Tunnel of Love:  Notes and Links from the Forum Series 1/19

Dear Trinity Church and friends,

Grace and Peace to you this beautiful Thursday!  I write to you about our morning worship and adult formation:

 

Worship: Our first Morning Prayer Sunday

I am looking forward to a special weekend: when we gather for worship at 10 a.m. this Sunday, we will pray in as large a congregation for Morning Prayer as Trinity Church has gathered in more than fifteen years – amazing!  While the Book of Common Prayer pages and the rite’s sequencing may be new to many, be reassured that most of the elements comprising our worship will remain familiar from Holy Communion: the same number of readings; the same number of musical pieces (both choral and congregational), and many of the same prayers.  Even so, we want everyone to feel well-equipped to participate fully.  Therefore, just before the hour and our opening hymn, I will offer a few words of introduction and orientation.  Between now and then, parents, please note that the Children’s Homily in Morning Prayer will run a beat longer than during a Communion service – our Director of Children’s Ministry, Cathy Portlock Pacitto, is looking forward to this extra time with your little ones!

Learning already from our year-long pilot, please note that while our Morning Prayer liturgies will customarily continue in the older language of Rite I (as has been the Trinity Church tradition in those services), we will *not* use Rite I during our Lenten worship, as originally conceived.  We believe this emendation honors the intent of our original plan, while also honoring the Rite II preference of so many in our parish.

Finally, please note that when we pray Morning Prayer at 10 a.m. on the last Sunday of every month, we will continue to celebrate the Eucharist at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

 

Formation: Continuing our “ride down into this Tunnel of Love”

Last week, we considered Springsteen and the racism “caked on the boots” of our American condition.  We began with a reading of Luke’s story of Jesus’ crucifixion, focusing on the false accusations levied against Jesus, and the impossible, unwinnable choices he faced during his arrest and imprisonment.  Following the Passion narrative, we read The New York Times reporting of the 1999 police shooting of Amadou Diallo, before watching Springsteen and the E Street Band’s performance of “American Skin (41 Shots)” from the following year, a song inspired by Diallo’s death.  Proposing Springsteen uses mud and blood as images of original sin, we tied these pieces to “Devils and Dust,” anticipating this upcoming Sunday’s program.

 

This Sunday we will continue in the three-week prophetic arc of “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” and we will consider Springsteen and war.  We will begin with a reading of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem from the Gospel of Luke (19:29-44), and continue by watching the “official video” of Springsteen and the E Street Band’s remake of The Temptations’ protest song, “War.”  We will set that narrative and those images in conversation with Springsteen’s On Broadway “Born in the U.S.A.” introduction (the audio of which is available through Springsteen’s VEVO channel as Part I and Part II) and performance.  Following discussion, we will listen to Springsteen introduce the “The River” from the five-LP, Live 1975-85 box set, a narrative binding this week’s program and our February 2 Forum on “Sonship.”

While the language is authentic to the context, please note that this Sunday’s Forum videos will include profanity.

Peace,

 

Morgan