Trinity Enews Article January 31, 2019
Most waterparks have these giant 300-gallon water buckets positioned high off the ground, perilously filling with water until the bucket can hold no more and at the peak moment, the bucket tips forward dumping torrents of water onto the unsuspecting souls standing below.
Hold this visual as you continue reading.
Experience is teaching me that while caring for a beloved, you are doing okay until you’re not. Since Joe’s diagnosis of a brain tumor two months ago with subsequent surgery and a bout of pneumonia I thought I was doing okay. And then I began to feel super tired. Getting more sleep, talking to friends, working out, seeing my spiritual director and therapist helped. It wasn’t enough. The cumulative effect of Joe’s slow-growing tumor over several years has been more emotionally and physically taxing than I realized. Last Friday my bucket tipped with my body demanding “enough, already!” It did so with a fainting spell which caused me to fall, resulting in a mild concussion. I’m okay (I really am according to doctor who did all sorts of tests!) And I need time to rest, regroup and heal with Joe.
In conversations with the bishop, wardens, vestry, Carrie and staff we’ve agreed taking some time off from Trinity is a wise, healthy decision. My hope is to return fully rested by March. I’ll check-in with the wardens in about three weeks and we’ll see where things stand. You are in very good hands with Carrie as priest and Cate as seminarian. The staff, wardens and vestry are also here to help. Our PIC Consultant, The Rev. Jack Gilpin, has offered to assist any way he can. My time away begins tomorrow. However, I will be in town so if you see me, please speak!
On a spiritual note during my absence, I’m taking to heart I Corinthians 12:26: “if one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” First Corinthians, Chapter 12, has been our Epistle reading for the past two Sundays and I invite us all to dwell in these words. Chapter 13, the Epistle for this Sunday, is also apropos, “and now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
Love to you all, Jenny+
Most waterparks have these giant 300-gallon water buckets positioned high off the ground, perilously filling with water until the bucket can hold no more and at the peak moment, the bucket tips forward dumping torrents of water onto the unsuspecting souls standing below.
Hold this visual as you continue reading.
Experience is teaching me that while caring for a beloved, you are doing okay until you’re not. Since Joe’s diagnosis of a brain tumor two months ago with subsequent surgery and a bout of pneumonia I thought I was doing okay. And then I began to feel super tired. Getting more sleep, talking to friends, working out, seeing my spiritual director and therapist helped. It wasn’t enough. The cumulative effect of Joe’s slow-growing tumor over several years has been more emotionally and physically taxing than I realized. Last Friday my bucket tipped with my body demanding “enough, already!” It did so with a fainting spell which caused me to fall, resulting in a mild concussion. I’m okay (I really am according to doctor who did all sorts of tests!) And I need time to rest, regroup and heal with Joe.
In conversations with the bishop, wardens, vestry, Carrie and staff we’ve agreed taking some time off from Trinity is a wise, healthy decision. My hope is to return fully rested by March. I’ll check-in with the wardens in about three weeks and we’ll see where things stand. You are in very good hands with Carrie as priest and Cate as seminarian. The staff, wardens and vestry are also here to help. Our PIC Consultant, The Rev. Jack Gilpin, has offered to assist any way he can. My time away begins tomorrow. However, I will be in town so if you see me, please speak!
On a spiritual note during my absence, I’m taking to heart I Corinthians 12:26: “if one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” First Corinthians, Chapter 12, has been our Epistle reading for the past two Sundays and I invite us all to dwell in these words. Chapter 13, the Epistle for this Sunday, is also apropos, “and now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
Love to you all, Jenny+
Trinity Enews Article January 24, 2019
I would not want to be a meteorologist reporting on the weather. They are wrong much of the time. Utilizing scientific measurements, information about atmospheric pressure and weather patterns to make their predictions, Mother Nature can still be very unpredictable. She may decide to make a slight shift to the north and what the experts thought was going to be snow turns out to be rain. Or Mother Nature can withhold her anticipated tornado and adorn the sky with a rainbow. Granted meteorologists sometimes get it right. Nonetheless we blame them for ruining outdoor events like birthday parties and weddings. We blame them for having to cancel concerts and for rescheduling our parish-wide annual meeting. (While I think for safety-sake we made the best decision to alter our plans, it was still disappointing and yet I’m grateful for those of us who attended the annual meeting last night.)
This unpredictability of life is something I’m accepting more readily these days. On some level we all know life is unpredictable. That is until calm seas with gentle breezes erupt into a giant storm with our boat being tossed about on perilous high waves that threaten to sink us. Rowing to stay afloat, weariness settles into the depths of our being and our spirits become parched like the desert. In times like these, pastor and poet, Jan Richardson, assures us “that even in the deepest desert there are wellsprings and in the wilderness, wings.” According to Jan, and I’m beginning to experience this for myself, there is no substitute for desert places in the spiritual life. They offer a wisdom we cannot get any other way. Finding herself at one point in a struggle that caught her entirely by surprise, Jan also realized there are times for removing ourselves from the struggle. Time for sabbath. Time for rest. Yearning for this, I will be on retreat a few days in February when my step-son from South Korea will be visiting and able to stay with Joe (who is, by the way, making steady progress!) In the meantime, I share this blessing of Jan Richardson for those who may be amid a desert-time:
Even in the desert,
even in the wilderness,
sabbath comes.
May you keep it.
Light the candles,
say the prayers:
Welcome, sabbath.
Welcome, rest.
Enter in
and be our guest.
Jenny+
I would not want to be a meteorologist reporting on the weather. They are wrong much of the time. Utilizing scientific measurements, information about atmospheric pressure and weather patterns to make their predictions, Mother Nature can still be very unpredictable. She may decide to make a slight shift to the north and what the experts thought was going to be snow turns out to be rain. Or Mother Nature can withhold her anticipated tornado and adorn the sky with a rainbow. Granted meteorologists sometimes get it right. Nonetheless we blame them for ruining outdoor events like birthday parties and weddings. We blame them for having to cancel concerts and for rescheduling our parish-wide annual meeting. (While I think for safety-sake we made the best decision to alter our plans, it was still disappointing and yet I’m grateful for those of us who attended the annual meeting last night.)
This unpredictability of life is something I’m accepting more readily these days. On some level we all know life is unpredictable. That is until calm seas with gentle breezes erupt into a giant storm with our boat being tossed about on perilous high waves that threaten to sink us. Rowing to stay afloat, weariness settles into the depths of our being and our spirits become parched like the desert. In times like these, pastor and poet, Jan Richardson, assures us “that even in the deepest desert there are wellsprings and in the wilderness, wings.” According to Jan, and I’m beginning to experience this for myself, there is no substitute for desert places in the spiritual life. They offer a wisdom we cannot get any other way. Finding herself at one point in a struggle that caught her entirely by surprise, Jan also realized there are times for removing ourselves from the struggle. Time for sabbath. Time for rest. Yearning for this, I will be on retreat a few days in February when my step-son from South Korea will be visiting and able to stay with Joe (who is, by the way, making steady progress!) In the meantime, I share this blessing of Jan Richardson for those who may be amid a desert-time:
Even in the desert,
even in the wilderness,
sabbath comes.
May you keep it.
Light the candles,
say the prayers:
Welcome, sabbath.
Welcome, rest.
Enter in
and be our guest.
Jenny+
Trinity Enews January 17, 2019
I used to love riding roller coasters. When Joe and I were dating and my stepson, Paul, was about 10, I loved riding roller coasters with Paul. Holding on for dear life, screaming my head off, being jerked around was thrilling. We would exit the ride, laugh hysterically, and then off we’d go to get in line to ride again. Twenty years later, not so much. I no longer like being tossed about, being scared to death, soaring wild and free. These days I much prefer peace and calm.
Which is one reason I’m glad life at Trinity has settled down a bit. The staff is in place and works really well together. The PIC process is more familiar to the vestry and now that we have our goals and new structure, we’re also a little more at ease. I have a pretty good sense of who you are, where you sit in worship, and am more aware of pastoral needs as they arise.
I do believe we are doing God’s work and being open and responsive to the ways God is calling forth more in us as individuals and as a parish is foundational for spiritual growth. So, while this is not the time for meandering down the “lazy river,” it can be a Godly time of enjoying a slower pace. At least this is what I’m thinking with the roller coaster Joe and I are riding right now as he recovers from brain surgery and now a case of pneumonia. Even though he was admitted to Danbury Hospital for a couple of days this week for IV antibiotics, his spirits are up and he’s recovering as expected. Plus, your thoughts, prayers, cards, meals and care are making this ride much less harrowing! Hope to see you all in Worship and the Annual Meeting on Sunday (please note inclement weather plan below.) Faithfully, Jenny+
I used to love riding roller coasters. When Joe and I were dating and my stepson, Paul, was about 10, I loved riding roller coasters with Paul. Holding on for dear life, screaming my head off, being jerked around was thrilling. We would exit the ride, laugh hysterically, and then off we’d go to get in line to ride again. Twenty years later, not so much. I no longer like being tossed about, being scared to death, soaring wild and free. These days I much prefer peace and calm.
Which is one reason I’m glad life at Trinity has settled down a bit. The staff is in place and works really well together. The PIC process is more familiar to the vestry and now that we have our goals and new structure, we’re also a little more at ease. I have a pretty good sense of who you are, where you sit in worship, and am more aware of pastoral needs as they arise.
I do believe we are doing God’s work and being open and responsive to the ways God is calling forth more in us as individuals and as a parish is foundational for spiritual growth. So, while this is not the time for meandering down the “lazy river,” it can be a Godly time of enjoying a slower pace. At least this is what I’m thinking with the roller coaster Joe and I are riding right now as he recovers from brain surgery and now a case of pneumonia. Even though he was admitted to Danbury Hospital for a couple of days this week for IV antibiotics, his spirits are up and he’s recovering as expected. Plus, your thoughts, prayers, cards, meals and care are making this ride much less harrowing! Hope to see you all in Worship and the Annual Meeting on Sunday (please note inclement weather plan below.) Faithfully, Jenny+