Advent: The Beginning of the End of All in Us Not Yet Christ

Inspired by Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton, in his Advent essay Hope or Delusion, writes that Advent is “the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ.” With that single line, he invites us to step away from any sentimental or Hallmark-style picture of the season. Advent is not a time of nostalgia. It is not a gentle manger scene meant to soothe us. Advent confronts us with the truth of Christ’s birth within the broken, chaotic reality of our lives and our world.

The Incarnation is not sentimentality — it is reality. It is God choosing to enter the world as it is, not as we wish it were. And so, Advent asks us to do the same. It calls us to look honestly at who we are and the difference between our lives and the life of Christ, and at the hopes we carry. Is our hope grounded in the real, living Christ, or is it about an illusion — a kind of spiritual pixie dust we imagine will make everything right without asking anything of us?

Advent, therefore, is not sacred sentimentality or ecclesial escapism. It is a moment of truth — the truth about ourselves, the truth about our world, and the truth about what God is bringing to birth within it. Merton’s insight reminds us that Advent is both invitation and challenge: the call to let the false power of our egos fall away, and to surrender our hearts to the transforming grace of God.

So let us rejoice and give thanks in this season of beginnings —
a season that marks the beginning of the end of all in us not yet Christ,
and the beginning of Christ being born in us anew.

Advent Blessings,

Paul+

Annual Meeting 2025 November 9th

Dear Good People of Trinity Church,

We invite you to join us next Sunday, November 9, following the 10:30 a.m. service, for our Annual Meeting. This gathering is much more than a meeting to fulfill a canonical requirement—it is our annual Trinity family meeting: a time for us to come together, reflect on who we are, and consider how we continue the work of Trinity Church in the world.

Two matters will come before us for a vote or affirmation:

• The election of the Vestry Class of 2028 and approval of our appointed Youth Representative. You will see that we are blessed to have four very qualified candidates and a Youth Representative (to serve a one year term) that will certainly do a fantastic job representing the needs of Trinity.  In addition, Tom Scott has agreed to fill a vacancy in the Class of 2024. 

• The approval of the Bylaws. The Vestry has determined that while we have not previously had any official Bylaws now was a good time to put into writing what has been our traditional practices.  The Vestry has reviewed the document and approved it as presented. 

Information about both items can be found below. The full Annual Report will be shared later this week for your review.

Beyond these matters of business, this meeting is also a time for conversation—an opportunity to ask questions, offer suggestions, share ideas, and dream together. It’s a moment to give thanks, to challenge and encourage one another, and to celebrate the many ways God is at work among us. It is the people of Trinity Church living out what it means to be the Body of Christ.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Peace and Blessings,

Paul Jeanes+                                                       

David Schneider

VESTRY BIOS

The Future Begins Today!

Dear Trinity Family,

It’s that season again — the time when we, the people of Trinity, turn our hearts and attention toward how we can support our beloved church in the year to come through our gifts of time, talent, and treasure.

Stewardship is a vital part of maintaining a healthy and thriving community. It’s about more than just financial giving — it’s an investment of our hearts, our energy, and our faith in the mission and ministry we share.

Below you’ll find a letter from our stewardship co-chairs, Bill Hackett and Cindy Westbrook. We are deeply blessed to have these two faithful leaders guiding us in this year’s effort.

Please take a moment to read their letter prayerfully, and to consider how you might support the ongoing work and witness of our beloved Trinity Church.

The Future begins today!

Peace and blessings to all,

Paul+

Let’s Talk… and Listen!

Dear Good People of Trinity Church,

I invite you to join me this Sunday for our Adult Forum time, which will serve two important purposes.

First, we will kick things off with an update on our Comprehensive Campaign. We are steadily closing in on our $7.5 million goal to secure the future of Trinity Church. Our dedicated co-chairs, Jeannie Garner and David Schneider, will share the latest progress and outline the steps ahead as we work together to cross the finish line.

The majority of our time together will be devoted to reflecting on the current state of our country—particularly the ways we speak and listen to one another. In light of the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, we are once again reminded of the divisions, hostility, and intensity that characterize our national life.

As Christians, we are called not to withdraw from this reality, nor to wield our faith as a weapon to dominate others. Instead, we are called to enter the conflict with humility, courage, and love.

A friend recently shared with me the book Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division by Robert P. George and Cornel West. This conversation models civil discourse and robust intellectual engagement around vital questions of truth. Along the way, they remind us that truth-seeking requires conditions such as freedom of speech, and virtues such as intellectual humility and courage. To their call to be “truth seekers” and “truth speakers,” I would add this: we are also called to be truth listeners.

Too often, we speak in order to persuade or to win an argument, rather than to share honestly from our own hearts. Likewise, we listen not to understand, but only to prepare our rebuttal. This cycle keeps us locked in hostility and division.

This Sunday, I invite us into something different. Let us practice speaking with honesty and humility, and listening with openness and grace. When we do, we create the possibility of genuine understanding and deeper unity.

I look forward to being with you. Let’s talk… and let’s listen.

Peace and Blessings,
Paul+

What a Story!

Dear Beloved of Trinity,

It’s good to be home!!

This summer in Michigan, I heard the most wonderful story. A dear friend of ours, who is 94 years old, said: “You’re never going to believe what happened to me about a month ago.”

His daughter had received a phone call from a woman who began with: “I think you might be my half-sister.” Instead of shock or anger, the news was met with curiosity and kindness. The woman, now 72 years old, explained how she had always felt a bit different—like she didn’t quite belong in her family. She knew she wasn’t adopted, yet something always seemed off. After her parents passed away, she decided to take a DNA test. What she discovered changed everything.

Through the miracle of DNA, she learned that her father was not her biological father. Long ago, some 72 years earlier at Yale, her mother had shared a romance with my friend. When her mother returned home, she never told him she was pregnant. He never knew he had a daughter.

This news came at a profound time in his life. A year or two ago, he suffered a serious heart issue and nearly died. He has been struggling to regain his health. With tears in his eyes, he said, “Now I know why I’m still alive. My daughter was looking for me, and I didn’t even know I had a daughter.”

His daughter, now accomplished and well known throughout the country, had already found financial, cultural, and societal success. Yet what she longed for most was not achievement—it was to know who her father was, to know where she came from, to know the rest of her story.

This September, they will finally meet in person. They’ve already spoken over Zoom, marveling at their similarities—their gestures, tone of voice, even their facial expressions. Her half-sister said without hesitation: “She is certainly Dad’s daughter.”

Digging a little deeper, for many people, there is a restlessness in the heart, mind, and soul. They may find success, recognition, or status, yet it can still feel as though life is lived in shoes that don’t quite fit, in a sweater that itches, or through glasses with the wrong prescription. Something feels off. Something is missing.

Through God’s love, however, things are made right. We discover who we are and whose we are. We remember that the soil from which we came is sacred. Our DNA is holy. We belong to God, who has given us a home, a family, a place of belonging and love.

It calls to mind the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John:

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

In a world that often feels unsettling and uncertain—when we feel out of place or unsure of where we fit—God reminds us that we have a true home. We have a place, a belonging, and a being that is grounded in love.

And that … is the best story ever told!

Peace and Blessings,
Paul

Welcome to our new Director of Family Ministries and Family Ministries Advisor

Dear Good People of Trinity Church,

It is a joy to introduce two new members of our Trinity Church staff!

Please join me in warmly welcoming Anne Thomsen Lord, our new Director of Family Ministries, and Catherine Breed, who will serve as our Family Ministries Advisor. We are incredibly blessed to have these two faithful, wise, and dedicated leaders joining our team.

With Anne and Catherine’s guidance, we are poised to grow and strengthen our ministries for children, youth, and families—through education, service, and worship that reflect the heart of our community and the truth of the Gospel.

Their presence is a gift, and I am excited for the journey ahead as they help lead us forward in love and faith. They will officially begin on August 15.

You’ll find their bios below. I hope you’ll take a moment to read about them and join me in giving them a warm Trinity welcome.

Peace and blessings,
Paul+

Anne Thomsen Lord

Anne Thomsen Lord hails from the Nebraska prairie but has called Princeton home since 2009. She attended Arizona State University and graduated with degrees in English literature and Classics. She completed a Master’s in Christian Education and Faith Formation along with a Certificate in Theology, Ecology, and Faith Formation from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2023. 

Anne interned at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, PA as an Interfaith chaplain and spent the last year working at HomeWorks Trenton, a local nonprofit. Anne loves sunshine and water and has held various positions in aquatics programs for over twenty-five years.

Since 2007, Anne has been the primary caregiver to her children. She and her spouse, Errol, have four sporty kids that challenge and inspire her. 

Catherine Breed

Catherine Breed is a religious educator with over 25 years experience working with children and youth in churches and Episcopal Schools. Most recently she taught Religion at the Lovett School in Atlanta, GA. She is a grant coordinator with StoryMakers, a non-profit creative studio in NYC which designs and produces religious education resources and curriculum.

Catherine has an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and Master of Arts in Christian Education from Princeton Theological Seminary. She and her husband Brennan (now a Professor of Old Testament at PTS) led the youth group at Trinity Church from 2004-2006, and she is excited to be back!

Set Your Sails — Be Ready

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

I write to you from Harbor Springs, Michigan, a beautiful town along the shores of Lake Michigan, just south of the Upper Peninsula and not far from Mackinac Island. For over twenty years, my family and I have been blessed to spend part of our summers here. If our timing is right, we get to witness the annual sailing regatta—an event that draws boats and sailors from across the Great Lakes.

These boats are not only beautiful but often extremely sophisticated. Their crews are seasoned and skilled. And yet, despite all their training and technology, they remain utterly dependent on one thing: the wind. Without it, they sit motionless. And when the wind comes, they must set their sails carefully and wisely to capture its power. No amount of skill or equipment can compensate for its absence.

This, dear friends, is a powerful—if imperfect—metaphor for our spiritual lives. Whether we are navigating life with seasoned faith or just beginning to explore the waters of belief, we all need the wind of the Spirit to move us. We may prepare our vessels, hoist our sails, and chart our course, but without the breath of God—without the Spirit—we go nowhere.

The Spirit of God is the wind that fills our sails, the unseen force that moves us forward with purpose, power, and direction. It is only in relationship to that divine movement that we find our true course. It is the tension between our sails and that sacred wind that carries us across the waters of life—sometimes calm, often choppy—toward a destination that is holy and meaningful.

So, I invite you in the week ahead: in your heart, in your soul, in your imagination—set your sails. Be ready. Wait and watch for the Spirit’s stirring. It may come as a gentle breeze or a sudden gust, but it will come. And when it does, may it move you in ways that are wondrous and unexpected, sometimes challenging, yet always sacred.

Forward in faith!

Peace and Blessings,

Paul+

The Place God Calls Us

Dear Friends, 

This morning at 7am, I hit the send button and submitted the first complete draft of my Doctor of Ministry Thesis from General Theological Seminary for review. Why Church?: Understanding how the next generation perceives the purpose of the Church. I conclude my thesis with a reflection on an art exhibit currently on display at the Bainbridge Art Gallery. This reflection is an edited version of my thesis conclusion.

While looking at the paintings, I was fortunate enough to meet one of the artists, Khalilah Sabree. Sabree was born in Macon, Georgia, and raised as a Southern Baptist, who, after moving north to Trenton, New Jersey, converted and became a devout African-American Muslim. In describing her collection of paintings, Destruction of a Culture, Sabree says, 

I explore how devastating changes disrupt world cultures and impact human relationships, societal structures, and the global landscape…The series began with a single image: a photo I took in Mecca of two African women gazing over a fence, as if peering into the future. The intensity of their focus captivated me; I envisioned them as bearers of a unique power able to foresee a changing world that remains hidden from others. As this photo became a series of paintings, imagination was my guiding force. I engaged in dhikr, allowing the remembrance of God to infuse my work with spiritual depth and resonance.

In conversation, Sabree shared with me that within the intensity, struggle, destruction, and truth of each painting, she intentionally put an element in clear focus, which was to draw our attention and invite us to enter into a place of spiritual refuge - a portal through which we could find safety and rest.

      When Things Fall Apart           Breaking Point     Lost

https://www.khalilahsabree.com/destruction-of-a-culture

Later that evening, I learned of yet another death of a Princeton University student. This is the eighth Princeton University student in three years to commit suicide. Princeton is supposed to be Mecca, the Promised Land, the pinnacle of the American Dream – an Ivy League university and one of the premier universities in the world. Yet with all the resources, student services, people, professors, programs, opportunities, buildings, money, reputation, and connections … eight young people in the last three years have been unable to find a safe refuge, a portal through which they could find safety and rest. They felt the only way forward, the only way to survive was to die. 

We live in a world that could be described as the destruction of a culture, and this isn’t creative destruction; it’s just destruction. Destruction of our environment. Destruction of opportunities because of economic disparity and unequal access to resources. Destruction of dignity and our humanity by acts of racism, xenophobia, transphobia, and simply plain old hate and indifference. Destruction comes in all shapes and sizes - sometimes vengeful and violent, harsh and arrogant, brash and bold, external and obvious, and other times internal and soulful, emotional and relational, hidden and subtle, deceptive and disguised, yet just as destructive.

There is a tremendous calling and need right before our eyes. There is a world of people, young and old alike, longing for a portal through which they can travel and find a place of refuge - a place of safety and rest from a world that can be daunting, damning, and destructive. I believe our primary calling as the people of Trinity Church is to show the way to the portal through which people can find rest, healing, and hope – in other words, salvation. God save us from ourselves - from our sin and arrogance, pride and ego, misguided pursuits and blindness, insecurities and vanities. The Church only survives if we do – and far too many people have no idea that the Love of God, as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, is a portal through which we find more than a place of refuge; we find life - life in the fullness of God’s intention for all of God’s beloved children.

Peace and Blessings,

“The place God calls [us] to is the place where [our] deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

— Frederick Buechner