Light on the Arts: Trinity's choir sings from the St. John Passion

On this Holy Thursday, here are three recordings from the St. John Passion by Bach, as sung by Trinity's choir, directed by Horace Beasley and recorded by Brad Ward.

O Wondrous Love

Thy Will Be Done

O Mighty King

words to the St. John Passion, so you can follow along

Light on the Arts: God's dancers

a poem by Brian F.

GOD’S DANCERS

The soldiers of God and the ministers of God are also God’s dancers.

“I can believe only in a God that dances,” spaketh the prophet. Yes,

but also in a ruler of the heart who recognizes the beauty of small

things, the smallest things that make all the difference. I am devoted

to you. I breathe for you and breathe by you, and for you I am laying

down my burdens. All human concepts return to the center—While

my heart breaks for history it dances in the present.

Light on our Congregational Community: Belonging to the family of God

by Mary C.

As an elementary teacher who teaches in New York City schools, the concept and practice of inclusion is near and dear to my heart. How can I include all my students into the classroom community? How can I include each child, who each brings such a variety of strengths, funds of knowledge, challenges, and interests to school each day? How can I support students in reaching out to each other? How can I teach students about social justice, drawing on their own natural instincts about what is fair and unfair? Living these questions is an often messy, imperfect, frustrating, yet also often joyful and very necessary endeavor. This endeavor is both personal and political, for me.

Unfortunately, children are excluded from schools, classrooms, and peer groups for so many reasons. I’m sure we could each think about ways we, and our loved ones, have been excluded in a variety of settings, and the damage that exclusion caused psychologically, socially, spiritually.

As a teacher, I consider “what is worth knowing?” as I plan curriculum and instruction each year, each week, and each day. Yes, too often teachers' notions of what is worth knowing are at odds with standardized tests and the ways people, both teachers and students, are currently "measured" in schools. Nonetheless, while my list of “what is worth knowing” for my students is quite long, for me, a few points fall at the very top of that list for them to know:

• · It is important to know that I am a valuable member of this community.
• · It is important that I value my peers for their diverse talents and unique personalities.
• · It is important that I am compassionate and speak out if someone is treated hurtfully or unfairly.

This brings me to reflections on why I value Trinity's community so much. At this church, all are welcomed at the Lord's table.

Light on our Congregational Community: God's love through food!

by Katie D.

For me, recipes = devotions! It occurs to me that food is a huge part of our community fabric and one of the most tangible ways we celebrate our diversity.

I love this pizza dough recipe and use it to make caramelized onion and gorgonzola pizza with homemade dough...that plus a bottle of wine, a green salad, and some good friends is my new Friday night ritual.

(note from Mary: What are your favorite recipes? When/for whom do you usually make them?Please share your thoughts and/or your recipes by commenting on this post, or by e-mailing me at mary dot coakley at gmail dot com. I would also still love any and all submissions to this blog, so send those along as well!)

Light on the Arts: A Writer's Faith Journey

by Leanna H.

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:5

This piece of scripture became a turning point for my art and my soul one Sunday morning.

But that’s somewhat of an Omega when I should introduce Alpha. For me, John 1:5 is a point of fruition. Let me first begin with a point of inception.

I’ve heard and read pieces of scripture all my life. I’ve only now begun to remember it, and incorporate it. I think worshipping in a place that really nurtures us spiritually, intellectually and psychologically means that we can hear what God wants us to hear, what we need to hear. We are fed by the spiritual practice of gathering on Sunday to renew in ritual what we may question throughout the week. Trinity opens my plugged ears and feeds my grumbling stomach, because here for the first time I feel a spiritual alignment.

Trinity is the church my parents always wanted to find. Spiritual nomads, we searched the rural Midwest for a church that reflected a grounded biblical practice, inclusion and progressive values. Instead we found that one of two things tended to be lacking; either there was little spiritual substance rooted in the Gospel, or the message from the pulpit was far from inclusive on gender, race, and sexual orientation.

My artistic, nomadic nature made me migrate to this city where millions of immigrants and migrants of every kind have converged for centuries. But while I never lacked faith, a spiritual practice was one of many of my missing pieces. Another missing piece was the sense that I was fulfilling God’s calling. I’ve always, whether in song, performance, visual art or writing, felt that God was calling me to be an artist. But in coming to New York I was pulled in many directions. I felt I was failing God and my dreams. It was only after desperate prayer, and prayers answered, that I realized God was calling me to be, specifically, an author. There are themes I’m meant to echo, in fantastical and unexpected ways, I was called to be an uncommon witness- in mass market paperback.

Trinity Lutheran Church has taken disparate pieces of me and made a more whole person, imperfect as I am, justified by grace. The fraught, starving artist and the needy child of God find peace in the space for grace created between Trinity’s historic, Gothic eaves (the architectural style of which happens to have factored into all my stories since childhood). Being an artist often leaves few spaces for grace, much less in pretty, grand places. Being an artist is a life of pain, questioning, struggle both financial and personal, lack of understanding, rejection, sacrifice and darkness. Jesus well understands. He went through all that too, and for greater reasons than mine. He lived that fraught life for us. His light shines still, undiminished. So must we.

My latest book consciously and unconsciously contains scriptural references heard on various Sundays, the Gospel striking important chords, one by one, affirming that God always has something to say, and so do I: Good news. Darkness will not overcome us, no matter how much we question, no matter how much we struggle to find our path and calling. One theme emerges time and again from my books; those words of John 1:5. Once I realized that theme, there was a balm in my personal Gilead.

A recurring numbers in my life can’t be a coincidence. My first novel attempted at age 12 was set in the year 1888. My debut novel that was released last year is set in the year 1888. The first Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan was founded in 1888.

God is involved in our lives, and has been all along. Lighting our path.

Light of Our Youth: Sofia's Prayer

Dear God,

Please help so that our church doesn't break and you can rebuild it. We love you, Amen.

Sofia H, 4 years old

Light on the Arts: A Picture of Faith

A Portrait of Jesus Risen by Albert West

Hear the story of this special picture of faith for Dolores' Y family. To hear the audio file click here then click in the center of the page where it says Play.

(Hint for Maximum Apreciation: You may want to open this blog in another window first. Then click on the picture so you can see it larger. Next click on the link to hear the audio. And lastly return to the window where you have the big image of the drawing so you can get the visual and audio at the same time.)