The well-known Christian author and speaker Anne Lamott often says that three simple words lie at the heart of the life of prayer: Help, Thanks, and Wow. This has been the case throughout Christian history, even though we might use different terms to talk about the ways we pray. There is a particular pattern of prayer that seems almost to transcend time. In its most basic shape, it has three simple, but essential parts: supplication (help), thanksgiving (thanks), and doxology or praise (wow).

 When we pray, our first instinct is usually to ask God for something. But on what possible basis might we dare to approach God in prayer? Because God is the Creator and we are creatures, what emboldens us to ask something of God? The answer is simple, and we can see it in the pattern of the Daily Office: we ask for God's help in prayer. We ask for God to draw near to us, so that we can be drawn nearer to God. "Lord, open our lips," we pray each morning in the Daily Office, asking God to make possible the prayers to follow. 

But our supplication - our prayers for ourselves and for others - are intertwined with our prayers of gratitude. We dare to approach God in supplication because we also recognize God's faithfulness to us. And so, we render our “humble thanks for all of God’s goodness and loving-kindness, to us and to all that God has made.” (BCP, 101) Thanksgiving and supplication go together. 

But we don’t stop there. Supplication and thanksgiving also draws us towards doxology, or praise. When we pray, we don’t seek guarantees so much as ask that God’s will be done. We place before God the hopes and needs of our hearts and minds, knowing that all we are or hope to be will be caught up in God’s desire for us. As we offer our supplications and then let go of them, allowing them to take their place in the larger story of God’s goodness and loving-kindness towards us, it leads us to praise. It is as if we have prayed and now say to God, “come what may we praise you, we bless you, and we give thanks to you, Lord our God.”

As you pray this month, both in church and in your own private devotions, I hope you will pay attention to this rhythm of prayer, all of which draws us into closer communion with the God who calls us to be his holy people. 

Yours in Christ,

October 18-19, 2024

Donation dates: Sundays after the 10:30 am service at about noon on September 29 and October 6 at the PODs in the church parking lot.

Reservations are needed: please email your request to rummage@trinityprinceton.org and include the date you would like to bring your donations.   Reservations will be confirmed. 

Please sort and label all donations and see last week' s epistle for acceptable items for the sale.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR:

•  Set-up:

  • Beginning Sunday, October 13th at 1:00 p.m.

  •  Continuing Monday - Thursday 9:00-1:00pm 

• Sale Days:

  •  Friday Noon- 4:00pm 

  •  Saturday 9:00- 1:00pm

• Clean-up:

  • Saturday 1:00- 3:00pm

Please consider joining us for the sale - even if you can only volunteer for an hour, it will make a big difference to the event.

All proceeds go to our outreach partners.

With thanks from the Rummage Committee

Elections for four new vestry members will be held during the Annual Meeting on November 10.  Any baptized and confirmed parishioner who has pledged is eligible for nomination.  Vestry members serve a three year term. 

If you love Trinity Church and would like to serve on its governing body, we encourage you to nominate yourself by contacting the co-chairs of the Vestry Nominating Committee, Melissa Scott (mebscott@comcast.net) and Chris Leavell (cleavell@gmail.com).  If you'd like to nominate someone other than yourself, feel free to contact Melissa and Chris with your suggestion. 

Trinity Church has a number of groups for formation and fellowship, and we invite you to join us to grow in friendship and in relationship to God. This year, we hope to move our fellowship groups to a set monthly meeting day and time. If you're already a member, or if you'd like to be a member, sign up at the links below and indicate what days and times might work best for you. We need to ensure that everyone who should be on our email lists is on them, so please sign up! 

• 20's-30's Fellowship Signup and Survey:

  • https://forms.gle/iJgJEp2VR4c6NM2n8

• Oregon Trailblazers ("vaguely middle-aged" folks) Signup and Survey:

  • https://forms.gle/vgucdir6JK6KErTDA

• Oasis LGBTQ+ Fellowship Signup and Survey:

  • https://forms.gle/XnLCMk4GMDcRwXs17

• For the Platinum Lunch Club, contact Sylvia Temmer for more information (sbjornberg77@icloud.com). Meetings are on the third Monday of the month at 12:00 PM in Pierce-Bishop Hall. 

Newcomers Forum

• Sunday, October 6, 9:15 – 10:15 am  

• Pierce Hall     

The Newcomers Forum is a great way to meet vestry members, clergy and fellow newcomers while enjoying bagels and coffee.  There will be a couple of welcoming speeches but mostly this is a time to talk to new and longtime members of the parish and to meet your clergy.   Pierce Hall is the main meeting room in the parish building, which is attached to the church.  

Tea at the Rectory

• Sunday, November 10, 4 -5 pm, followed by Compline in the church

• 25 Mercer St.

Father Paul Jeanes lives in the house next to the parish hall.  Join him, vestry members and fellow newcomers for refreshments and fellowship.  Then at 5 pm, feel free to join us as we walk next door to the church for the evening prayers said during Compline.

You are welcome to attend any of these events without registering but if you know in advance that you’ll attend, please do email tomascott1965@gmail.com so that we can plan accordingly.  Also email Tom with any questions you may have.  We look forward to seeing you!

Parish volunteers are always needed for these two Fall events which support Trinity’s outreach programs:

• Rummage Sale - Details about rummage in the post below. We need volunteers for all aspects of the sale: set-up, sales, clean-up.  Setup occurs from October 13-17 and the sale itself is on October 18-19.  To volunteer for any of these days, please send your contact information to rummage@trinityprinceton.org .

• Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot – This annual event is a 5k race beginning at 8 am on Thanksgiving Day.  Father Paul started it the year after he arrived at Trinity Church.  Over 2,000 runners and walkers participated in 2023 and raised over $70,000 for Trinity’s outreach programs and partners.  Trinity parishioners handle all of the functions of the race, from distributing race packets to monitoring the route.  More details will be available soon on how you can help make this year’s race a success.

Join Kara and your friends from Trinity Church on November 22-24 for a weekend retreat at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY on the banks of the Hudson River. This will be a "mostly-silent" retreat, with many opportunities to pray and worship in community with the brothers of the Order of the Holy Cross. Along with time to read, rest, or explore the beautiful monastery grounds, there will also be a Bible study led by Kara:

• Breakfast is available any time from 6:30am to 8:15am

• 7:00am - Matins

• 8:30am - The Great Silence Ends

• 9:00am - Holy Eucharist

• 10:00am - Bible study 

• 12:00pm - Diurnum (Midday Prayer)

• 12:30pm - Dinner

• 5:00pm - Vespers (Evening Prayer) - Sundays at 4:00pm

• 5:45pm - Supper

• 7:30pm - Compline (Night Prayers)
  The Great Silence begins after Compline

We will leave on Friday afternoon and return Sunday after the Eucharist. The cost for the weekend is $250, but let us know if the cost is prohibitive for you. We don't want that to be a barrier to your participation. There are 12 rooms available, and you can sign up at this Google Forms link or by emailing Kara at sladek@trinityprinceton.org. Let us know as well if you will need a ride and if you have dietary needs. 

SIGN UP LINK: https://forms.gle/xcDQPFBDwdkmHMcW6

Our driveway that connects Mercer and Stockton streets is a great convenience for parishioners and for parents of Nassau Nursery children.   It is also a safety hazard as it tempts drivers to speed through our property to save a few minutes.  In addition, some drivers have been entering from Stockton Street in violation of the driveway's one way direction.  Finally, there was no signage alerting drivers exiting onto Stockton Street that they need to stop before the sidewalk.

Recently, the Grounds committee invested $2,400 in three improvements to minimize these safety risks:

1. Installed a speed bump to slow speedsters down before they reach the Narthex area

2. Asked the Municipality of Princeton to replace one of its Do Not Enter signs at our Stockton St. exit that had become extremely faded.  They promptly made that change as well as reoriented their second Do Not Enter sign for better visibility.

3. Added two smaller "Do Not Enter" signs facing from our fence to Stockton Street to ensure that any driver turning from any direction will see that they should not enter our driveway.  

4. Installed two Stop signs just before the sidewalk at Stockton Street  and painted the words "Stop" along with a thick white line across the driveway.

In addition, our contractors fixed three potholes in the parking lot, repainted two handicapped parking spots and the crosswalk by Ivy Hall.  Special thanks to our wonderful sextons for putting up all  of our new signs!

Please help keep parishioners and children safe by entering our driveway only from Mercer Street, driving slowly over the speed bump and by making a full stop when exiting at Stockton Street.