A Joy-Filled Trinity Sunday
There were three parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster celebrating their patronal festivals for 2017 on Sunday, June 11 but unfortunately Bishop Skelton can only be in one place at a time, so for this year she found herself at the 9:30am Eucharist celebrated at The Church of the Holy Trinity in beautiful and historic White Rock.
Instead of two liturgies at 8 and 10 there was one combined service at 9:30am. Bishop Skelton preached and presided at the Eucharist. Rector, the Reverend Neil Gray offered an enthusiastic, witty welcome and administered the bread of Holy Communion; Deacon, the Reverend Paul Richards was deacon of the word and table and was also intercessor for the worship.
Following the announcements and welcome the choir and sanctuary party processed in to the Opening Hymn, Christ is Made the Sure Foundation verses 1-4. After verse 4 Bishop Skelton gathered the children of the parish and presented them with (complete with visual aids) their own customized version of a Trinity Sunday homily. After the talk, the children went to their program and the choir and congregation concluded the Opening Hymn singing verse 5.
Following the Gloria and the Collect, the first reading, Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a was a celebration of the story of Creation presented by seven different readers, on for each of the 7 days. The first six readers stood but remained in front of the pews in which they were sitting except for the final reader, chorister Peter Johnson, ODNW who rose from his place in the chancel choir stall and completed the reading from the lectern.
Bishop Skelton chose the theme of things happening in groups of 3 for her sermon theme but she changed things up as she brought the address to its conclusion and illustrated that it isn’t only “bad things” that come in threes. A video of the bishop’s address is available here.
The addition of guest trumpeter, Justin Bury really added some extra zing to the music in worship, particularly the anthem that took place after Holy Communion, R, Vaughan Williams’s The Old 100th. Organist, choir and trumpeter did a commendable job of this well-known piece and the congregation joined in with great gusto for verse 5:
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
The God, whom heaven and earth adore,
From us and from the angel host
Be praise and glory evermore.
Following the Episcopal Blessing the choir and sanctuary party processed out to Bishop Heber’s iconic hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, followed by the Dismissal and the Postlude, Trumpet Voluntary
At 11am a large percentage of the 80+ consisting of the congregation, choir and clergy adjourned to the Parish Hall for food, drink and a meeting with Bishop Skelton, where questions were asked and answered and the mission and ministry vision for The Church of the Holy Trinity, White Rock was discussed.
IMAGES
- The Eucharistic Prayer, the Reverend Paul Richards, Bishop Skelton, the Reverend Neil Gray
- The Peace
- The Choir leader turns to the congregation inviting them to join in for verse 5 of The Old 100th.