Sunday Spark (School) starts this Sunday at 9 AM, in the Undercroft, with age-appropriate classes offered to our children and their adults. Please meet in the Undercroft by 9:00. We plan to have four Sunday Spark classes, through May, sprinkled between the special events listed on this SCHEDULE, which also appears on the Children, Youth, and Family webpage. Our Nursery is open during the 10 AM Service for children 5 and under. Contact Angela Arpino with questions, family@trinitynewhaven.org.
Volunteer at Chapel on the Green This Sunday!
This Sunday, March 20th, we need your help to make and serve sandwiches at Chapel on the Green! We will gather at 1pm in the undercroft to put together sandwiches. Trinity is providing all the supplies–all you have to do is show up! If you would like to make cookies or bring something else special for Chapel on the Green on your own, you are also welcome to do that. As always, the service will be at 2pm, lunch at 2:30, and cleanup around 3:00-3:15pm. We would love to have you with us for any part of that process. If you are interested in volunteering with us on Sunday, please contact cotg@trinitynewhaven.org. Thank you!
Holly Huff, one of Trinity’s past seminarian interns, is getting ordained! She writes:
Dear friends,
Just a brief note to let you know about my upcoming ordination to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, to which you are warmly invited. The service will be Friday, March 25th at 5pm Mountain Time (7pm Eastern) at my parish, the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Clergy: white stoles.) If you happen to be able to attend in person, it would be my pleasure to see you there. Masking is recommended. The service will also be livestreamed on the St. Mark’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48Rk0PmGRSq-i4wB38lWpA
I am so grateful for the ways each of you have walked with me these past years. Please remember me in your prayers etc. in the coming days. I hope you are well, well enough, hanging in there, getting through these difficult times. And may you know the joy of God's presence right in the midst of it all.
All my love,
Holly
Trinity will sponsor an art exhibit titled “Sacred Earth” to celebrate the glories of the Lord’s Creation and acknowledge humankind’s responsibility as stewards of this most wondrous of gifts. The exhibit will be on display in the nave of the church from June 18 to June 26. All who are interested in displaying works should contact Bill Pagano at wpagano@nyc.rr.com.
With updated federal and local guidance on indoor mask wearing, the Trinity community can now begin to move away from mandatory masks at our indoor services.
Our services will be mask optional for all participants (clergy, parishioners, and choir members) from March 20th. It is important to remember in this time that while many of us are extremely relieved to remove our masks, many are also anxious. For some the 20th is a long wait. For others it is too soon. We encourage anyone with concerns to continue masking as suits their comfort or to avail themselves of our streamed services which will continue to be broadcast indefinitely.
Having lived with masks for two years, we've learned how useful they can be. Please wear a mask if you come down with a cold, and please do not come to church if you have any symptoms more specific to COVID, especially fever and changes in smell or taste.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to the office if we can be of help during this period of adjustment.
New Haven’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade returns this Sunday! Vibrant and exciting, this parade is a deeply beloved tradition for locals and visitors alike. In the interest of being good neighbors and ensuring no friction between our worship services and the day’s festivities, please note that:
Trinity’s Children’s Chapel will not meet Sunday morning.
Most roads along the parade route (see image) will be shut down at 11 a.m. Church Street will be shut down at 6 a.m. We have assurances that Chapel Street will be open for parishioners attending services to leave through approximately 1 p.m. We urge parishioners attending service to please ensure a timely departure from the downtown area to prevent issues with towing. While standard Sunday parking is available in principle, we also recommend that parishioners consider parking off of Chapel Street in garages or lots.
Chapel on the Green will meet at 11 a.m. instead of 2 p.m.
This week’s evening music & prayer service, a Taizé service sung by the Choir of Adults & Girls, will be conducted at 7 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.
For more information: https://stpatricksdayparade.org/
Dear Companions in Christ,
As the horrific and unjust Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, so do the inevitable repercussions of war. Over 400 civilian deaths have been reported in Ukraine. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine in the days since the invasion began. This is not the way of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
We write to you today asking you to continue to join us in prayers for an urgent ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian forces in Ukraine. Pray earnestly that this unwarranted act of aggression by Vladimir Putin will come to an end and that the people of Ukraine will be freed from death and destruction. The brave people of Ukraine need our support. We can, and must, avoid a World War III.
Many of you have been inquiring on additional ways we can demonstrate our support for the people of Ukraine. Below are a number of statements, prayers, and reflections from others within our church about this conflict, as well as resources and ways that we can support the Ukrainian people during this time of crisis.
Pray for the peace of Christ.
The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Bishop Diocesan
The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan
Statements:
A Message from the Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, Dean (Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford)
Call and Prayer for Averting Conflict (Episcopal Church Executive Council)
A Faith Vigil for Peace in Ukraine (The Episcopal Church and Friends Committee on National Legislation)
An Interfaith Call to Peace for Ukraine (Presiding Bishop Curry and Other Interfaith Leaders)
Statement on Russian divestment from Episcopal Church CFO Kurt Barnes
Events:
A facilitated conversation and space for prayer hosted by Christ Church Cathedral - (more information to come)
War in Ukraine: Understanding the Religious Dimension - (St. Bart's, NY Special Tuesday Edition of The Forum Today March 8, 6 PM, Online only)
Resources and Links:
Episcopal Relief & Development (Donation Page)
Episcopal Relief & Development (Resources for Congregations, including bulletin inserts)
Voices of Children (A Ukrainian Charitable Foundation working with children traumatized by armed conflict)
Sunflower of Peace (Provides first aide medical tactical backpacks for paramedics and doctors on the front lines of the conflict)
With spring on the horizon, New Haven's vibrant athletic community begins to shake off the winter torpor, and the downtown road racing season begins. Our friends at the Shamrock & Roll 5k have alerted us that their race on Sunday morning will close large portions of Whitney Avenue and Grove Street during the 9:00 hour. Please build in extra time to your Sunday trip to church, and we recommend avoiding routes that pass through the East Rock neighborhood if possible.
During the pandemic, Trinity's office mail was routed to a PO Box. Our PO Box service will expire on March 31, 2022. Please discontinue any mailing to that PO Box. Instead, please send all mail to the Chapel Street office address.
As pandemic conditions improve and staff presence in the office returns to near normal, we ask that you double check that all mail is sent to the following address:
Trinity on the Green
950 Chapel Street, Floor 2
New Haven, CT 06510
Clean out your jewelry box and bring your donations to Trinity.
Put it in the pink box in the Sexton’s Office.
Help us get a jump start on the Christmas Market (always the weekend before Thanksgiving, November 18 & 19, 2022)
Trinity’s pre-pandemic practice of 5 pm music and prayer services resumes this Sunday with Taize sung by the Choir of Men & Boys. Services will alternate each Sunday with Evensong up next!
2022 Trinity Lenten Devotionals
Sign up now to contribute!
Walk through the season of Lent with Trinity, one word at a time. Every day (except on Sundays) we will post a photo and a brief refection on Facebook from a Trinity parishioner responding to a Lenten "word of the day." These words are chosen from the weekly lectionary texts, and are chosen to help us embrace Lent as a season of repentance and restoration. These devotionals will also be shared via Lilian’s Food for the Soul email, which will be sent weekly in the season of Lent.
How to participate:
(1) Sign Up - Email Heidi (hthorsen@trinitynewhaven.org) if you are interested in doing a Lenten word reflection; if you'd like you can sign up for a specific word / day on the list below. You can also click here to view the list and add your name, as another way to sign up.
(2) Prepare your Reflection - your reflection consists of two parts, a photo and some text to accompany it. The photo is a photo you've taken, either in the past or for the sake of this exercise. It can be a view from your window, a photo from a family album, a photo of an art work - any thing that reminds you of the word you are reflecting on. The text is a short reflection (around 250 words) on the word of the day. You can tell a story related to the word, reflect on the word, or share a favorite Bible text or piece of writing that relates to the word of the day.
(3) Send your Reflection - All reflections are due the Sunday before the day you sign up for. Email your photo and the text to Heidi (hthorsen@trinitynewhaven.org) and we will share it on Facebook, with attribution!
Date Word Add your Name below to sign up:
March 2, 2022 reward
March 3, 2022 bless
March 4, 2022 secret
March 5, 2022 treasures
March 6, 2022 SUNDAY Lent 1
March 7, 2022 stone
March 8, 2022 bread
March 9, 2022 worship
March 10, 2022 serve
March 11, 2022 shadow
March 12, 2022 refuge
March 13, 2022 SUNDAY Lent 2
March 14, 2022 listen
March 15, 2022 today
March 16, 2022 tomorrow
March 17, 2022 gather
March 18, 2022 shield
March 19, 2022 descendants
March 20, 2022 SUNDAY Lent 3
March 21, 2022 holy
March 22, 2022 ground
March 23, 2022 fruit
March 24, 2022 soil
March 25, 2022 soul
March 26, 2022 seek
March 27, 2022 SUNDAY Lent 4
March 28, 2022 overflow
March 29, 2022 deliverance
March 30, 2022 guide
March 31, 2022 reconciliation
April 1, 2022 lost
April 2, 2022 found
April 3, 2022 SUNDAY Lent 5
April 4, 2022 new
April 5, 2022 laughter
April 6, 2022 joy
April 7, 2022 fragrance
April 8, 2022 always
April 9, 2022 beloved
April 10, 2022 SUNDAY Lent 6
April 11, 2022 glory
April 12, 2022 deserve
April 13, 2022 weep
April 14, 2022 wash
April 15, 2022 paradise
April 16, 2022 dawn
April 17, 2022 EASTER
Would you like to support one of our longstanding groups here at Trinity? Make sandwiches for the Spiritual Fellowship! We are looking for volunteers to provide around 25 sandwiches on one Tuesday a month, dropping the sandwiches off at the church at noon. For this month, we need someone to make sandwiches for either Tuesday, February 15th, or Tuesday, February 22nd. James Thomas’ group has contributed so much to the life of our community–let’s show how much we value them in our community! Please reach out to cotg@trinitynewhaven.org with any questions. If you can’t volunteer this month but would like to provide sandwiches for them next month, please let us know!
For the next three weeks, we need your help to serve food at Chapel on the Green! Trinity will be sponsoring the food at Chapel on the Green from January 30th through February 13th, since food sponsors are hesitant to sign up due to the COVID numbers in New Haven. If you are interested in volunteering to distribute food at Chapel on the Green for the next three weeks, please contact cotg@trinitynewhaven.org. Thank you!
It is with regret that I announce that a 2022 African American Read-In will not be scheduled. This would have been Trinity’s twentieth year for this celebration of African American history and culture, part of a national observance established 32 years ago by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English, of which I am a member. There is a history to this event. In 1926, one week in February, the month of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, was designated Negro History Week, by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Harvard Ph.D. graduate, born the son of a slave. Negro History Week began as an observation in Negro schools. National change came about 50 years later. In 1976, the commemoration was lengthened to the entire month of February and was designated Negro History Month, now referred to as Black History Month.
Thanks to Walden Moore, one tradition will continue this year at Trinity. We will sing “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” the Negro National Anthem, at the close of the services. In keeping with our tradition, will each of you consider selecting one or more texts by an African American writer for your personal reading during the month of February. Of course, as with the Read-In, consider poetry, drama, or fiction or non-fiction in their various forms, from slavery to the present day.
Hoping we will get to share at another time. Many thanks—
Eleanor Q. Tignor,
Coordinator
At our Annual General Meeting this coming Sunday, we will will welcome Marsha Ackerman as new Warden, but we will need to say goodbye to Leigh as our Senior Warden who had been at the helm for only two months, when COVID-19 broke out in the USA. In the face of such challenges we are blessed that Leigh has been our Senior Warden because time and again she responded with with remarkable steadiness and graceful creativity to create connection and strengthen our community at a time that gathering in God's name has been very hard. It is hard to say goodbye and to express proper gratitude for the efforts Leigh has given to the well-being our Trinity parish. Thank you Leigh!
Our incoming warden, Marsha Ackerman has sent along the following as an introduction:
”My name is Marsha Ackerman and I have been attending Trinity Church on the Green for approximately 5 years along with my husband, Adam, and our sons, Jackson & Mason. I retired from professional opera singing a few years ago in order to spend more time with my family. Since then, I have returned to school myself to study Landscape Design and opened my own business in Woodbridge, where we live. Years ago, Adam joined the Air force scholarship program in order to fund medical school and during that time we traveled around the country from duty station to duty station. In this way, we have had the privilege of seeing both the strengths and weaknesses of many Episcopal communities. I am very passionate about ministering to children and have been the vestry member for this area for the past three years. I am also very passionate about outreach and the belief that through our acts for others in our community, we embody Christ on earth. It is our great hope that Trinity on the Green will continue to help us strengthen our spiritual foundation as well as that of our sons while we continue to offer our families gifts to the growth and strength of the Trinity missions. I am exceedingly honored to be elected warden and welcome the opportunity to serve.”
When: Roughly Every other week from 7pm-9pm on Zoom
Dates: 1/27; 2/10; 2/24; 3/10; 3/24; 3/31; 4/21; 5/12; 5/26; 6/2
RSVP to the Rev. Rachel Thomas, Region Missionary (rthomas@episcopalct.org)
Members of our clergy are joining other people from the South Central Region in Connecticut to participate in Sacred Ground, a film- and readings-based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. Small groups are invited to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity.
The 10-part series offered by The Episcopal Church is built around a powerful online curriculum of documentary films and readings that focus on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American histories as they intersect with European American histories. Sacred Ground is part of Becoming Beloved Community, The Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in our personal lives, our ministries, and our society. This series is open to all, and especially designed to help white people talk with other white people. Participants are invited to peel away the layers that have contributed to the challenges and divides of the present day – all while grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.
Questions? You are welcome to contact the Rev. Rachel Thomas (rthomas@episcopalct.org) or Rev. Heidi Thorsen (hthorsen@trinitynewhaven.org) if you are interested in participating, but would like to talk it through more.
Every year, Faith Kasor travels to Liberia in December to give back to underprivileged girls and women, leading workshops that promote healthy lifestyles, education, build self-esteem, enhance family relationships, explore talents, and raise awareness of abuse and conflicts. She will be leaving on December 31st and hopes to collect supplies and funds for her trip before then. Support her by donating school supplies and women’s hygiene products or by making a financial contribution by December 25th. Reach out to Faith at palavahut452@gmail.com with any questions or to learn more about how you can support her on this trip.
