April 8, 2022

Dear People of God,

I want to say a few words about what makes life at Trinity so valuable for our journey with Christ. It comes down to a phrase you have heard before, “keep the main thing the main thing.” There is much going on in our world that merits our attention and our passions. We live in a time when society at large, and the church, is keenly aware of injustices, past and present, for which reconciliation is needed. We are slowly walking our way to recovery from COVID, a pandemic; the first in over 100 years. A full-scale war takes place right before our eyes, with a chilling amount of detail. Prices continue to go up and down. Gas is now cheaper than it was two weeks ago.

Sometimes Christian communities can get lost in the staggering depth of need that surrounds them and they make the need the main thing. When this happens, we can drown in the needs of the world — COVID, injustices, war, peace. Yet the only way to see the needs of the world with the eyes of Jesus is to keep the main thing the main thing and the main thing is the Cross of Christ.

At Trinity, we do our best to keep the main thing the main thing. Our community of faith is the place we go to center ourselves and draw strength and hope, in order that we may then respond to the needs of the world with the mind of Christ. From our worship to our preaching to our myriad of formation opportunities and opportunities for service we begin, always, with the truth that the Cross is our foundation, our light, and our life. On the Cross, Christ shows what love truly looks like and commands us to love others.

When I was a child, I remember being in the hospital and my father visiting me. Before he left one evening he said, “if I could take your place for you, I would.” The Cross is the wild and radical belief that God loves us so much God will bear our sufferings and our sins. The Cross is why we care about the world, why we strive for reconciliation in all things, why we believe wrongs must be put right, and why we pray and work for peace.

It is my joy to be a companion with you in the shadow of the Cross. May you and yours have a blessed Holy Week and Easter and may we, together, glory in the Cross of Christ and always keep the main thing the main thing.

By Grace,