Saturday morning a small group of us went for a walk before breakfast. Over breakfast the topic of where we planned on attending church Sunday morning came up. Two of the members of the group were heading to Trinity Washington, and the other two of us asked if we could go with them. Plans were made, and off we went to start our individual days.
Yesterday morning Barbara, Joyce, Maxine, and I climbed into Anita's car for the drive into the District. We left an hour before the service "just in case" (or as my family says, "the bridge might be up"). It was a good choice. We took a wrong exit off of 395 and ended up seeing parts of Washington we hadn't planned on seeing. The Siri sounded quite cross at times, and we joked that we'd be in trouble if we heard Siri say "Do not cross the Jordan River. Make a u-turn and go back to the Wilderness." We arrived at Trinity 15 minutes before the service started.
An usher handed us each a bulletin, and several people said good morning as we headed down to the front of the church to find seats. The rector stopped by to greet us, as he and Anita have known each other for a while, and I worked with him last month when the parish's young adult volunteers had their beginning of the year retreat at the seminary.
The church was full by the time the service started. High church? Not only did they use incense, I observed dalmatics and tunicles on various members of the altar party. This parish is also one of the very few I've visited where the copies of Lift Every Voice and Sing are more used than my at former parish in Connecticut.
A lot happened during the service. They were auditioning the last organist candidate, and the choir did not do well masking their opinions. There was a baptism. They installed the new officers of their Episcopal Church Women chapter. It was Ministries Sunday. And the Peace was fairly lengthy. The service went on for almost two-and-a-half hours, though it never felt like it was dragging. Well, the announcements, which came between the Peace and the Offertory, took longer than they should have. Three people got up and talked about Saturday's parish picnic. Definitely a lot going on!
The other thing they did during announcements was to ask newcomers/visitors to stand and introduce themselves. They even passed the mic around to do it. Three of our group didn't stand, but the rector came over and made a point of having us introduce ourselves because of the connections that already existed. I will say it again. This is not always the best way to identify or welcome visitors.
I saw something new to me. A cup sat on each of the patens used for distributing the bread. It took me a moment to realize that the cups held wine, and they were used for intinction when the clergy placed the intincted wafer on the communicant's tongue. it also took a moment for me to see that there were also chalices. I probably would have been better off receiving an intincted wafer. The Eucharistic minister spilled wine on me. It happens sometimes. I've done it myself.
On the surface, this congregation isn't any more diverse than any of the others I've visited since I've been here. But a closer look reveals that the members come from several different African countries and the Caribbean. There is a small number of Anglos. They also have a wide variety of age groups, though I did not see many teenagers.
We spent a few minutes at the Ministry Fair and then headed out to find something to eat. Siri didn't get too annoyed with us, since we didn't make any wrong turns. We ended up at La Madeleine in Old Town.
I really enjoyed visiting Trinity. It has a lot to offer. But I still have a list of churches I want to visit, especially now that Summer is over.
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