and our
schedule inviting people to "discover, share, and live God's love" at Trinity. So if you see someone
new--say hello!--and be ready to show them around our beautiful church and meet our family in Christ.

Read the entire Citadel, as mailed, here.

Remembering 9/11 in a spirit of quiet reverence

2006-09-06T22:17:00.001-04:00

The Downtown Covenant Council of Churches of Easton will mark the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Trinity will be open for prayer from 8:30 am until Noon. In the city, church bells will toll to mark the moments of the terrorist attacks (8:46, 9:02, 9:37, 10:03). At noon in the circle of the downtown area, a gathering for prayer will be led by the area clergy.

In the evening, a time of prayer and reflection will begin at 7:00 PM at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 330 Ferry Street. The speaker for the reflection time is Major Carl Schoch, the former Divisional Commander of the Greater New York Area and Coordinator of the Salvation Army’s emergency response at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001. He will speak to those gathered and reflect on “I Saw God at Ground Zero”. The evening service is open to the public and free. Speak to Father Gerns, if you have any questions.