"Blessed TRINITY!"

     In a flash, forty years vanishes.
     Do you remember "the times of your life" as crooned by Paul Anka?
     The focus of memory today is Trinity United Methodist Church in the historic Evergreen district in mid-town Memphis-at the corner of Evergreen and Galloway, to be exact. The historic, Gothic building's design from over 100 years ago garners praise and accolades for its beauty because its architectural basics are the same as the Memphis Pink Palace.
     Multiple stained glass windows and gorgeous interiors speak to decades of loving use as it stands a landmark for the neighborhood. This building serves as the backdrop for five wonderful years of my life. David arrived and was baptized there. My ex-husband and I shared some of our very best married years there. The GSLS (Gulf Shores Literary Society) was founded within the New Beginnings Sunday School class at Trinity United Methodist Church. Oh, what dear friends and memories.
   

Trinity UMC - 1980s

     The decades evaporate in a split second and nostalgia catapults me into the choir loft with Mary Shoup at the pipe organ and Dr. Dave Hilliard in the pulpit. Memory is magic. It preserves everything at its most beautiful state, like a Doris Day glamour photo with its gauzy, misty haze that blurs the lines of reality. Buildings do not age, do not crumble or become stained with rain, tree-sap, and age. Nor do friends seated in their same pews, not aging one iota.
     I learned of the changes at Trinity when David notified me "something is different" as he drove past the buildings on Galloway. Friends from that era who are still active at Trinity filled in the gaps of the story.
     The congregation meets in the old Fellowship Hall across the street because the church determined it best to sell the massive stone relic to a Historic Preservation group to reduce the ever-climbing six-figure debt incurred when fewer and fewer young professionals and retired couples attempted upkeep and dove further and further into the abyss of debt. As my friend said, "We are serving God, meeting the needs of our community, and climbing gradually out of debt. We are not as concerned about upkeep on a deteriorating building as we are about meeting needs as Jesus taught."
     Memories are luxuries to be enjoyed for a moment as we stare into the eyes of today, of what is before us to live and serve and enjoy. The building does not a church make - the church is the people, of course. But, in this case, it is the trigger for a preponderance of precious memories. God is the Three-in-One, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is the Trinity in the lyrics of that majestic hymn Holy, Holy, Holy. A special memory-message to me remains as the God-Head Trinity first, and my beloved Trinity in remembrance. "... blessed Trinity."