- Dan Anderson Little, Pastor

We are pleased to announce that we have hired Hannah Peters to be Trinity's new Minister of Youth Education and Fellowship. Hannah has been the Director of Children's Ministries at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church for the past seven years. Prior to her work at Webster Presbyterian, Hannah worked in the insurance industry. Hannah is married to Baker Symes and they make their home in Webster Groves. They have a grown son. Hannah describes herself as "a caring, open, warm, creative and supportive leader." The Search Committee heartily agrees with that assessment.

Hannah will officially begin at Trinity on October 24. You can meet her on Sunday, October 30. We will plan an event in the next couple of weeks for the members and particularly the children and youth of the church to get to know Hannah. Watch for the date!

Thanks to the entire congregation for your prayers and support as we have gone through this search. We are excited about the gifts and faith that Hannah brings to Trinity.

The Search Committee was composed of Jayne Howard, Kris Kerr, Jeremy Williams, and Dan Anderson-Little.

- Ron Norgard

New Year! For me each New Year always seems to be a recurring piece of that original creation we find in Genesis. New beginnings; a fresh start; hopeful possibilities; a clean slate. In such a spirit we look forward to a new season in Adult Education. We are going to seek to find some common ground in a world that has been divided by the birth and growth of denominationalism. It will not be merely a tour of points of interest in the various viewpoints the different denominations have staked out. H. Richard Niebuhr in his examination of the social sources of the Christian churches goes so far as to say that, "Denominationalism ...represents the moral failure of Christianity." Granted his judgment may be excessive, he has exposed some serious sources of divisiveness in the cultural settings of Christianity. Trinity as a mission-oriented congregation can only deepen its impact by exploring some of the implications of this fragmenting of Jesus' simple call to "Follow me." Our need for community has never been greater, especially in this nation, while the sources of division never more manifold nor manifest. Join the conversation!

Things happen! Sometimes we are the cause of "things"; sometimes we are the victims of "things." Over a lifetime these "things" get organized into the dynamic patterns we call our selves. We put the good "things" in front for all to see but hide the bad "things" in the back hoping they are hidden. Then, one day, if we are fortunate, a voice breaks through our patterns and reveals to us that these hidden "things," these secrets, are robbing us of the fullness of life and the destiny our births promised to creation. The Church recognizes the gravity of this claim for "talking the walk" in the form known as the Prayer of Confession. In synchrony we speak to self, neighbor, and God our ever-recurring need for forgiveness. Dietrich Bonhoeffer goes so far as to say that it is in confession that the break-through to community is actually made! But it was observed in reviewing some selections from our recent worship services that the beauty of word and meter and the economy of length and depth might eclipse the ugliness the Confessions seek to expose. Heartfelt confession catches in the throat and balks for adequate words to carry the regret and cry for forgiveness.

To get a sense of this manner of confessing we tried a method that Frederick Buechner described in the third installment of his autobiography, Telling Lies. Writing a sentence about something personal that no one else knows about ourselves using our "immature" hand, that is, the hand we usually never write with, the awkward, artless scrawl we typically create both allows us to be more aware of each word as written and reveals the emotional discord a confession unearths in us. In fairness to the current liturgical form, a member suggested that the corporate form could be seen as a gateway into the more searching personal Gethsemane of confession. Sociologists see confession as a mechanism for separation from an alien self in preparation for gaining a new identity built on becoming a "new man" in a community that offers greater purpose and meaningfulness not found in your current life.

As Buechner put it so well, "by entering that deep place inside us where our secrets are kept we come closer than we do anywhere else to the One who, whether we realize it or not, is of all our secrets the most telling and the most precious we have to tell."

"Knock! Knock!" or "Ring! Ring!" You open the door to be greeted by two smiling faces and two pairs of hands holding Bibles and perhaps some leaflets. Quickly they begin to "Talk Their Walk." Most of us have experienced this and have learned how we might respond. When the question, "Are you saved," comes up most responses, short of taking the pamphlets and thanking them for stopping by, will lead to extended discussion. Without judging the sincerity of these neighborhood "evangelists," one of the participants noted something he learned from his visitors: They come with expectations! They have been trained; they come prepared to proselytize; and they come with quotas of homes to be visited. Their efforts have outcomes that both the visitors and the congregational leader expect to be fulfilled. By shifting our attention to many of the programs presented in Adult Education, we began to wonder just what are the expectations and outcomes that underlie Adult Education? And at this point in the life of Trinity, have we any firm plans and hopes to venture into more productive and progressive educational experiences?

Beginning with Dr. Robert McClelland's presentation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's thinking on who Jesus was and what his significance is for us, the concept of building up on previous training, somewhat in the manner of a curriculum, was introduced. Serendipitously, one member would like to extend and deepen the direction that McClelland's question creates. Another member found a recent work by Bob, "The Greatest Story Never Told, A Children's Bible Story for Adults Only," to be quite provocative and worthy for a group of us to work with. The educational environment differs from the context of a worship service. Devotion to and love of learning centers education while devotion to and praise of the Lord centers worship. A vibrant, thriving congregation is filled with both. The future gives us direction; the horizon can beckon at best; but the frontier-Ah! That's where the action is!

Our next session of "Talking the Walk" will be the last for this year. We would appreciate your presence as well as thoughts for the future. On Jan 8, the next offering for the Education of Adults will begin. "Seeking Common Ground in a Divided World," will look into denominationalism and the pluralism confronting the Church. Various members of Trinity will present the course. Watch for more details in forthcoming announcements.

"What is it about your relationship with Jesus Christ that the world can't live without?" began our conversation in Talking the Walk. This question anchored a couple of sessions that Dan used in his course on "DNA: Disciples 'N' Apostles" for developing dynamic Christian leadership. Put in such a stark form the question evokes a response of how you understand God's call for your life in community at Trinity. One participant told us that since he had never had a life-changing revelation of Jesus like many Fundamentalist Christians claim, he feels hesitant to share his faith with others. But this "growing" into faith is true for many of us and is just as authentic as any "born-again" epiphany. In fact, in a society that eschews belief as easily as ours does today, it is just this form of faith that will prevail! Why? Because faith is much more than merely "right" belief (doctrine). Faith cannot exist without trust and it cannot persist without loyalty (fidelity)!

Another participant challenged the determinism of "can't live without." He noted, especially in guiding the growth of his children, that many times our claiming not to be able to do something is dishonest and self-deceiving. What we are really doing is making a choice; a choice we choose to hide our intentions behind either from others or ourselves. Love is never so hard as when we are called to "tell the truth in love" to those we respect and with whom we share our values. He further found the determinism of the concept of our innate sinfulness too hateful for shaping our life. Our lay pastor intern, Tom Thomas, observed that the primary intention of the sweeping nature of sinfulness lies in calling our attention to the need for humility in all our relations with one another. Too often placing the burden of a sin committed on someone is a way of justifying ourselves while judging the other! I recalled to myself that Bob McClelland, in his presentation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life and thought, wondered aloud whether "grace is more fundamental than law or morality?"

Trinity has the privilege of facing yet another change in how it organizes herself to proclaim the "good news." As the dialogue proceeds, the question arises: if we aren't "Talking the Walk" with each other how can we be sure that we are sharing the walk? Join us to help enrich our understanding of one another as we continue next Sunday "Talking the Walk."

Why is it that faith sharing and telling our story is so difficult for some us to get started doing?Is it because some of us are not quite sure what we believe?When someone confronts us who has a well-developed view which opposes ours perhaps silence is better than possibly looking foolish.The conservative theologian, Dr. Francis Schaeffer, claimed that the Bible is "God's communication of propositional truth, written in verbalized form, to those who are made in God's image.""Propositional truth written in verbalized form" indeed!How do stories and metaphors and allegories and poetry stack up against the rock of propositional logic?Well the cognitive psychologist, Dr. Jerome Bruner, says that narrative (story) is a key in the creation of a self. Stories, because they are about the vicissitudes of human intention, are the way we organize our almost biological need to "make sense" out of our experience. Narratives seem to link our current status to past events and future possibilities.

Jim Wallis, as a young person found the self-justifying worldview of his church incapable of combating the chaos created by the atrocities he found rampant in the outside world.Eventually he realized that, " The greatest influence on a person's life will be those... institutions on which a person feels most dependnt for survival and support.As long as most Christians are more dependant upon the powers and principalities of the world for their survival and security than they are upon the Christian community, the church cannot do anything other than conform to the world.The church of the local community must become the most important and central corporate reality of our lives...a new community of people who are being transformed by Christ."As some of us continue to explore how to get a better hold on our stories and just what we believe, we hope you will join us to add your stories to our ongoing transformation in Christ happening right here at Trinity.

Jesus said, "Follow me!" and a few of those who heard him dropped everything, became his disciples and were captivated by his stories.You have to realize that wasn't logical but that made all the difference for THEY CHANGED THE WORLD FOREVER.

Have you ever woken to a new day and shouted with joy, "Another day!"? Or left the service of worship feeling a sense of having been in the presence of God? Then you know how inadequate words can seem at times. But you also know if you are going to share these experiences you are going to have to find words to do it. One of the most satisfying discoveries of mankind is that stories work the best. What stories do is transfigure the commonplace, the ordinary, into dramas of hope and inspiration. What links us together as a Christ community is a collection of just such stories. And while the Bible is the preeminent story we share, it is our personal stories that give life and vitality to our experience together.

Trinity is rich in stories that need to be shared. But in our highly technologized society, we learn how to relate through propositions and problems solved, rather than passionate narrative. If the facts be known, many of us have navigated dramas, tragedies, and maybe even comedies, that shaped our faith in countless ways that would, if shared, both broaden and deepen our lives together in this community called Trinity. How and as we talk together specifically about our personal, private journeys is one of the ways to make this congregation thrive. Chris Schmidt and Ron Norgard are seeking to kindle a conversation that grows and develops among all youth, adults, and elders who gather for a greater experience and expression of their faith. Your willingness to attend and share will help shape a new territory.

In his course on DNA: Disciples 'N' Apostles, Dan quoted from "Growing Spiritual Redwoods" what could be called a theme for this effort at personal story/faith sharing, "What is it about your relationship with Jesus Christ that the world can't live without?" Please consider joining your friends in the Weems Chapel as we make an effort to "Talk the Walk"

A series of sessions on "Talking the Walk" will be offered during the month of November in the Weems Chapel at 9:30 am. Each session will be facilitated by Chris Schmidt and Ron Norgard for the purpose of learning how stories communicate our faith while strengthening our own understanding of just what we each truly do believe.