Arm In Arm Volunteers Needed

Arm In Arm gets a great many volunteers from local schools and colleges throughout the school year. Now that many students have gone home they are looking for volunteers to help with their mobile deliveries handing out groceries at different sites in Trenton.

Please reserve your spot now to help them out. They do a great service to neighborhoods that do not have a food pantry nearby.  

Choose from the following dates:

4 Volunteers needed on
Tuesday May 23, 9am–12pm 
at First Presbyterian Church
(120 East State St, Trenton, NJ)

4 Volunteers needed on
Wednesday May 24, 9am–12pm
at 434 Bellevue Ave, Trenton, NJ
for mobile pantry

4 Volunteers needed on
Thursday May 25, 9am–12pm
at First Presbyterian Church
(120 East State St, Trenton, NJ)
for mobile pantry

4 Volunteers needed on
Thursday June 1, 9am–12pm
at First Presbyterian Church
(120 East State St, Trenton, NJ)
for mobile pantry

3 Volunteers  needed on
Tuesday, June 6, , 9am–12pm
at First Presbyterian Church
(120 East State St, Trenton, NJ)
for mobile pantry

3 Volunteers  needed on
Wednesday, June 7, 9am–12pm
at 601 Hamilton Ave, Trenton, NJ
for mobile pantry, assisting with distribution

2 Volunteers  needed on
Thursday, June 8,  9am-12pm
at First Presbyterian Church
(120 East State St, Trenton, NJ)
for mobile pantry

Thank you from Trinity’s Loving our Neighbors Committee 

Right This Minute

This coming Sunday, May 21, Youth Group will be leading our worship services at both 8 and 10:30am, as I’m sure you have heard by now! Sometimes, when people hear that the youth are leading a service, they imagine it will be, perhaps, a simplified and sweet form of worship. I can assure you that these services will be complex, thoughtful, and evocative.

The teenagers of Trinity have written reflections on the scriptures which will reveal to you the depth of their own spiritual perceptions and will challenge you to consider deeply what they have to say. Our youth have written prayers which will put before you their greatest concerns and will bid you to respond with action to their priorities.

Some of the most thoughtful spiritual insights I have ever heard have come from the youth and children of Trinity Church, so  I heartily commend these services to you.

Personally, I am profoundly grateful to all of my colleagues who work with the children and youth here at Trinity: Emily,  Connor, Annie, Kara, Paul, as well as our seminary interns. Everyone interacts with the kids with dignity and respect. The spiritual and personal integrity of every young person is valued. Here, our children and young people are talked to, and talked with, and never talked at, or down to. I know none of us would expect otherwise, but this doesn’t necessarily happen in every congregation. The baptismal vow to “respect the dignity of evey human being” has taken hold in this commuity, and the fruit of this committment it readily visible in the consistently growing Youth Group and the joyfully, increasingly crowded north transept.    

It is a commonplace in christian communities to say that children and teenagers are the future of the church. When I put that idea before our youth and asked them what they thought of that,  they were adamantly happy to point out they are not the church of the future, they are the church of right this minute. 

Of course, they are charming, and energetic, and creatively expressive. These are not naïve limitations; these are essential gifts. When Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,” Jesus was not urging us to make sure kids are tolerated. Jesus is offering an admonition to recognize that young people have spiritual sensitivities — just as we had when we were young, that must not be overlooked, nor taken for granted, nor go unheard.

It will be a blessing to us all to hear directly from our youth this Sunday.

May the vitality our young people bring to worship invigorate us all with a joyous energy that will lead us all — of all ages, all together — to grow into the full stature of Christ.

See you Sunday! 

Most faithfully,

The Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt, Associate Rector

Families, Children, and Youth Summer Announcements

This week is the final week of Church School for the 2022-2023 year. Thank you for a wonderful year! We will be restarting Church School in September, so keep an eye on the ePISTLE for registration info as summer draws to a close!

Compassion Camp VBS will be held June 26-29, 5:30–8pm. Visit the event listing for more information and to register now.

Volunteers Needed for VBS: We are looking for volunteers for Compassion Camp VBS during the last week in June! We need craft and activity leaders, set-up and clean-up teams, food-prep and kitchen teams, and shepherds to guide the campers to our activity stations. The dates are June 26-29, 5:30–8pm We will be serving dinner and cold dessert each night. There is a volunteer training on the evening of June 19th. Please contact Emily at pruszinskie@trinityprinceton.org for more information and to volunteer.

Schedule Reminder: Service times will change to 8 & 10am (instead of 10:30am) on Sunday, May 28. For a more complete overview of our summer schedule, read the announcement.

Summer Schedule and Special Events

Beginning Memorial Day weekend, Pentecost, May 28, Trinity Church will shift to our summer service schedule:

Holy Communion Rite I at 8am
Holy Communion Rite II at 10am (instead of 10:30am)

As announced, our Adult Forum at 9:30am and Youth Group at 6pm have already ended for the summer. The last day of Church School is this Sunday, May 21.

Sunday, May 28 will also feature our last Evensong at 5pm (with reception to follow) of the program year, as well as our last evening service.

As announced, Monday–Friday, Morning Prayer at 7:45am is now being held only on Zoom and Evening Prayer has been suspended for the summer.

After Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, midweek services on Tuesdays at 12pm and Wednesdays at 5:30pm will also be suspended for the summer.

However, this summer will feature several exciting special events, including:

• our annual Vacation Bible School with programming for all ages;

• pick-up choirs featuring men, women, children, and everyone on select Sundays;

• a trip to St. Thomas’ Fifth Avenue;

• our annual baseball outing;

• a Trinity night at a Princeton Festival concert with reception to follow;

• and an afternoon Kayaking on the Canal.

Unless already advertised, we will release more details about these special events and how you can participate over the coming weeks.

Quadruple Your Donation to Episcopal Relief for a Limited Time Only

From now until May 31, 2023, you can increase your donation fourfold to our outreach partner, Episcopal Relief, which helps communities struggling with hunger, poverty, disaster and disease around the world.

Any amount you give by May 31 will be matched by Trinity Church’s Outreach Program, and that combined amount will be matched by a private donor.  So, if you give $100 to Episcopal Relief, your gift will be quadrupled to $400.

Please send your check made payable to “Episcopal Relief & Development” to the church office or drop it in the collection plate so that we can process the funding match. If you make a donation directly on the Episcopal Relief website with a credit or debit card, please send your receipt to Lily Leonard in the Trinity finance office at leonardl@trinityprinceton.org to process the match.

There are informational leaflets in the narthex and south transept, or go online to episcopalrelief.org for more information on this great organization.  Please give this your prayerful consideration.  

Rogation Procession This Sunday

Trinity will hold a Rogation Procession this Sunday after the 10:30am service, beating the bounds of the Church. Please come and join us! Sticks will be provided!

Traditionally, Rogations Days were the three days ahead of the Feast of the Ascension, which falls on Thursday of next week, May 18. They originated in fifth century France as a time of fasting and prayer to ward off disasters, but in England became associated with the blessing of fields at the spring planting. The vicar of a parish would “beat the bounds,” whacking the boundaries of the parish with a staff, accompanied by a procession of people reciting psalms and litanies. The propers in the Book of Common Prayer (pp. 207-208, 258-259, 930) have broadened the scope to commerce, industry, and stewardship of creation, in addition to the traditional focus on agriculture.

Welcoming Wesley

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

It is with great joy that I announce that Wesley Rowell will be joining our staff on July 1.  Wesley will serve as our full-time Lay Pastoral Associate. Wesley’s role will include assistance and support for pastoral care, youth and family ministry, and community engagement.

Wesley is a May 2023 graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, where he is receiving his MDiv, with concentrations in both Black Church Studies, and in Theology, Women & Gender. He was recently awarded the Edward Howell Roberts Scholarship in Preaching.

A Fayetteville, North Carolina native, Wesley moved to Princeton in 2020, after 24 years of living in New York City, where he was a member of Middle Collegiate Church. Raised in the AME Zion Church, and the grandson of a pastor, Wesley was confirmed in 2022, and is currently in the ordination process for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Wesley ministered at Middle Church and has interned at our own beloved Trinity Episcopal Church. He also served on the search committee to select the Rev. Dr Jonathan Lee Walton as the new president of Princeton Theological Seminary. 

In NYC and Chicago, Wesley was a professional musician, and has sung in the choirs of St. Thomas Episcopal Church NYC, Grace Episcopal Church NYC, and Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, as well as several regional opera companies throughout the country. Wesley earned a BM from Methodist College in Fayetteville, NC, and was an MM vocal performance major at the University of Illinois.

Wesley’s passion for ministry and deep commitment to Christ can be summarized in his own words, “I’m still astonished by John 1:14 ‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ Wow.” 

Outside (and perhaps inside) of church, Wesley loves to dance (sometimes badly and always boldly), sing karaoke (where he is viciously competitive), and read (voraciously). He loves all kinds of music, from Bach to Blues to Bartok to Beyonce, and loves the Duke Ellington quote, "there's only two kinds of music; good and bad.”

Wesley's interests in the intersections of race, trauma, justice, gender, families, queerness, Jesus, and the Church led him to Princeton Seminary and Princeton, NJ, and ultimately to Trinity Church Princeton, where he is excited to further his ministry.

Join me, in welcoming Wesley to Trinity!

Peace,

The Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Rector