Since our inception on Trinity Sunday 2020, people have asked how Trinity Lakeside began and what we are about. The vision for this community began in January 2019 at a convent atop a hill in the San Francisco bay area. Towering over the convent grounds are coastal live oak and eucalyptus trees, their great verdant forms lending shade for over 500 years. The palpable peace of that place, the silent witness of those enduring trees, captured my imagination. Like the trees in Psalm 1, firmly planted by streams of living water, bearing fruit in season, they embody God’s hope for each of us—a lifelong, joyful flourishing rooted in vibrant relationship with him.
On that pilgrimage I caught the vision for establishing a place of prayer and reflection here in north Texas–a place where people can draw near to and enjoy our God. To listen to God. For a season I invited others to pray and discern with me what God was inviting and we began our journey by gathering for worship on Trinity Sunday 2020. As a “new monastic” community, our shared life orients around three key commitments: worship, prayer and care of souls. Our shared joy is together living and teaching Christ’s more restful way in glad friendship with him.
Like those trees, thriving through many seasons of productivity and rest, a vibrant spiritual life is found in both work and prayer. Gerald Sittser explains the synergy of the two, “Prayer draws us to God; work sends us into the world. Prayer centers and quiets us; work energizes us. Prayer restores us to God; work allows us to participate in God’s restoration of the world.” Of these two–prayer and work, prayer is the priority. Prayer, or communing with God, is the one necessary thing that under girds and informs our life and work (Luke 10:42). Prayer is meant to enliven and enable all that we are and all that we do.
As the founder and leader of Trinity Lakeside my joy is helping weary souls draw near to God and experience restoration in him, that they might return to their life and work renewed and enlivened by his Spirit. I hope you’ll join us in responding to Jesus’ invitation to a different way of life, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my [way] upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” Matthew 11:28-30.