Trinity Seeks to Create a ‘Ministry of Place’
Posted by Trinity Episcopal Church
Community Builder
Father John Ball of Trinity Episcopal Church says that St. Mary’s City has always had a unique ability to bring people closer to God, given its natural beauty and serene, meditative surroundings. And he sees the area as an ideal setting for a new Ministry of Place.
For 17 years in the 1980s and 1990s, Trinity hosted a program called, “Creation Around the Chesapeake“, a week-long theological seminar focused on topics related to various aspects related to creation. The event was a partnership among the parish, the Washington Diocese, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Historic St. Mary’s City Museum. Participants stayed and dined at St. Mary’s College. They spent each morning attending lectures with prominent theologians and conducting small group discussions. Participants signed up for afternoon workshops on an array of special interest topics, such as stone carving, sailing, bibliodrama, crabbing, cooking. And, in the evening, they attended entertainments, such as theater, dancing and singing.
Father Ball said the focus of Creation Around the Chesapeake was “experiencing the presence of God in this place,” the beautiful environs of St. Mary’s City. “People came here, because they could experience God in a way they couldn’t around the beltway.”
For a time, Trinity also developed a youth program, known as GodSearch, which also sought to use St. Mary’s City as a meditative focus. Youth groups came from churches all over the Mid-Atlantic to attend the weekend program. They began with music and mixer activities, followed by an improvisational drama on a passage from Holy Scripture called a Bibliodrama. The story of the Prodigal Son was a popular choice. As the evening unfolded, young people were given a small candle and asked to find a quiet spot in the church yard overlooking the St. Mary’s River. At midnight, the church bell tolled calling everyone into the church for a celebration of Holy Communion. Participants spread their sleeping bags on foam pads for the rest of the night. The next day everyone spent the morning doing a scavenger hunt on the church grounds and followed by a skipjack tour of the St. Mary’s River and lower Potomac. All in all, the church’s guests experienced God through community, in scripture, in meditation, in the Holy Eucharist and in Creation.
While the Creation and GodSearch programs have fallen into history, Father Ball believes that St. Mary’s City has the potential to build on them for another ministry.
“My vision is creating a space where people can come from and experience God’s divine presence in ways they may not be able where they live,” Father Ball said. “There is a common need for gathering spaces in St. Mary’s City. That’s something the parish could provide for church, college and museum events.”
He envisions using existing and developing new spaces for the study and preservation of the sacred arts – icon and other forms of painting, music seminars and concerts, verger and acolyte training, altar guild, flower arranging, needlepoint, and calligraphy. He wants to eventually join forces with St. Mary’s College and Historic St. Mary’s City Museum to plan and build a hybrid conference center in St. Mary’s City, which can serve as a facility for events sponsored by all three institutions. He noted that the food service portion of the center, always the hardest part of creating this type of facility, is already on the grounds in the form of the college cafeteria. The facilities need to be built are guest housing and large gathering/meeting space.
“The initial goal is utilizing what we have right now to build critical mass,” Father Ball said.
To that end, Trinity will soon be hosting two events this June:
– June 25 – 29 – Icon Painting Class with Philip Davydov & Olga Shalamova. Click here for details.
– June 27 – 28 – Music That Makes Community with the All Saints Company. Click here for details.
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