Trinity Pastoral Letter Sept 2017

September 2-17 Pastoral letter​

​September 1, 2017

Dear Trinity Family,

 I hope that you’ve had a wonderful summer. It is a time to enjoy the weather - on the lake, on the beach, or just in your yard with company. As we turn towards the Fall and bid adieu to the summer we know the rhythm of life brings us back to a more dutiful pace.
The summer at Trinity kicked off with a wonderful parish picnic that was very well attended. We had lots of people helping in so many ways, from preparing food in advance and Butch’s grilling mastery, to setting up and breaking down. This was organized by none other than our Alice Snow and St. Anne’s guild, without whom we would have had way too much chicken left over! (Fr. Matt applying a little self-deprecation).   On the heels of this event Bob Lovo hosted a “new and recent” members luncheon at his home in York. That was a real treat! We have also had many visitors during the course of the summer, with a few of them continuing to attend regularly.

St. Luke’s camp was held August 6-13 and was terrific.  Our counselors were great, and we had some new ones - Dn. Gary Drinkwater from Church of the Transfiguration in ME, and our own Joyce McClusky.  The teaching theme of the camp was “Keeping your faith against the odds” and we used Star Wars for the backdrop theme. We played some great games, like “Jedi Toe Training”, “the Force Trust walk”, and others. Besides that, the kids were taught the faith three times a day, did crafts, and enjoyed swimming in the lake at camp Ashmere. We do ask that you begin to think of next year’s camp now (yes, now) and plan to have your children or grandchildren attend.

Our church is going “from strength to strength” as we continue to our efforts to create a church that is healthy, inviting, and growing. You should know that as pastor, everything I do, every effort or initiative I put forward, is all geared towards creating a church that is spiritually healthy, dynamic and growing.  Growth is not a matter of programs and plans. Authentic growth is the result of a people who love Christ and His church and serve others joyfully.  We each have a duty to be faithful in prayer, worship and service because Christ dwells in such persons and His light shines through them and influences others.

To that end I hope that many of you plan on attending the next Re4m seminar, Joyful Surrender: Serving God with our time, talent, and treasure.  I can already hear your thoughts, “Is he going to talk about money?!” Well, yes and no. I am going to talk about freedom, freedom from fear and worry. We are going to talk about the shalom (peace, wellbeing and salvation) of God and how, when we serve God with a joyful heart, it results in interior liberty that extends throughout our entire lives. This seminar will be held on Saturday, September 30th at 9:00am and will end at 12:30pm followed by lunch.  I will teach the introduction and a very good friend of mine, the Rev. Jim King, from Portland, will be teaching on giving. You will enjoy his enthusiasm. I hope you plan to make it.

Other events are upcoming as well. We will be having an appreciation dinner for all those who volunteer in the Thrift Store. We will be holding New Members Classes on October 14th and 22nd. If you have not completed a class before, I think it is important for you to take this class.  See me (Fr. Matt) about attending. We will be resuming mid-week Eucharistic services on Wednesdays at 9:00am beginning October 11th.  We will be offering Reboot Combat Recovery again, beginning September 21st.  Please keep this important ministry in your prayers. Men’s Breakfast will continue on the first Saturday of each month at 8:00am.  We will continue to serve at the Rochester Community Kitchen. Finally, we will resume our Spiritual Formation Bible Study in October.

I was grateful for Joyce McClusky’s help with camp this year.  This also gave us an opportunity to discuss Sunday School.  Since the Wise family has moved and Julie will no longer be leading the effort Joyce has stepped up to the plate.  I asked her to find a good curriculum for us and she has. We have a great new program that is flexible to our needs and Anglican in focus! We will be learning more about this soon, but Sunday School begins September 10th.  We need to build a strong children’s program so that parents of young children will feel comfortable attending our church. This is an important step in that direction, and we need volunteers.

I recently met with Carlos, our choir master, to discuss kicking our music up to another level. I have a vision to position this church as a light of classical culture, music, virtue and education. It is not my intention to compete with modern churches whose attraction is “praise band” worship. Instead, I want to position our church as a unique and beautiful example of classical Christianity and culture. We are going in the opposite direction of our culture. To that end, we are going to do classical Anglican music and do it well. We are also going to innovate in ways that are consistent with sacred music and our Anglican heritage. That means that we are going to try new things from time to time. When we try something new, or you hear something that you have never heard before, please be gracious and open, and trust that we will maintain the sacred nature of Eucharistic worship.  It is my hope and prayer to enrich the choir and our music program so that we attract great talent as well.

Finally, I want to mention the sticky issue of politics. As you know, our political climate is very divisive presently. Many in our parish have strong opinions in one direction or another. I wish to remind you that our bond is in the gift of the Spirit and the gospel of peace. We are God’s people first and our first commitment is to the gospel of Jesus Christ, not politics. The moral and ethical teachings of the church come before, and ought to influence, our politics – they are not separate. The net effect is that it should trouble both conservatives and progressives at times. Our Kingdom is not of this earth! I would ask that you do not assume that everyone standing around you at church holds the same views, and that, if politics come up, you are respectful and considerate towards your brother or sister. I don’t want anyone to feel that they are “out” because of a political opinion. This does not mean that we do not take a stand on certain issues. But when we do, let us do so with respect and love, “preserving the bonds of peace”, as St. Paul admonishes us.

As we go into the 2017-2018 year I anticipate wonderful things for our church.  2018 will be our Jubilee year, celebrating our 25th anniversary. Part of that celebration will be an exciting project to renew and beautify the reredos (the area behind and round the altar). We look forward to sharing those plans with you in the weeks and months to come.
Your Servant in Christ,

Fr. Matt Mirabile+
Rector

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