The Reverend Donald L. Hamer
June 7, 2009
Trinity Sunday, Year B

It was about the year 740 B.C.E.  King Uzziah had reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah for many years, and under his reign Judah had achieved a level of prosperity and international prestige that had not been seen since the reign of King Solomon several centuries before.  But now King Uzziah’s death signals a change – the end of a long period of relative prosperity and security, and the beginning of a collapse which will end in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Assyrian empire in the year 587.  It is in this climate that the prophet Isaiah experiences his vision of the Lord.

Those of us hearing Isaiah’s words in 2009 may have a similar sense of impending doom.  We, too, seem to be at the end of one era and the beginning of another – a new age where the expectations are not as clear, the rules seem to change, and the so-called wisdom of yesterday doesn’t always hold water.  As a nation we are at a crossroads both at home and abroad – where many of our institutions in which we have traditionally placed our trust have been shown to be not worthy of that trust, and we are not sure how new pillars of our society will emerge or what they will look like.  Two of our “blue chip” companies have fallen off of the New York Stock Exchange in the past week, and unemployment reached more than 9% nationally during this past week.  As your pastor, I hear each week about someone in our congregation who has either lost his or her job or is in imminent danger of doing so.  I rejoice with those who learn they have survived the latest round of cuts, and share the sorrow of those who do not.  These are indeed worrisome times.

It is traditional on this Feast Day of Trinity Sunday for me to give my Annual Report on the state of the parish, reviewing where we have been during this last year and outlining how I envision our shared future in the year to come.  Later, after our final hymn and a short break, we will engage in a uniquely Episcopal process as we elect lay leadership for the coming year who will work as partners with the clergy in carrying out a vision which we together will frame and strive for.  There is a theological significance to making our annual meeting a part of our worship:  It testifies to the unity we find in the Trinity and to the unity we as Anglicans find in the tension between being People of Resurrection Faith and citizens of this liminal, human world.  Our worship and our work are inextricably one, and we celebrate that on this, our congregational Feast Day.

The Year In Review

Many of you received your annual reports last week, and those of you who did not may pick one up following the final hymn at the entrances to the church.  The various reports contained in the Annual Report detail a remarkable vibrancy of mission and ministry carried out in the name of Jesus Christ, and I will not linger on what is contained in those reports right now.  I commend them to you to read at your leisure, and ask that you thank all of those who carried out God’s mission in this place through the ministries that are described in those reports.  Having said that, there are several items that I would like to highlight:

n During this past year we have completed all of the anticipated and necessary work on our stained glass windows which had fallen into disrepair – a project that was started before my arrival among you more than five years ago.  Within the next month, we should be completing the reroofing of the south half of the church, the chancel, and all of the education wing – under budget – barely, but under budget nonetheless.  Thanks go to the late Bob Turcotte, chair of our property committee, Al Shuckra and the property committee, and to our staff for successful completion of this important work.  Thanks go also to the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, which provided a generous grant of $200,000 toward the cost of completing the roof work.

The Good News here is that we have completed work on two of the most expensive things that can happen to a church building, and they should last beyond the lifetime of any adult here this morning.  The work we have done is a solemn reminder of the importance of being good stewards of our buildings, which are not just bricks and mortar, but provide the space which so many have come to know as a place of welcome, hope and healing to all who enter its doors.

n During the past year, our vestry also made a commitment to stewardship of the environment by moving toward renewable sources of electricity.  With the astute research of our Buildings Manager, Kathie Wilson, I am proud to report that as of January 1 of this year, Trinity Episcopal Church is 100% green, purchasing all of its electricity from a company in Canada that provides wind-generated electricity.  And there is a double bonus:  We are buying it at a contract rate for ¾ of a cent cheaper than we were getting traditional electricity from our previous supplier – which happens to be my sister’s employer, so I tread lightly on that one.
nThrough a partnership with the Salvation Army Senior Center, the AARP and Heads Up Hartford, we have completely new and energy-efficient lighting and ventilation in Huntington Hall and in Goodwin Hall.  The lighting in Goodwin Hall is now much brighter, and costs only 10% of what our former lighting cost.
n In January I took my 5-year professional development leave, during which time I focused on relationships with friends with whom I had fallen out of touch.  I also focused on study with my course at Hartford Seminary, where we studied various models of leadership, and began research on an independent study of the theology of knowledge and how we understand mission.  The highlight of my time away was our time in Israel.  This was a time of change and growth for me, and I have returned to Trinity with a new love for the ministries we share here at Trinity.
nIt was a time of growth for our Vestry as well.  Our Vestry and clergy have worked hard to articulate a vision for Trinity that captures Trinity’s core values and provides a framework for us to chart a course for the future.  Out of last summer’s Vestry Retreat came a working group that developed a vision statement which was embraced by the entire Vestry:  Trinity Episcopal Church:  Loving God and Neighbor through welcome, hope and healing…

The Vestry has taken ownership of this vision, and in the past year our vestry members have taken the lead in providing hospitality both on Sundays and on other special occasions here at Trinity.  I want to thank our wardens, Sara Carson and Al Shuckra, and John Hinkston, who is chair of our hospitality committee, for their hard work in making an already welcoming parish even more welcoming.

n A committee chaired by Penny Pearson has been working for nearly a year and a half on planning for our 150th anniversary celebration, which will begin this September.  Activities have been planned for a full 10 months of celebration which will conclude with a visit from our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, for a festival evensong and reception on June 6, 2010.
n The Choir School of Hartford has continued to enter into creative partnerships with other musical groups and institutions to provide its students with a premier educational and cultural experience.  As you will see next week, the Choir School also fosters close bonds of friendship among both the choristers and their parents, the fruit of which is not just the music that they offer, but such wonderful fellowship opportunities as the auction and spaghetti sauce contest held several weeks ago.  Under the leadership of Director of Music Ministry Bert Landman and President of the Choir School Nancy Berger, a dynamic board of directors is exploring the possibility of expanding and redefining the choir school to provide a more complete academic and cultural experience for a greater number of students.  More to come on this in the coming months.
n Under the leadership of Mother Barbara and parishioners Kevin Chick, Marsha McCurdy and Kate Lindsay, a 20s – 30s fellowship is being nurtured here at Trinity and within the diocese.
n Under the leadership of Mother Barbara, Lynda Curtis and the Church School  Curriculum Team, Godly Play has become part of the fabric of our children’s ministries, and a monthly Godly Play Eucharist is a reality here at Trinity.
n Trinity continues to host the fastest-growing chapter of Integrity in the northeast as we celebrate the value of every single child of God.
n There are, predictably, a couple things that did NOT happen about which I reported last year:

¡Last year we anticipated sharing worship space and some ministries with our brothers and sisters at St. Monica’s Episcopal Church here in Hartford.  For a variety of reasons that had to do more with St. Monica’s than Trinity, a decision was made not to come to Trinity but to St. James’ Zion Street.  Their new building is completed and they have now resumed worship in their new community center.
¡ Last year the Vestry was implementing a new structure for our ministry teams and umbrella committees to enhance communication and coordination among various ministries.  The structure came out of a recommendation from our Futuring Conference of 2007.  For reasons that are not clear, this system does not appear to have been effective and, sadly, seemed to break down during recent months.  I will be working over the summer months with both the Vestry leadership and the leaders of the ministry teams to discern what the barriers are and how best to proceed.

Looking Forward

Last week Warden Al Shuckra and I attended a seminar for clergy and wardens focusing on leadership through difficult times.  The keynote speaker, Dean Samuel Lloyd of Washington National Cathedral, observed that in many ways we are going through a “perfect storm” where we are simultaneously going through changes that affect every aspect of our life together – church, society, economic, demographic, social, technological – you name it, it is either changing or evolving.  Combine this with the world financial crisis that, while percolating for years, finally exploded last fall, and we are all suddenly struggling for survival in one way or another.

Comedian Woody Allen once said, “We find ourselves at a crossroads between hopelessness and despair.  Let us pray for the wisdom to choose correctly.”

It would be easy to look at our human condition and see ourselves – individually and as a congregation – as caught between despair and hopelessness.  Last year at this time, I stood before you as we inaugurated the Trinity Heritage Society and coined the slogan, “Make it 10 in 2010” – referring to having $10 million in Trinity’s endowment by 2010.  That was before October. Today, “Make It 5 in 2025” seems more reasonable.

The 3,000 pound elephant in the room – in the Nave, I should say – is our endowment and the economy.  Trinity is – and always has been – overly dependent on its endowment funds.  The church we are sitting in would not have been completed were it not for the generosity of Terry Blackwood’s and Trudi White’s ancestor, The Rev. Francis Goodwin, who was Trinity’s third rector. (Sorry – I don’t have that kind of money!)

But we are people of Resurrection Faith, and believe that for God’s faithful people, we can always find new life emerging out of death.  As Dean Lloyd pointed out to us on Wednesday, we have two possibilities:  We can plunge into the chaos and see what happens, or we can watch and listen for God doing a new thing in our midst.  Like Elijah on the mountaintop, we can be caught up in the whirlwind, the earthquake and the fire, and find nothing but chaos and destruction; or we can wait patiently to hear the still small voice of God waiting to be discovered amidst all the noise.

The solution, I humbly submit, is not to engage the anxiety and simply start cutting back.  I firmly believe that anyone who can add and subtract can balance a budget.  That takes no particular care or expertise.  The trick is to be wise and faithful stewards of the abundant gifts that God has given to us and, acting in faith with discernment, deploy those gifts in ways that most glorify God and bless God’s people.  This process will no doubt result in some cutbacks, but I submit it is a whole lot more productive – and ultimately more faithful – than simply taking an axe to an existing budget.

As we move forward, I suggest that our course must include a combination of the following:

1. Beginning next weekend at our Vestry retreat, we will examine once again who we are as a congregation.  As we celebrate our 150th anniversary as a parish committed to this city, what were the core values of our founders that are with us to this day?  How do we translate those into ministry in the 21st century?  What is the vision of each vestry member for Trinity in 10 years?  We will be sharing what we come up with in the coming weeks.
2. We need to continue to move away from being a Christian club to reclaiming our membership in a Christian movement.  We all, together, need to think of Trinity as a place where we know we have something precious – a movement that was born at Pentecost – a movement that is filled with hope and brings with it a freedom from fear and anxiety.
3. In our own patterns of giving for the financial support of the church, we have to confront the need to change the paradigm from paying optional dues to the club to sacrificial giving to God.  This is particularly true at Trinity, as our founders were clear that no one should ever be excluded from worshipping at this church because of inability to pay.  This is not an idle question:  In January we reduced the budget by approximately $75,000.  While I was away, the Vestry voted to ask me to find over $100,000 more to cut in the months to come.  Clearly we have our work cut out for us.
4. We need to understand that what we give to God through the church is a measure of our souls, which is why I always insist that we talk about pledges NOT in terms of dollars but in terms of percentages of what we have to offer.  It is a question of faithfulness.  I try to lead by example by following the Biblical tithe – each week Debbie and I put into the offering an amount equal to 10% of our salaries.  I challenge each and every one of you to aim for that – and start right where you are:

a. If you are not pledging, start.  There is no excuse for not making some sort of a financial commitment to this church.  No amount is too small – remember the story of the widow’s mite, where God valued the faithful offering of the poor widow more than any of the gold or expensive stuff that was brought to the Temple.  Here at Trinity, we always believe the value of the gift is measured by the faithfulness with which it is offered, not by the number of digits in the gift.
b. Once you have made your pledge, figure out what percentage of your family income it represents.
c. Once you have the percentage, plan on how you can raise that by some percentage or part of a percentage.  You will find that you are not giving until it hurts – you are giving until it feels good.

If everyone at Trinity who is not tithing would make a faithful pledge and then revisit their pledges and raise them by even 1%, we could reduce our draw on endowment tremendously and minimize any reductions in program.

5. We will continue our efforts to encourage Planned Giving by encouraging every member to remember the Trinity Endowment in their will or estate plan.  The “Christian Preamble to My Last Will and Testament” which I drafted several years ago is now by the grace of God seeing widespread use around the country.  Just as we enjoy our buildings and what remains of our endowment through the generosity of those who went before us, so our legacy as the Body of Christ at Trinity must be to ensure that mission continues to future generations.
6. As we evaluate our budget in the light of our core values and the ministries to which we presently feel called, I believe that we should be thinking “out of the box,” and not feel constrained by traditional models of doing things.  That means beginning with our core values, discerning God’s mission for THIS congregation at THIS particular time, assessing what gifts we bring to this mission, and deploying them so as to fulfill that mission to the best of our ability.  Challenging times call for innovative solutions.
7. As we look at our models of doing ministry, I believe our approach to mission must be less solitary and more in partnership with other resources in our community.  As your Rector I am now on the Board of Directors of the Farmington Asylum Business District.  Our Choir School has done a wonderful job of creating community partnerships.  We now host a three-day-a-week lunch through a partnership with the Senior Center and the Culinary Institute across the street.  We have just received notice that we have been awarded a grant from the Diocese to help continue our Monday evening “Light & Peace” program for young children.  Just as God desires all things to come into unity through God, so we can make the most of our own gifts in serving God by joining with others in common mission and ministry.

Conclusion

The coming year will indeed bring challenges, many of them related to finances.  In this 150th anniversary year, it is worth noting that our founders were undaunted by the prospect of starting a new congregation, dedicated to the City, even as the Civil War loomed on the horizon.  They heard God calling, and responded to the call.

The prophet Isaiah heard God calling even as his world was being turned upside down.  In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah heard God ask, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and he responded, “Here am I; send me!”

As God did over 2700 years ago, God is still asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”  There is only one faithful answer.  I look forward to journeying with you.

© Copyright 2009 by the Reverend Donald L. Hamer