ABOUT TRINITY
“This
house shall be called to all nations a house of prayer.”
Mark 11.17
These words
adorn the grand arch that towers over Trinity’s altar and are for
many people the first thing they notice when they enter the church.
We take this sentence pretty seriously.
Trinity
Church
in Watertown
was founded in 1828.
During these 179 years, tens of thousands of people have walked with
us at every conceivable stage in their faith journey.
We are a member of the Episcopal Church (more on that later).
But at our heart we
consider ourselves to be nothing more (or less) than a Christian
community of the New Testament.
While it may be difficult to compare Trinity’s physical
structure to an ancient house church in
Palestine, our members believe that the most
important things for worship are really quite simple: bible, table,
bread, wine, song and community.
The
center of our common life together is our weekly celebration of Holy
Communion. We believe
that our ability to be Jesus’ presence in the world is nourished by
our sharing together this holy meal.
For our early risers, our first celebration begins at
8 o’clock.
Without the fanfare of our choir, this service finds its
beauty in simplicity.
While many of our families attend the later service, we recently
responded to the growing number of children whose parents prefer the
early hour by organizing a full crew of acolytes.
Our
10 o’clock service is
our main family service.
Sunday School and nursery care are offered at this time.
The Chancel Choir, under the
leadership of Kyle P. Ramey, Director of Music Ministries, is known
throughout area for its musical excellence.
Check out the music pages of this website to learn more about
this program.
Nourished
by Word and Sacrament on Sundays, we turn our hearts to
mission for the rest of
the week. Our Rector
has challenged the congregation to have and maintain a
three-fold missionary focus: projects that address needs at the
local, national and international communities.
One local project that stands out is Trinity’s commitment to
the Watertown Urban Mission (we
really believe in the
Urban Mission!), especially their Dollar Dinner program.
Trinity’s kitchen serves up hundreds of meals each month
during the winter to our community’s neediest folks.
National and international mission projects include support
for the on-going rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
and support of the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund.
Trinity
Church
is a proud member of the
Episcopal Church of the
United States.
A lot of information about the Episcopal Church, its beliefs,
structures and activities can be found at
www.episcopalchurch.org.
The Episcopal Church is part of the 70 million-member world
wide Anglican Communion, a group of 33 international churches that
all share their heritage from the Church of England.
The
history of the Episcopal Church really is the history of the United States.
We trace our roots back to the Jamestown settlement and
have been an important part of our national identity for over 400
years. At times we have
been influential (more U.S. presidents have been Episcopalians than
any other denomination) while at other times we have paid the price
for being known as a church that challenges the status quo on a
large number of controversial issues.
A
lot of Episcopal churches have been in the news recently stating
their inability to accept (among a number of things) the desire of
our national leadership to recognize as holy the concept of same-sex
unions. Maybe it’s the
word “all” in the Scripture verse quoted at the top of this page,
but we at Trinity have always recognized that people at every end of
the spectrum need a place to belong.
Trinity is a place where conservative and liberal Christians
can worship along side each other in safety and integrity.
Luckily we’re not looking to create cookie-cutter Christians.
It has been our experience that belonging to a group of
entirely like-minded people is ultimately…well…boring.
We’re definitely not boring.
This
Episcopal Church not only welcomes you, we invite you.
We invite you to bring your questions, your gifts, your joy
and pain. But beware,
hearts and minds are changed in this place.
In short, be prepared to find a little of what you are
looking for, and a lot of what you never knew you needed.
Trinity Episcopal church