"Ten Years at Trinity" | The Rev. Luk De Volder | May 30th, 2021

Today is the feast of the Holy Trinity. Father Son and Holy Spirit. And the exceptional relationship between the three divine persons. Wait, you may be thinking by now: Luk! Are you really going to belabor the topic of the Holy Trinity and not saying anything about your 10 anniversary at Trinity?

I am teasing you. Of course, I want to talk about my 10 years here among you. Truly, I am so happy. Trinity on the Green has been such a source of joy for me. You have been such a blessing to me in my life. It has been truly an honor to be with you. And I am so grateful to Tiffany my wife, for all her support over the course of this decade.

My ministry here at Trinity started in 2011, you know that time before the pandemic, before Zoom. This before&after time reference feels similar to the time before the printing press and after the printing press. What came before feels now like a blur, a fog. The 16 months of Covid are almost 16 percent of my time at Trinity, but I feel so blessed that even during this time of hardship we have grown closer and stronger. A small advantage of the pandemic is that it has made us forget many things that happened before the pandemic. So no one remembers my shortcomings and mess-ups.

Surely there are so many blessings to remember, starting with the Trinity apostles that came to visit Tiffany and me at our parish in France. Carolyn G, Barbara and Peter J. came to visit us all the way in la France profonde, deep into rural France. It was such a moving experience to meet Barbara, Peter and Carolyn. Already at that time Tiffany and I said that we felt so inspired by the Trinity community that even if we wouldn’t make the cut, we still experience such a blessing in meeting the Trinity community.

But there also have been mess-ups. And there have been plenty. Right of the bat, my first service here at Trinity, was the 7:45 am service on Trinity Sunday. I was all prepared, special notes to lead the Rite 1 service. And then came the moment of the collection. I received the offering plate and everyone kept staring at me. Is he going to say it? It might have been Eleanor T. who was trying to help, by whispering: “All things,…!” I thought: “All things, what, in the offering plate? These words were not in my prayerbook.” Indeed, this is a powerful line, left over from the 1928 prayerbook, but no one had told me: “All things come of thee O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.” Beautiful. Now everyone was looking at me like: “We thought we acquired a rector who came with all essential and extended features and amenities.” Four months later, after the 7:45 service, someone congratulated me, saying: “You are doing a good job here.” O thank you. “Yes”, the person continued, and added: “I never thought you would last longer than four months.” Ever since I had some doubts about a rector’s tenure. The diocese kept issuing these statistics: in 2014, the bishop said, the average tenure of a rector in Connecticut was 4,5 years. In my fifth year I finally received some solace after meeting with rectors at the Conference of the Consortium of Episcopal Endowed Parishes, where a colleague rector from a St. Paul’s parish in Virginia shared with me: “I now have been ten years at St. Paul’s. I am so glad I can finally make some changes.” Blessed Trinity, I thought, I have been at Trinity for only 5 years, and we have made so many positive changes together. That has been one of the extraordinary blessings at Trinity. In my ministry ad maiorem Dei Gloriam, to the greater glory of God, you and I, we have accomplished so much together. And this “we” is such a glory: so often we have experienced that our decisions and actions, have been hard to pin onto one person, either me, or you, but we almost always have done things together. Together with God. We make space for each other and are able to generate this synergy in our community. It is truly a glory.

This is where our Trinity Church community does indeed learn from the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What is remarkable in the divine action revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ is the action of making space for the other. Within God already there is the dynamic of making space: making yourself smaller so that the other can be. God so powerful and almighty is so strong that God can make Godself smaller.

Very often in our daily dynamics we encounter a power play. People want more space, they want other people to be like them, or they make others into copies of themselves. That is the power dynamic of the world: to live at the expense of the other, the other can only be if she or he is being what I want that person to be. Everyone who is in a committed relationship, everyone who lives in a community has hit this wall already. It takes effort to make room for the other.

Christ, who emptied himself and came down from heaven, reveals the other more lasting, Trinitarian dynamic of making space for the other. In Hebrew they call it Zimzum, a word that literally refers to pulling in your belly, as a way to make room for the other. God makes room for creation, zimzum. The Son makes room for the spirit, zimzum. And the beauty of making room for each other, is that the other can truly starts flourishing as she or he is meant to be. It is the practice of what we call love or compassion: letting the other be. But it does come with the discipline of zimzum, the effort of not pigeonholing others into your expectations. It is truly an enriching practice. God so loved the world, that God is constantly helping us to make that open room for God and the other.

So often, we at Trinity have been blessed to experience the glory of this sacred open space. Hence my profound sense of gratitude for being with you. Thank you to everyone here at Trinity to create such an exceptional and beautiful sense of community. Thank you to Staff, Clergy colleagues, Wardens, and the host of invisible prayer warriors here among us, in Europe, and those already upon the other heavenly shore.

I can not tell you how much my wish for you and my ministry at Trinity is focussed on Christ, and I will use St. Paul’s words to express my wish: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height [speaking of space!]; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19). I am absolutely convinced that our acceptance of this blessedness is changing the world, shoring up our joy, and giving us the energy to walk toward the future. Granted, the future may look scary, caring for the people in need may be hard work. Just the fact that we are building community in a world that seems allergic to everything that looks like community, it all feels like stretching yourself into this breadth and length and depth that creates that open sacred space for our soul and for each other. Certainly, it all feels like a workout, like level 5 power yoga exercise. It does hurt some and takes effort. But the alternative is the downward spiral of enclosed minds that lead to stale selfishness underneath the veneer of Christianity.

God so loved the world, and grounding ourselves in God’s love makes us part of the often invisible movement, yet actively making a difference every day, a movement that moves like an upward spiral. The world may feel like it is falling apart, but our faith is carrying some part of this world higher, closer to God, more rooted into Christ.

“All things come of thee O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.” It is truly an honor to be your rector and I give thanks to you, Trinity, and to the Holy Trinity. Amen.