Trinity Presbyterian Church

05/10/2026

Celebrating the beautiful gift of mothers today. Happy Mother’s Day to all the women who love, pray, nurture, and lead with faith. 🌸💒

03/09/2026

The theme for this year’s celebration of International Women’s Day is “Give to Gain.” Through generosity and collaboration, you can make a difference. You can make a change—in both your life and in the lives of women across the globe. What might you give to gain gender equality?

Dr. Ida S. Scudder gave her time. She founded Vellore Christian Medical College and Hospital, located in Tamil Nadu, India, in 1900 as a clinic with one bed. By 1956—when this Religious News Service photo was captured—the college had grown into the largest medical missionary training center in the east. It’s her 86th birthday, and she’s sandwiched by two of her students, both in their final year at the school Dr. Scudder founded. Today, the Vellore Christian Medical College is a healthcare organization of international renown, with around 3,700 beds spread across seven campuses.

From one bed to 3,700—quite the feat! This International Women’s Day, follow in Ida’s footsteps, and give to gain.

01/04/2026

12/11/2025

CLEAR: Preparing to Receive vs. Preparing to Achieve

I have to confess—December overwhelms me. Not because I dislike the season, but because I'm wired to prepare to achieve. My instinct is to make things happen. But Advent is about preparing to receive? That requires a completely different posture.
This reminds me of an ancient story about a village that received extraordinary news.
Word arrived that the beloved king would travel through their village. The elder gathered everyone and delivered simple instructions: "Clear the path for his arrival. Make the way straight and safe."
The villagers were thrilled—finally, a chance to impress the king with their preparations. The blacksmith constructed an elaborate archway. The weavers hung banners from every tree. The carpenter built viewing platforms. Day after day, the preparations grew more elaborate until the simple dirt road became a cluttered corridor of decorations and structures.
When the king's advance guard arrived to secure the route, they stopped in dismay. The captain called for the elder. "We cannot allow the king to travel this path."
"But we've prepared for weeks!" the elder protested.
The captain shook his head. "Look, every decoration you've added creates an ambush point, making the king's passage dangerous. He asked you to clear the path—not fill it."
The villagers learned a painful truth: there is a profound difference between preparing to impress and preparing to receive. One fills the path with our achievements. The other clears the path for another's arrival.
This captures something we desperately need to hear during Advent. We fill our December with achievements meant to celebrate the season, only to find ourselves too cluttered and exhausted to receive the One who comes.
But in today's scripture, John the Baptist shows us a completely different way to prepare. He doesn't decorate the path—he clears it. And in doing so, he reveals that the most profound preparation isn't about what we add, but what we remove.
The scripture lesson for today is from Matthew 3:1-12.
[Listen to the word of the Lord!]

12/02/2025

Thank you to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood for their generous Thanksgiving donation. Their support helped ensure families in our community could gather around a full table and feel cared for this holiday.

12/01/2025

SHREWD – When Faith Meets Financial Reality

When I finished high school, I told my parents and grandparents (since I was raised by them) that I wanted to go to seminary to become a minister.
My grandparents were businesspeople and faithful Christians, but they rejected my calling immediately and give me this business equation, "If you become a minister, you will be only one poor minister," they said. "But if you take care of the family business, you will be able to support ten or more ministers. Do you want to become one minister or produce ten ministers?"
Their calculation was shrewd, strategic, and arguably more impactful. They saw ministry through the lens of multiplication—one successful business could fund ten ministries. Yet something in my young heart convinced it was wrong. I insisted on becoming that one minister.
For years, I wondered if I had been foolish. Had I limited God's work by refusing to think shrewdly about multiplication?
Now, decades later, I see what neither my parents nor I could see then. Through ministry and teaching leadership spirituality, I've likely influenced far more than ten ministers. The path of obedience carved channels that strategic planning might never have imagined.
My parents understood shrewdness. My young heart understood calling. What I didn't know then was that I would need both—that faithfulness and shrewdness aren't opposites but partners in Kingdom work. That’s why Jesus said,
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Mt 10:16 NIV).
You can’t be a sitting lamb among the wolves. In this week’s scripture lesson, Jesus shows a little disappointment with the children of light for being not as shrewd as the children of this world.
This captures a felt need that tears at many souls today—the exhausting tension between wanting to be spiritually authentic and needing to be financially responsible.
We wonder if being shrewd with resources means we're being unfaithful to God, or if being generous means we're being irresponsible to our families.
But here's what Jesus reveals in today's passage: this isn't an either/or choice. Shrewdness isn't the opposite of faithfulness—it can be its vehicle. The question isn't whether to engage with financial reality, but how to wield that engagement for eternal purposes.
Let’s look at how Jesus teaches us this strategic navigation of life through today’s passage.
The scripture lesson for today is from the Gospel According to Luke 16:1-13.
[Listen to the word of the Lord!]

11/27/2025

FEAST: When Thanksgiving Becomes More Than a Meal

I have to confess—I love Thanksgiving dinner, but I struggle with Thanksgiving living. I excel at expressing gratitude when the table is full, but sustaining that gratitude when life feels empty? That's where I stumble.
This reminds me of an ancient story about a merchant who spent his life collecting extraordinary meals like trophies. One day, he heard of a baker whose bread satisfied people for days. He rushed to her shop, tasted the bread, and exclaimed, "It’s so good! I must have more!"
The baker smiled. "How long does each fine meal satisfy you?"
"Until the next meal," he admitted.
"Exactly. You're chasing yesterday's fullness rather than discovering today's sustenance."
Weeks later, the merchant returned, desperate for more bread. The baker gestured to her simple kitchen where villagers lingered in warm conversation. "My regulars don't just come for bread—they come for communion. They've discovered that satisfaction isn't found in accumulating memorable meals, but in daily relationship with the source of nourishment."
For the first time, the merchant stopped rushing. He sat down. And in sitting, he discovered what all his searching had missed: the Provider matters more than the provisions.
This captures our Thanksgiving paradox—we gather for abundance, express gratitude for blessings, then return to spiritual hunger, already planning next year's feast instead of cultivating daily communion with the Source.
But here's the revolutionary truth Jesus reveals today: God doesn't want to feed you annually—God wants to become your daily bread. Jesus doesn't offer another meal; he offers himself as the Bread of Life, transforming Thanksgiving from an event into a way of existence. Real satisfaction doesn't come from counting blessings, but from abiding in the One who blesses.
The scripture lesson for today is from the Gospel According to John 6:25-35.
[Listen to the word of the Lord!]

11/24/2025

I struggle with divine mathematics sometimes. When Jesus says "not a hair of your head will perish" right after warning that some will be put to death, my logical mind wants to file a complaint with heaven's accounting department. How can both statements be true?
This reminds me of an ancient story about a merchant and a mathematician.
A prosperous merchant once sought out a famous mathematician, carrying two heavy ledgers under his arms. "Master," he said, setting the books on the table with a thud, "I need your expertise. My accounts don't balance, and it's driving me to madness."
The mathematician opened the first ledger, filled with neat columns of profits and losses, assets and debts. Every entry was precise, every calculation verified. Then he opened the second ledger—but its pages were covered in strange symbols, flowing script, and what looked like poetry mixed with numbers.
"What is this second book?" the mathematician asked.
"That's my problem," the merchant replied. "The first ledger is my business accounts—everything adds up perfectly. The second is my life accounts—what I've given, what I've received, what I've lost, what I've gained. But nothing balances!
I gave my brother a fortune when he was desperate, but he never repaid me. I lost my first shop to fire, yet somehow I'm more prosperous now. My daughter died young, but her brief life brought more joy than decades of profit. Master, which ledger is true?"
The mathematician studied both books carefully. Finally, he took a brush and drew a simple circle on a blank page. "You're trying to solve infinity with arithmetic," he said. "Your first ledger measures in straight lines—what goes out, what comes in, neat and closed.
But your second ledger moves in circles—what you give returns in forms you don't recognize, what you lose transforms into gains you can't measure, and what seems subtracted is actually multiplied in dimensions your columns cannot contain."
The merchant left still carrying both ledgers, but now he understood: one measured transactions, the other tracked transformation. One counted in quantities, the other revealed qualities. One showed what he had, the other showed who he was becoming.
But here's the beautiful truth: In today's scripture lesson, Jesus doesn't ask us to abandon earthly logic but to expand our mathematical framework to include heaven's paradoxical principles.
He shows us that when our spiritual equations don't balance, it's not because Providence has made an error—it's because we're working with incomplete formulas.
Jesus is about to reveal a higher mathematics where persecution becomes testimony, loss becomes gain, and even death cannot subtract from what is eternally preserved. Let's discover how heaven's accounting system transforms our deepest doubts into unshakeable endurance.
The scripture lesson for today is from Luke 21:5-19.

09/15/2025

May God's spirit inspire each of us to contribute to a common good that is bigger than any of us can see.