Trinity Stories

Dear friends,

Today is the observance of the 10th annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and the kick-off of Wear Orange Weekend. Last year during Trinity’s Wear Orange Sunday service, we had a community conversation about our hopes and fears about gun violence, and our ideas for addressing it (here is the harvest from that conversation). One of the ideas was to join with other local faith communities to address the epidemic of gun violence. The previous day, I had marched in the Old West End Festival parade with Moms Demand Action and met Mike Linehan, a parishioner from Olivet Lutheran Church. Mike and I had a brief conversation about how our two faith communities were wrestling with the issue of gun violence, and exchanged contact information. Later in June, we began to work together on what is now unofficially called the Multifaith Coalition to Reduce Gun Violence. I say unofficially because that name is often confused with the long-established Multifaith Council of Northwest Ohio (a group that promotes interfaith cooperation), so we are exploring how to “brand” our infant group. In the last year, we have held four public forums which have each been attended by between 60-80 people. Trinity graciously hosted the October 8 forum. Topics have included survivor testimonies, legislative advocacy training, safe gun storage, and updates on the City of Toledo’s new Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), which has been working with the community since last summer to develop a five-year plan to reduce gun violence. Prayer has been included in each forum. Over 200 people from 41 northwest Ohio congregations representing many faith traditions have participated in at least one forum, including an impressive 39 Trinity parishioners. Thank you for your commitment to help reduce gun violence!

I have learned a lot about gun violence in the past year. I have participated in countless meetings, training sessions, educational programs and advocacy efforts. I have met many people who are working to prevent gun violence in northwest Ohio, some of whom are now friends. The biggest thing that I have learned this year is that survivors are the leaders of the movement to reduce gun violence. They need and deserve our support. They welcome us to walk with them as allies. I have participated in the Victims and Survivors working group of the MONSE Community Action Table, one of eight groups that are making recommendations to be included in the City’s five-year plan. The MONSE process has been victim and survivor-centered. The voices that have been amplified are those closest to the issue. One of the recommendations of our working group is to create a Compassion and Healing Fund for Gun Violence Victims and Survivors, to provide immediate financial support after the unfathomable loss of a loved one from gun violence. I provided testimony to urge approval of the Fund by Toledo City Council, which was scheduled to vote on it at their June 5 City Council meeting. I’ll let you know on Sunday if it was approved!

This Sunday, we will raise up the voices of the bruised and broken, strong and resilient survivors that are leading the movement to prevent gun violence. Parishioner and survivor Gwen La Croix will share her personal story, and I will preach. We will focus on secure gun storage, which saves kids’ lives. Free gun locks and a free gun lock box will be available for anyone who wants them. Here are many resources to explore for more information on how to reduce gun violence–organizations, safe gun storage, gun sense legislation, books and more. Please email me if you’d like to receive email updates from the Multifaith Coalition to Reduce Gun Violence. See you Sunday with your orange on!

Peace,
Deacon Meribah

Dear Friends,

I’m writing this week’s “Dear Friends” as an ally and a parent.

I arrived in New York City in the late summer of 1977 to begin seminary – eight short years after Stonewall. The campus of the General Theological Seminary is located in a neighborhood known as Chelsea. If you were to visit now, you’d find upscale restaurants and stores, cutting-edge theaters and performance spaces, and over 200 trendy visual-arts galleries – an enormous transformation of the neighborhood has taken place during the last 45 years.

Six blocks south of the seminary is the West Village where many of us would go for an evening out or just to walk through the more than 50 city blocks that comprise an historic district established by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee. The southern boundary of the West Village neighborhood is Christopher Street.

The Stonewall Inn, located at 53 Christopher Street, is the site of a series of demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. The Stonewall riots became the defining event that started the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. The timing of the police raid – in June – is the reason why Pride month begins tomorrow, June 1.

In affirmation and celebration of The Episcopal Church’s LGBTQIA+ members, the church’s Office of Communication unveiled a new Pride shield on May 16. The woman who designed the new shield, Melissa Walker, Senior Graphic Designer on the Presiding Bishop’s staff, had this to say about the shield, “As a longtime ally of LGBTQ+ people, I was so excited to work on this Pride shield for The Episcopal Church. I hope many more people feel seen and included by this new graphic as we enter Pride month.”

When you look at the shield that accompanies this letter, you will see elements of the traditional Pride flag as well as the Progress Pride flag and Philadelphia Pride flag – each flag representing a step toward greater inclusion.

Did you know that The Episcopal Church has been working for 50 years toward a greater understanding and radical inclusion of all God’s children? Resolutions from General Convention (the church’s governing body) in 1976 recognized LGBTQ+ people as children of God with an equal claim to the pastoral care of the church and equal protection under the law.

In 1994, General Convention amended the church’s canons to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, providing equal access to the rites and worship of the church, including ordination.

In 2015, General Convention voted to amend the canons that regulate marriage, permitting any couple the rite of holy matrimony.

I report these facts to make it clear that the Episcopal Church has sought to create a world and a society where all are loved, where justice is done, and where the God-given equality of us all, especially the LGBTQIA+ community, is honored in our relationships, in our social arrangements, and in law.

Trinity has long been a church where LGBTQIA+ persons are welcome and wanted. Our worship this Sunday will underscore the parish’s continued commitment to be an open and affirming congregation. In addition to joining in worship this week, please mark your calendar for two dates:

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 pm for Big Love: an evening of music and activism with Equality Toledo’s Community Action group on Trinty’s Plaza.

Friday, August 23 – Sunday, August 25 – Celebrating Toledo’s Pride – a Trinity tradition.

There’s been an enormous transformation since Stonewall in 1969 and much to celebrate. But there are still prayers to be said and work to be done. Happy beginning of Pride month!

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate

Dear Friends,

This coming Sunday we celebrate Trinity Sunday. This church doesn’t have a patron saint. We’re not named after a person like many other Episcopal congregations are – we’re not a St. Andrew’s, or a St. John’s, or a St. James, or a St. Philip’s. This church was named after the Trinity when the parish had its beginnings in early 1837. So it’s fair to say that this Sunday is our “patronal feast day.”

Trinity Sunday is when we talk about what God is like. We do that every Sunday, of course – at least I hope we do – but on this particular Sunday we are invited to think together about one of the core doctrines of the Christian church – that idea God is three in one and one in three. What’s so important about the doctrine of the Trinity? The answer is Community.

In 2000, a serious, deeply theological book appeared written by the Brazilian theologian and writer, Leonardo Boff. For those who may not recognize the name, Leonardo Boff is a former Franciscan friar who has published widely and has written particularly in the field of what’s called Liberation Theology. He is brilliant and controversial. Both his brilliance and his willingness to provoke controversy landed him in frequent trouble with the Roman Catholic Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith went as far as to silence Boff for an entire year back in 1985 – at a time when Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict, was leading it.

The book I’m referring to is the book entitled, Holy Trinity: Perfect Community. In the book, Boff talks about the doctrine of the Trinity – how the doctrine helps us see that, in the beginning was “the communion of the Three, not the solitude of the One.” Boff is saying, in other words, that the very nature of God is community.

If the nature of God is “community,” then it makes all the difference for us at Trinity Toledo. It means that when we are called into fellowship with God, we are also called to be in community with each other. And not just any community. We are called to be in holy community the way God is in holy community – a community of love and giving – a community of hope and joy – a community passionate for justice and truth – a community through which others can catch a glimpse of the very nature of God.

So, this Sunday we celebrate God’s community and our Trinity community. It seems like a fitting thing for us to do in this parish church where all are welcome and wanted. And you thought the doctrine of the Trinity was boring and dry. Not so much.

See you soon!

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate

Dear Friends,

The Great 50 Days of Easter come to an end this Sunday when we celebrate Pentecost. Actually, this Sunday has two names. In addition to Pentecost, this Sunday is also known as Whitsunday. Not surprisingly, the name is a contraction of “White Sunday,” a name that derives from the white garments worn by those who were being baptized on that Sunday.

Pentecost, or Whitsunday, is one of the five great baptismal days recommended in The Book of Common Prayer. From the second century on, Pentecost was a time for baptizing those who had been prepared but who, for some reason, had not been baptized at Easter.

We’ll celebrate a baptism here at Trinity this Sunday as Ariel Grube, an adult member of our choir, undergoes the central liturgy of Christian community. As a way of underscoring the centrality of community, she has asked the choir to be her sponsors!

Ariel has chosen to be baptized by immersion, so this will be the first time in several years that the baptismal pool at the entrance to the church will be put to use. Although it’s unusual in the Episcopal Church for a person to be baptized by immersion, it’s the norm in many other Christian communities. The traditional American song, “I went down in the river to pray . . “ made famous by the move, “O Brother, where art thou?”, is often sung at outdoor full-immersion baptisms for obvious reasons.

That immersion baptism has a long history in our own church is borne out by the fact that the rubrics (or instructions) for performing a baptism give immersion as the first option: “Each candidate is presented by name to the Celebrant, or to an assisting priest or deacon, who then immerses, or pours water upon, the candidate . . .”

The connection between water and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost goes all the way back to something Jesus said in the Gospel according to John, “”Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, `Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.'” John immediately explains the meaning of Jesus’ words this way, “Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive.”

I hope that you will be present on Sunday to witness this very special baptism and that you will pray for Ariel and for all those who long for a deeper relationship with our gracious and loving God. If you can’t find the right words to pray, here are some you might use:

O God, you have created all things by the power of your Word, and you renew the earth by your Spirit: Give now the water of life to those who thirst for you, that they may bring forth abundant fruit in your glorious kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And, yes, Ariel will be wearing a white robe for her baptism – it is Whitsunday, after all! Let me encourage you to dress for the occasion, too. Wear red in honor of the “tongues, as of fire” that appeared among the disciples when the Day of Pentecost came all those years ago in Jerusalem. No matter what you decide to wear, it will be a festive day!

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate