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Rector’s Address
Rector’s Address: the State of the Parish
The Rev’d Julia E. Whitworth, Rector
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Beloveds of God, How does one tell the story of 2020 at Trinity? Was it annus horribilus— the dumpster-fire year we will dismiss as the worst of our lives? Or was it an incredible opportunity to reveal our own creativity and flexibility, resilience and resolve, connection, faithfulness, leadership and patience? Or, was it both, and more? We started 2020 with big plans for Trinity. In January, the Clergy attended the “Rooted in Jesus” conference in Atlanta, and a large delegation of Trinity leaders attended the CEEP conference in Louisville in February. Both fueled our excitement for a new year — with a new “Wade in the Water” Lenten formation program, a renewed commitment to planned giving, strategic planning, community formation through small groups and an all-parish retreat, an added Sunday service, discernment about new programs and beyond. Then COVID-19 hit in March, and most of those plans were turned upside down. That’s when 2020 as we will remember it began. Creativity and Flexibility Once we were restricted from public worship and eventually to our homes entirely, Trinity had to remake itself—its operations and especially its worship life— many times over. In the Worship report, I went into great detail about the ways we responded to COVID-19 liturgically since March 15, when we have first introduced a video camera into the sanctuary on a Sunday morning. Since then we have worshiped the Lord in every way we could imagine except corporately in the Church: via zoom, via the website, on Facebook Live, through email, snail mail and using drive-by pick-up supplies, in both gardens and on the soccer field, on our couches and at our kitchen tables, in our cars and our yards, and even, I suspect for someone out there, in our beds. What have we learned? We have learned that we can do hard things. That we can pivot on a dime. That we can learn new technologies and form new connections across great distances. That we can adjust to change far better than anyone ever credits Episcopalians. That we can be part of a community even when we are apart -- creating our Trinity home wherever we are. We have learned that the rich familiarity of our liturgical tradition holds up even when set in relief with new technologies and experimentation. And we have also learned that we miss the Eucharist -- that sacramental bond which holds us together. And singing. And our beautiful space. And one another. Mightily. Resilience and Resolve 2020 may have changed how we all lived our lives, but it did not stop Trinity, its parishioners, partners, and leaders, from living into its call to serve. It has been an honor to support our
outreach and campus partners as they persevered in serving their missions this year. Watching volunteers and staff of the Mid-North Food Pantry continue to distribute groceries in the parking lot three days a week has been nothing short of inspiring. Whether in reopening St. Nicholas Early Learning in June or St. Richard’s and the now to-go Sunday Dinner in August, our parishioners and partners have demonstrated a remarkable can-do spirit: balancing a keen regard for science and safety with a passion for mission. Throughout the pandemic, Project Home Indy continues to serve vulnerable young women and their babies on our property. Horizons at St. Richard’s has found ways to assist low-income families combat learning inequity exacerbated by the pandemic. Trinity Haven has finished its renovations and begun hiring the staff needed to finally implement its host-homes and transitional living programs in the next few months. Additionally, many of you have continued to write letters against food inequity, to learn and to educate about systemic racism in healthcare and housing, and to march in our streets for racial justice. I have also seen resilience and resolve in the work of Sunday School teachers and youth leaders who have shown up on zoom week after week for the kids of this parish. As a parent and a rector, I am so grateful for you all, and for the leadership of Kim McPherson last Winter, and of Missy Roetter and Mother Erin throughout 2020. Finally, nothing depicts resolve like a Choir gathered to sing outdoors in a parking garage in January, or worshippers in 27 degree temperatures in the garden, huddled under blankets but warmed by community and Communion. Connection A challenge and priority in this year past has been tending the community connections of the parish, despite imposed separation. Mother Erin, Father Ben, Reverend Jenn and I have tried to maintain and grow small groups on zoom to tend to isolation for parishioners -- through Bible Studies, Discipleship Groups, Newcomers programs, Sunday Forums and coffee hours, a racial justice reading group, and our many committees for governance and leadership. Our Parish Life Committee pivoted from large gatherings to smaller outdoor fellowship offerings and intentional outreach packages and gifts to the particularly homebound and isolated. Our pastoral care committee had to move from in-person visits to phone calls. Twice our Vestry sought to reach every member of the parish by phone for pastoral check-ins. Most recently the clergy has been visiting some parishioners to deliver Epiphany house blessings. We have tried different kinds of virtual gatherings, to greater and lesser success. We encourage your new ideas and leadership in fostering connection “at” Trinity during the continuing season of separation. Faithfulness, Patience and Leadership When the pandemic started, I worried about the financial stability of the parish in a tumultuous economy. What would happen with our endowment? Would you be able to fulfill your pledges and make new ones? Advised by the Finance Committee, Legacy Fund Trustees, Treasurer Keenan Buoy and Director of Finance Albie Marco, we made some swift decisions in the spring and summer in order to buffer the parish’s financial resources against possible downfalls. We used liquid assets in our Legacy Fund for a first endowment draw, rather than divesting from a down market. Like most churches, we also applied for a SBA/PPP Loan to cover all staff compensation --even hourly employees -- during our time of sheltering in place.We timed a third quarter draw strategically to maximize investment value. And we compressed our expense budget by refraining from replacing staff who left at varying points in the year -- just in case.
No matter how difficult, the year 2020 was an opportunity to reveal our own creativity and flexibility, resilience and resolve, connection, faithfulness, leadership and patience.
All of this was to cover a possible shortfall that we might see in giving this year -- something that ultimately never came to pass. You, Trinity Church, just knocked me out with your generosity this year. While “plate giving” was basically decimated by the pandemic, you more than made up for that with your 2020 pledges. Ultimately we exceeded our budgeted stewardship goal for the year. Amazing. We have also exceeded our 2021 stewardship goals, which were, again, structured to be more conservative in the face of so many challenges. Because of you, Trinity is commencing 2021 in a strong financial position. You are a faithful and generous people, Trinity Church, and a patient one as well. In the face of many challenging decisions, I have never *once* felt pressured to make a decision about regathering that flies in the face of science or safety. I’m so grateful for your willingness to trust and to wait. It’s a blessing to be in common life with you. I am also grateful for the wisdom and leadership of our Regathering Taskforce, who served as key advisors on the trends of the pandemic and the best practices we have adopted to ensure safety in regathering. They will remain pivotal as we chart a course forward in the complicated days ahead. Please join me in thanking: Rick Beardsley, Erik Hembre, Bob Marchesani, Jennifer Phelps, Erica Dollhopf, and chair Todd Relue, as well as David Crabb who has just joined our team. Although I will say this again later in the meeting, I am also very grateful for our Senior Warden Tricia McMath and all of the Vestry for their wisdom and support, and for their faithful leadership this year. Finally, there are not really enough words to express my gratitude for my faithful and patient colleagues on the Trinity staff and clergy. Every employee here has met the considerable challenges of this year—an entire upheaval of their professional lives—with creativity, endurance and good humor. It’s been a hard year for many of us, for reasons beyond the obvious. At times we undertook the work short-staffed… with as many as four people out at one time. And still these faithful souls show up and give their all for you, for Trinity Church, for the glory of God. Please join me in thanking: • Father Ben Anthony, Associate Rector for Pastoral Care and Chaplain to St. Richard’s • Dirk Edwards, Director of Facilities • Rita Earls, Housekeeping • Reverend Jennifer Fisher, Minister for Outreach and Social
Justice • Faith Hennings, Finance Assistant • Mother Erin Hougland, Associate Rector for Lifelong Discipleship and Congregational Vitality • Tracey Lemon, Director of Communications and Invitation • Hamp Liggins, Housekeeping • Albie Marco, Director of Finance and Administration • Dr. Michael Messina, Director of Music • Missy Roetter, Parish Life and Youth Coordinator, • Dave Smith, Maintenance I am also grateful for consultants Summerlee Walter, Ashley Caveda and Susan and Michael Gyura, who assisted with various aspects of communications during Tracey Lemon’s leave, and for our wonderful staff of nursery workers, Choir section leaders, Sunday Dinner workers, and Security. We have an amazing team. The Way Forward Where do we go from here? There are many unanswered questions about the future of the virus, vaccines, and in-person gatherings. The year ahead will require still more creativity and flexibility, resilience and resolve, connection, faithfulness, leadership and patience. Moreover, I anticipate that Trinity, as an institution and as individuals, will find itself transformed by this pivotal time in our lives. There will be no turning back to “how things used to be”: we don’t know what our community will look like, or be called to, on the other side of COVID. Be that as it may, Trinity’s leadership is preparing us to thrive in an in-person future, even as we survive in a hybrid moment. I’m excited to announce that a Chapel Design Committee was convened in the fall to move the Holy Innocents project
forward at last. We have hired an architect and builder, and our goal is a fully renovated Children’s Chapel by the Fall. Stay tuned for presentations about that process. The Youth Room renovations from last year are almost complete -- new furniture is arriving next month. As you know, the Organ revoicing project is midstream, and we hope for a thrilling new sound by Summer. Finally, the long struggling Trinity Outreach Center lift, which services the food pantry, will be replaced in a few months. I anticipate our liturgical offerings will be forever changed by the pandemic. The necessity of offering services online has created an opportunity to welcome back worshippers who had stopped coming to church physically before COVID. Whether snowbirds or shut-ins, parishioners can now stay in our community even if they cannot get to our space. Even as we make our way back to the building, I am committed to continuing to live stream and record our central services and music offerings. We are researching and resourcing the permanent equipment needed to that end. We have also discovered how much we love worshipping outdoors in the gardens, so I imagine that offering to be a 3-season commitment in the future. With the Vestry, I hope to return to a Strategic Planning process as soon as it is manageable. You may recall that in 2019 we identified four critical areas for strategic attention: Connection, Growth, Leadership Development, and Resource Planning. Some immediate initiatives ahead of us dovetail nicely with those, especially the proposal to open an Episcopal Service Corps intentional community in our still empty property on Pennsylvania Street. Our ESC discernment team will be bringing you information about this as their feasibility and funding research unfolds. Covid-permitting, we are planning an October Parish Retreat to rejuvenate our parish connections and, hopefully, some pilgrimages in 2022 and 2023. We are excited to welcome a new St. Richard’s Head of School, Dr. Lesley Hosey, and continuing the good work of strengthening our connection with the school. Finally, this summer I am hoping to gather a team of leaders to join me in the diocese’s College for Congregational Development. That’s just the beginning. Despite the darkness of these days, the future is bright for Trinity. Being a Resurrection People, we look to the light as the stone rolls away. It’s just ahead of us, friends. When we can be together, we will take the time to mourn our dead, for sure, and to tend to those for whom the isolation of this time has been traumatizing. But soon we will emerge from the containment of this hard, hard year, stronger for our work of maintaining the Church apart. Wherever we are, we are one family. Imagine what we can be, together again! Faithfully,
Mother Julia
Save the Date for our Parish Retreat October 22-24, 2021 at Waycross