worship

Healing and Faithfulness

As is my custom, on Annual Meeting Sundays, I offer the Rector’s Annual Report (of the previous year) within the context of the sermon. This year’s Annual Meeting on the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 28, 2024 reflects on our life and ministry in 2023. The scripture readings are Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, and Mark 1:21-28.

The terra cotta balustrade on the West Porch entrance to the Church, completed in 2023.

Rector’s Report for 2023

The scriptures for today can raise all kinds of questions for us. Among them, the first reading asks, “Who do we listen to?” The Epistle wonders, “What should we eat?” And the Gospel asks, “How do we respond when faced with what feel like demons or negative forces around us?” The scriptures work together to suggest that we listen deeply and closely to God. They suggest that we look to God for guidance, for direction, and especially for healing.

On this Annual Meeting Sunday, it’s this third aspect of God’s presence, healing, that I’m using as a lens for reflecting on our previous year together, the church and program year of 2023.

Last year, we continued to navigate the resurgence of Covid-19 and other viruses, but we did what we could to encourage and foster healing of mind, body, and spirit.

Healing through Worship and Programs
Every Sunday morning, Adam Koch and our choir have helped heal our souls. On Sunday nights, Calvyn du Toit and Joe Bullock have led our worship in beauty and style. I was especially grateful for Adam’s efforts and all those who sang in the summer volunteer choir, with between 20 and 30 people joining each month.

Thanks to Liz Poole, we resumed yoga in person, on Tuesdays, and each week, we’ve had between ten and twenty people come, most of them non-churchgoers.

Our programs have brought healing and equipped us to carry this sense into the community. We’ve done this through a variety of educational opportunities and especially through our summer Sunday morning meditation. Thanks again to Simone Crockett for guiding us in our centering prayer and meditation.

Last summer, Adam and I coordinated a new program we called, “Summer Sounds and Social.” At each of these hot summer nights, we felt God’s healing presence as we shared music, food, fellowship, and learning.

While I resist associating faithfulness with numbers, I am grateful that we are mostly back at pre-pandemic attendance in our worship services. Demographics shift, and some of our most loyal and faithful members have died or moved away, but we are excited to have new people finding us and making us their church home.

We were able to hear firsthand how Holy Trinity’s grant from the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of New York is helping people in Iraq, when we had programs with SWIC (Standing with Iraqi Christians) and were able to provide hospitality and a dinner program with Father Jerjez and Mr. Kakrash from St. George’s Anglican Church, Baghdad.

Holy Trinity continued to be deepened through our friendship with St. Stephen’s, Rochester Row, our link parish in the Diocese of London. We shared a Lenten series on art and spirituality and co-hosted an online discussion of Artificial Intelligence and Theology. The Rev. Graham Buckle, vicar of St. Stephens, visited in the spring and parishioners from our parishes have visited each other.

Healing Spaces
I don’t think it’s too strong a term to speak of “healing” our building, and in this, we’ve been especially blessed by (“Dr.,” or perhaps “Miracle Worker”) Lu Paone and his team of “specialists.” They’ve detected leaks, repaired drains, averted electrical disasters, renewed spaces to allow income, and much more.

After a power outage zapped our old sound system, we were able to replace it last year. A former rector of mine used to say that the devil lived in the sound system at that church, and so, that sense, the sound system at Holy Trinity has been “healed,” and seems to be helping more people feel included in what we do, say, and sing.

Our columbarium addition was completed and installed last year, and it continues to allow for healing at the time of death, as the remains of loved ones are now able to rest nearby, here with friends, here with family.

Healing in the Community
The programs of Holy Trinity Neighborhood Center, Inc. offer healing every week through the Saturday Supper, regularly feeding between 85 and 100 people. Joe Lipuma and others have attracted new volunteers, and we continue to move closer to expanding programs we might offer from HTNC. I’m grateful to the HTNC Board and to our president David Liston, for all his energy and leadership.

The Thanksgiving Dinner preparation and delivery was again a great success, thanks to members and friends of Holy Trinity and St. Joseph’s: Pat Baker, Erlinda Brent, Lydia Colon, Gretchen Dolan, Mark Kushner, Jeff McCulley, Suzanne Julig, Beth Markey, Joe Lipuma, and Kristen Ursprung. Again, last year, we had a friendraising cookout that became a cook-in because of rain and featured live music by Nick Viest and his band.

Anyone who has volunteered in St. Christopher’s House basement kitchen has probably fought with the kitchen cabinets. A few of us have even been bruised or battered when one of the old steel cabinet doors fell off or one hurt a finger trying to open or close a drawer. But late last year, momentum shifted for a renovation.

A few years ago, a small gift was made and matched by the donor’s company. That money was set aside for future kitchen renovation. Last month, we learned that through the successful application of Christine du Toit, we received a grant from her company, the World Gold Council. That grant, to HTNC, was for $50,000 to be used for kitchen renovation, which means we now have $60,000 to update and renovate the kitchen. We can’t do everything, and we know that there are some obstacles we cannot overcome, short of several million—such as ventilation issues and accessibility—but we are excited about making significant improvements, and perhaps even attracting more funds for future work. Stay tuned for more information.

We continue to work closely with Health Advocates for older People, Inc., and stay in close contact with Search & Care. But our closest neighbor is obviously the Merricat’s Castle School and its parent organization, The Association to Benefit Children. They are not only our major tenants in the Mission House, but they are also friends and family. We congratulate Merricats on its 50th anniversary this year and continue to give thanks for our visions of community and the support of children and families.

Healing through Community and Collegiality
Community and collegiality offer their own healing, and again, in 2023, we have been blessed by the volunteer faithfulness of the Rev. Deacon Pam Tang, the Rev. Doug Ousley, and the Rev. Margie Tuttle.

I’m grateful to our vestry, especially Treasurer Christine du Toit, and Secretary Paul Chernick, and to the Wardens Chris Abelt and Jean Blazina. Completing terms or rotating off vestry were Scott Hess, Leona Fredericks, and Donald Schermerhorn. Thanks to Chris Abelt and Jean Geater for standing for reelection and to Christine for agreeing to be appointed treasurer, even though term limitations require she not be on vestry for one year.

We have a sharp Investment Committee led by Jean Geater. At least quarterly, Jean, Christine du Toit, Franny Eberhart, Tony Milbank, and Alden Prouty met to keep an eye on our investment advisors and portfolio management. Thanks to Alden, who has stepped off that committee. We also have a wise and careful Budget and Finance Committee. Each month Chris Abelt, Jeanne Blazina, Christine du Toit, Jean Geater, Carol Haley, Kate Hornstien, and I meet to take a close look at the numbers. With their help, we are careful with our resources and aim to improve our stewardship in whatever way we can.

In 2023, we grieved the loss of several beloved members and friends of the parish. We mourned the loss of Allison Hajnal, Stephen Kramer, Harry Martin, Slade Mills, and of course, the former rector of the parish, the Rev. Bert Draesel. At the end of February, we celebrated Bert with a full church, several bishops, his family, and much of his music. Later last year, Ada Draesel gave Holy Trinity Bert’s personal piano, which is now in Draesel Hall, continuing Bert’s legacy of creating community and healing through music. Later this year, we’ll move into the public phase of raising money to restore the bell tower and get the bells ringing again in Bert’s memory.

As we look towards the future, I pray that God’s healing presence will surprise us with that attitude found in today’s Gospel, so that we become amazed and ask one another, “What is THIS new thing God is doing?”

There’s already new healing on the horizon. The Rev. Margie Tuttle is going to help us pray, think, and reactivate a healing prayer ministry during our 11:00 AM worship service.

Over one thousand daffodils, courtesy of Simone Crockett and a bunch of volunteer planters, is expected to sprout this spring in our garden.

With new members and friends of the parish, special occasions and celebrations marking our 125th anniversary, and a new Bishop of New York, we look forward to the many ways in which we can continue to move with God’s Healing and Life-giving Spirit.

On occasions like the Annual Meeting, I’m inclined to quote the words of St. Lawrence the Deacon. In the 3rd century, as the Roman emperor was trying to take all the treasures of the church, Lawrence was summoned before the emperor. He demanded that Lawrence turn over the church’s wealth. Lawrence gestured to the people around him, all those who made up the church—rich and poor, healthy and unhealthy, and said to the emperor THESE are the church’s treasures. The church IS truly rich, far richer than the emperor.

In good years and bad years, we have each other. Thanks be to God for the previous year, and may God bless us as we move forward.
Amen.

Preparing the Way

A sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2023. The scripture readings are Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13, 2 Peter 3:8-15a, and Mark 1:1-8.

Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City

As I’ve moved around the city over the last week or so, people ask me a similar question in small talk: “Are you ready?  Are you ready for Christmas?”  I resist giving a short sermon of the meaning of Advent as a season of waiting and preparation, and usually respond by saying something like, “I’m getting there. Things are on the calendar, and we’re moving right along.”

I’m not ready—I’m not sure I’m ever really “ready.” But I’m preparing. And it’s especially for that reason that I love the focus of this Second Sunday of Advent. It’s about preparation.

“Prepare the way of the Lord,” the voice in Isaiah says.  God will send a prophet who will sing a song of comfort and mercy. Prepare a place for God, he says. The mountains and valleys will be cleared, the rough places smoothed out. Things are going to get cleaned up and thrown out. It may not always be pretty. But in the end, fear itself will be banished, making room for God and the Word of God. Isaiah’s word begins and ends with “Comfort. Comfort, my people.”

That prophet “who is to come” that Isaiah talks about does come in today’s Gospel. He comes in the form of John the Baptist. This strange looking and sounding John comes as a voice (a little bit like Isaiah’s voice) crying in the wilderness: repent, get ready, something good is coming. He is preaching repentance, but notice that he’s asking, pleading, hoping for people to repent not for the sake of holiness, but in order to prepare. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” he says. “Clear way,” “make room,” do what you need to do, but prepare.” Though I love all the great hymns of Advent, I think an appropriate song for the day would come from Tony’s song in West Side Story:

Something’s coming, something good, If I can wait!
Something’s coming, I don’t know what it is, But it is gonna be great! ….
It’s only just out of reach, Down the block, on a beach, Maybe tonight . . .

Maybe this morning or this afternoon. So get ready.

John understands his job as making the announcement, getting people ready, warming up the crowd. But notice how clear his is about his job. He prepares, but he’s very clear that another will come, Jesus, who will accomplish the work of God. This is a crucial piece to Christian discipleship, I think—understanding what we’re called to do, and what we’re NOT called to do.

The task for us, as Christian disciples, is to follow in the work of John, to prepare the way for God’s coming, but to also understand the scope of our calling. While we do our part, it’s God’s job to finish things. The work is ours, but the results belong to God. The outcome belongs to God.

Yesterday, parts of the Church celebrated the Feast of San Juan Diego. I’m partial to Juan not only because of his name, but because he reminds me that my job—our job, really—is to prepare.

It was in 1531 that Juan Diego, an indigenous man, walking on the outskirts of what would become Mexico City, was met by a vision of the Virgin Mary. Mary appeared as a mestiza, a mixed race young woman and she asked Juan to go to the Bishop and ask permission to build a little house, a place where people could come and meet Mary’s son Jesus. The first appearance was on December 9, but Juan had trouble convincing the bishop. Then also, Juan’s uncle was dying, and Juan felt like he needed to tend to him. Finally, in the fourth appearance, Mary gave a sign, that if Juan went to a particular hill, he could find there some roses in full bloom.  He went, found the roses, and gathered them up in his work apron, his tilma. Again, the bishop doubted, but then Jean unfurled his tilma, and out fell all the roses, but even more, on the garment there appeared the vision of the Virgin Mary—as a mixture of the well-known Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, that would have been recognizable to Europeans, but also with the unmistakable darker skin and features of an indigenous woman, recognized by the people who had long inhabited the land.

The symbol of the Virgin of Guadalupe would become a central point for people of mixed backgrounds and histories to find a common welcome to the little house, the place of welcome, where they could meet Jesus in a new way.

Juan Diego was clear that his mission was to relay the news—first to the bishop, but then as a protector of the house, the chapel outside Mexico City, where right now, millions of pilgrims are heading to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tuesday.

Our job is to prepare—a space, a place, an openness, a peace, in which Christ can be born again.

As people who try to live and function in what we call the “real world,” this is hard because we like results. We like to achieve, to prove, to finish. We set goals and we like to realize them. But the spiritual world moves in a different way. God is in charge of the way things turn out. We work. We pray. We hope. We do our part, but then we come to a point of having to let go, of waiting in faith and watching as God continues to work, and God’s will unfolds.

We can prepare our children for the world, but we can’t control the way they turn out.
We can prepare our bodies for aging and for stress, but there’s a point where we have to trust in doctors and science, and pray for God’s healing.

Especially in this season, we can look and learn from our own busy lives. For example, I can cook a meal, set a perfect table, have everything just right—but that doesn’t insure that people will get along, that the conversation goes well, or that people will enjoy the time they spend together. I can do my part, but then have to let go.  I can give someone the perfect gift, but that doesn’t ensure that they will respond the way I imagine.

On and on the list might go as we enter this season of almost unlimited expectations, with each one—if we’re truthful, we’ll admit that we reach a point where it’s just not up to us. People we know and people in this room are preparing for all kinds of things—visiting relatives, trips away, changes in work, retirement, uncertainty, marriage, the birth of a child, a medical procedure…. And people are doing their part—they’re getting things in order, cleaning up, covering the details, checking off the list. But the good-though-sometimes-difficult-news is that the outcome is up to God.

John the Baptist proclaims, “One who is more powerful (than me) is coming …. And he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” We have that Holy Spirit. At our baptism we receive the Holy Spirit who protects us from any harm. Who strengthens us for whatever lies ahead. Our baptism, the ongoing presence of the Spirit, and the power of Christ in community, empower us to turn again and again to God.

As we click off the days of December, may God be with us in our preparations, and in our letting go.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.