Hospitality

Dear People of Trinity Church,

Recently, I’ve been spending time with Henri Nouwen’s Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. One section that especially caught my attention is titled “Reaching Out to Our Fellow Human Beings.” In it, Nouwen reflects deeply on the biblical idea of hospitality—“one of the richest biblical terms that can deepen and broaden our insight into our relationships with our fellow human beings.”

Nouwen offers a powerful reimagining of what hospitality truly means. It is so much more than simply welcoming a stranger. He writes, “The Dutch use the word gastvrijheid, which means the freedom of the guest.”

Hospitality, Nouwen explains, “means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom undisturbed by dividing lines. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment. It is not an educated intimidation with good books, good stories, and good works, but the liberation of fearful hearts so that words can take root and bear fruit.”

Hospitality, then, is a way of liberation—for both the host and the guest, the one who welcomes and the one who is welcomed. It frees us from our preconceived notions, prejudices, and suspicions. It opens our hearts and minds to the possibility that something new and wonderful might happen in the space between us.

True hospitality says not, “Come, and you will become one of us,” but rather, “Come, and together we will discover something new.” It creates a space in which truth and grace, diversity and unity, can coexist. In that space, we begin to see one another not as strangers but as bearers of gifts to be shared—gifts that bless both giver and receiver.

In this particular season of our church’s life—and in our national life—may we practice this liberating, life-giving hospitality. May we rediscover the freedom that bears the fruit of love, community, grace, and healing.

Peace and Blessings,

Paul+

A Warm Welcome to All Visitors & Newcomers.

A warm welcome to all visitors & newcomers.

At Trinity Church, we believe God’s love is expansive and unconditional and that through Christ, God has called us to love one another as God loves us. We welcome all people regardless of gender, race, age, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, family configuration, political affiliation, or difference of ability. We celebrate the worth, dignity, and gifts of every person as a child of God.

We warmly welcome the presence and participation of children.

They are a blessing and gift to our worship experience.

Dear Good People of Trinity Church,

I want to bring your attention to two important updates to our bulletin.

The first is a small but significant change to our long-used words of welcome. After prayerful reflection and meaningful conversations with several Trinity members, I have added “political affiliation” to our litany of welcome. I never thought such words would be necessary, but in this season of intense political division, I believe they are. As followers of Christ, we are called to be a community that welcomes all. Trinity Church will not be a “Left” church or a “Right” church, but rather a church that imperfectly yet faithfully strives to follow Jesus Christ and live out the Gospel message for the healing and transformation of the world. This is not easy work. It is work that will not be completed in our lifetimes. Yet each day, in small but meaningful steps, we move closer to God’s dream for our broken world.

The second addition is a welcome directed especially to families with children. Children are essential to the life and vitality of the Church. While their sounds and movements may at times feel distracting, without them there is no future for the Church. These movements and voices are signs of young believers beginning to find their way into the sacramental life of the community we call Trinity. We know how much effort it takes for parents and caregivers to prepare children for worship—and how much energy is spent helping them participate once here. Their efforts deserve our deepest encouragement and our warmest embrace. We must support them with open hearts, open minds, and open arms.

We are especially blessed in this season to have Anne Thomsen Lord, Catherine Breed, and Donte Milligan guiding and nurturing our children and youth. Please reach out to them—or to me—if you feel called to help grow this vital ministry.

I close with the prayer I offered at last Sunday’s forum, a prayer I hope will remain before us as we continue the work of being Trinity Church:

Quicken, O Lord, we pray, all members of your church, that we may be alive to the opportunities and responsibilities of our times. Save us from complacency and from fear of new ways; inspire our minds with the hope of your kingdom; give us joy in what lies before us; and stir our wills to pray and to work until your will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Peace,

Paul+

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+

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+

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+

Forward in Faith!

Dear Friends,

By the time you read this, I will have arrived in Michigan, where I will be serving the people of St. John’s Church in Harbor Springs for the next four weeks. During this time apart, please know that I will hold you close in heart and prayer—and I ask that you do the same for me and my family.

During this time, I invite you to reflect upon who we are as the people of Trinity Church, and how God is working in and through us in unique and beautiful ways. There is only one Trinity Church in Princeton—only one in the entire world. And we have our own distinct way of embodying and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe God is calling us to something meaningful in the year ahead—something that will bring life and light to the world.

In the weeks to come, I encourage you to reflect on the following quote from John O’Donohue’s book Eternal Echoes. Let it speak to your own journey, and also to our shared calling as the people of Trinity Church:

“There are no manuals for the construction of the individual you would like to become. You are the only one who can decide this and take up the lifetime of work that it demands. This is a wonderful privilege and such an exciting adventure. To grow into the person that your deepest longing desires is a great blessing. If you can find a creative harmony between your soul and your life, you will have found something infinitely precious. You may not be able to do much about the great problems of the world or to change the situation you are in, but if you can awaken the eternal beauty and light of your soul, you will bring light wherever you go. The gift of life is given to us for ourselves and also to bring peace, courage, and compassion to others.”

• Who is God calling us to become?

• How do we find creative harmony with one another—and with God?

• How do we meet the challenges of this moment in history with courage and hope?

• How can we awaken in ourselves a beauty and light that brings peace, compassion, and justice to others?

There is important and holy work before us. May we trust in the goodness, grace, and love of God to lead us into the fullness of life—for God’s glory and for the care of all God’s children.

Forward in faith!

Peace and Blessings,

Paul+

Prayers for Our Nation

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

This week, we joined in celebrating the independence of our country—a time to give thanks for the gifts, possibilities, and opportunities this land offers. We honored those who have given their lives in service to our nation and those whose vision, wisdom, and courage shaped its founding ideals. We celebrated the best of who we are, and we acknowledged the ongoing work of becoming who we are meant to be.

At the same time, we recognized the imperfections and injustices that continue to mark our national story. We are still, in many ways, a young nation—growing, learning, and seeking greater wisdom. There is still much to heal, much to learn, and much to do as we strive toward deeper maturity: in leadership, in service, and in responsibility - both at home and abroad.

We have much to be grateful for. We also have much to reckon with—and to renew. May we live more fully into the dream God holds for this country, and for all who call it home.

I offer the following prayers for your reflection and hope they will guide our hearts in this season. 

Happy 4th of July!

Peace and Blessings to all,

Paul

[…]

For the Human Family

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and peoples may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.

For our Country

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our
heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove
ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will.
Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and
pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion;
from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend
our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes
brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue
with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust
the authority of government, that there may be justice and
peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we
may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth.
In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness,
and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail;
all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  

For Peace

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn
but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the
strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that
all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of
Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and
glory, now and for ever. Amen

For our Enemies

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth:
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Mission of the Church

Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you
through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him,
that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope

of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.