Developing a regular worship and prayer life – like I’m challenging people to do this summer – is more than just about you growing spiritually, or becoming happier and more peaceful.  When you are praying and having that relationship with God that you are meant to have, then God will be working through you and the people around you will be changed.  This includes your family, friends, co-workers and people you meet throughout the day.  As we together develop a regular practice of worship and prayer, we will be able to carry out our mission, and achieve God’s vision for our future.  The individuals below have made that commitment to be part of what God is doing at Trinity UMC in an intentional way! – Pastor Marianne

“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Check out our Summer Sermon Series page for free prayer resources.

The prayer altar in the sanctuary is for you to use before, during or after worship.  You are invited to come forward whenever the Spirit moves you, stand or kneel, light a tea light candle using the taper candle provided and offer a personal prayer to God.  We want to thank Lauren R. who is providing this visual enhancement to worship this summer.

Come and support these young musicians as we praise God through music next Sunday.

Linda Brager and her family will host “Sundae Sunday” during fellowship hour that day.

Bring a dish to pass. Instructions on where we’ll meet at the park will be available on Sunday.

My sermon is a prelude to the more important message this morning: a vision for the future of Trinity Church (shared by Laura Graves and Bethany Pluymers). What I offer now is the spiritual roots of that vision. In 1968, there was a block on Wisconsin Avenue right off the square that was home to two distinct congregations: First Evangelical United Brethren Church (First EUB) and First Methodist Church. In April of that year the EUB’s and Methodists merged forming the United Methodist Church. Not long after that, Ralph Alton (first Wisconsin bishop of the newly formed United Methodist Church) urged First EUB (the smaller of the two churches) to vote: merge with First Methodist or the near west side congregation named Trousdale on Vilas Avenue. The vote was 168 in favor of Trousdale, 65 in favor of joining First Methodist. And so, a new congregation – Trinity United Methodist Church – was born.

This congregation goes all the way back to 1893, when it was founded as “Greenbush Chapel.” Throughout its history, there as been a gift or charism in Greek, that has been evident here. This morning I want to tell the story of the gift Trinity was given by the Holy Spirit to share with the world. In a way it began that first Pentecost.

Today we celebrate the birth of the church on Pentecost. Pentecost is the Jewish festival commemorating the birth of the community of God’s chosen people. Pentecost (which means 50) took place 50 days after Passover, and marks the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai to Moses and the Israelites.

On that Pentecost after Jesus’ death and resurrection, all 120 Christians were together in the Upper Room, waiting for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1 says: “they were all together in one place.” This birth took place in community. The Spirit empowered them all, not just one or two leaders. When the Holy Spirit came with the sound like a rushing wind and visions of tongues as of fire, it fell on everyone. Young and old, men and women, slaves and free were all able to now communicate the good news in the variety of languages spoken in Jerusalem that day. Amazed and astonished they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” The Spirit empowered the whole community to reach out farther into community surrounding them. (Acts 2:9). A new multi-lingual, multi-racial, multi-national entity with Christ as its head —the church— was born. The Holy Spirit was at the center.

A second birth happened that day as well. The community that had always existed within God’s very self. One God, three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Today we use inclusive language: Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Or God our Father, Christ our Mother, the Holy Spirit as “our good Lord” as theologian Julian of Norwich would say). God in three persons. The third person of the Trinity – is the Holy Spirit that was alive in Jesus connecting him to his Abba (Aramaic for his God, his Father).

Michael Jinkins of Austin Theological seminary says the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost completes the Holy Family contained within God. “In God’s own being there is a Holy family. The image of God we are created in is the image of the triune God of Grace. The image of God is not something that is given to a single individual. We are made in the image of God (who is Father Son and Holy Spirit) and who is eternally, continually living in community. One God three differentiated persons united in love.”

If as Genesis 1:26-27 says we are made in God’s image – both male and female – and if God is eternally in relationship, in community, then we too are created for community. We never fully live in God’s image until we live in communion with others. Communion assumes difference. You can’t have a relationship without at least two distinct beings. Within God’s self —and within the church— there is both unity and diversity. As at Pentecost, in the church today we are not all of the same language or nationality; we have a variety of customs & traditions. As individuals we do not reflect the image of God alone – it only is revealed in relationship.

Let me connect all this to the work of the Holy Spirit in this place. Ever since that Pentecost described in Acts, the Holy Spirit has given gifts empowering the faithful to be the church. Here is the primary gift God has given to Trinity UMC is this: the ability to create and maintain community. To mirror the life going on eternally within the Trinity: the love of father for the son, the son for the father, their love spilling over in the life of the Spirit. In God there is an eternal continual dance of love and self-giving, of risking and sacrifice, of fecundity and creativity, of amazement and surprise, of sharing suffering and sharing joy. Life within God —the life we experience by God’s grace here at Trinity Church— is like what the medieval mystic and theologian Meister Eckhart describes when he wrote:

In the core of the Trinity the Father laughs and gives birth to the Son. The Son laughs back at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit. The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us.

People who like more precise logical definitions of such things as the Trinity might find Meister Eckhart wanting. Let me now be as concrete as I can be: I have seen this congregation living the life of the Trinity —the life within God— in so many ways. The Spirit enables you to connect with people; to help people overcome the feeling of loneliness; of alienation; of isolation; the burden of feeling no one understands. The work of creating community is a holy calling and is no small feat. Jean Paul Sartre was wrong: Hell is not other people. Hell is the feeling that no one sees you, that you are alone in all the world and always will be and no one even cares. Here at Trinity by the grace of God people who come know they are not just a number, not just a faceless member of the crowd. People are welcomed, engaged in conversation, accepted, and if they stay around long enough and are willing to become vulnerable, they too will feel loved in time. As a small church you excel at relationships. You allow people to be themselves and at the same time be in relationship with others who are different. In all this you mirror the on-going life of the Trinity, eternally in relationship, eternally in community.

Here are some ways I’ve see the Spirit at work here in my almost two years among you as pastor:

• You share the gift of music connecting people to God and fostering a reverence for the Holy.
• A woman who struggled with alcohol abuse finds a way to sustain a life in recovery thanks to her connections with caring people at Trinity Church.
• Gay and Lesbian people who never felt accepted or welcome in other churches find a home here.
• Here even preschoolers ask deep questions about God and learn they too can be worship leaders.
• I’ve seen connections made with prisoners at Oakhill Correctional Facility in Oregon on a cold winter night when Trinity Christmas carolers came away from a chapel service feeling they were the ones being ministered to, not the ones doing the ministry.
• I’ve seen looks of grateful surprise on visitors’ faces that this small church in their neighborhood is living out their values and they see they are not alone.
• I’ve seen how God’s love shared here has the power to heal, to enable people to shoulder silent burdens
• I met a man after worship last year who gave me a check from a South Madison civic group that was disbanding. They were disbursing their money to organizations in the neighborhood that have made a difference over the years. Trinity church was on their list.
• I’ve watched youth and an adult go way outside their comfort zones and connected with people in Milwaukee whose faith expression was very different from their own – and were blessed because of it.
• I know of the generous donations given to Willma’s Fund for LGBT homeless people, of clothing to be sent to prisons around Wisconsin for reentering prisoners, the checks sent to the food pantry and the volunteers we send there, and the faithful giving to the mission and ministry of the wider UM church.

This is your gift Trinity Church – building relationships and creating community. You do it amongst people in this neighborhood and ones who travel here; especially you serve people who love learning and ideas and are open to new ways of thinking. That you have continued in this ministry this long —from 1893 to 2013— is a work of the Holy Spirit. Some wonder how much longer will we be here? (I’m going to give you the answer to that question so you can stop wondering and stop worrying.) We’ll be here just as long as we continue to make ourselves available for the work of God —the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit— to be carried on through us. When we stop being useful —when we give up on our mission of changing the world one prayer, one song, one person at a time— then will we cease to be a church. The good news is God’s not done with us yet. In a minute, Laura Graves and Bethany Pluymers will tell you more about our vision of Trinity’s future.

I want to end with a personal word to you, then let church historian Jean Willett have the last word. When I first was appointed here in July 2011, I was excited to be serving this congregation in this place with its reconciling ministry affiliation. I’ve enjoyed being here as pastor – you have ministered to me and I to you. But now almost 2 years later you are even more beautiful to me than ever before. It has taken me this amount of time to really come to appreciate fully who God created you to be. At this moment I feel like a gardener tending a rose bush that is slowly blooming. You are even more lovely to me than before. You are a beautiful church; you draw others into your fold through emitting the fragrance of Christ which is the love of God and I am blessed being here. If this analogy holds true, that means I’m going to have be spreading some manure to keep you healthy and do some pruning too. But those dirty jobs will be done only to help you grow and flower even more.

I end with these words by Jean Willett, a long time member of Trinity church who passed away in 2011. Jean was a mother, published author, Scout leader, outdoor education teacher, a lover of music and a dedicated choir member. {In 1950 Jean married into the Willett family (the Willetts had been Methodists in England and were here at the founding of this congregation).} In her centennial history “The Spirit of ’93” Jean compared the congregation to the “Little Engine that Could” – who believed that even with a small engine he could pull the load over the mountain and kept going by saying over and over, “I think I can, I think I can.” {I don’t believe the people of Trinity will ever get over the mountain and solve all their problems, but I do believe the will never stop trying.} The small, friendly, neighborhood church that had its beginnings aside the swamp of South Madison now remains as a small, friendly, neighborly church nestled in the middle of an urban setting. The setting changed. The Spirit of ’93 remained.

Thanks be to God for ways the Holy Spirit has worked, is working and will work through the people of Trinity Church. Amen.

May 26
When Our Tears Become Our Prayer
“When Jesus Wept”   (Psalm 56 & John 11:28-37) Psalm 23
Prayers for healing will be offered after worship for all who wish to stay.

June 2
We’re ‘In a Relationship’
“Father, I Adore You”   (Matthew 7:7-11)  Wesley’s Covenant Prayer -
The Great Thanksgiving from “For Everyone Born” Sung by the Trinity Singers

June 9
Gospel Hootenanny led by Rev. Bob Jones with members of Madfiddle

June 16
The Wrestling Match
“Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”  by Charles Wesley (Genesis 18:16-33)
Thomas Merton’s Prayer  “My Lord God, I do not see the road ahead of me…”

June 23 
Mark Saltzman  preaching

June 30
Silence: God’s First Language
“Let Go, Let Be” Chant by Kristopher Lindquist (1 Kings 19:4-15) – Centering Prayer

• 3 Notebooks (8 x 10.5”- spiral are best)
• 6 Pencils (#2, unsharpened, no advertising)
• 1 Blunt School Scissors
• 1 12” Ruler (with metric)
• 1 2.5” Eraser
• 1 24 Count Box of Crayola Crayons
• 1 Pencil Sharpener
• 1 2 Handled Tote Bag of Sturdy Fabric
• $1 for Shipping

Please consider donating a kit, individual items to make kits or money to be used toward the purchase of supplies and shipping costs no later than Sunday, May 26th.

Kits will be assembled by our Sunday School children on June 2nd and then taken to the Ingathering by Laura Graves during Annual Conference, June 7-10.

All are welcome to come explore ways United Methodists are intentionally inviting the Holy Spirit into the life of their congregations in innovative ways! Books are available ($11). Check with Pastor Marianne to get your copy.

This study will meet three Wednesdays in May (15th, 22nd and 29th) from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.

If you have any questions, please call me.

Thanks and hope to see you all there!

Blessings, Chris Tabisz

We welcome Trinity Church members Jeannie and Beto Paniesi as worship leaders this Sunday for a Hispanic Heritage and Culture Worship Celebration. There will be special music by Oscar Diaz and friends from Monona United Methodist Church, Holy Communion and a pinata after church for the children! Bienvenidos! Welcome everyone!