With Gladness and Singleness of Heart: Program Year Begins Sun., Sep 11

Dear Trinity Church and friends,

After receiving the Sacrament at the Eucharist, we Episcopalians pray one of several “Post-Communion Prayers.” Beginning this Sunday, September 11 – the first of our 2022-2023 Program Year – we will offer the prayer that concludes:

Send us now into the world in peace,

and grant us strength and courage

to love and serve you

with gladness and singleness of heart;

through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Having been warmly greeted by a community that knows and loves us; having been tended by the Spirit in Word and song; and having been fed at the holy table that God has set; we pray these words of gratitude and inspiration. Now preparing to regather more fully than at any time since the pandemic began – thanks be to God! – we have chosen this prayer’s penultimate phrase, “with Gladness and Singleness of Heart,” as our Program Year theme.

As you will see visualized in our email’s masthead graphic, we Trinitarians share a common call to love and support one another, endeavoring whole-heartedness both within our parish and in the city we serve. Importantly, we undertake our ministry of Beloved Community with deep gladness – not with the levity of the blithe, but with the joy of the faithful, as Jesus modeled for us and taught us to do.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus gathers with his friends for their last supper together, and he summarizes all his teaching, giving purpose to their years together: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”[i] Declaring joyfulness as the intention of their fellowship, Jesus then offers prayer for the family of friendship he prepares to leave. And while Jesus might have righteously prayed for any of so many ills – for the healing of all disease, for peace among nations, for a just world, or even for release from his own demanding fate – he prays for his friends and the bonds of Beloved Community they inaugurated together: “[Father, I ask that] they may all be one … the glory that you have given me, I have given them, so that they may be one as we are one.”[ii]

All year long, we will thread these glad intentions into our communications and our hymnody, into our preaching and our programming. With an incredibly rich fall ahead – the plans for which you will find below – take good heart, dear friends! Mark your calendars and make your plans to join once more in our joy-filled union at Trinity Church in the City of Boston.

With gladness and singleness of heart,

The Rev. Morgan S. Allen

Rector

[i] John 15:11.

[ii] John 17:20, 22.

Sunday Schedule

8 am – Holy Eucharist, Rite II, spoken

9 am – Coffee & Community Hour (full “Community Breakfast” on the first Sunday of most months)

10 am – Holy Eucharist, Rite II, with organ, choristers, and choir (Morning Prayer on the last Sunday of most months)

11:15 am – Formation for all ages

5 pm – Holy Eucharist, with organ and choir

*Can’t make it to Copley Square? Join our 10 am worship via Facebook Live or find the livestream and recordings at trinitychurchboston.org/worship.

Please note, we have begun offering communion in both kinds: bread and wine.

September 11

Launching our 2022-23 Program Year

Parish cookout and games on the lawn at 11:15

Join us on Sun., Sep. 11 following the 10 am service as we gather outside

for a parish-wide cookout with food and fun for all ages!

September 18

Welcoming the Very Rev. Dr. Michael Battle

Dr. Battle to preach all services and teach at 11:15 am

Welcome to Trinity Church the Very Rev. Dr. Michael Battle, our inaugural Theologian-In-Community! Dr. Battle will preach all day, meet-and-greet at our 9 am Coffee & Community Hour, and at our first 11:15 am Forum of the Program Year, overview the “Ubuntu Circle” model that will become the standard for all Trinity’s small-group ministries.

September 25

Giving Thanks for the Rev. Patrick Ward

Receptions to follow worship at 11:15 am and 6:15 pm

Fête the Rev. Patrick Carroll Ward on his final Sunday with us, celebrating both his long ministry at Trinity Church and his call as the next rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans, Mass! Patrick will preach all day and join our 9 am Coffee & Community Hour, and we will host receptions in his honor following both our mid-morning and 5 pm worship.

October 2

Blessing of the Animals & Celebrating Saint Francis

10 am outdoor worship and treats for people and pets at 11:15 am

Calling all feathered and furry, scaled, and stuffed friends to join their humans for our annual Blessing of the Animals! This year we will celebrate Saint Francis during our mid-morning-and-outdoor “Worship from the West Porch.” As we give thanks for all God’s creation, pets and their people will receive blessings, enjoy special treats, and share lively, community-building activities following the service.

October 9

Praying Peace for Ukraine and the World

Special worship at 10 am and humanitarian presentation at 11:15 am

Come for a moving mid-morning worship experience: we will welcome our Ukrainian neighbors and friends from the New England Ukrainian Cultural Center with readings in both Ukrainian and English, as well as special music and prayers. At 11:15, humanitarian Hewitt Strange will share images, videos, and stories of his experience serving Ukrainian refugees in Poland this spring. Renew your heart with a reminder of the difference one person can make, even in our conflicted, complicated world.

October 16 & 23

Launching our 2023 Stewardship Season

First two of three Sunday “Welcomes You” series, beginning with overviews of the Christian faith and Episcopal tradition

Join with the newcomer and long-tenured alike as we orient ourselves to the history of the Christian faith, finding our place as the latest (but by no means the last!) in a billions-long line of Jesus’s disciples. On October 23, we will then trace the twists, turns, and affections of our Episcopal tradition, from its Anglican roots to the faithful cohort of nearly 2 million Episcopalians in over 6,000 congregations today.

October 30

Remembering All Souls & Requiem Mass

Duruflé’s Requiem at 10 am and 5 pm, with an Altar of Remembrance at 11:15 am

Find comfort as the Trinity Choirs pray Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem during our mid-morning and evening worship, with an orchestra joining for the 5 pm Holy Eucharist. Duruflé’s masterwork, completed shortly after World War II, stands among the most profound and wrenching choral pieces of the twentieth century. Worship all day will include the Necrology (a spoken list of those who have died), and, during the Forum hour, we will pray “Altar of Remembrance” devotions, sharing photos, mementos, and stories of those we carry in our hearts.

November 6 & 13

Celebrating All Saints & Stewardship Ingathering

Baptisms and the final “Welcomes You” Forum on November 6; our pledge ingathering, and a “Celebrating Stewardship” Forum at 11:15 am on November 13

Celebrate All Saints with the welcome of new members through baptism and the final installment of our three-part, “Welcomes You” series; having traced our Christian and Episcopal roots, we will come home to Trinity Church in the City of Boston, exploring from our founding in 1733, to our present-day, Beloved Community. On November 13, our Stewardship Committee will conclude the Stewardship season with small-group discussions about God’s abundant provision and our faithful giving in response.