The Flower donation calendar is empty until September. If you are interested in providing Communion Table flowers this summer please sign up across from the elevator. Feel free to sign up to bring your garden flowers as well.

As a seminary student in Virginia, Rhonda Dunbar will be an intern this summer with CHAT (Church Hill Activities and Tutoring), deepening her work with the at-risk youth in the program. She is asking for partners in this ministry through your prayers and/or a contribution towards the $3,500 she must raise for her salary. Find out more at: www.chatrichmond.org or email Rhonda at Rhonda.dunbar@union-psce.edu.

Trinity's peace prayer team is always looking for people moved to give the peace prayer during worship. If you have strong opinions about peace, or are simply moved and inspired by something you've read, seen or experienced, contact Dave Nelson - 862-7466, camra.dave@gmail.com and get yourself on the schedule to share it with the congregation. You can give the peace prayer once, or become a regular - all voices are welcome.

Stay tuned for a 4-evening July Spiritual Growth opportunity with First Presbyterian Church.

Dawn will be asking for feedback on scheduling.

Cards can be sent to: 1 meadow St., Apt. 131, Berlin, MD 21811. Edna and the Presbyterian Women's group are still in strong contact.

Cellist Warren Hauff will offer a free recital and reception on Sunday, May 31 at 3pm in the Sanctuary, featuring the music of Bach, Faure, Vivaldi and Popper. He will be accompanied by some members of the Symphony.

- Jennifer Higginbotham

Support Jennifer's Walk for the St. Louis "NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Walks for the Mind of America." Saturday, May 30^th, Forest Park. The walk raises awareness of mental illness and to raise funds to support mental health programs. Sponsor Jennifer Higginbotham and her employer of 23 years, The Independence Center, will receive 50%. Checks can be made payable to NAMI St. Louis with Jennifer's name in the memo, or donate online:
http://www.nami.org/namiwalks09/STL/jhigginbotham. PS -if you'd like to walk with me, you're more than welcome!

The final Presbyterian Women's shared meal of the spring is this Tuesday, May 5^th. Bring a salad to share for DINNER at 6pm in the Dining Room.

Trinity is a distribution point for Fair Shares, our local Combined Community Supported Agriculture organization. Fair Shares contracts with local food producers, such as farms, dairies, orchards and bakeries, and distributes a mixed assortment of fresh, local food to its members each week for a set fee. Currently they have a few openings for the new season. If you are interested in a full share or in splitting a share, you can sign up ( or learn more about Fair Shares) on its website: http://www.fairshares.org.

(1 Cor. 6:19).

The pilates class Stacey Carman attends will begin meeting in the chapel on Wednesdays, starting next week, from 11:30am to 12:25. They welcome new members: the cost is $10 per person per week; the fee for the month is paid at the beginning of each month. If more people join, the fee potentially will go down. Please contact Stacey with questions: carmans@swbell.net. Trinity is still looking into hosting a t'ai chi class on a weekday as well.

- Rev. Julie March, Minister of Equipping

Beginning this month, the Trinity Equipping Ministry Team is introducing an exciting new small group concept of fellowship, study and service outreach. B&Bs for spiritual growth through faith and service will be small groups dedicated to bonding and bridging their members as they grow in faith together, and will provide a sanctuary where we go to be sustained and refreshed for our travels and work out in the world.

The B&B Charter declares, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). B&Bs will help connect people to God, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey, and to one another through the study of Scripture, prayer and shared work. Spiritual growth and service will be a reality, not a concept.

All are invited to join B&Bs, where you will meet with a group of six to eight members to:

• Study, learn and pray together
• Find the joy of meaningful service together
• Increase your connection to church and community
• Find personal fellowship and spiritual growth

Two desires repeatedly expressed by the congregation are for more meaningful connections with each other, and opportunities of spiritual growth. The B&B initiative is designed to provide these opportunities within the familiar format of a small group ministry. It is the intention of the Equipping Ministry Team that individuals participating in B&Bs:

• Form deep relationships with their fellow B&B members
• Have a better understanding of Scripture that enriches their spiritual growth and participation in worship
• Experience the joy of meaningful service together in the name of Christ
• Increase their connection to their church and community
• Increase their self-awareness

Are you interested in learning more or joining a B&B at Trinity? Speak to any member of the Equipping Ministry Team (Dave Nelson, Lisa Bernhard, Rick Jeter or John Merker), or contact me (juliammc@sbcglobal.net).

Join us as we love and serve the Lord through B&Bs Small Group Ministry!

- Rev. Dr. Daniel Anderson-Little, Pastor

Trinity's new worship service The Commons@The Loop will have its inaugural service on Saturday, May 9 at 5 p.m. This service is designed to connect with people in our community who do not currently have a church home and who are not likely to connect with our Sunday morning service. Trinity members are welcome to attend. The service will be highly experiential and experimental; it will draw on a wide variety of musical traditions including jazz, folk, bluegrass, rock, gospel and world music. The planning team has set the themes for the first four services:

• May 9 - Earth (we will dig around in the dirt)
• May 16 - Water (we may have a baptism)
• May 23 - Wind
• May 30 - Fire (a great theme for the night before Pentecost)

One of the ways that Trinity members can help the success of this service is to invite your friends who do not have a church home. You can also forward on the address of our blog: http://www.trinityucity.org/commons. We are excited about this new opportunity to reach out and worship God. Please pray for those who are working on the service and those who will attend.

4/19/2009 through 5/10/2009: 4 Sundays - Being Christian in a pluralistic world: Led by Damayanthi Niles, Professor of Theology, Eden Theological Seminary.

How do we begin taking plurality seriously in our theological discussion? What might such an approach look like? And where might it lead us? This class will study why it is essential to take pluralism seriously in order to understand the heart of the Christian faith. We will explore the ways we can take plurality seriously in our theological discussion by revisiting several Christian key concepts through the lens of pluralism and discover how it can help enrich our faith.

• Confirmation is Sunday, May 17th. A light reception will follow Worship.
• The deadline to apply for the Scholin-Weems scholarship for 2009-2010 is May 14th. Please contact me at 24.dawn @gmail.com for more information.
• Volunteers Needed! We would like to expand our volunteer base in the children and youth ministry. If you are interested in helping out in any of the following areas, please contact me at 24.dawn@gmail.com:
• planning or teaching VBS (Vacation Bible School) for one week in July
• teaching a children's Sunday School class this fall
• helping out in the nursery or preschool class

Trinity will participate in sponsoring and building a Habitat for Humanity house in 2009. We will be part of a group of six Presbyterian Churches named WCC - Presybterian Churches. WCC stands for "We Construct Community." The churches are Bonhomme, Kirkwood, Ladue, St. Mark's, Trinity, and Webster Groves.

Dates for us to work are already set. They are:

May is the time for us to raise the funds we hope to contribute to sponsoring the house. We have committed to try to reach the level we reached last year, $5,000 toward the project.

Please contribute by putting a check in the collection with "Habitat" written on the memo line, or sending a check so written to the office.

Trinity has been connected with Interfaith Partnership of Metropolitan St. Louis for a number of years. At our Trinity interfaith discussions last summer, a number of members expressed an interest in ongoing dialogue with those of other faiths. Here are some current groups. Feel free to contact Randa Kuziez at IFP at 314-531-4787 (or rkuziez@faithbeyondwalls.org) to join:

1. West County Dialogue Group: 2nd Wednesdays, 7-9 p.m. at Manchester United Methodist Church, or Islamic Foundation, or United Hebrew.
2. Monday Dialogue Group: end of the month on a Monday, 7-9 p.m. at a group member's home.
3. Wednesday Noon Dialogue Group: 3rd Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Eliot Chapel in Kirkwood.
4. St. Louis City Dialogue Group: 3rd Mondays, 7-8:30 p.m., Central Reform Congregation in the CWE.

Imagine how your faith might be strengthened as you share it with those of other faiths.

- Liz Nelson, Church Administrator and Junk Guru

The first rummage sale at Trinity in at least seven or eight years ended on Saturday and, by all accounts, was a success. We made a bit over $3,000 (which covers the cost of about 3/4 of one Section Leader). Here is my view from atop the grand Pink Throne (well, pink Hasler's toilet, anyway):

• We had over 43 Trinity people volunteer in some manner-big and small-to make this happen. This was people of all ages and all abilities, members and non-members;
• This sale ran differently than in previous decades; it had to. Because of busy work schedules and hectic lives, you all gave your time and energy when you could. Some of our more "mature" members gathered during the day to sort and price (and chat), while working folks gave later evenings after kid bedtimes or work shifts were over. I saw creative scheduling by many of you to keep your commitments to help-thank you;
• This whole event came from Cheryl Evans' desire to feel like she was "doing something" in response to our annual meeting and discerning conversations about budget concerns and particularly the decision to cut the Choir Section Leader positions after May. Note that Cheryl is not a member of the Choir-she simply appreciates how the choral music interweaves with the rest of worship. This passion led her to action-not by herself-but by rallying the troops;
• We members have an embarrassment of riches if this is our "rummage." And these sales used to happen two times a year! As we try to be good stewards of the earth and our money, the sale became to me an embodiment of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." I was thrilled to see my items going home with other families who didn't have to pay full price and drive up the need for greater production;
• Jayne Howard and 9 year old daughter Katie are a powerhouse work team!
• Thank you to the spouses of the main workers (Dave...Reed...), who dealt with numerous nights as single parents as we discussed pricing for telescopes, singing gophers, and pink toilets;
• This may have been a labor-intensive way to experience fellowship, but I got to know and joke with people I never had before. Which leads me to my surprise realization that many of us still don't really know each other well. Perhaps by sight, but not always by name. I look forward to more lunches, events, education and dinners where we can mix and talk and share together;
• You all have such varied gifts and brought them to the table: you are meticulous, strong, funny, visionary, practical, creative and passionate, not to mention good bakers and hot dog chefs;
• You get to know people by their pricing (Chris Schmidt, is a microwave really only worth 25 cents ?!?! Really??)
• I loved listening to a copy of the Trinity Choir Holy Week CD (on sale now!) over and over again during the sale, while watching organist Bill Wade and his partner, Mike, man the cashier table-all shifts both days-in their groovy new purple Trinity t-shirts;
• I had neat chats with community members as we hung signs in the Loop stores. And, I hate to tell you, but those purple doors really DO help identify us and single us out from the other houses of worship in our neighborhood...

The pink toilet DID sell...at full ticketed price...to a Trinity member. Way to keep it in the Trinity family!

Special thanks and appreciation to our Trinity Family for all their prayers, cards, phone calls, and visits during my recent recuperation from surgery. It is amazing how loved and supported Darrell and I felt during this difficult time because of your compassion. Bless you all.

- Karen and Darrell Mayberry

Thanks to all who offered prayers, sent cards, food, etc. during my recent surgery. I know that the prayers and concerns contributed to my success in getting healthy again and is very much appreciated. A special Thanks to Dan and Julie for their vigil and prayers with my family the day of the surgery. I feel so blessed to have Trinity in my life.

- Patti Twellman

- Larry Pontius

No, I'm not talking about the NIKE slogan, I'm referring to tithing. Before I get started, I must admit to having an evangelical background. As I've learned, about one half of us here at Trinity did not grow up Presbyterian, and that certainly fits very well with our core strength of being inclusive.

Although there are many things that cause great divisions between the different faiths, I believe there are many more beliefs that we commonly share. In the secular world, we would consider this idea of sharing to be called something like "best practices." So today, I'm writing on my deep feelings about one of those practices - tithing.

It's not surprising that tithing was a topic I heard about much more as a Southern Baptist than as a Presbyterian. In a faith that reads the Bible literally, it is more natural (not easy, mind you) to adopt a command that pretty clearly lays out that every person should give 10% of their income. For Elaine and me, this decision came to the forefront in the early 90s. This was less about money, and more about who was in charge of our lives. Was this really our money to begin with? Was I puffed up enough to believe that everything I had was due to my human efforts? Am I then saying that those that are suffering are experiencing that pain because they just aren't working hard enough? After prayer and consideration, we started to give accordingly. I love the idea of first fruits and paying God first. I guess we're lucky in a way to have a job that only pays once a month, as we don't have to think about this more often.

Tithing can be looked at from both a faith and intellectual perspective. In the faith perspective, you could say it was my duty as a Christian to tithe. Tithing gets a bad name from the often controversial TV evangelists who promise that the practice of tithing will enrich your finances ten-fold. I don't think that was part of God's plan at all. While I have never kept score, I do feel like God has me in his financial grasp. I've been blessed with employment, security and comfort and have not worried about the future to the degree that is prevalent in society. When I hear programs on NPR that state that five billion people on earth earn less than a dollar a day, I am deeply humbled. Yet it makes my decision to buy used cars instead of new cars seem pretty trivial. And I'm not saying you need to quit buying new cars. This is just one of the ways that I've adjusted.

From an intellectual perspective, it is easy to see the mathematics and justice in this system. "Equal sacrifice / unequal gifts" is the term one of my old pastors would use. Everyone's on the hook, much like the proponents of a flat tax. I remember a UPS driver named Boston Oliver. Boston started driving for UPS relatively late in life and had learned many lessons along the way. Whenever Boston saw a young driver start working at UPS, he would make it a point to talk with that person, saying that now that he or she was going to be making good money; it is more important than ever to learn to live within one's means.

Isn't that a key to happiness, really? Isn't it our nature to always long for more? What better way to curb our insatiable desire than with a healthy dose of self-discipline and self-denial, two things that always get a bad rap in our culture. In his own way, Boston was trying to help protect people from themselves. That sounds more like God's plan to me.

As a former Southern Baptist deacon, I can tell you that not everyone tithed. But I will tell you that the tithing of many obedient seniors, the majority being women, all on fixed incomes, is responsible for keeping many a church-door open during even the most troubling economic times.

And that leads me back to our wonderful church home. I am disheartened when I hear that we are not making our budget, cutting back in areas that foster growth, and witnessing a once-substantial endowment shrink. It's no secret that many of us, if not most of us, are being affected by these tough economic times. But if we are honest with ourselves, we have all also been blessed beyond measure. For me, that's where the logic of tithing makes so much sense. It's not about how much you give, but in the obedience of giving itself. One does not need to dive immediately into tithing, but can work up to it gradually over time.

It's also a matter of prayer. God loves the cheerful giver, and we must remember that a gift is something for which we expect nothing in return. Everything we have has been given to us by God; we are merely returning a portion of His gift back to Him in gratitude for our vast abundance.

I look forward to stewardship journey we are on, and I feel blessed to be part of Trinity. Praise be to God.

- Matt Schindler

For a 2009 budget update, through the first quarter, our income is coming in higher than our year-to-date budget. Loose offerings (collection plate) are up for the first quarter, and everyone is keeping a greater eye on the expenses, so we keep cutting into our deficit. We are just through the first quarter, but the congregational response has been great. Thank you.

The Corporate Affairs Commission is working to better communicate the financial situation of Trinity to the congregation. This piece in Trinity News is one part. Please let us know what information is of most value to you and how best we should provide it. We want your feedback. You can email me at azat1999@hotmail.com.

T-SHIRTS

Aren't just for the

rummage sale!

You can still buy your very own Trinity team shirt (with our welcome statement on the back).

$9/shirt for kids and adults

Talk to Liz

I just came across this poem and I really liked it...so I thought I'd share it with you.

- Diane O'Brien

It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they're supposed to be.
I've been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?

- Pat Schneider

From Another River: New and Selected Poems