Dear Town Family,
As summer comes to an end, in our uncertain and hurting world, you might join us in asking what is good and what is required of us as neighbors? The prophet Micah is clear: “ to do justice, love loving-kindness and walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) We wanted to reach out to you in gratitude. How good it has been to celebrate and walk together in love in so many ways.
We have sought to join you in loving loving-kindness. At our eight Concerts on the Hill, through the delightful eats of our food trucks, gifts of our musicians, ice cream of Alene, volunteer help of our parishioners, financial sponsorship of our sponsors, and your joyful participation, we had a good time!
We are currently collecting Back to School donations for the Holy Trinity Foundation that provides schooling and meals for the children of the villages of La Saline Trouen and Petit Paradis. If you would like to help, please drop off school supplies to the bins outside the church (59 Church Road) or send checks made out to the Holy Trinity Foundation.
We are so glad, too, that Alcoholics Anonymous meetings have resumed meeting in person at the church to help support those seeking and in recovery (https://ct-aa.org/locations/christ-church-2/).
We have also sought with you to do justice. In June, we were delighted to join Easton Pride in affirming God’s love for all God’s children. Within the parish, we continued reflections on our church and town’s historical complicity in the sin of racism.
In July, we partnered with the Easton Public Library and our literal neighbor to sponsor a movie celebrating Black History and exploring racism and race relations. This month, our teens planned and worked with the library and GLSEN-Connecticut to host an Inclusive Story Hour with a Drag Artist as special guest; to help our children to know themselves fully loved and to build empathy for others, we provided a read-along for kids celebrating gender and racial, ethnic, religious and family diversity. What a delight to gather for such uplifting stories!
You also may have seen the lawn signs posted at our entrances, stating that “Hate Has No Home Here.” We were invited to display the signs as part of a town-wide and national initiative to oppose racism and hate of all forms, and (with deep appreciation for the nonpartisan group of individuals who have been printing and distributing the signs locally) we readily agreed to post them when asked.
To address a design concern (to you who reached out directly, we also give our thanks; in the maelstrom that is civic discourse today, we treasure the chance to speak in true dialogue), we have replaced the original signs with ones stating the same message in a different presentation. Though the signs may have changed, the message’s importance and our shared commitment to action has not wavered.
Finally, of course, we have sought to walk humbly with our God. We worship every Sunday. If you’d like to join us, beginning Sept. 12, services will be held at 9:30 a.m. outdoors and masked (or in case of rain, by Zoom. We’ll resume indoor worship once again when we are out of the “red” zone. We mask to protect the most vulnerable among us).
Thank you for our wonderful summer. We look forward to continuing to do our best to join with you to do justice, love loving-kindness, and walk humbly together.
With Love,
Rev. Ally Brundige (Priest-in-Charge), Vicki MarkAnthony (Senior Warden), Sonia Bodie (Junior Warden), Amy Bailas (Vestry), Russ Bailas (Vestry), Marina Philips (Vestry), Joanna Rauch (Vestry), and Jim Swann (Vestry)
