Trinity Church Welcomes All through its "Big Red Doors" with Tibetan prayer flags flying in the wind. It would be hard to find a more diverse group of believers, used-to-be believers, and sort-of believers. Many of us were born into other religions and denominations, and have found ourselves to be part of the inclusiveness of God's love.

Creation Season

Creation Time in the Season of Pentecost begins the Sunday before Labor Day and ends on Reformation Sunday. It is not a church season, but a period in which congregations celebrate the fact that creation is an integral part of the whole Christian year.


September 1-David Pendleton Oakerhater, Deacon and Missionary, 1931.Oakerhater was an honored Cheyenne warrior who fought in the conflicts with white Americans in the late nineteenth century. While a prisoner of war in St. Augustine, Florida, he was converted to Christ. Released, he was baptized, taking the name David Pendleton, and studied for holy orders in the Diocese of Central New York. In 1881 he was ordained deacon and returned to his tribe in the Indian Territory, accompanied by his mentor, the Rev. John Wicks. Oakerhater addressed his former comrades-in-arms, “…You remember when I led you out to war I went first and what I told you was true. Now, I have been away to the East and I have learned about another captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is my Leader. He goes first, and all He tells me is true. I come back to my people to tell you to go with me now on this new road, into a war that makes peace…” Wicks retired in 1884 because of ill health, but Oakerhater continued, winning hundreds to Christ. His people called him “God’s Warrior” and “Peace Chief.” He established the Whirlwind School near Fay, Oklahoma, a landmark in the education of the Cheyenne. For nearly half a century David Pendleton Oakerhater was a tower of strength and a symbol of the new faith to his Native American brethren.

September 1-St. Giles, His early history, as given in the Legenda Aurea, he withdrew deep into the forest near Nîmes, where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a deer, or red deer, who in some stories sustained him on her milk. Giles ate a vegetarian diet. This retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. An arrow shot at the deer wounded the saint instead, who afterwards became a patron of cripples. The king, who by legend was Wamba, an anachronistic Visigoth, but who must have been (at least in the original story) a Frank due to the historical setting, conceived a high esteem for the hermit, whose humility rejected all honors save some disciples, and built him a monastery in his valley, Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. Here he died in the early part of the 8th century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles. He is patron saint of disabled, beggars, cancer, breastfeeding, mental illness, horses and spur-makers.

September 2 - The Martyrs of New Guinea, 1942.New Guinea was the scene of much suffering, especially among Christians there when the Japanese invaded in 1942. Many European clergy and missionaries of other denominations had been withdrawn, had chosen to leave, or been forced to leave before the invasion. The Anglican Bishop of New Guinea, Philip Strong, issued this compelling message to his clergy: “We must endeavor to carry on our work…God expects this of us. The church at home, which sent us out, will surely expect it of us. The universal church expects it of us…The people whom we serve expect it of us. We could never hold up our faces again if, for our own safety, we all forsook him and fled, when the shadows of the passion began to gather around him in his spiritual and mystical body, the Church in Papua.” They stayed. Almost immediately there were arrests. Eight missionaries and two lay people were executed. It was only the beginning of suffering and persecution which the young church in New Guinea endured. It was the testing which proved the mettle of that young and vigorous part of Christ’s Body.

September 3 - Prudence Crandall (September 3, 1803 - January 28, 1890), a schoolteacher raised as a Quaker, stirred controversy with her education of African-American girls in Canterbury, Connecticut. Her private school, opened in the fall of 1831, was boycotted when she admitted a 17-year-old African-American female student in the autumn of 1833;[4] resulting in what is widely regarded as the first integrated classroom in the United States.

September 4 Mother Teresa of Calcutta

September 4 - Paul Jones (25 November 1880 – 4 September 1941) was the Episcopal Bishop of Utah (1916–1918), a socialist, and a prominent pacifist. He was forced to resign his see in April 1918 because of his outspoken opposition to World War I. Although in 1929 he was chosen as temporary bishop of Southern Ohio while the next incumbent was being selected, he never again held a permanent diocese. In 1933, presiding bishop James DeWolf Perry restored Jones's seat, but not his vote, in the House of Bishops.

Jones spent the rest of his life advocating for black civil rights, social reform and economic justice. He served as a chaplain at Antioch College and was instrumental in founding the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. Just prior to his death, he helped resettle Jews displaced by the Nazis and advocated a more understanding US relationship with Japan.

September 5 Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the country.

Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. "Labor Day" was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty U.S. states officially celebrated Labor Day.

Canada's Labour Day is also celebrated on the first Monday of September.

Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

September 5 - Gregorio Aglipay Cruz y Labayan (Latin: Gregorius Aglipay; 5 May 1860 – 1 September 1940) was a former Catholic priest who became the first head of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, an independent Catholic sect in the form of a national church in the Philippines.

Known for inciting patriotic rebellion among the Filipino clergy, he was also a political activist who became acquainted with Isabelo de los Reyes, who would start an Indepndent Christian Filipino Church named after Aglipay in 1902.

Aglipay was previously excommunicated by Archbishop Bernardino Norzaleda y Villa of Manila in May 1899, upon the expressed permission of Pope Leo XIII. Aglipay later joined Freemasonry in May 1918. Aglipay later married Pilar Jamias y Ver from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte in 1939 and then died one year later. Followers of Aglipay through the church colloquially sometimes refer to their membership as Aglipayans.

September 8 - The Nativity of Mary-Scripture does not record Mary's birth. The earliest known writing regarding Mary's birth is found in the Protoevangelium of James (5:2), which is an apocryphal writing from the late second century, where her parents are said to have been Saint Anne and Saint Joachim.The birth of Mary is narrated in the Quran with references to her father, after whom the chapter is named ('The Family of Imran') as well as her mother. The wife of Imran prayed to God to fulfil her desire and vowed, if her prayer was accepted, that her child would be dedicated to the service of God. She prayed for her child to remain protected from Satan (Shay?an) and Muslim tradition records a hadith, which states that the only children born without the "touch of Satan," were Mary and Jesus. The winegrowers in France called this feast "Our Lady of the Grape Harvest". The best grapes are brought to the local church to be blessed and then some bunches are attached to hands of the statue of Mary. A festive meal which includes the new grapes is part of this day.

September 9 - Constance and her Companions-Late in the summer of 1878 yellow fever struck Memphis, Tennessee, killing thousands. The Episcopal cathedral, St. Mary’s, and its adjacent Church Home were in the center of the most infected area and became shelters for victims. The cathedral staff and the Sisters of St. Mary, who operated the Church Home, faced enormous burdens in caring for the sick and dying. Sisters on retreat in Peekskill, New York, when the epidemic broke out, instead of keeping a safe distance, rushed back to Memphis.

Sister Constance was the first of the nuns to be stricken. As she died on September 9, her last words were “Alleluia, Hosanna,” simple words of praise remembered and inscribed on the cathedral’s high altar. Sister Constance’s companions in service to the sick and dying, Sisters Thecla and Ruth, soon followed her to the grave, as did Sister Frances, headmistress of the Church Home. She had nursed some thirty children at one time and had watched twenty-two die. The Rev. Louis Schuyler, a chaplain to the Sisters of St. Mary, also died of the fever, as did Canon Charles Parsons. Parsons was blessed with a vision of heaven as he lay dying and his last words were, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” On this day we honor those who gladly risked their own lives in order to save the lives of many and to assuage the final suffering of others. (attachment)

September 10 - Alexander Crummell- born in 1819, struggled against American racism all his life. When he applied for candidacy for holy orders in New York he was rejected and he was denied admittance to the General Theological Seminary because of his race. Eventually he was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Massachusetts but was refused a seat at the diocesan convention. He went to England and earned a degree from Cambridge University and then set out as a missionary to Liberia. He was an ardent and tireless evangelist and exerted enormous energy in the building up of the Episcopal Church there.

When he returned to the United States after the Civil War, he went to work organizing black Episcopal congregations to provide worship, education, and social services to their people. He became the rector of St. Luke’s Church in Washington, D.C., but his influence was felt throughout our land. Southern Episcopal bishops proposed the organization of a black missionary district; a separate, non-geographical jurisdiction. Crummell organized opposition to this idea and won the day. He was a founder of the Union of Black Episcopalians. His faith in God and his love for his people was inexhaustible and his loyalty to the Episcopal Church was unconditional.

September 10 - Waqf-al-Arafa happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan. This is the day where the pilgrims assemble on the plain of ‘Arafah to complete one of the essential rituals of the Hajj. It is claimed that this is the day the religion was perfected and the blessings of Allah were complete. The following verse was revealed to Muhammad on the day of ‘Arafah: Allah says: “Today, I have perfected your religion for you, and have completed My blessing upon you, and chosen Islam as Dīn (religion and a way of life) for you”. (Al Maidah: V3)

The completion of Allah’s blessing refers to forgiveness for ones sins by Allah, as without it the blessings of Allah cannot be complete. This brings to light the importance of being forgiven by Allah. Those not performing pilgrimage are permitted to fast on Arafah day, it is expected that Allah will expiate the sins committed the previous year.

September 11 - Henry "Harry" Thacker Burleigh (December 2, 1866 – September 12, 1949), a baritone, was an African-American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer. He was the first black composer to be instrumental in the development of a characteristically American music and he helped to make black music available to classically trained artists both by introducing them to the music and by arranging the music in a more classical format.

September 13 - John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, 407.In an influential, prosperous, and sophisticated city at the apex of international power, it is rarely popular to advocate restraint, self-control, and responsible living. When the leaders of mighty Constantinople elected John Chrysostom to be Patriarch of the city, they thought they had elected a holy man who would bless and affirm them in their way of living. They were only half right.

Chrysostom’s powerful sermons in the great cathedral, Santa (Hagia) Sophia, soon became like a cauldron of scalding water thrown in the faces of the rich and proud citizens of Constantinople. His example of piety, charity, and simple living was an embarrassment to many. Eventually, through the intrigue of a vain and powerful lady, Eudoxia, and a jealous and corrupt clergyman, Theophilus, John was exiled. He died as a prisoner on a forced march into the Caucasus Mountains in winter, a martyr for righteousness in a society bent on lust. However, his preaching and exemplary living had so touched the hearts of many that sweeping reforms were soon instituted and life in the great city was profoundly changed for a generation or more.

September 14 - Holy Cross Day-This feast is called in Greek ("Raising Aloft of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross") and in Latin Exaltatio Sanctae Crucis. In English, it is called The Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the official translation of the Roman Missal, while the 1973 translation called it The Triumph of the Cross. In some parts of the Anglican Communion the feast is called Holy Cross Day, a name also used by Lutherans. The celebration is also sometimes called Feast of the Glorious Cross.

According to legends that spread widely, the True Cross was discovered in 326 by Saint Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, during a pilgrimage she made to Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was then built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena and Constantine. The church was dedicated nine years later, with a portion of the cross placed inside it. Other legends explain that in 614, that portion of the cross was carried away from the church by the Persians, and remained missing until it was recaptured by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in 628. Initially taken to Constantinople, the cross was returned to the church the following year.

The date of the feast marks the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335 This was a two-day festival: although the actual consecration of the church was on September 13, the cross itself was brought outside the church on September 14 so that the clergy and faithful could pray before the True Cross, and all could come forward to venerate it.

September 15 -Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr of Carthage, 258.Cyprian was a respected attorney of Carthage who converted to Christianity in middle age. He had been baptized only two years before he was consecrated Bishop of Carthage. When the Decian persecution broke out he fled under duress, but retained the respect of his flock, continuing to correspond with those who were riding out the persecution in the city. When the persecution subsided, Cyprian returned to rebuild the diocese carefully and firmly.

When a plague broke out in 252, he quickly mobilized the church to help those in need and spent countless hours personally ministering to the sick of the city. This did not prevent public opinion and the authorities from blaming the plague on the “impious Christians.” Soon there was another persecution, this time under the Emperor Valerian, and Bishop Cyprian chose to stay in the city. He was arrested and exiled for a time, then tried and finally executed. Cyprian wrote a number of short treatises on Christian living, all of which show a profound understanding of human nature. He was a moderate and compassionate pastor and an example to his flock.

James Chisholm-priest -The summer of 1855 brought a virulent yellow fever epidemic to low-lying parts of Virginia, and as the wealthy departed for higher ground, most of their pastors and physicians went with them. Consider who would have remained - slaves, especially field workers and laborers, the poor, anyone without transport or a place to go. The evacuation of Norfolk would have had a lot in common with the evacuation of New Orleans as Katrina approached.

James Chisholm was the (first) rector of St. John's, Portsmouth, and was apparently a shy and retiring person with no reputation for particular strength - either inwardly or outwardly. Unkind persons would have called him a milquetoast. As the epidemic spread he sent his family away but he elected to stay in Portsmouth to minister to those in need. He distributed food, nursed the sick, and provided what pastoral care he could, up to and including digging the graves for those he buried. As the epidemic was winding down, he himself fell ill and died, exhausted.

The world tends to be surprised when someone they think of as a weakling turns out to be a hero. Is it because there is so little faith in other people, or because no one expects courage in surprising places and people? Yet in the face of almost every crisis we see profound strength of character emerging. Amid the bad or even "normal" behavior of others, the ability of some human beings to love their neighbors sacrificially stands out. We are all created for that kind of love.

September 16 - Ninian, Bishop in Galloway, c. 430.Ninian, the son of a British chieftain, was a Christian. He was educated in Rome and was a friend of Martin of Tours. He resolved to convert the fierce tribes of southern Scotland to Christianity and eventually had some success in so doing. Ninian established a monastery at Whithorn called Candida Casa, “White House.” The abbey church came to be called St. Martin’s, after the friend of Ninian. The monastery at Whithorn became a center for missionary and charitable activities throughout that portion of southern Scotland commonly called Galloway.

September 17-20 - Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer. The Ember Days are known in Latin as the quattuor anni tempora (the "four seasons of the year").

September 17 - Hildegard of Bingen, 1179.One of the most fascinating figures of twelfth-century Europe, Hildegard was given to the church by her parents and was raised by an anchoress who became abbess of a convent. From childhood Hildegard was subject to supernatural religious experiences which she wrote about in works she called Scivias. At age thirty-eight she became the abbess of the community in which she was raised.

She began to illustrate her Scivias and to share them with others. She attracted the attention of two of the most powerful men of her day: the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (see August 20). She was invited to do preaching missions and traveled widely in northern Europe where she was gratefully received by princes and prelates. Hildegard’s writings covered an amazing range of subjects: natural science, medicine, and philosophy, as well as theology. She carried on brilliant correspondence with kings and queens, abbots, archbishops, and even popes. She was an accomplished musician and wrote some remarkable liturgical compositions. Some have considered her ahead of her time, a herald of the Renaissance, “the Sibyl of the Rhine.” She was a truly medieval character, the very personification of the age in which she lived. She was a strict moralist and her writings are full of denunciations of vices and appeals to purity. They are also replete with enigmatic prophecies of disaster. Miracles were attributed to her.

September 20 - John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop of Melanesia, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1871.All the Christian world was shocked to learn of the murder of Bishop John Patteson by the people of the Island of Nukapu in the South Pacific. Educated at Eton and at Oxford University, Patteson had rejected a promising and comfortable career in England and had given himself utterly to the task of civilizing and Christianizing the people of Polynesia and Melanesia. For nearly twenty years he had served patiently and unselfishly, founding schools, hospitals, and churches; teaching, preaching, and giving the sacraments to the natives of those lands. He also sought out and ministered to British settlers in those areas. He once presented the entire population of Pitcairn Island for confirmation, following the reconciliation of the Bounty mutineers with the British government. He was concerned about the wanton practice of slave raiding that went on in the islands and was working vigorously to stop it. Nukapu had recently been victimized by such raiders and that is why Patteson's missionary ship, The Southern Cross, anchored off that island on this day in 1871, and the bishop went ashore. He was killed that night by some of those whom he was trying to serve.

September 22 - Matthew, Tax Collector turn Disciple, was a 1st-century Galilean (presumably born in Galilee, which was not part of Judea or the Roman Iudaea province), the son of Alpheus. During the Roman occupation (which began in 63 BC with the conquest of Pompey), Matthew collected taxes from the Hebrew people for Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. His tax office was located in Capernaum. Jews who became rich in such a fashion were despised and considered outcasts. However, as a tax collector he would have been literate in Aramaic and Greek After his call, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. On seeing this, the Scribes and the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. This prompted Jesus to answer, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mark 2:17)

Prayer for changing of the seasons: Autumn

September 22 - Autumnal equinox brings the fall season to the Northern Hemisphere at 10:29 P.M. EDT. The word equinox comes from the Latin words for "equal night." The fall and spring equinoxes are the only days of the year in which the Sun crosses the celestial equator. From here on out, the temperatures begin to drop and the days start to get shorter than the nights.

Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and Mid-Autumn Festival (better known as Moon Festival in the Chinese diaspora).

September 25 - Sergius, Abbot of Holy Trinity, Moscow, 1392.In Sergius's youth the Christians of Russia were suffering under the Tartar yoke, dominated and oppressed by these invaders. The Christian community was weak, divided, and confused. Under the vigorous leadership of Sergius and the monks of Holy Trinity monastery, they gained new hope. Sergius is best remembered as the beloved abbot who inspired Dmitri, Prince of Moscow, to resist Tartar domination. Equally important were his efforts to reform and revive the Russian Orthodox monasteries. He personally supervised the founding of more than forty new monasteries. Sergius is usually associated with the armed resistance to the Tartars, but he was also a great peacemaker. He was often successful in mediating disputes among princes, and on four occasions he averted civil war. Sergius was a man of deep faith and strong character. He was peasant-born, hearty, neighborly, and practical. He struggled to keep the communal spirit alive among his monks and among the Christian people of Russia. He taught, by word and deed, unselfish service to others, and absolute devotion to Christ as known in the Holy Eucharist.

September 29 - Michael and All Angels

September 30 -Birthday of Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273). Jelaluddin Rumi was a professor of theology in Turkey when he met a wandering dervish, Shamsuddin of Tabriz. This encounter transformed Rumi, whose poetry took on ecstatic and rapturous eloquence as he whirled and flung his verses to the breezes to be carried round the world. "Be grateful for whatever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

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The Liturgical Seasons

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** This prayer is offer for Victims of Violence throughout of the world. Victims of verbal, physical, emotional, of hunger and thirst,economic abuse,warfare (especially Ukraine, Venezuela, parts of Africa, South America Asia and the Middle East, terrorist action, the death penalty, suicide, shootings (in our cities and neighborhoods), and other guise of violence. May their souls rest in peace and their families experience the Comfort of God. The Church bells will toll on Wednesdays @ 6:10pm.

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