50th Trinity Church Rummage Sale

Countdown to Trinity Church’s 50th Rummage Sale has Begun!

October 16th-18th

Donations will be accepted on Sundays after the 10:30 am service September 14th, 21st, 28th, and October 5th.

What time? Between Noon and 12:45

Where? At the PODs in the Trinity Parking Lot

Are reservations necessary? Yes, by email rummage@trinityprinceton.org

Can you make more than one reservation?  Yes

Which donations will help put our 50th sale over the top? 

Here are some suggestions based on past sales:

Jewelry – gold earrings & charm bracelets, broches with semi & precious stones, and costume items; books; clothes for men, women and children – “better” and “bargain”; framed art & treasures for the Boutique; craft & knitting supplies; holiday decorations & toys; housewares - glassware, fine and everyday china, kitchen pots & pans etc); linens; vintage items - hats, purses, scarves & gloves and dolls & doll houses with furniture; shoes & boots in good condition.

Electrical items in working order are in great demand: coffee pots, tea kettles, crock pots, blenders, toaster ovens & electric griddles; lamps; sewing machines; holiday decorations with lights in working order; small TVs.

YOUR SUPPORT NEEDED

I would also like to help put the 50th sale over the top and will send a message to rummage@trinityprinceton.org when I will be available:

  • Sundays at the PODs accepting donations

  • Saturday, October 11 from 9:30-11 am setting up the sale

  • Sunday, October 12 from1-3:30 pm bringing donations from PODs to rooms for the sale

  • Monday-Thursday, October 13-16 any time between 9 am-2 pm setting up, displaying and pricing items

  • Thursday-Saturday, October 16-18 at the sale: “meet and greet” and welcome shoppers; be a cashier or a “wrapper”; sell “art in the hallway” & shoes; help shoppers find a holiday gift; pass on information about Trinity Church; take unsold items to the Goodwill truck; be an unsung hero and help clear up and return the rooms for Sunday programs!!!

With thanks for your support,

The Rummage Committee

(Susan, Margot, Dan, Helen, Linda & Bob, Sylvia, Helen & John, Harry & team, Helene, Alison, Terri, Carol, Ireen, Connie, Rosemary, Fred, PA, Camille, Anderson, Amy, Kim, Katie, Liz, Chris, Barb & Barb & Wendy, Rob, Martha, Tracy)

Make Our Life Together a Sign of Christ’s Love

Dear Good People of Trinity Church,

Just before the 5:30 Eucharist on Wednesday, my phone buzzed with news: Charlie Kirk had been killed. A conservative political activist and a deeply polarizing figure—followed by millions, despised by millions—his death was immediately met with words of horror, outrage, and disgust. The airwaves filled with the usual rhetoric about political violence, gun control, and the deep divides in our society.

I walked into the chapel for worship and offered a reflection—disjointed, raw, unrefined. Today, on 9/11 of all days, I am trying to write something more thoughtful. As a priest, people expect me to offer a word: grounding, hope, faith. What follows is simply my heart and mind in this moment. Yesterday my words were different; tomorrow they may be different still.

First - why are we shocked? We live in a world steeped in violence. Every day, people are shot and killed. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 47,000 people died of gun-related injuries in 2023—38% were murder. That is nearly 18,000 murders in one year. Someone gets angry, picks up a gun, and takes a life.

But violence is not only personal—it is systemic, national, global. Governments plot and plan wars. Entire populations are sacrificed because of power, anger, greed, and fear, but under the guise of something good and noble, necessary and courageous. Violence is not an occasional interruption in our world; it is all too often the normative reality.

And the violence of our world is not only about guns, not by any means. There is economic violence, relational violence, sexual violence, emotional violence, “tribal” violence, religious violence – violence contaminates the very fabric of our being. Some is public, graphic, and on display. Some is quiet, subtle, cunning, and seductive—yet just as destructive, just as damning.

Second - on Sunday, I said that Jesus warns us: following him will get very real. Because the world is broken—broken in a uniquely human way with envy, fear, jealousy, and hate. Since the beginning, we have continually responded to that brokenness with violence.

So, what do we do as followers of Christ? We cannot stand on some imagined moral high ground, as if we have special clarity because we “follow” Jesus. No—we fall to our knees and pray. We beg for forgiveness. We search our souls, honestly confronting the truth of our own violence—sometimes hidden in the shadows of our hearts, sometimes shockingly exposed. And we trust in God’s love and grace. Only then can we begin to live differently, see differently, speak differently, act differently—not adding to the darkness, but bringing even the faintest light. And this we believe: the darkness cannot and will not overcome the light, even when it shines dimly from our fragile human souls.

Finally - I do not know if these words bring any comfort or clarity, but I offer them in faith, as we seek our way forward together. My dear ones, there will be more violence - there always is. But, there will also be more love, more hope, more life. There always is!

I leave you with a prayer from the wedding liturgy, written for couples beginning their life together, but just as fitting for us, as we continue on this sacred journey.

Make [our] life together a sign of Christ’s love to this sinful and broken world,
that unity may overcome estrangement,
forgiveness heal guilt,
and joy conquer despair. Amen.

Peace and blessings,
Paul+

Welcome to Our Interns

Rachel First

“Hello! My name is Rachel First, and I am a second-year M.Div. student at Princeton Theological Seminary. Growing up in a military family, I spent my childhood in both St. Louis, Missouri, and Santa Barbara, California, where I was active in youth ministry, Sunday school, and worship before moving to Chicago to complete my undergraduate degree in theology. I have worked as both a teaching and research assistant in theology throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies, with specialized interests in medieval theology, church history, and the role of gender in religious language and tradition. In my free time, I enjoy practicing the harp, playing video games, and spending time with my beloved husband Zach and our parakeet, Quill. I have been a member of Trinity Church for over a year, and I am eager to serve the congregation as an intern!”

Rob Long

Rob Long is second-year student at Princeton Seminary, but before that he was a writer and producer in Hollywood. He began his writing career on TV’s long-running “Cheers,” and served as co-executive producer in its final season. During his time on the series, “Cheers” received two Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe awards. He graduated from Yale University in 1987, and spent two years at UCLA School of Film, Theater and Television. Rob has been twice nominated for an Emmy Award, and has received a Writers Guild of America award and a Golden Globe. He is a member of St. James Church in New York City and is discerning ordination in the Diocese of New York. 

Emma Stewart 

“Hi everyone! I’m Emma Stewart, a second-year MDiv student at Princeton Theological Seminary from Birmingham, Alabama. I’m looking forward to meeting each of you throughout my time this year and learning about what makes Trinity Church such a special place. I have a background in elementary education and worked previously in children’s ministry, but I am looking forward to stretching my skills and trying new avenues of ministry at Trinity. In my free time, I love to read for fun (send me all your recommendations!) and walk on the canal path with my pup, Billie. I can’t wait for a great year!”

 

Get Ready...

Dear Good People of Trinity,

This Sunday, we gather for Homecoming Sunday and begin a new program year together. I always love the excitement, energy, and possibilities this season brings. It is a time of life and abundance as we look forward to the ways God will work through the people of Trinity Church in the coming year. Trinity now enters our 192nd year of ministry, rapidly approaching our bicentennial.

As we prepare to gather this Sunday, I pause to reflect on the thousands of families and individuals who, over nearly two centuries, have found at Trinity Church a place of grace, service, prayer, and praise.

When the first families gathered at Trinity, Andrew Jackson was President of the United States. Since then, the people of Trinity Church have gathered for worship through the Civil War and abolition of slavery, the Industrial Revolution, World War I, the birth of the Soviet Union, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights Movement, the assassinations of President Kennedy and Dr. King, the moon landing, Watergate, the fall of the Soviet Union, September 11, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the explosion of technology and emergence artificial intelligence—and that is only part of the story!

Through it all, God’s people have gathered here: to sing and pray, to serve and love, to learn and grow in faith. In and through it all, we strive to make our broken world a little more like the image and likeness of God’s hope for us. We know there is still much work to be done.

Get ready …our journey continues! Forward in faith! There is love to be shared, people to be welcomed, and Good News to be proclaimed.

I look forward to welcoming you home this Sunday.

Peace and Blessings,

Paul+

It’s Good to Come Home

Earlier this week, I was blessed with an invitation to visit a dear friend on the coast of Massachusetts. It was a quick 24-hour trip, but filled with conversation, laughter, and the kind of renewal only friendship and the sea can bring.

When I arrived, my friend and his sons were still out on the ocean after a morning of deep-sea fishing. When word came that they were headed back, his wife and I went down to the dock to meet them. We stood looking to the horizon. “There’s their boat,” we thought as a tiny speck appeared in the distance. We watched it draw closer and closer until finally, it tied up to the mooring. The crew climbed into the dinghy and made their way to shore.

On the surface, nothing about it seems particularly extraordinary. But as I reflected, I realized how often we stand on the dock—whatever our “dock” may be—waiting for someone to come home. Maybe from an exciting adventure or a season of challenge. With our eyes fixed into the distance, we see a faint outline, a small figure, and we ask ourselves, Could it be? Is it them? And when we finally know for sure, our hearts race, joy fills our souls, and we breathe a prayer of gratitude: They’re home. They’re safe. Thank God.

And maybe, just maybe, it was the same for my friend and his sons. At some point, they must have looked toward the shore, wondering, Can you see the house yet? Will someone be there waiting for us? After hours of waves and wind, they were ready to return—to share their stories of fishing and laughter, of salt air and adventure—with the people who loved them.

There is something sacred about coming home. And there is something equally sacred about welcoming others home.

That’s why this year, instead of calling September 7 “Kickoff Sunday,” we are going to call it Homecoming Sunday. It will be our chance to gather again after the adventures of summer and the journeys of life, to welcome one another back to the home we call Trinity Church. A place of grace, love, and encouragement. A place where we return again and again to be reminded of God’s presence and each other’s care.

So, dear ones, whether you find yourself standing on the dock waiting for someone to come home, or whether you are the one returning after a long journey—it’s always good to come home.

Peace and Blessings,

Paul+

Nominations for Vestry

Elections for four new vestry members will be held during the Annual Meeting on November 9th. 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.

If We Love One Another!

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34–35

Earlier this week, I was speaking with a Trinity member who shared a heartfelt concern: What about those among us who may be in need but don’t know how to ask for help—or who are afraid to? Her words lifted up an essential truth: life brings challenges, and none of us are meant to carry our burdens alone. At some point, each of us will need help, and each of us is also called to offer help. That’s what it means to live in Christian community—caring for and loving one another as Christ has loved us.

I once heard someone say that we are either coming out of a storm, in the midst of one, or heading toward one. Storms are a part of life, but the good news is that we don’t face them by ourselves. Through the ministry of pastoral care, we walk alongside each other, sharing God’s love in very tangible ways.

At Trinity, our pastoral care ministry and clergy are here to support you. But we can only respond if we know of the need. That’s where you come in. If you or someone you know could use care, please reach out. We have people who make home visits, who bring the Eucharist, who pray faithfully, who deliver flowers, and who show up with presence and compassion. We can also help with transportation needs, or even connect people with resources during financial hardship.

So, let this be a gentle reminder: if you have a need, or know someone who does, please let the clergy or pastoral care team know. And if we cannot provide the help directly, we will do our best to connect you with resources that can. Together, we embody the Gospel truth: by this everyone will know that we are Christ’s disciples, if we love one another.

Peace and Blessings,

Paul+

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