Trinity Stories

Dear Friends,

Late last Saturday afternoon, I drove from Columbus to Toledo following the Ordination & Consecration of the 10th Bishop of Southern Ohio. After two very full days – one of them converting the Short North Ballroom of the Greater Columbus Convention Center into a church, the other serving as the Minister of Ceremonies for the service – I was grateful for time alone in the car. If I answered one question during the time I was in Columbus, I answered a hundred. So, I thoroughly enjoyed what the old hymn calls, “blessed quietness, holy quietness.” No radio, no CDs, no Spotify.

When I arrived at my office early the next morning, I found my desk covered with papers, files, books, and empty coffee cups. What a mess! I don’t claim to be the neatest person when it comes to my office, but I’d clearly let things get out of control in the days before the consecration. I’m still clearing the clutter as a write this – still digging out of the pile.

Albert Einstein famously pointed out that “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” Thomas Edison, who had a famously messy desk, must have agreed. And Steve Jobs. While our cluttered desks may not prove we are brilliant, they do show that we might be geniuses. . . or that the desks need some attention!!

Lent is the season of the church year to clear off our desks, to do some holy housekeeping – some spring cleaning – to open the windows of our souls enough for the strong breeze of God’s Holy Spirit to clear out the clutter that’s piled up over the winter. Our resentments, our uncharitable thoughts about others, and our sins all keep piling up on the flat surfaces of our lives.

Repentance is the word traditionally used to describe what Christians need to do to clear off those surfaces – to create enough space for there to be room for God. The famous preacher, Barbara Brown Taylor, writes that repentance “calls individuals to take responsibility for what is wrong with the world – beginning with what is wrong with them – and to join with other people who are dedicated to turning things around.”

What does the top of your spiritual “desk” look like? Take a few moments now to see the clutter that is crowding God out, ask God’s help to clear some space, and then join with others who are dedicated to turning things around. The invitation to a Holy Lent awaits your RSVP.

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate

Dear Friends,

One of the images for the season of Lent is wilderness. It’s easy to see why. According to the Gospels, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness after his baptism by John in the Jordan River. The people of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness after they were freed from slavery in Egypt. Although we, who live in North America, often think of wilderness areas as being heavily forested, the wildernesses of the Middle East are deserts – dry, desolate places with little to sustain life.

Many years ago, a priest friend gave me a book of sermons by H.A. Williams entitled The True Wilderness. The title comes from one of the sermons – the one Williams preached on Ash Wednesday in the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. Here’s how he began the sermon: “It is a pity that we think of Lent as a time to make ourselves uncomfortable in some fiddling but irritating way. And it’s more than a pity, it’s a tragic disaster, that we also think of it as a time to indulge in the secret and destructive pleasure of doing a good orthodox grovel to a pseudo-Lord, the pharisee in each of us we call God and who despises the rest of what we are.”

Ouch! I remember thinking, is this what I’ve been doing all these years I’ve been giving things up – like alcohol or chocolate – for Lent? Was I just making myself “uncomfortable in some fiddling but irritating way”?

H.A. Williams went on to say that what Lent should be about is entering the true wilderness that’s inside each of us – a wilderness that isn’t so much about our wickedness (although some people are indeed wicked) but is rather about how incapable we are of establishing communion with each other and, therefore, how alone and isolated we are.

This past Christmas Eve, USA Today published an article about how loneliness has become epidemic in the United States. Dr. Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General, gives this definition of loneliness: he says loneliness occurs when the connections a person needs in life are greater than the connections they have.

If loneliness is not your wilderness, you are blessed. If the connections you have are greater than the connections you need in life, give thanks. But if loneliness is your wilderness, Lent offers forty days to reestablish communion with others and with God.

Here are ways we offer “holy communion” – ways to connect – at Trinity during Lent: the 10 o’clock Sunday service (in-person or online), the Wednesday service of Holy Eucharist at noon or the three Wednesday evening offerings: Evening Prayer at 5:30 pm., supper with others at 6:15 pm, and the class I’m teaching at 7:00 pm about St. Mark’s account of Holy Week.

Celebrity doctor Daniel Amen recommends minimizing screen time while maximizing in-person interactions to combat loneliness. He especially recommends church. “So it’s back to church,” he says. “Go back to church. Get involved. Get involved with groups. We have to go back. And really, no better place to solve [loneliness] than the church.”

The good news is that the Biblical accounts about wilderness end with stories of new beginnings, of new life, of new connections. The season of Lent ends this way, too, on Easter morning . . . . But for now, we’re just getting started.

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate

Dear Friends,

This Sunday, February 11, promises to be a special one at Trinity. First, the Reverend Anna Sutterisch, Canon for Formation for the Diocese of Ohio, will be our guest preacher. Anna and her husband, Noah (who was recently instituted as Rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Parma) are the proud parents of the adorable 15-month-old Martin. Her role on the diocesan staff includes thinking a lot about how the church – ‘big C’ institutional church and ‘little c’ faith community church – can best teach and shape Christians amidst the brokenness of the world. She asks, “How can we form communities of courage and hope, when it’s easier to just disappear into apathy and Instagram, putting trust in no one because everyone is a disappointment?” Anna loves to cook, grow and eat plants, and run!

Following the 10:00 am service, all are invited upstairs to My Brother’s Place on the second floor of the Parish House for a Mardi Gras/Shrove Sunday party. We’ll combine the best of the English tradition of Shrove Tuesday – think pancakes! – and the best of the Latin tradition of Mardi Gras (which means Fat Tuesday) and Carnival (which means Farewell to Meat) – both ways to mark the shift to the 40-day penitential season of Lent that begins on Ash Wednesday, February 14. Below are all Trinity’s offerings to help you observe an intentional and holy Lent. – from worship opportunities, to classes and gatherings, to practices you can undertake at home on your own schedule.

We say goodbye to the word, “Alleluia” this Sunday – “fasting” from the celebrations it represents in order to prepare for the great celebration of Easter on March 31 this year when we we’ll sing “Alleluia” joyfully!

Blessings,

Stephen Applegate

Dear Friends,

Breakfast is nigh!

On February 25th at 8:30am we will be opening our doors to members of our outside community for our first soft breakfast opening. Between now and then, there is a lot to do, but nothing that we can’t get done by carrying the load together. As Stephen said in his announcement of this “reboot”, this is going to be Trinity’s signature ministry that is outward oriented.

With food as the catalyst to deeper relationships with our neighbors and friends, we will be enriching our lives in ways known and unknown. But first- we must prepare the way! This Sunday after service we will be meeting in the room known as My Brother’s Place for two reasons:

1. Inventorying what we currently have so we can build an efficient list of needs.
2. Cleaning the kitchen with a good scrub.

If we can have 22 volunteers, 11 on cleaning and 11 on inventory, this will be done quickly. Knowing how well Trinity shows up when the ask is on the line, I am confident in our ability to get this done. Please click here for our signup genius for this event, and I will look forward to seeing you Sunday with some refreshments, a smile, and all-around good time.

Never forget, by rebooting this ministry we are becoming the hands and feet of God in a tangible way within our small corner of the Kin-dom.

Grace and peace my friends.
George (he/him)