Wow! It really feels like fall already, doesn’t it? School has begun, or will soon. Weather is cooling. Days are shorter. The air vibrates with the energy of new beginnings. New routines. New life and relationships.
It is so good to see all of you here this morning. Welcome home!! Thank you for making Trinity part of your fall transition.
Today is Homecoming Sunday. We come home to this place, to this community, and to God. Whether we have been here before or not, we come home to belonging, to being known and seen as we are - beloved and uniquely created children of God. Imperfect and amazing. Welcome home!!
It is good to be together. Trinity is a home for all people. A Christian community supporting one another through life’s ups and downs. We praise God together, make music together, share in holy sacraments that remind us of God’s generous love and forgiveness. We are always learning about our selves, our God, and our faith. With joy and hope for the future God envisions, we serve our gathered community, our neighbors, and all creation.
The holy Trinity models a perfect community: God who makes and delights in us and all creation. God who shows us how to love one another, who sees our frailties, forgives our mis-steps, and loves us to the end. God who never leaves us alone and who empowers us to live with faith and hope. This God dwells in our midst and calls us to learn and follow.
Trinity is a beautiful mosaic, and each of us is a small bit of uniquely shaped and designed tile. THANK YOU to every one of you who shares your wisdom, skills, and time, who serves, shows up, sings, prays, smiles, gives generously, and offers a hand when needed. Trinity is blessed by your sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and we would not be who we are without you.
As we enter this fall season, our vestry has dreams for how we can thrive in faith and be good stewards of this gathered community and our wider neighborhood. Dreams like being a community resource hub, increasing pedestrian safety on 8th Avenue, and getting to know more about our local neighbors and their needs. These dreams complement our on-going life of worship and learning, fellowship and pastoral care.
As a community, we all share responsibility for how Trinity lives into our dreams. We have amazing and wonderful people in leadership and roles that make our Sunday mornings go smoothly - and, again, THANK YOU! - to those folks. Our dress stretch beyond the current capacities of volunteers and staff.
As we settle into a new rhythm of fall, I wonder which pieces of our Trinity mosaic have unseen beautiful talents. Who has a clear reading voice, a passion for writing or using social media, a love for creating beautiful worship spaces, a love of singing in choir, skills for research or webmastering, or talents for organizing and encouraging people or projects. Or something we have not yet identified.
Offering our time to something new, something that makes a difference in other people’s lives, meets a deep human need to belong. Thank you for considering how your talents fit in the mosaic of Trinity. I would be happy to talk about how you can help make Trinity’s dreams come true.
Speaking of dreams. We are celebrating dreams TODAY. Dreams of hope and love, learning and joy, play and work that feel important. We are blessing a marriage of two people who dream of supporting and loving one another through all of life’s ups and downs forever. We are celebrating and blessing a new school year with students and educators. We are praying through the Season of Creation for the dream and will to work for a world in which all people and creation thrive.
We rejoice in the excitement of new possibilities and we pray for God’s blessing and guidance as we live into these dreams. God is in our midst, whether our community is one of marriage and family, a classroom, a congregation, or the world. We will experience delight, amazement, joy and beauty. And we will know disappointment, heartbreak, sorrow and pain. Because we are a community, we share in the celebrations and burdens with one another. Because we are a community of faith, we know that God is with us, working in and through us, loving us no matter what. In difficult moments of transition and change, we need not walk alone.
We are made for relationship, to grow and thrive as we learn about our selves, our God, and our faith in community with other people. Thanks be to God for Trinity, and for all the communities of our lives that nurture, support, and challenge us.
Whether you just met us, you have been away for awhile, or you have always been here, we are glad you are here. With God’s help, we are building a community of love in which life thrives - and your presence is a sign of God among us.
Glory to God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation in the church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.
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