Visitors
Welcome, Friends!
As a visitor to Holy Trinity Essex, this is exactly what you will receive and feel: friendship. The parish family knows no boundaries, meaning that you will know the warm hospitality of members expecting to receive company! Sunday worship, any worship, any event in Christian community, is made more of a celebration, God is glorified, by your presence. We plan to see you, and while we may not have known your name in advance, we had you in our prayerful sights. We hoped you’d come– and we will be joyful when that happens!
A visitor to Holy Trinity Essex can expect to be greeted at the narthex door. This is the entry way to the nave, the worship space. We have prepared a welcome gift for you, one especially for men, women, teen girls and boys, elementary-age girls and boys, and preschoolers. If you want to trade your gift for another, feel free. Inside the gift are a few fun doodads, but also some quick reading about The Episcopal Church, its worship and the aspects of faith the Church holds as most important.
The good news is the Good News. The Gospel of Jesus is central to our lives together, and the kind of love and hospitality we learn from Jesus’ teachings means that we won’t tie you down or require you to understand or believe all that you experience. We are just glad you have come to encounter this Lord, and be among us. There is plenty of time for the journey into Jesus’ Sacred Heart, and for being still, enjoying, and even questioning. Jesus loves the seeking, which means relationship with him.
During the course of the worship, if you have any questions, just indicate this to the closest member, the usher, or the greeter, and you will receive happy help. We provide you with a service booklet, to minimize the juggling of books and the confusion that can sometimes be a part of a newcomer experience. During the 8:00am service there is no music. At the 10:00am service there is music, and so you will receive a music sheet that will both provide the music and also indicate where to find it in the hymnal. If you don’t “get” it all the first time, relax. We believe that the liturgy — the worship service — grows in us and we grow in it. This takes more than an hour to happen. Our tradition is as old as it is new, and so just settle in and watch the beauty, if that feels good and right. This is sufficient participation. There are few requirements, and many blessings to be received.
While on campus, you will notice that our buildings don’t provide the best “flow” for foot traffic. There is a little walking from location to location. The parking lot may seem not to be in the best place. The worship space enters off the street rather than the parking area. This is an outcome of growth over 70 years, given the land, changing ways of life, the streets, and issues with utility easements. We do the very best we can to make things as accessible as possible. The graces are many, and you may find these are worth a short walk or an occasional drizzle. We have added signage, disabled parking, and very soon, additional ramps for those with special needs. To learn more about how to get to Holy Trinity Essex, and how to get around Holy Trinity Essex, please see the How To Find Us page at this website.
Worship is not the only way to enter into the community of Holy Trinity Essex. You can come for light breakfast in Teresa Shutte-Regester Hall, 9 am on Sundays. While there is a love offering requested, we do not ask this of our guests! Grab a plate, and join a table! Christian Education for all ages follows at 9:10 am, and you and/or your children can join in the offerings found at the Christian Education page at this website. Coffee Hour always follows at 11am, and yes, there are even parishioners who attend just fellowship upon occasion. Don’t feel one bit self-conscious about easing into worship at another time!
There are a myriad of other ways you can sample life at Holy Trinity Essex, day-by-day, and upon special events and occasions. Just see our Happening page at this website, and the amazing amount of mission and ministry, in reach and outreach, fun and engagement in service to our neighbors. While we are a small corner church, we have a big corner on the Christian life, and this grows with every spirit that arrives and stays an hour, or years. If you find that the Episcopal way is not your way, we are still delighted you came by, and will bless you on your continued, worshipful journey. We will even help you to find the right fit with another faith family in our area.
Holy Trinity Essex has been known historically as The Beloved Friends of Essex. This is not a self-oriented identity. Rather, it refers to Holy Trinity Essex, the Evangelist, a beloved disciple of Jesus. It refers to the beloveds, to all of us, because God loves all whom God has made. And, it refers to our Savior, The Beloved, in whom we place our faith, and whom we adore!
Come visit Holy Trinity Essex. Come Beloved. Come. Be. Loved.