Dear Trinity Friends,

Perhaps we are at that stage of recovery where speaking openly about the hope of the Gospel is possible. It’s a delicate space to be in. Hope is my calling, as is shepherding grief and loss. Helene has inconvenienced some of us, some of us have lost much, and others have lost everything. When those of us who have been inconvenienced speak too quickly about hope, it can seem out of touch at best and cruel at worst. 

Yet, I now dare to speak about the hope of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we boldly proclaim our belief that God is renewing the world. One of the most meaningful collects (prayers) in the Book of Common Prayer says that God is always building a new creation. It reads:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look 

favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred 

mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry 

out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world 

see and know that things which were cast down are being 

raised up, and things which had grown old are being made 

new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection 

by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus 

Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity 

of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

The prayer is read in several places in the Book of Common Prayer. No other collect in the church shares the same importance and is repeated in the same way as often. The prayer is found in ordination services to the Diaconate, Priesthood, and Episcopate; it is read as part of the Easter Vigil and on Good Friday. At the start of ministry, the proclamation of the Resurrection, and the Crucifixion, we proclaim that God is doing a new thing.

As I’ve said before, the God we worship is not the cause of disasters, nor does God need disasters such as Helene's, but God will draw good from them when they happen. God will take what is cast down and broken in our own community and make it whole. We may not get to see God bring everything together, but we know God is at work making all things new. 

May this church, our church, Trinity Church, be both a place for sharing our burdens, our grief and sorrow, and a place of hope. Here is a safe place for tears of sorrow and joy, loss and hope. And from here may the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new and that all things are being brought to their perfection, by him through who all things were made, Jesus the Christ.  

Scott+