Save the Date! VBS

Trinity Church's Vacation Bible School will take place June 23-June 27, 2025, from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. 

Programming will be for children in grades prek-6 and will have stations for Bible stories, music, crafts, STEM, and recreational games. Snack will be provided.

Official registration info to come next week! In the meantime, please email Annie at brysona@trinityprinceton.org with questions. 

Important! We need many volunteers to make this happen. Please email Annie if you are interested in volunteering as a "station leader" or a "group leader". A curriculum will be provided to all station leaders. Middle School and High School students are more than welcome and encouraged to volunteer as helpers.

Thank you in advance for your participation in this fun, important summer activity for our church!

Trinity Church Choir Benefit Tea

 Sunday, May 18, 2025, 3:00-4:30 pm

You are invited to join us for a delicious traditional English Tea at Trinity Church.  Return to an elegant era and have a ‘cuppa’ delicious tea especially blended for this occasion, plus homemade scones with clotted cream and jam, savories, and sweets, all served by formally garbed waitstaff and surrounded by lovely floral arrangements.  

Best of all, you will be helping our magnificent choir continue to make beautiful music, not only here in Trinity Church but on an invited tour to sing at English cathedrals in 2026!   Our choirs will sing for a week at Ely Cathedral and will be the Choir in Residence for an entire week at Westminster Abbey - an amazing opportunity for an outstanding choir!

This special event is priced at $45 per person for a regular ticket, or $85 for the Champagne Experience, which includes champagne and cocktails/mocktails, and a take home gift bag.

Seating is limited, so reserve your tickets now by contacting Terri Brown at terribrown4@gmail.com or 609-915-3800.  Or, tickets can be purchased in person on Sunday, May 11 between the 8am and 10:30 services outside Pierce Hall, and in the narthex after the 10:30 services.

Wake Up

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

There was a time when sleeping was no problem for me. Once I went to bed, I could sleep through the night without stirring until morning. But then, the battle would begin. The alarm would go off, and no matter what I set my “clock-radio” to—classical music, smooth jazz, or nature sounds—no matter how soft or soothing the volume, it always felt like a fire truck siren pounding my eardrums with a sledgehammer. I would groan as if in pain, hit the snooze button, and repeat the cycle every eight minutes for three or four rounds until someone downstairs would yell, “Paul, wake up! Get up! You’re going to miss the bus!”

Waking up can be hard. Sometimes we don’t want to wake up—we’d much rather stay wrapped in the warmth of our bed and the comfort of our dreams. But life isn’t meant to be slept through. We sleep because our bodies and minds need rest in order to live and thrive. What would life be if we slept through it? Unfortunately, at times that’s exactly what we do.

Easter calls us to wake up. Wake from our slumber. Open our eyes, ears, hearts, and souls to the amazing gift of life and the truth of God’s love.

In Growing into God: A Beginner’s Guide to Christian Mysticism, John Mabry writes:

“We come from God, and to God we long to return. But how? The Christian tradition is filled with saints and sinners just like us, pilgrims and mystics who have traveled this road in search of spiritual maturity. They sent us letters outlining exactly how to wake up, how to remember our true nature, and how to return to the Divine Presence.”

John Philip Newell, in Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul, reminds us that our Christian journey—perhaps more accurately, our human journey—“is about waking up to a knowledge that is deep in the very fabric of our being. It is about living in relationship to this wisdom.” He continues, “The problem is that we keep going back to sleep, or otherwise live in ways that neglect this deep knowing.”

Dear friends, the alarm has sounded in the joyous proclamation of Easter:
Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Wake up, dear ones!
Wake to life and love.
Wake to joy and hope.

Wake to beauty and possibilities.
Now is the time to live—fully awake, fully alive—in the truth of God’s redeeming love.

Easter Blessings,

Paul

WorkWell Forum

In recent years, Trinity has held an ongoing dialogue about incarceration and the modern prison-industrial complex. We’ve read about and heard from people familiar with the struggles of life behind bars. Now it’s time to consider this: How do those who have spent years in prison adjust to life outside? 

Join us for the forum hour on April 27 to hear how one nonprofit, the Workwell Partnership, is addressing this issue. A Trinity outreach partner, WorkWell provides job- and life-skills training to returning citizens. Hear what one man has to say about how WorkWell changed his life—and from some of the people who have helped lead the program: Executive Director Jeannette Rizk and board members Connie Leyden and Tom Gates.  

I’m headed on the straight and narrow. Treat people the way you want to be treated—you never know when you are going to run into an angel. And they do walk the face of the earth.         

   —WorkWell graduate Murray 

WorkWell sessions are like therapy—they sprinkled stardust on me. I found courage to be a better man, not just for myself but for the community.

  —WorkWell graduate Larry

Oregon Trailblazers

Oregon Trailblazers May Gathering: Saturday, May 17

On Saturday, May 17, the Oregon Trailblazers fellowship will celebrate the end of the program year with a potluck. To celebrate Mtr. Kara's impending sabbatical departure, the theme this month will be Wild West. Bring tacos, barbecue, or anything else festive! Sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1moYWLZgHG4OK7St6dz4ZtOxfTqk9yAAwmQUP1A8xa5k/edit?usp=sharing

Candle-making for the Choir Tea

20's-30s Event: Candle-making for the Choir Tea, Sunday, May 4

On Sunday, May 4, the 20s-30s Fellowship will share sandwiches and help out with a project to make candle centerpieces for the Choir Tea. Join us for fun with a purpose, supporting our choir as they prepare for their trip to England next summer. As always, RSVP here to make sure we order enough food:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbUwPzgavJWrHQoKV1gjR9PKA3h1-yWXjNfxDaJiHpImcSOw/viewform?usp=sharing

Concert Tour in Sweden

Dear Friends,

Father Paul asked me to write a note letting you all know where I’ll be for two weeks in early May.  I am excited to share that I am going on a concert tour to Sweden!  Between May 2-16, I will be away for two organ recitals, followed by a bit of vacation time.  

My first recital, on May 6, will be far north in Sweden, in the city of Piteå.  There, I will perform on the genre-defying organ built by Gerald Woehl that is in Studio Acusticum Hall.  This instrument is sometimes referred to as the “organ of the future” for the way it gives the performer access to essentially several disparate instruments in one case.  Organs come in many styles, and have clear and different characteristics in various centuries and regions.  Typically when an organ is constructed, there is an attempt to keep the style of the instrument cohesive so that the whole instrument can work with itself to create a unified sound.  The concept for this organ is quite different.  The builder set out to give the organist access to many different styles of organ construction so that many types of repertoire will sound as convincing as possible.  As a result, the instrument is massive - it has 163 stops (distinct sounds).  I look forward to exploring the sonic capabilities of this instrument!  I will also give a masterclass for the organ and sacred music students at the University of Piteå.

Following this, I will play a recital at Tegs Kyrka in Umeå on May 10.  The organ here had four manuals and 50 stops which, compared to most organs, is quite large.  Compared to the Studio Acusticum organ, of course, it will be refreshingly modest.  It is by all reports a majestic instrument that was designed in the Northern European/Germanic tradition, and I look forward to getting to know it!

After this, I will take some vacation time in Visby, which is an island off the coast of Stockholm, and will take a brief excursion to Tallinn, Estonia.  

I am grateful to our wonderful Associate Director of Music Joseph Ferguson for keeping music running at Trinity while I get to connect with, help train, and share with musicians in Sweden.  I look forward to seeing you all at Choir Tea and Evensong on May 18 shortly after I return!
All my best,
Meg

Sabbatical

Image: The 1889 Land Run

Dear friends,

It’s almost time for me to load up the wagon and head west! One of the great privileges of serving as a parish priest is the chance to take a sabbatical, and it’s time for mine this year. Because I worked in a part-time church job and an academic administration job before coming to Trinity, this is the first sabbatical I’ve taken since I was ordained 13 years ago. I’m both excited and grateful for the opportunity to spend a summer doing something different. 

My sabbatical plan has three parts. First, from May 12-16 I will attend the Oratory of the Good Shepherd silent retreat at the Community of St. John the Baptist’s convent in Mendham. I will be back for the weekend of the Choir Tea. Then, from May 19-26 I will take a ‘bucket list’ trip across the country on Amtrak. Finally, I will fly back to Newark and load up the car for two months serving as Theologian in Residence for the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma. 

From June 15-August 15, I will be living in Tulsa and affiliated with Christ Church, a growing suburban parish with a vibrant ministry to families. I will be present at Christ Church on Sundays and will preach on occasion, but I won’t have any day-to-day pastoral responsibilities.  My goals for the summer are the following:

• Enjoy a time of renewal and come back with new energy and new ideas for Trinity Church. 

• Learn from a successful parish and diocese in a very different context from Princeton. Christ Church Tulsa is a rapidly growing congregation that excels in ministry to young families and in integrating newcomers into active (and pledging) membership. Two of the five fastest-growing congregations in the Episcopal Church are in Oklahoma: Grace Church in Yukon and Christ Church in Tulsa. 

• Serve as a resource for the Diocese of Oklahoma as they witness to Christ in a challenging social, political, and cultural environment. 

• Begin preparation for my second book. This summer will mostly involve reading and thinking about what I want to say. ‘

I’m excited about what this summer will bring, and I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned with you. 

Yours in Christ,

Kara

PS I will not be available by e-mail this summer. During my sabbatical, I will be deleting all e-mails I receive, so please e-mail me again after August 15th if anything comes to mind during the summer. In case of emergency, contact Annie Bryson at the parish office and she can get in touch with me quickly. 

PPS For more on Christ Church, see here:

https://www.christchurchtulsa.org/

https://livingchurch.org/news/progress-in-the-pandemic-christ-church-tulsa/