Trinity Parish is, by West Coast standards, an ancient community first gathering in 1865 when the wounds of the Civil War were fresh in everyone's hearts. 

Today, we are a community of Christians busy reinventing ourselves within the urban center. For the first time in almost 75 years, people are returning to the inner city to live. All across the U.S. this new and yet old experiment is taking place. For Seattle, this means relearning how to be a community -- a civitas -- within a "new frontier."

Photo © 2006,
Paul Hannah

Trinity believes this is a completely new opportunity. There are no guidelines for how to build this renewed form of the human family. To this task, as the Gospel says, we "bring out of our treasure chests both what is old and what is new." For almost 2000 years, Christians have been gathering for deep prayer, human companionship, and ministry to each other and to those who need our help.

One ancient gift is our Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. But while this living treasure has been in use and evolving for 400 years, today we engage with it in new, sometimes surprising ways. It is a well-tested form of communal meditation. It is a way we join the great river of prayer that flows in each generation as we voice our hopes and fears to God. It is a way to go beyond our rational and analytical mind, and go to a quieter and more healing place.

Please join with us, as an Open & Affirming congregation, as we learn how to pray together, to serve those in need, and learn once again how to be citizens of this great city. -ds

- The Rev. Paul Collins, Rector