On any given day, particularly as the weather warms and tourists return, you can hear people “ooh-ing” and “aaah-ing” at the beauty of Trinity’s worship space. They come primarily to see the Tiffany windows, but it’s the gestalt of the beauty that moves them. The combination of art and architecture, wood and windows, brass and plaster, along with generations of prayer, inspires them even unto prayer. They arrive expecting a museum, but they leave having encountered the Holy.
“Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” the psalmist urges. That is indeed the hope for all who visit our sacred space, whether parishioners on Sunday or visitors on weekdays. Trinity is breathtakingly beautiful, but it is first and foremost a sacred place of prayer.
You may have noticed some changes we have made in order to invite and encourage people’s prayers. The area by the Passion Window and the Nativity Windows is now equipped to serve as a prayer chapel. We removed two pews to accommodate the piano (and eventually the continuo organ), and we added a votive candle stand, thanks to the generosity of the altar guild. It stands next to the prayer bowl, inviting people to light a candle for their loved ones and submit the prayers on their hearts.
Candles in an Episcopal church!? Yes! Candles are an ancient and faithful symbol of God’s presence and the offering of our prayers. Lighting a candle becomes an outward and visible sign of the prayer we have offered. They remind us that “the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5)
So come and worship in Trinity’s beautiful, sacred space. Before church, during the week, after Communion, or anytime you’re able: Say a prayer, light a candle. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
— Fr. AJ Heine, Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church of Staunton
