June 28, 2009 sermon by the Rev. Martin J. Rafanan.
Martin is a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and serves as Executive Director of Gateway Homeless Services, the largest emergency shelter for women and children in Missouri. He serves on the Advocacy Committee of the St. Louis Continuum of Care to End Homelessness and as the Co-Chair of the Worker Rights Board of Jobs with Justice, a coalition of community, faith, labor, and student leaders working to achieve economic justice for working families.
[more]Intergenerational Evenings
Sunday, July 26 - Wednesday, July 29 (6 p.m. - 8:15p.m.)
A fun time for everyone: couples, singles, and families! We will have the opportunity to spend time with the First Presbyterian Church congregation and each other. It will be a time of fellowship, fun, and learning around the theme of Simplicity. Please plan to attend!
If you have questions, or may be interested in helping with this event, please contact me at 24.dawn@gmail.com.
Youth Mission Trip
July 13-17
All middle school and high school youth are invited to attend. This five day/four night trip will provide us with the opportunity to serve the needs in our own community of St. Louis. Serving opportunities will include kid and park outreach, soup kitchens, community garden, and more. Contact me for more details at 24.dawn@gmail.com. The cost is only $50!
Serve the Children and Youth
We invite you to serve the children and youth at Trinity this fall. We have openings in the nursery, preschool, and all children and youth Sunday School classes. The commitment varies from substituting occasionally to serving one week to several weeks a month. If you feel called to help with our children and youth programs, please contact me at 24.dawn@gmail.com.
Plans are quickly progressing, group leaders are trained and the Trinity Equipping Ministry team is assigning members and friends to small group B&B's. This 12-week series will be begin in mid-June and is open to all members, visitors and friends who enjoy sharing, learning and serving together in Christ's name.
Do you want to know more or sign up to be a member of a B&B? Contact Dave Nelson (camra.dave@gmail.com) or Julie March (juliammc@sbcglobal.net) who would be delighted to give you more information and connect you with a small group.
I want to express what a wonderful year I've had directing the Trinity Choir for the 2008-2009 choir season. In this choir I am blessed to work with a very faithful, talented and FUN group of singers. Rehearsing with them every Thursday evening and leading worship with them on Sunday mornings are highlights of my week. This Sunday, June 7, is the last Sunday of the choir season. Please attend worship that day and express your thanks to the members of the Trinity Choir for their committed service to God and the Trinity community. (It's easy to spot them - they're the ones in the smart burgundy robes!)
This is also a great time to express your gratitude to the choir's section leaders: Laura Brady has served Trinity Choir as soprano section leader for about 8 years; Amanda Meinen has been our alto section leader for 6 years; Tom Sitzler, baritone and Andy Skelton, tenor both joined us this season. Each of them contributes much in time, talent, knowledge, experience and spirit week in and week out.
Sadly, June 7 is also the last day that we will employ our section leaders on a regular basis. Most of you are aware that we have recently held some fund-raising events and also set a larger goal for our Psalm 150 fund this year in the hopes that we would raise enough funds to keep the section leaders in their current positions. The combined total of our fund-raising efforts brought in about $5200, a little over 25% of what we needed to save these positions. While we do not have sufficient funds at this time to employ them on an ongoing basis, we will hire singers for specific projects when needs arise. We will miss working with each of them in their present capacity.
This leads me to my next plea . . . any singers out there just waiting for the right time to join the choir? This is it! Look in your bulletin inserts and online for information coming soon about opportunities to sing with a Summer Choir in the next few months. Anyone interested in sharing their musical talents in worship sometime this summer? We are scheduling folks who like to express their faith through music to play or sing in summer worship services. Please see me or Organist Bill Wade or contact the church office.
When Chris Schmidt jumped up at the end of the service on May 10 and declared that the service couldn't finish until he made his announcement, I wondered what was so important that couldn't wait for another time. What couldn't wait was the very generous tribute Chris gave to my ten years of ministry at Trinity and an invitation to the whole congregation to stay for a time of celebration and fellowship. I was, and continue to be, deeply touched by the kind words that Chris said, by the efforts made by those who planned and carried off the reception (with not a word getting out to me!), and by the many well wishes expressed to me by all worshipers who stayed after. I can't thank you all enough.
I would like to join Chris and everyone else who was present on May 10 in marking ten years of ministry at Trinity. It has been my privilege to journey with you in faith over the past ten years. Babies have been born and baptized (most were calm, a few screamed in protest, and all were eternally embraced by God); couples got married (some coming back "home" to get married at Trinity and other making their home here after marriage); young people were confirmed (some of whom were not much more than toddlers when I arrived); members have joined, others have left; saints of the church have died and joined the Church Triumphant. Probably more than any other profession, pastors get to witness the whole span of life - from newborns to the very oldest and everyone in between - and what a joy that is: to watch the free enthusiasm of little kids, to engage the questions of youth, to accompany young adults as they launch careers and relationships and families, to pray with middle aged adults as they wrestle with what comes next in their lives, to be blessed by the wisdom of seniors. As a congregation, we have laughed together, cried together, prayed together, worked together, sung together, dreamed together, sometimes disagreed and even gotten angry together - but the key word in all of this is "together." God has called us into community with all of our gifts and strengths, all of our weaknesses and limitations. And through this community, we have grown in faith.
These past ten years have been a challenge for many Presbyterian churches throughout the United States, and Trinity is no exception. The patterns of worship, Christian education and ministry that enabled the church to flourish through the 20th Century do not automatically ensure a future for the church in this century and there is no sure roadmap to the future. Over the past ten years, I have been greatly impressed with Trinity's members who have asked hard questions about what beloved traditions would continue to serve us in the future and which ones need to be brought to a conclusion; who have struggled to identify our core values and discover new ways to live them out (one example that comes to mind is the addition of adult mission trips - adventures in ministry that have taken adult members of this church to Ciudad Juarez, New Orleans and Guatemala); who have committed themselves to a church that seeks to serve our community and our ever-shrinking world with sensitivity and compassion; who have taken risks when the way forward was not clear.
Jesus does not ask us to be "successful;" rather he invites us to follow him. And that, it seems to me, is what marks these past ten years. We have been and continue to be a people who are earnestly seeking to respond to that invitation - to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to declare the year of God's favor. We do that through worship and spiritual growth and fellowship and service. Ten years together - faithfully seeking and growing and serving - I thank you all and I thank God.
Christian teaching and tradition clearly asks for us to be generous with our time, talents, and treasure. How are we in the church heeding that call? Arthur Brooks, then a professor at Syracuse University, tackled this question in his 2006 book Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism. Americans as a whole are very generous - some three quarters of American households make charitable gifts each year, averaging more than $1,000 annually. The amount of money donated and number of hours volunteered per capita in America far outpaces other developed nations, and our level of giving has actually increased more than our rise in household income over the last 50 years.
Within our population, there are striking differences in levels of charity, and religious participation is one of the best predictors of giving. In Brooks's study, religious people (defined by attendance at a worship service once a week) gave four times more money to charity and volunteered more hours than "secularists" (those who attended church rarely or had no religious affiliation). Intriguingly, this charity was not limited to the individual's own house of worship. Religious people gave more money per capita to secular charities than secularists. These findings led Brooks to conclude "If I can ask you just one question to predict whether you give and volunteer, it will be about your religious participation - whether you go to church regularly or not. Religious folks are by far the most charitable people in America today."
If Arthur Brooks glanced through your checkbook or day planner, could he guess from your charitable habits the importance of faith in your life? Are you answering God's call to faithful stewardship, at Trinity and in the rest of the community? We encourage you to reflect this month on your current level of stewardship, and pray about what new opportunities might be ahead for you. Think about ways that you can grow your faith through stewardship - new or increased financial gifts, more active volunteering and participation at Trinity, or with another worthy cause. Let's make sure that we are answering God's call to generosity, and that our giving really reflects our desire to share God's love with the world.
We are pleased to welcome The Reverend Bill Lorenz into the Trinity family. Bill is a fourth generation pastor, avid bridge player and one of the newest members of Trinity's choir. Bill grew up in Cincinnati, the son of an Army chaplain whose joy in ministering to the troops during WWII inspired Bill to pursue becoming a pastor. After finishing his undergraduate studies at Princeton University and doing relief work in Poland, he entered McCormick Seminary, where he received national recognition as top Seminarian Preacher of the Year. His career has included roles with the National Council of Churches in migrant worker ministry, serving churches in Michigan and Missouri, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and working with civil rights organizations and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He became aware of Trinity as a Volunteer in Mission for our Presbytery, when he interviewed 29 urban pastors including Dan Anderson-Little. After Bill's wife died a year ago September, Bill sought Trinity out as a congregation led by a pastor most closely aligned with his own theological views. "I immediately felt at home after visiting Holy Week services this year," Bill reports.
Pat Scannell is a native St. Louisan who grew up in near north county (she is a graduate of Normandy High School). Pat had two daughters, one of whom died of cancer just before her 11th birthday; her other daughter and her husband live in the Central West End. Pat is the proud grandma of their two children J.R. and Grover. Before retiring, Pat worked for Washington University's Human Subject Research Ethics Committee. She volunteers her time with Baskets of Hope, a charity that prepares gift baskets for children who have been diagnosed with serious illnesses; she also volunteers with Make-a-Wish. Pat has an eclectic faith background. She grew up a Roman Catholic and has spent time in the Nazarene Church and the Seventh Adventist Church. This year Pat is hosting Sumi Choi, an exchange student at UMSL; Sumi attends Trinity with Pat.
Daniel Anderson-Little is a freshman at Lindbergh high school, where he maintains a rigorous academic and extra-curricular schedule. His tough course load, including pre-calculus and a variety of honors classes, is preparation for the International Baccalaureate degree he might pursue in his junior and senior years at Lindbergh. Daniel also plays trombone in the Marching and Jazz bands. His height made him a recruiting target for the volleyball team, where his inaugural season came to a premature end with a stress fracture in his foot.
Daniel is also busy in our Trinity church family. In addition to regular attendance in worship and all manner of help around the building, he has been very active in the planning for the new worship service, The Commons@The Loop. Daniel is excited to be taking part in this participatory service, which he thinks will speak to his spiritual needs and the needs of his peers in ways that traditional worship is missing. This summer, he'll travel with the Trinity youth to Montreat, North Carolina, and may add a mission trip with his mom's church in addition to family vacation.
It was my pleasure to get to know Daniel a little better over the past several weeks. He is an intelligent, thoughtful, and engaging young man, and it's easy to have interesting conversations with him about a variety of topics. He's enjoyed the mature conversations during the confirmation class this year, and looks forward to continuing to learn about his faith in the coming years at Trinity. - Brian Muegge
Adam Hotaling is just finishing eighth grade at the John Burroughs School, where he is particularly fond of studying math and French. Enjoying French was a pleasant surprise to Adam, and a testimony to his open mind and eagerness to learn and grow. Adam is an excellent swimmer, and has been a member of the St. Louis Spirit swim team since he was seven. He currently specializes in long distance individual medley and backstroke events, and he is looking forward to being on the Burroughs team next fall. Adam plays the saxophone and the piano, and is a voracious reader. Adam's intelligence is obvious, but it is his commitment to personal integrity that struck me most in our conversations. Adam made the decision to be confirmed carefully, and only after making sure he could fulfill each of the commitments he was making. I look forward to supporting Adam as he continues to explore and grow in his faith. - Dave Nelson
Shane Devine is an eighth Grade student at Parkway Northeast Junior High. In the fall, he will attend Parkway North High School, where in addition to the usual subjects, he will pursue his interest in the Arts. He draws, paints, and sculpts in many media including paper, hats, and ceramics. He worked with his father, Paul, to glaze the bowl that was used for his baptism during a recent The Commons@The Loop service. He also has an interest in travel which took him to Paris France this spring. - Jim Person
Max Nutter, son of Shawn and Tom Nutter, is in eighth grade at St. Paul School. Next year he is moving to J. F. Kennedy. This is a decision he made with his parents. He is looking forward to a little larger student base and more diversity. For sports he plays soccer and sometimes track - the 100-yard dash. When asked what subject he enjoyed most, he said that he is writing a book for a underclassman as part of the curriculum. His young partner loves space heroes and monsters. With this insight he wants to be a writer. - Jean Merson
(Saturday Service: 5 pm; Sunday Service: 10:30 am)
The June theme to be explored at the Commons is "the fruits of the spirit" - love, joy, peace, patience
When the church and its leadership entered into a time of intentional discerning, the congregation was promised a time for checking in on the process, the progress, the challenges and the realizations. Plan to stay after worship on Sunday, June 14th to share a potluck lunch and engage in a crucial conversation as we work together to move forward into God's plan for Trinity.
Please keep an eye out for contact information lists in the Narthex over the next few weeks. I will be printing an updated Trinity Directory with recent changes and new members and I want to make sure we have your latest, address, phone and email(s).