Monday, January 4, 2016

Loss, Redemption and LIfe at Trinity (Trinitarian Letter)


Father Tony’s Letter to the Trinitarians
January 2016

Loss, Redemption, and Life at Trinity

A couple of months ago, we got an email from an Episcopal priest in Mississippi:   “Are you missing a silver paten?  I found one offered for sale on e-Bay that has the inscription ‘Trinity Church Ashland Oregon 1952’ on its back.”  A paten is the small plate on which the Eucharistic bread is consecrated and often served.  We were not missing one, but given the detailed inscription, we started asking. 

It turns out back in the 1970s, when Father Bob Ellis was rector at Trinity, Trinity opened the church twenty-four hours a day seven days a week, and the nave served as a place where the homeless could get in out of the weather and sleep.  Fr. Ellis had a shower and toilet installed in the back of the sacristy to help support those seeking shelter in the Church.   Reaching out and supporting at-risk populations, however, does on occasion have its costs.  In this case, someone took advantage of the quiet un-monitored wee small hours to break into the sacristy cabinets, drink the wine stored there waiting to be consecrated, and made off with the silver, including the paten and the chalice.    The parish was canvassed and asked to provide silverware and jewelry to provide raw materials to recast new sacred vessels.   The chalice we now use at Trinity was the fruit of this effort.  A separate new paten was purchased with the money raised in the canvas.  As to the stolen paten, it apparently was fenced and made its way into an estate sale in Portland in the mid-1990s where the e-bay seller had purchased it. 

We shared the results of our research with our angel in Mississippi, who purchased the paten to make sure it didn’t disappear again.   He then sent it to us and we reimbursed him for his costs.  Thus, after 50 years in the wilderness, the silver paten stolen in the 1970s returned to its home at Trinity and just before Advent we began using it again in our Eucharists.

The story of the stolen paten returning home made three deep impressions on me.  1) No matter how hopeless or lost things might look, we regularly see them turned upside down and hope returned.  This is the story of the Resurrection.  It is the story of the Exodus.  2) Reaching out and serving others has its costs and risks, which you can minimize through planning and smart implementation.  But helping people means dealing with people in need, and sometimes that can be messy and costly.  But we are called to reach out to them all the same.  This is the story of the Good Samaritan.   3) Trinity Church has an identity that has been stable through the decades:  warm, supporting close relationships within the parish, and bold and at times risky reaching out to support those in need outside the parish.  This is the story of our parish.

When we use these vessels in Holy Communion—the paten stolen by a person we helped and then recovered after a half century through the kindness of a stranger, and the chalice made with the melted down silverware and jewelry of the parishioners—I am reminded of the stories of risk, service, loss, and hope that are the stories of our parish and our faith. 

Grace and Peace, 

Fr. Tony+    

1 comment:

  1. Speaking of things long gone returning, I had the pleasure of assisting my colleague, Jo Haemer with the enamel work for this chalice. It was a wonderful thing & we relished creating this art for Father Bob Ellis & the congregation. It is gratifying to see it after 40 some years! Thanks for the post.

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