A topic I am always interested in is, “What will the church look like in 5 years?” In light of the wildly swinging culture of today, the church needs to look at itself and decide if and how it needs to change to adapt without losing relevancy. A church in Connecticut is doing just that and changing the way they interact with the community around them.

 

For three centuries, Trinity Episcopal Church has tried to meet the spiritual needs of the small community of Southport, Connecticut, about an hour and a half outside of New York.

 

As more and more of the church’s neighbors ditch organized religion but not faith, leaders at Trinity hope a new initiative will help them find meaning and purpose in life even if they never attend a Sunday service.

 

The church recently launched the Trinity Spiritual Center, which offers lectures, classes on meditation and contemplation, and a sense of community during a trying time, said the Rev. Margaret Hodgkins, the rector of Trinity Church.

We don’t normally think of meditation as a Christian practice, but it should be. We are to meditate on the scriptures. We have to be careful how things are labeled and what those labels mean to different people.

Kendall Crolius, longtime parishioner and former senior warden at Trinity Episcopal Church, is a vocal supporter of the spiritual center. A lifelong Episcopalian and self-described “eccentric” —Crolius is the author of a popular book on knitting with dog fur — she’s long been interested in other religious traditions outside of Christianity. Life, she said, is a spiritual journey, where it helps to look at faith from varied points of view.

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