Jenks Remembers
By Todd Endo
This is the first article in a series in Trinity Times based on interviews with Jenks. In this introduction, Jenks describes his initial responses to my question about the key events and issues in his 40+ years of ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church. We will follow with both a chronological approach and a thematic approach. For future articles, we ask for your ideas of key events and issues that you wish Jenks to address. Send your ideas to toddendoarlington@gmail.com and jenks333@mac.com
Not surprisingly, the first two key events that Jenks relates are personal ones. Jenks first describes, in some detail, his ordination in the Trinity Church sanctuary, officiated by Bishop John Baden. He was pleased that the Diocese chose to ordain each minister in his own church in the midst of family, friends, and parishioners. Jenks remembers:
So many people were here, family and friends from other places. The congregation was here and it was a great celebration. I do very much remember kneeling on the chancel step with the full sense of the other priests who were there joining in the ordination and a very strong sense of the Holy Spirit pressing down on me and saying this is where you're supposed to be! And this occurred with no inkling on my part that this is where I would be for 42 years, or 41 from that point in 1974. All has unfolded with the power of the Holy Spirit through good times and bad, through the struggles we have had and joyous celebrations. My father's sermon at my ordination was based on the parable of the talents. I hope that I have been faithful to that and the effort will continue because I will retire as rector but not as priest.
Jenks next shared other personal events as fond memories: the birth and baptism of his son, Jennings, in 1979 and three years later the birth of his daughter, Berkeley. He also related the death of his father in 1991 and the following Sunday service at Trinity, at which Sean Kilpatrick gave the sermon on his father’s ministry. In all of these, said Jenks, he felt immersed in the community of the church, which shared his joys and sorrows.
As important worship services, Jenks highlighted two that extended beyond the Trinity Church community--the traditions of the 11 o’clock Christmas Eve service and the Easter sunrise service. He recalled that Nels Parson volunteered his land for the Easter service and talked Jenks into it in 1984. With great peace and joy, Jenks described standing on the hill facing into the sunrise and “celebrating the moment when the women discovered that Jesus had risen.” About both services, Jenks fondly emphasizes that people from throughout the community attend, not just regulars at Trinity Church.
Also, as part of Trinity’s fun community outreach activities, Jenks listed as two of his key events, the first chancel play by youth in the late 1980s and the ongoing tradition of Vacation Bible School. He said that the first play was called “Psalty” and featured youth choirs from Trinity and Washington Baptist and a solo for which he was coached diligently by Dawn Fisher, youth choir leader. About Vacation Bible School, Jenks emphasized the partnership with Washington Baptist Church (and early on, the Methodist Church) and the fact that, for many of the children, the summer week was their only exposure to church all year. Jenks’ indelible memories of these two youth activities rest heavily on his joy of having fun with kids: “I love having fun with the kids and that goes back to my original call to share the joy of God.”
Of course, some of the key events on Jenks’ list focus on the programs and structures of the church. The first he emphasized was the impact of participation in Cursillo beginning in 1981. Libby Snead, a returned Peace Corps volunteer, wanted to attend the introductory three day retreat and needed the church pastor to attend with her. So, Jenks agreed to go. From that start, dozens of Trinity members attended the Cursillo retreats and the follow-up small study groups. Jenks resonated with Cursillo’s joyfulness in God:
It changed our sense of who we were and how we celebrate God and how we serve God. It had a tremendous effect on me, on Trinity, and on our life together. Cursillo gave me the blessing, if you will, an affirmation of my sense of joy in God. From my earliest time and my early sense of call as a young person, I found God to be fun and joyful.... Cursillo gave me a way to make that fit. It was joyful, it was exciting, and it was based in God.
Moreover, Jenks thinks that Cursillo profoundly and permanently changed Trinity, especially in its commitment to outreach to the local and larger community:
I think that the group reunions with the requirement of weekly talking about piety, study, and action, thinking of our relationship with God became the foundation of the great sense of outreach that this church has today. For the size of our church today we do a great deal of outreach both across the world through formal programs, and locally through the inspiration for each individual one of us to impact the community around us.
Almost twenty years later in 1999 or 2000, pushed by Holly May, Jenks introduced another study group, Education for Ministry, into the life of Trinity. He said that he had expected, by now, to have passed the leadership of EFM on to someone else, but now will still find it very difficult to let loose of the reins. Jenks observes that the influence of Cursillo and EFM on the church is seen in by the high proportion of Cursillo enthusiasts who became vestry members, and likewise for EFM members in the last decade.
Finally, Jenks pointed to the crisis of 1979 as a watershed year for the church and for his ministry at Trinity. He points to this period as a difficult time for the church and for him. The finances were in the “red,” participation in church leadership and church activities were lagging, and the structure and processes of the church were out-of-date. Through the help of a consultant from the diocese, Trinity planned for a more dynamic life, involved more people by asking for more and getting more people to say “yes.” A most tangible result was increased church attendance, resulting in getting the church out of a deficit. Working through the crisis of 1979, Jenks ended the string of relatively short-term ministers at Trinity and embarked on his lengthy journey with Trinity Church.
