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Welcome to the website of Trinity Episcopal Church. We are located at 10 E. Fourth Street in London, Ohio.

Sunday Worship:   10 a.m.  This service will be live streamed.

 

About Us

Trinity is a lively congregation committed to living the good news of Christ by loving others and serving the community.

Our building is used by community partners in their work:

Narcotics Anonymous . . . Sundays at 1:00 p.m.

Al-Anon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ….. Sundays at 6:30 p.m.

Narcotics Anonymous . . . Mondays at 6:30 p.m.

Alcoholics Anonymous . . .Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.

Alcoholics Anonymous … Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.

Alcoholics Anonymous . . .Fridays at 6:30 p.m.

Alcoholics Anonymous (women only) … Saturdays at 10 a.m.

Codependence Anonymous … Saturdays at 5:00 p.m.

Alcoholics Anonymous … Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.

Meetings are open to all regardless of addiction

For more information contact:
Dale @ 740.852.5155

Autumn: Feast of All Saints

 

Autumn.  We are in that time of year where leaves turn and fall, where the frost begins to bite, where much that has characterized the last six months – especially the green – takes a long nap.  We know it will reappear, though some will actually die – like us someday.  This time of year is highlighted by the feast of All Saints.

In their various lifetimes the saints were witnesses to the way God’s Spirit raises up human beings to be lights of the world in their various generations.  For our time we might think of Mother Teresa or Archbishop Desmond Tutu but there are so many others. Why don’t we remember The Rev. Daniel Berrigan or Bishop James Pike?  I think we rarely consider that there were/are saints not valued in their lifetime by their fellow Christians or by the Church at large.  Rather they were looked upon as heretics, doomsayers, and disturbers of the peace. 

I have recently been re-reading a book on Margery Kempe, a mystic who lived in King’s Lynn, England in the late 1300’s and early 1400’s. Margery grew up as the petulant, selfish daughter of rich merchant of that town. Through a series of sorrows and tragedies she finally confronted the pettiness of her life and began to listen to the voice of Jesus who spoke to her of is love for her.

Margery relates “how our Lord spoke to her in her mind, revealing many truths and mysteries to her.”(1)  She wrote in her book, Jesus said to me “Daughter, you have every reason to be as happy as any lady in this world.  And, if you only knew, daughter, how much you please me when you let me speak willingly to you, you would never want it any other way, for this is a holy life, and time is well spent.”  She also wrote: “Ah, daughter,” said the Lord, “don’t be afraid.  I don’t care about what a person has been, but what they will be.  You’ve looked down on yourself, so you will never be looked down upon by God … I make the unworthy worthy, the sinful righteous. And so I have you worthy to me, once loved and forever loved by me.”(2)

She seems like the kind of saint that the church of her day would honor.  But she is a wife and a mother, an illiterate woman sharing with highly educated clergy what Jesus is saying to her.  Most are not impressed but think she has a demon or is mentally ill.  Because of her enthusiasm she is often mistaken for a Lollard (a group of heretics in the eyes of the church then).  And finally in church any mention of the sufferings of Christ, Margery dissolved into tears and more than tears.  Often it was so loud and disrupting that others in the pews threaten her.  She would say it was out of her control.  This was a gift that Jesus gave her.

So in a time when the church in England was very hierarchical, when clergy had a wealth of education and power, when worship was solemn, always doing things decently and in order, order here is Margery a saint empowered by direct conversations with Jesus disrupting it all with an enthusiasm that was rare at the time.  Her tearful devotion highlights how far the church had drifted from its true course, in my opinion.

From generation to generation God’s Spirit raises up saints, some of whom seem to embody the spirit of the age and some of whom seem a counter to it.  

In the sanctuary of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco the walls are inhabited with the icons of various saints who are depicted as dancing with one another.  The very diversity of the saints chosen is what makes it so memorable to me.  The one I remember in particular is Queen Elizabeth in her clothes of the 16th century dancing with Malcolm X.  What an odd pairing.  Or is it odd?  Isn’t this diversity what God has been doing through his saints all along?  If so, aren’t we called to be among those who want to hear what Jesus is saying to the Margery Kempes of our time rather than be among those calling for her to be quiet.

Fr. George

  1.  Margery Kempe of Lynn and Medieval England, by Margaret Gallyon, p. 91
  2. The Book of Margery Kempe, pp. 48, 78

Healing

Healing

Trinity Church offers healing by way of prayer, anointing with oil and the laying on of hands.  We take seriously Jesus’ commission to his disciples to heal the sick and to say to them:  The kingdom of God has come near to you.

On most Sundays mornings, after people have received communion the priest invites those who would like healing to receive the laying on of hands.  By means of oil on the forehead in the sign of a cross, hands upon the person’s head, and a prayer for healing we are reminded that though we live in a fallen world where sin, sickness, and suffering are part of existence, God wants to heal us.  Some of those seek healing for themselves and some seek healing for others.

God’s healing takes many forms, one of the major being the healing at the hands of physicians, nurses, therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists.  This is complimented by the kind of healing that the church has known and practiced for hundreds of years.  “Body, mind and spirit are not three separate entities to be dealt with one at a time.  Our health is related to our life style, values, emotions, feelings about ourselves, and our relationships with other people and God.”

The healing ministry for any one who desires it.  It is not restricted to just members of the congregation.  You are invited to join us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.

[Adapted from “Healing Everywhere” by The Rev. Bruce E. Whitehead of the Order of St. Luke the Physician]