Updates
Social Justice
October 17, 2019
New York City took an important step today to close the intolerable, inhumane, and ineffective Rikers Island jail complex. The City Council voted to close Rikers by 2026 and build modern, more humane, and smaller borough-based facilities in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
This change will reduce the number of jails from 11 to four. It will help reduce the number of jail beds in NYC from 13,000 to 3795.
Read moreApril 17, 2019
The Rector of Trinity Church Wall Street traveled to Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY for a Holy Week visit with some of the men incarcerated there, and to seek their input on Trinity’s ministry.
The Rev. Dr. William Lupfer goes to the maximum-security prison each year to meet with students working toward their Master of Professional Studies degree, offered by New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) and funded by Trinity.
Read moreApril 14, 2019
There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
-Rumi
Palm Sunday is a story of faith in the streets. The streets are crowded – and noisy. Jesus enters town on a borrowed donkey and wearing dusty sandals. He is surrounded by people – normal, working people – and is
Read moreApril 07, 2019
During this season of Lent—a time to engage with our own mortality, practice self-examination, and spend time with God—Christians around the world meditate on Jesus’ journey from life to death and from death to resurrection. We wrestle and sit with questions that followers of Christ have been asking since antiquity: what does it mean to follow Jesus, really? And how might we be falling short of that?
In all the richness of
Read moreMarch 31, 2019
I’ve always wrestled with the story of the prodigal son. I think it’s because I always saw this as one of the most definitively human stories the Bible offers: humankind’s return from exile. The son, we are told, went to a far-off country and spent all he had. This parable invites us to embody this unique human condition as we begin our approach to God.
A person who has never experienced the
Read moreMarch 24, 2019
Like the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree, we sometimes need manure so that we can bear fruit again. Many times, we can’t see our own bubbles, the structures and patterns in which we have enclosed ourselves until someone else shows us. For these and many other reasons, we exist within communities. We can help each other, even when we can’t see that we need help.
We all need food, water, shelter,
Read moreMarch 17, 2019
I often think about all the people who have made a positive impact on the world through their words, actions, courage, and big hearts. I think about how they started their journeys alone or with a few people who believed in their vision. I think about how their journeys remained difficult, but they continued to move forward on their paths to spread peace, love, equality, and justice to the people around them.
I think about how Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and his family
Read moreMarch 10, 2019
Throughout my life, the Lord has led me from fear, confusion, drug addiction, and jail. The Lord led me out of homelessness and into housing, from being lost spiritually to the salvation I have found at Trinity’s 12:05 service. God led me from devious people to priests, sisters, and humanitarians. The blessings the Lord bestows on me are endless.
When I was young, I felt the warm comforting love from my parents,
Read moreFebruary 09, 2019
When I first started the Brown Bag Lunch Assistant role, I remember that a volunteer, Bill Patrikos, mentioned to me that “hunger doesn’t take a holiday.” Those five words have continuously echoed in my head during my time at Trinity. The impact, the pain, and the stories that are contained in these words remind us that we are all human. Imagine with me—that intense feeling of hunger or feeling unsafe, wondering “when am I getting home?” For many people that moment is every day; it’s their
Read moreJanuary 16, 2019
“What is happening on the ground with people? I want to help, but I don’t know where to start…” This is a common lament I hear here at Trinity. At the same time, the Brown Bag Lunch staff encounters the daily challenges that many of our neighbors deal with – difficult issues created by a lack of resources. How can we bridge this gap?
Reflecting on the Rev. Dr.
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