what to expect

When you visit Trinity, you can expect a warm welcome in a small country Episcopal parish that, despite our small size, continually surprises everyone with how much we do.

–If you’re looking for information on how to get to Trinity, please see the driving instructions, Google map, and short video showing what Trinity looks like when you’re arriving.  It’s on our Where We Are page.

–If you’re coming to attend a worship service at Trinity (Sunday services are at 8 and 10:30 AM), you can find lots more information about our worship on our Worship page.

–We’ve discovered that many people, when asked, freely admit that they were a little anxious about what to wear the first time they visited a new church.  Well, we can help with that!!

You’ll find many more photos on our Facebook page, and here’s a photo of the interior of Trinity:

 

Just a note to parents:  In a small parish like ours, Sunday School for young people works out better when we know which young people will be present, so we ask that if you plan to bring your young people and would like for them to attend Sunday School, please call the parish office and leave a message, or e-mail the Rector so we’ll be ready.  The last session for this school year will be June 22.

Often (but not always) the first activity in which people new to Trinity participate is formal Christian Worship.

It’s what most people think of as “going to church.”

Sunday mornings we have a quiet, contemplative Holy Eucharist without music at 8 AM.

Our main Sunday worship is at 10:30 AM, both in person and via livestream, usually with Holy Eucharist and choir.

If you cannot be with us in person, you can watch the livestream of our service.  (You’ll find the link to our livestream on our home page).

Within Trinity we have three congregations, each with their own distinctive style of worship.  While most people eventually gravitate to one or another, there’s no reason why you cannot participate in two or even three of them.  Here they are:

The 8 AM Congregation.  This congregation assembles at 8 AM each Sunday .  This congregation celebrates Holy Eucharist every Sunday when clergy is available.  Except on Christmas and Easter there’s usually no music, and liturgical roles are assigned each day as worshipers arrive. The Eucharist is usually over by 8:40 AM. Young people attending this service worship with their parents.

The 10:30 AM Congregation.    This congregation usually celebrates Holy Eucharist, according to Rite II, and at this service we have organ and choral music year-round.  Usually the priest sings or chants a portion of the liturgy and responses are likewise sung. Some months we hold one Youth Sunday, when young people do some of the readings, assist at the altar.  The service lasts between 60 – 70 minutes on a typical Sunday.  It is followed by coffee hour, to which all are invited (and most people attend).  This service is usually livestreamed, which brings us to the third congregation.

The Online Congregation.   While increasingly churches provide livestreamed services, at Trinity we recognize that we have online visitors who never cross the physical threshold of our building but who attend — and worship — with us online.  Anchored by the livestream of the 10:30 AM service, we also make an effort to reach out to our “virtual” members via online Bible study (via Zoom) and an online coffee hour following the 10:30 AM service most Sunday mornings (also via Zoom).  Notably, at present we have two Vestry members who are members of our online congregation (one lives in New Hampshire and the other in New York City).  Our Vestry meetings are held via Zoom, and we also provide coverage via Zoom for parish meetings and other functions for which it’s feasible.

On the principal Feast days and other days of obligation during the Church year we often have additional services.  Some examples include Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Ascension Day, and others.

Our special services are usually advertised in the Lakeville Journal, generally announced on this website, and always announced in our Trinity Update and in our recorded message on the parish phone.  Call 860-435-2627 at any time for a recording of the times of services.  Yes, we generally livestream our special services as well.

Style of worship

Some people (usually people pretty familiar with The Episcopal Church) ask us about the style of our worship at Trinity.  We’re solidly in the category of “Broad Church” (the extremes are Low Church on one hand and High Church on the other).

We’re in the middle:  we have elements of High Church practice (for example, our choir usually sings choral responses, our Celebrant usually chants a portion of the Eucharist, on most Sundays bells are rung during the Eucharist, and votive candles are always available for those who wish to use them) and also Low Church (we don’t use incense, we occasionally use alternative liturgies, and our general emphasis is on welcome and participation rather than formality).

(This page is pretty much intended for current Episcopalians (or those who “talk the talk” church-wise — we’ve been know to call this page “expert mode”)
If you’re a practicing Episcopalian, you may want to find out what our worship is like in terms that you’re already familiar with.

So, for you, here’s a summary of how we worship at Trinity:

• High church vs. low church?  We lean somewhat toward the high church side — at least for this geographic area, where we’re the highest church around.  At our main Holy Eucharist, we have our choir (year-round) and organist, the celebrant frequently chants with sung choral responses, we sometimes ring bells, you can light a votive candle if you wish, but (due to a severe allergy of one of our faithful long-time choristers) we use incense only on rare occasions.  Probably we are really in the “Broad Church” category, incorporating elements from both high church and low church worship.
• * Which Prayer Book and which Rite do you use?  We use the current (1977) Book of Common Prayer and the 1982 Hymnal (occasionally adding hymns and service music from Wonder, Love and Praise, as well as service music written for us by our Organist/Choir Director.  We normally use Rite I at the 8 AM service, and Rite II at the 10:30 AM service, but in Advent and Lent and occasionally on request we use the more solemn Rite I at the 10:30 AM service.  We generally do not have Morning Prayer in our main worship services except when we do not have an ordained celebrant present.
• * What do you call your priest?  Our Rector, the Rev. Heidi Truax,  prefers to be addressed as “Pastor Heidi”.
•  Organizationally, where in the Anglican Communion does your allegiance lie?  Trinity Lime Rock is a loyal parish of the Diocese of Connecticut, a diocese of The Episcopal Church.
• May I use my smartphone or tablet to follow the service?  Certainly!  We have recently expanded our wi-fi coverage to include the nave and chancel.

 

Other questions people ask:
–What to wear?  We’ve got a whole page about that!  Please click here!
–Is there parking available?  Yes, abundant parking in our two parking lots and in Trinity Field (enter via Dugway Road).  More info on our “getting here” page.
–What about my kids?  We’re definitely kid-friendly, even for visitors, and there’s a whole lot of info for you here on our Young People pages.
–Download the bulletin for Sunday’s services (usually available Saturday afternoons for the next day’s services) — you’ll find the link to it right under the “Livestream” button on our home page.

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Can you think of other information we should provide on this page?  Please let our webmaster know!

 

Outside of worship

If you would like to know how we “walk the walk”, and offer companionship along the Way — not just on Sunday mornings,  not just at Trinity, visit our page on Outreach.  We know that we are called to serve in the community — and, perhaps, that is as important as our worship.  It’s where we place much of our emphasis as a parish.

Young people

If you have young people with you — or if you’re in that category yourself — there’s more information for you on our Young People page.   Regarding young people and our worship services, we often designate one Sunday per month as Young People’s Sunday for the 10:30 AM congregation .  On those days you may see (depending upon our current population of young people) our acolytes in procession, reading Scripture, leading the Psalm, leading the Prayers of the People, or assisting on the Altar.