NYT: Sea, Sand, Sky and an Invitation to Worship
By TINA KELLEY
Published: August 6, 2007
ASBURY PARK, N.J.

Robert McGarry, left, and Jeffrey Leute worshiped at the Mass, organized by Trinity Church.
The altar is a tray for serving breakfast in bed. The pews are large towels or striped beach chairs. And instead of doodling on the program, distracted children can play with a bucket or bury a parent’s feet in the sand.

On Saturdays in the summer, Trinity Church, an Episcopal congregation here, celebrates a beach Mass at 6 p.m., attracting up to 75 people — some passers-by from the Boardwalk, some regular parish members, and some visitors from Asbury Towers, a retirement housing complex that casts a welcome late-afternoon shadow on the sand.

“Glorify the Lord, O springs of water, seas and streams,” said the Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg, reading from Canticle 12 in the Book of Common Prayer, as she stood on the beach at the north end of the Boardwalk on Saturday. “O whales and all that move in the waters, all birds of the air, glorify the Lord.” the rest