Dear Beloved of Trinity,

Since Kara “broke the ice” on Sunday with her reference to David Brooks, I’m going to follow suit—thank you, Kara! Someone recently shared with me a 2023 article by Brooks, The Essential Skills for Being Human, and I couldn’t help but think: Isn’t this exactly what we strive for every time we come together as the Body of Christ? In worship, formation, and service, we are continually learning and growing in these essential skills.

The Gospel calls us to be more fully human, and to be more fully human is to live more deeply into God’s desire and dream for each of us. To embrace our full humanity is to become more Christlike—to live into the gift of who God created us to be at our very core.

As we begin our Lenten journey, I wanted to share a few of Brooks’ insights that seem especially meaningful for us:

• Be a grower. Always strive to grow—to become a better version of ourselves. Take an honest but grace-filled look at who you are, and then take just one small step forward.

• Be open-hearted. Kindness, compassion, and a posture of openness are essential to our humanity. Be respectful, accepting, and truly present to others.

• Be an illuminator, not a diminisher. Illuminators help others feel seen, valued, respected, and alive. Diminishers, on the other hand, make others feel small and insignificant. Choose to lift others up.

• Be a good listener. True listening requires full presence. When we truly pay attention, we honor the humanity of the person before us.

• Be an accompanist. (Not in the musical sense, but in life!) We walk this journey together. We certainly can’t fix everything, but we can be present with one another amid the realities of our lives.

• Stand in their standpoint. Seek to understand the perspective of another. Ask questions, listen deeply, and receive their story with what Brooks calls “tender receptivity.”

• Live with abiding love. May everything we do—how we see, support, understand, communicate, and respond—be rooted in abiding love.

May this Lenten season be a time of deepening—of growing in these essential skills for being human and becoming more fully who God created us to be.

Peace and Blessings,

Calling all tenors! Trinity's adult choir is in need of a couple volunteer tenors. If this might be you, please reach out to our Director of Music Meg Harper at harperm@trinityprinceton.org!

Have you added you memorable event to the Trinity Timeline?

This is the last Sunday (3/9) to add your event to the Timeline!

The Trinity Timeline is outside Pierce Hall.

This timeline is divided into chronological sections from 2006 to 2025 and runs through the middle of the paper on the tables. 

Please add your personal Trinity events above the timeline (e.g., Weddings, Baptisms, Confirmations, Funerals, and other personal memories – names please) and add key Church events below the timeline. 

What are your key church events?

A transformative sermon? 

A particular Adult Forum or Bible Study session?

A special concert?

Kitchen community?

Work on an outreach project?

The blessing of your animal?

The Adult Confirmation Class will meet on Sundays at 2 PM starting this Sunday, March 9, in the George Thomas Room. Join us if you're interested in Confirmation, or if you'd like a refresher about the Episcopal Church. Adults should contact Kara at sladek@trinityprinceton.org.

The Adult Confirmation Class will meet on Sundays at 6 PM. Youth (or parents of youth) should contact Donte at milligand@trinityprinceton.org. 

The Center of Theological Inquiry invites the Trinity community to join them for a special lecture by the Rev. Dr. Andrew Davison on Monday, March 10 at 5 PM. You may remember Dr. Davison from his time at CTI, when he led the Adult Forum and helped out at the parish on occasion. 

On Saturday March 1, twenty-one parishioners from Trinity volunteered at Arm in Arm's food warehouse in Hamilton.  According to Shariq Marshal, Development & Community Engagement Coordinator at Arm in Arm, “We sincerely thank you all for your time and efforts this past weekend.   Your group prepared over 200 bags, stocked all of our shelves with the incoming donations, prepared 100 snack bags for kids and cleared  space for our next shipment of inventory in the process. This is a huge impact!”

Thank you to all our volunteers. You made a real difference! 

Join us on Sunday evening, March  9th (after Compline) and socialize with other like-minded board game enthusiasts. Come and see if we can stump Kara in "The Catholic Game" or Joseph in "Risk" or who the real sleuth is in "Clue". Or -- bring your own favorite board game. We'll order pizza and provide soft drinks. You can bring your family, some friends, significant others, people off the street -- and a game or games to share. ALL AGES are welcome.

In order to plan, please sign up using the link attached here...https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-buQmvMPAvKWBvoNLNDyLopWrP5TFHtmcroMebm5yco/edit?gid=0#gid=0   And if you can help with either setup or cleanup, please let me jsyzdek@yahoo.com  or Rachel firstrachel24@gmail.com know.

Come share in the fun, get to know other Trinity members better and let that gentle competitive spirit out. We look forward to seeing you then!

Attention "vaguely middle-aged people"! The Oregon Trailblazers group will have its next gathering on Saturday, March 15, at 5:30 PM. We will share a potluck dinner and spens a little time discussing how to keep Lent at home and sharing the traditions of Lent and Holy Week with children. RSVP here and let us know what you can bring! Childcare will be provided. 

RSVP here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1moYWLZgHG4OK7St6dz4ZtOxfTqk9yAAwmQUP1A8xa5k/edit?usp=sharing

Attention LGBTQ+ Folks of Trinity! 

Oasis, the LGBTQ+ Fellowship of Trinity Church, is rebooting! We will meet on the third Sunday of the month immediately following Choral Compline. Come to Compline and stay for fellowship and conversation. Our first meeting will be March 23 at 5:30 PM in the George Thomas Room. Contact Kara for more information (sladek@trinityprinceton.org), and add your name here to join the mailing list: https://forms.gle/fCYFF5hZusm3fV1P6

For nearly 800 years, the St. Thomas Boys Choir of Leipzig, Germany has maintained a tradition of great choral singing. During this time, they have been associated with such illustrious directors as J. S. Bach – who led the ensemble for 27 years. On Friday, March 7th at 7:30pm, they will offer a performance free of charge at the Princeton University Chapel.

Join us at Trinity in advance of the concert, and we’ll head over to the performance together! We will meet inside the side entrance to the church and will walk to the University Chapel at 7:00pm.

With the growth of our Nights of Support in Princeton, Good Grief is now able to support more grieving children and families. We now offer peer support groups on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evenings.

With a new night added, we are looking for compassionate and kind volunteers who would like to become a peer support group facilitator. Our next facilitator training is May 2nd-4th at Good Grief in Princeton. Our facilitators make all the difference by creating a safe and caring environment where grieving children and their families can express themselves.

Interested individuals can contact volunteer@good-grief.org.