Celebration of New & Mutual Ministry - 02/28/2023

A Celebration of New & Mutual Ministry is the service where the bishop officially installs a new rector in a congregation, blessing the relationship and shared ministry of the priest and congregation.

Readings:

Isaiah 2:2-4

Psalm 96

Ephesians 2:13-22

Luke 10:1-9

The Rev. Eric Stelle, preacher

You’ve got a lot to envy, here at Trinity.

You’ve got a long heritage of faith to be rooted in and to draw from. You’ve got a fabulous building that immediately feels like church as soon as you step inside. You’ve got an actual neighborhood! (My church is just kind of stuck on the side of the road.) You’ve got a nice website. (You see the things priests get jealous of!) You’ve gotten a great rector. When I daydream about having a second priest on staff with me, it’s always someone like Sabeth I dream about.

But do you know what I envy most? Your name! You get to be called, “Trinity.” You get to be known by that aspect of God’s nature our spirits most yearn to know – this paradox of being many and being one. 

First Sunday in Lent - 02/26/2023

Readings for the Day


On Wednesday this last week, we heard the words “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

The Ash Wednesday service pivots on a soul-baring confession of the insidious and invisible clutter of our spiritual lives and our failures to recall our own faith and God’s grace. Ash-smudged, humbled and forgiven, we gathered to share a meal and recall holy Love’s power to vanquish death.

State of the Parish Address - February 5, 2023

State of the Parish Address

Trinity Parish of Seattle

February 5, 2023

Readings for today

Typically the State of the Parish Address happens on the same Sunday as the Annual Meeting.  When we held our Annual Meeting last Sunday, I was in the middle of a pernicious and humbling non-COVID virus.  With gratitude for healing rest and your patience, I have had another week to reflect on Trinity’s life and ministry in 2022 and look ahead into 2023.   

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Dear People of God, congregation of Trinity Parish, my siblings in Christ,

Greetings in the name of the one, holy, and indivisible God.  I give thanks for you every day, and for the gift and privilege of proclaiming the Good News of God’s love with you.

PRIDE Sunday - 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

It's been a long and strange 18 months since I posted a sermon.  Ministry in pandemic was/is a day to day and week to week learning experience, and some usual tasks (like posting printed sermons) lost urgency.

On Sunday, June 26, I was thrilled to walk in Seattle's Pride Parade as part of the Diocese of Olympia group - sharing the message that God's love is for Everyone - no Exceptions!  I preached this sermon at 8:00AM (a service that is not recorded or broadcast) before leaving for the parade.

Readings for the Day are here (Track 1).

Freedom.  

The colonists arrived on the eastern shores of this continent 400 years ago in search of freedom.

A civil war resulted in a proclamation that no person may be owned by another - legally freeing hundreds of thousands of enslaved persons to earn and keep wages, to marry, to become educated and own property.

Non-native settlers gradually moved west seeking the opportunities of wide open spaces.

Women fought for legal recognition of their freedom - to vote, to earn equitable pay for their work, to control what happens to their bodies.

LGBTQ folx stood up for their rights to the same things as other people - to be authentically who God created them to be, to enjoy the legal privileges of freedom.  Job security, wholistic health and mental health care, marriage and children, a safe home.

Freedom.  

Is a lifetime journey.

17th Sunday after Pentecost

Readings for today.

Watch the service (on YouTube) here.

“By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Mt 21:23). 

The chief priests and elders of the Jerusalem Temple are charged with keeping order in the holiest of holy places in Judaism.  And they want to know who gives Jesus authority to upend the tables of the merchants (which he has done recently) and question the economy of the Temple.  Is he just another fanatic who wants to disrupt the status quo without offering any real, constructive alternative?  Or does he actually have authority to call for a new order?

16th Sunday after Pentecost - First Sunday at Trinity

Readings for today.

Watch the service (on YouTube) here.

Good morning, Trinity!

It is so good to be here with you!  My official first day was last Monday, and it’s been a full week of meeting new people, starting to learn about Trinity, and figuring out how to use new technologies.  Thank you to all of you for your patience as I assimilate a lot of new information.  I am so very excited to already be in the midst of figuring out what God has in mind for us to do together.

12th Sunday after Pentecost

Readings for today.

Preached for Church of the Good Shepherd, Federal Way, WA.

Watch the service here.

“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks his disciples.  Peter, whose faith frequently falters, gets the right answer, “You’re the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Peter’s answer, even if he might not know what it means, even if it’s an answer of faith rather than evidence (yet), has me thinking it’s probably important for us to be able to name who Jesus is as well.  As his disciples in the 21st century.  As followers of a living God, whose story is still unfolding.