• Holy Trinity Spring Lake
• Worship

Worship at Holy Trinity

Our worship service is open to all, no matter your church background. The great premise of this church is that it is joyful to be a Christian, and we try to enrich your stay here by emphasizing that proposition. We want you to return to your home church with positive thoughts in mind and with Christ in your heart.

A Special Message for 2021

It has been two long cold lonely Covid winters. But this year, we are overjoyed to welcome you back to Holy Trinity Spring Lake. Resurrection is real and God is good! When we lose something precious, even for a season, we appreciate it even more. That has certainly been true for me. But even though we could not open our doors, HTSL has been busy. Our steeple has been repaired, clad in glorious copper, ready to serve for another 100 years with help from generous donors, our Diocese, and dedicated volunteers. You may also notice that the church has a new coat of paint. All spruced up and ready to serve!

Like many church communities, the leadership of HTSL has been trying to keep up with the changing directives from the CDC and the Diocese and scratching its collective head about how to keep everyone safe from the virus as we resume services. Fortunately, our patience has been rewarded. Although we chose not to open last summer, this year presents a very different picture with much more freedom. We will be requiring masks to attend.

Since not everyone has been vaccinated, we will continue to seat people in every other pew so that appropriate distance is still an option. You may seat yourself wherever you are comfortable.

I've saved the best news for last which is: there will be music and we can sing! This has been a big no-no church-wise since a projected voice expels a lot of breath. However, with masks, it is now considered safe. Sing to the Lord a new song! It is also safe to handle the hymnals and prayer books as they have been sitting quietly on their shelves—untouched by human hands—for a whole week.

A few words about receiving Holy Communion. Since the beginning of the pandemic, when communion is served it is in one kind only. Just the bread. After sanitizing, I will drop the host gently into your palm without touching your hand. Please retain it until you return to your pew where you may lift your mask and consume.

The Diocese of New Jersey, which we belong to, came up with a saying to explain all post-pandemic church practices. "This is how we love each other." Although these slight restrictions may seem cumbersome, we do this not only for our own safety but for the health and safety of others. For me, the caution required to be able to open our doors and offer the Holy Eucharist enhances the experience. In all the careful preparations there is a fresh reverence for the Holy One that dwells among us. My heart swells with gratitude for even the smallest thing after being deprived for so many months.

Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Updated 7/29/2021 for new mask guidance.

Worship Schedule

Worship services are held every Sunday morning at nine o'clock from June 20th, 2021 through September 5th, 2021.

Kathleen Bishop

Hello! I am Holy Trinity's Priest for the summer season. This is a huge honor and I am eager to see you! Looking over the history, both recent and long-ago, it is obvious that Holy Trinity has soaked up the love from generations of summer visitors. I look forward to this new chapter.

Since 2011 when I was ordained a Priest, I have been fortunate to serve many different churches on a part time basis. I feel enriched by the diversity of wonderful congregations that I serve frequently in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Even though they are all Episcopal churches, like Holy Trinity, each one has its own beauty and special graces. Having said that, I will relish the experience of being in one place every Sunday for the Summer!

My husband Jim and I live in Long Branch with our dog Daria. We overlook the boardwalk and have become true Jersey Shore denizens. Jim, who is also a Priest, can be found most Sundays assisting at St. Georges-by-the-river in Rumson.

During the week I have a private practice of Marriage and Family Therapy in Long Branch. As my doctorate is in Psychology and Religion, the intersection of the holy and the wholistic continues to inspire me and inform my homilies. I also regularly teach MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), most recently as part of Hackensack-Meridian hospital's department of Integrative Medicine. Mindfulness meditation is the secular version of contemplative prayer and has deep roots in Anglican tradition. This is what sustains me.

My deepest commitment, however, is to the Body of Christ that assembles every Sunday morning to join our voices with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. This is us! I do hope many of you reading this post will join us this summer.

Until then,
Kathleen+

Articles

Father Peter K. Stimpson, a former priest here, served as the Executive Director of Trinity Counseling Service in Princeton, New Jersey. He has written a popular advice column in a number of newspapers since 1983, and his book, Map to Happiness: Straightforward Advice on Everyday Issues, was published in 2008 and can be found on Amazon.com.

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Chapel Liturgical Staff

The Reverend Dr. Kathleen Bishop	Vicar
The Reverend Barbara Cawthorne Crafton	Vicar Emeritus
The Reverend Peter K. Stimpson	Vicar Emeritus
David Citron	Organist and Minister of Music