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Apalachicola, Florida
December 19, 2025
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Our youngest son is leaving this week to start the next chapter of his life. And as we’ve always told him, it’s his life to lead and that he is loved. What did he learn in our time together? Will he make the best decisions? I may not have helped create him, but I’ve been in his life since the age of 13. We pray he keeps God close.
Our son’s departure actually helped me engage with the Nativity Story in a way I never have. My events coincided with our readings for this week. This Sunday, the gospel reading is one version of the Nativity Story (Matthew 1:18-25). Rather than the focus being on Jesus or Mary, the evangelist’s spotlight turns to Joseph.
Most of us are parents, and many of us raised our own children outside of the Norman Rockwell norm. Many families are blended now with a step-[insert relation here] much more common than not. Should we be all that surprised that the upbringing of our Savior was any different?
Two thousand years ago, Joseph found himself in a precarious position similar to today. Mary and Joseph were engaged but not living together yet. And then Mary drops a bombshell. Do you think he sought out his local rabbi for counsel? I wonder how that went: “Well, Mary brought up something last night over lentils and cheese. She said she’s 100% committed to us. But there’s a wrinkle in what you might call normal, see, because she’s pregnant. And I don’t know what to do with this, because wait ‘til you hear who the father is…”
Clearly Joseph spoke to someone. Whether it was God, his rabbi, or himself, he made the decision to thread the needle between what felt like a merciful (and some might say merciless) God, an unbending legal code, and the right thing to do. And he did the right thing: he remained obedient to the larger message of love by God who was trying to do a new thing.
Joseph is silent in speech throughout the Gospels. There is no dialogue. However, there are few people in history more important, more formative, and more misunderstood than Joseph…the stepfather.
I’m a stepfather, but not really. Travis and I view our children as that…our children. And they are our responsibility to love, cherish, raise, challenge, teach, and the million other things we all do as parents. I include mentors, teachers, and friends as honorary parents, as it truly does take a village to raise a child.
Though Joseph didn’t utter a word, his actions screamed from the mountaintops, but in a way only Jesus heard. He saw a man willing to love a boy he didn’t create but was still responsible for. He saw a man willing to do the right thing, even if it put him in harm’s way.
Yes, Jesus learned a lot from his Heavenly Father. But he also learned a lot from his earthly father too, one that was willing to attend the Boy Scout meetings and to show a little kid from the blue-collar neighborhood of Nazareth what it’s like to be kind and forgiving to others; to be obedient, even to the point of discomfort; and to hold the tradition of love within the tension reverberating from a nontraditional life. Perhaps that old saying was about Joseph, where nothing is as strong as real gentleness, and nothing so gentle as real strength.
Everyone has a nontraditional part of them, that which we choose to hide, fight, or flaunt. But have you ever tried acceptance? Moving forward? Maybe that’s one of the many lessons of Joseph, the stepdad, that we can all lean into as we celebrate a nontraditional family that changed the world.
Love Big and Be Well,
Stephen +
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On Sunday, December 14, Trinity convened its annual meeting in Benedict Hall.
The annual report can
be accessed via a link
in this newsletter.
The members were treated to a lunch provided by the vestry and heard about 2025 in summary from Father Stephen, Jason Carter (Senior Warden), Kerry Petty (Junior Warden), and Bill Zester (Treasurer).
Along with a stable and healthy budget that was resoundingly approved, we held elections to the vestry and upcoming diocesan convention.
We are happy to announce that Mike Barber and Ellen Loyd were approved on the first ballot and begin their tenure on your vestry January 1.
Also elected were Susan Farmer and Debbie Hooper to represent Trinity as lay delegates to the diocesan convention February 27-28 in Gulf Breeze, FL.
Many thanks to Chris Presnell and Denise Butler who served special one-year terms on the vestry in 2025 to smooth out vestry terms.
And though the annual meeting is in the books, you are encouraged to set aside 30 minutes to read our annual report in the next month. It is designed to be an easy read and give the reader a high-level view of what we do and why we do it.
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Your new Vestry Members:
Mike Barber - Volunteer activities at Trinity:
Built shelves in storage room for the Flower Guild; helped set up for Tour of Homes
Leadership positions held at Trinity or other churches: Supervisor of Ushers & Greeters
Past vestry, Board, or similar experience: Board member for the intellectually disabled group home in Key West
Reasons for wanting to serve on the vestry: Just to help out any way I can
Occupation, Hobbies, Talents, and Skills: Retired from Law Enforcement; woodworking and gardening; fishing and hunting
Ellen Loyd - Volunteer activities at Trinity: Tour of Homes Committee
Leadership positions held at Trinity or other churches: Sunday School teacher at Word of Life Ministries, Leoma, TN
Past vestry, Board, or similar experience: Three years of experience as HOA president
Reasons for wanting to serve on the vestry: I have a passion for building up and caring for the community around me. Trinity quickly became a spiritual home for me and my family, and it would be an honor to contribute back through service on the vestry.
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Communication Expanding. With the new livestream equipment being implemented in the church, we will begin live-broadcasting the primary Sunday service to the internet. Livestream means that people all over the world—including those who are in our Trinity family but far away—can tune in each Sunday morning at 10:30 to join with the congregation. This opens the possibility of providing additional video services for weddings and even funerals. We will also have the ability to simulcast any service in Benedict Hall using the TV mounted on the wall (great for overflow crowds). And speaking of that TV…some of you noticed a video playing during the annual meeting. We are testing a new communication format in 2026, allowing us to create an ongoing information kiosk that can be easily updated. Let us know what you think about it!
The (Special) Double Portion Angel Tree - UPDATED. As Father Stephen announced on Sunday, November 30, a unique situation developed to enable our community to assist a key demographic of our area adversely impacted in 2025. To date you have donated over $3,000 for this project. THANK YOU. It will be used to brighten the Christmas season for families struggling mightily. As I write this, gifts are arriving and the merry elves are busy wrapping. Over this weekend, gifts will be distributed to 39 kids, ages 1 to 17. We will have much more to say about this evolving ministry in the next Bay View issue, so stay tuned.
Think Globally, Act Locally. The Episcopal Church has a long-standing tradition of collecting an offering on Christmas Day for the Diocese of Jerusalem. Trinity will observe this as well with the “loose plate offering” (that is, offerings not otherwise designated) to be sent to the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (AFEDJ) for use in ministries around the Holy Land. Every little bit helps, you know.
| | Giving Tree Gift Delivery | | Trinity Elves assisted Santa in the delivery of Christmas gifts for 30 Franklin County School students last week. Thanks to all who participated in this year's Giving Tree, coordinated by Bob & Susan Pruitt! | | Diocesan Cycle of Prayer. For churches and ministries: on December 21, pray for St. Paul's, Foley; on December 25, pray for the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast; and on December 28, pray for Holy Nativity, Panama City FL. For prisons: on December 21, pray for the prisoners, families, and staff of the Escambia County Jail, Brewton, AL and Pensacola, FL; and on December 28, pray for the prisoners, families, and staff of the Jackson County Corrections Facility, Marianna, FL. | | CELEBRATING FAMILY & FRIENDS | | Former member and great friend of Trinity, Lee Bettis died recently. Some Apalachicola friends paused for a photo with his family at last Monday's funeral in Albany, Georgia. (L to R:) Ty Bettis, Toni & Larry McIntosh, Suzanne Bettis, Tara & Jason Carter, Evie Bettis, Mickey & Martha Harris, Kay Carson, and Jennifer Keel. The Rev. Martha Harris conducted the service at St. Paul's Episcopal Church that concluded with interment in the Memorial Garden, with military honors. Lee H. Bettis, Jr. obituary | |
Send Photos of your Family & Friends Gatherings
Whether you are hosting or traveling this Christmas season, we
want to share photos of your gatherings in the Bay View! Send
photos and captions - by Wednesday, December 31 - via text to Kay
at 617-388-8598 or email to kaycars@icloud.com.
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(Reader Reflections is a series of offerings written by parishioners on
their favorite spiritual books. If you would like to write a short review
of a book you especially love, please contact Stephen.)
| | Nancy & Landy Luther Reflect on "Surprised by Hope" | | |
Nancy and I are members of a small, but dedicated, group of folks who gather on Thursday evenings (now, via Zoom) to enjoy fellowship and engage in discussing our current book. The official name of this group is the Outback Study Group. Our group is the current version of a group which was started by Jim Anderson. Landy kept telling Jim not to call the group a Bible study group; otherwise not many Episcopalians would show up. The group, not to be confused with a geographical location or a franchised steak house, is a spin-off of a Foyer group which was started over 10 years ago.
Most of the participants in this group lived in the Indian Pass, Cape San Blas, Port St. Joe area and attended Trinity, Apalachicola. Hence the term "Outback". We have just finished reading and discussing Surprised by Hope. This is a wonderful, challenging, thought-provoking book by N.T. Wright. The book was suggested by one of our members - Nancy Luther.
About the author:
Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948), known as N. T. Wright or Tom Wright is an English New Testament
scholar, Pauline scholar and Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Durham, (England, not North Carolina) and Lord Spiritual in the UK Parliament from 2003 to 2010.
He then became research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's College in the University of St. Andrews in Scotland until 2019, when he became a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford. Some have said that he is the Anglican's theologian.
One review - from Amazon:
"In Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, top-selling author and Anglican bishop, N.T. Wright tackles the biblical question of what happens after we die and shows how most Christians get it wrong. We do not “go to” heaven; we are resurrected and heaven comes down to earth--a difference that makes all of the difference to how we live on earth.
Following N.T. Wright’s resonant exploration of a life of faith in "Simply Christian", the award-winning author whom Newsweek calls “the world’s leading New Testament scholar” takes on one of life’s most controversial topics, a matter of life, death, spirituality, and survival for everyone living in the world today."
I cannot speak for Nancy, but after reading the review from Amazon, I just had to buy the book. Heaven, The Resurrection, and mission of the church are all topics of interest to me.
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Several lines in the preface to the book further intrigued me. "What are we waiting for? And what are we going to do about it in the meantime".
Some folks might find Wright's approach to these topics a bit on the radical side, but that is OK. The author is not hesitant to be critical about some of the church's practices and teachings.
I think that the reader will find Wright's scholarly commentary about what the New Testament says about Heaven and The Resurrection particularly interesting. I truly feel that reading this book has clarified my thinking and understanding of a lot of basic religious beliefs.
Discussing this book with other seekers has been extremely important to me and has broadened my outlook on the subjects included in this book.
Here is a thought-provoking story from one of William Barclay's commentaries:
There is a story of a conversation between a young and ambitious lad and an older man who knew life. Said the young man, "I will learn my trade." "And then?" said the older man. "I will set up in business." "And then?" "I will make my fortune." "And then?" "I suppose that I shall grow old and retire and live on my money." "And then?" "Well, I suppose that someday I will die." "And then?" came the last stabbing question. The man who never remembers that there is another world is destined some day for the grimmest of grim shocks.
Nancy commented that reading Surprised by Hope has caused her to think about many things (Heaven, The Resurrection, life after death) she had not seriously considered. Several members of the Outback Study Group commented that the author explained the hope of the resurrection of our bodies. Wright tells us of the belief that we will be given new bodies in God's new world (The Kingdom of God). The new bodies will be a loving gift of God's grace to us.
-- Nancy & Landy Luther
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| | | COMMUNITY EVENTS OF INTEREST | |
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Your Bay View: Trinity's bi-weekly e-newsletter, the Bay View, reaches members and friends every other Friday, sharing news and inspiration for and about our parish. Please send information and announcements, as well as photographs, to info@trinityapalachicola.org or call the church office at 850-653-9550. The deadline for submission is noon on Wednesday of each publication week. (next deadline is December 31)
-- Kay Carson, Editor
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Worship Service at 10:30 am Sunday
Morning Prayer at 8:15 am Wednesday
Compline at 8 pm Wednesday - Facebook Live
Church address: 79 6th Street, Apalachicola, Florida 32320
Office address: 76 5th Street, Apalachicola, Florida 32320
Mailing address: PO Box 667, Apalachicola, Florida 32329
Phone number: (850) 653-9550
Email: info@trinityapalachicola.org
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