Trinity Episcopal Church

e-newsletter
Spring 2010

Dear Friends: The foundation for this ministry of servanthood was to

be found in the person of Jesus, who said that he
Have you ever read one of came to serve, not be to be served. Yet, Jesus didnʼt
those books that contain so just say it; he lived it through such actions as washing
many wonderful things that the feet of his friends at the Last Supper as told in
are so patently true? Johnʼs gospel. He held out a hand of love and accep-
tance to the outcasts and the marginalized in the so-
I am a member of the Chap- ciety around him. He preached peace and mutual
ter (aka Vestry) of Christ care in the Beatitudes. Finally, he served the world by
Church Cathedral, St. Louis, becoming the Suffering Servant who died on the
and the Dean has asked us Cross. A ministry of servanthood is in the DNA of the
to read Servanthood: Lead- Body of Christ. As Bishop Sims writes in his book,
ership for the Third Millennium by Bishop Bennett “What Jesus teaches, Jesus does! And he does it to
Sims. We are doing this in order to lay the foundation the extremity of self-giving in suffering servanthood.
for a change in the way in which things get done by This offering of self is at the heart of his power to be a
the congregation and work to leave behind the “Fa- leader, and is the key to his identity as the Messiah
ther knows best” leadership style in which things flow and his role as a servant leader who would challenge
down from those at the top of the hierarchy. and transform the world.”

This is nothing new to me, yet it is good to be re- My time of service with you at Trinity will come to end
minded of the nature of the servanthood ministry to at the close of July, yet I would suggest that a profit-
which all of us are called. I served in the Diocese of able book study (one for which I probably will not be
Hawaii during the time Bishop Edmond L. Browning here) is this book by Bishop Sims. The author helps
was our diocesan bishop (1976-1985). In 1986 he us reflect on our leadership styles, whether in the
became the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church church, the family, in the community, at work, or in the
and served 12 years as our Chief Pastor. classroom, and suggests ways in which we can follow
the pattern of transformative leadership as Christians
During his time with us in Hawaii, the Episcopal who follow the example of our Servant Leader who
Church reinstituted the ministry of the Vocational gave himself for us and for the world.
Deacon. Our diocese was one of the first to create a
program for training and ordaining people for this min- Faithfully yours,
istry, and Ed emphasized to us over and over that the
ministry of the Deacon was a servanthood ministry.
The Deacon was to bring the concerns of the world to
the church, and then take back to the world the efforts
of the church to respond to those needs. (The Rev. Dr.) Peter E. Van Horne
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter
Page 2
Spring 2010

Bishopʼs Wardenʼs Report things too. Whew, this is a great place to be! No kid-
by Krista Baker, Bishopʼs Warden ding, I hope you feel as blessed as I do by our Trinity
community.
Goodness, it feels like there are so many things to
talk about. This little parish and your Bishopʼs Com-
mittee have been busy! Since our last newsletter
several new activities and events have taken place.
Lent offered new opportunities for worship and shar- Calendar & Announcements
ing: on-line Lenten meditations, weekly Stations of
the Cross, and the Taizé service. We celebrated our ✤ Thursday, April 29, 7pm ~ Taizé-style service.
first mid-week Rite I service in April. The first–
Sunday-of-the-month charitable plate collections have ✤ Saturday, May 1 ~ Bishopʼs Committee Annual
started. The choir provided splendid music for Holy Planning Meeting.
Week and Easter, including a special commissioned
piece for Easter Sunday. ✤ Sunday, May 2 ~ Plate collection donated to
Victim Support Services.
The Bishopʼs Committee has sorted though Search
process decisions with the Diocese and with the par- ✤ Sunday, May 2 & 16 ~ Book discussion group
ish. The decision was made to use the Diocese As- meets following coffee hour.
sist model and the Bishopʼs Committee will serve as
the Search Committee. We have had several parish ✤ Wednesday, May 5, 5:30pm ~ Rite I “Quite”
meetings to gather information for the parish profile, Eucharist.
which will be crafted by Diane Johnson. Our goal is
to have the profile completed by the beginning of ✤ Sunday, May 9 ~ Donated items collected for
June. Foster Family project.

We are pleased that our Letter of Agreement with ✤ Sunday, May 9 ~ Bishopʼs Committee Meeting
Rev. Dr. Peter Van Horne as interim vicar is extended following coffee hour.
until the end of July. Peterʼs weekly news clips are a
welcome sight in my inbox towards the end of each ✤ Thursday, May 13, 5:30pm ~ Ascension Day
week. Thank you, Peter! Eucharist.

Four Bishopʼs Committee members attended the Dio- ✤ Saturday, May 15 ~ Confirmation at the Cathe-
cese 2010 Leadership Conference, held at St. Mar- dral in St. Louis.
tinʼs, Ellisville, in March. The focus of the conference
was learning about the leadership art of the public ✤ Sunday, May 23 ~ Final Sunday School session
narrative, which is a simple and powerful way to move before summer break.
an audience to action using storytelling. We look for-
ward to opportunities to use this art here at Trinity. ✤ Sunday, June 6 ~ Plate Collection donated to
Habitat for Humanity.
In an effort to improve communication from the
Bishopʼs Committee, our meeting minutes are now ✤ Sunday, July 4 ~ Plate Collection TBD.
published on the parish web site. Looking ahead, the
annual Bishopʼs Committee planning meeting will take ✤ Updated Trinity directories are available in the
place on May 1. We will be planning the activities for narthex. When you pick up your copy be sure
the next year, discussing our roles, and discussing to cross your name off the distribution list!
how things are working during the interim period. If
you have any input for this meeting, please discuss it
with any Bishopʼs Committee member. Congratulations to our Trinity graduates!
Jared (Truman State University)
Letʼs see, what else? Trinity also managed to begin a Kathleen (Kirksville High School)
new outreach project, have coffee hour each Sunday
morning, Sunday School, spring clean-up day, book
club, greet visitors, begin a confirmation class, and
take care of each other. I know I am missing some
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter
Page 3
Spring 2010

Spring Workday Thanks

by Maria Evans, Junior Warden Outreach Opportunities

As usual we had a good turnout for Spring Work Day ✤ Thank you for supporting the Foster Family
at Trinity.  Enough time has elapsed that I have lost project which the parish has adopted this year.
the paper that had everyone's names on it who par- The next collection date is Motherʼs Day, May
ticipated, but you know who you are, and I thank you 9. This seems an especially appropriate day
again!  Some of the tasks that got accomplished were for this collection, which will focus on babies.
gutter cleaning, hedge trimming, mowing, raking, Please consider bringing diapers, baby wipes,
vacuuming and dusting of the sanctuary and sacristy, and clothing. This is your opportunity to have
along with the ever-popular "clean the undercroft from fun shopping for babies. Gently used items are
top to bottom" duty.  All your hard work made the old welcomed but please donʼt bring stuffed ani-
girl beautiful for her Easter resurrection! mals. If you have been collecting the items we
gathered before: pillows and pillowcases, duf-
fel bags, and personal care items, these things
are still most welcome.

The Foster Family project got off to a great

start in February. The following items we col-
lected were joyfully received and are being dis-
tributed to Foster Families in Adair County.

• 9 pillows and 6 pillow cases

• 21 assorted duffel bags, suitcases or satchels
• one complete bedding set for a girlʼs bedroom
• 22 toothbrushes and 16 tubes of toothpaste –
some travel size
A beautiful morning greeted us on Palm Sunday • mouthwash and floss
as we gathered for worship in Trinityʼs garden • small travel size tissues
and processed into the sanctuary. • travel size shampoo & conditioner
• misc personal items such as combs, hair brushes,
hair care items
• several sets of baby care items including diapers,
wipes, & bottles

Support Foster Families! Bring your items to

the church on May 9, Motherʼs Day.

✤ The first Sunday of each month, the plate col-

lection from morning worship will be donated
to a charitable organization. This yearʼs groups
include Hospice of Northeast Missouri, Victim
Support Services, Habitat for Humanity, Epis-
copal Relief and Development Nets for Life,
Call to Visual Artists of the Diocese Trinityʼs Discretionary Fund, Bishopʼs Fund,
United Thank Offering, and Foster Families of
The Diocese of Missouri is seeking visual artwork Adair County.
centered on the theme of “celebration” for publication
in Seek and online. Submission deadline for artwork ✤ Food bank donations are always welcome;
is May 14. For further details and future themes, visit items may be placed in the basket located just
http://www.diocesemo.org/news/2010/04/19/call-for-art/ to inside the sanctuary door.
view the full article on the Diocesan website.
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter
Page 4
Spring 2010

Plant Sale Preparations Underway

by Wynne Wilbur Educational Opportunities

This yearʼs plant sale will be in late May or early June ✤ Trinityʼs next book group will be starting May
on a Saturday morning at the Farmersʼ Market. If we 2nd after coffee, and will meet again on May
have enough plants and interest, we may do it more 16th, with Maria Evans leading a discussion on
than one weekend. Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way Of Love by
Daniel O.S.B. Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt.
Anyone interested in participating should pot up their
volunteers or divisions of perennials (although divi- Written by “a monk and a mom,” this book
sions or offshoots of house plants are also fine) and shows us how the home and the monastery
label them as indoor or outdoor, and basic light and both have hospitality at their core. At the heart
watering requirements. Color would be good too if it of monastic hospitality is the discipline of listen-
is a blooming plant. ing, of allowing a guest to feel safe and loved.

People can contact me if they have any questions. From Amazon.com: “This book made me feel
hopeful regarding Christianity again. In a world
of hostility and fear the hope of mercy and
grace is like drinking a cold glass of water in a
desert. I felt I could put into practice the spirit in
Volunteer Opportunities
which the monks live. Well worth the read for a
✤ Altar Guild: Do you have about two hours per parched soul.”
month you could give to the church?  The Altar
Guild is in need of a couple more Mariaʼs suggestion is to read chapters 1-5 for
members...any age or gender welcome!  If you the first session and chapters 6-10 for the sec-
are interested in finding out more, please con- ond session. She would like those who plan on
tact any of the current Altar Guild members:  participating to e-mail her at
Jessie Cragg, Julia DeLancey, Stephanie Foré, [email protected] so she can send out
Julie Seidler, or the Rev. Carrol Davenport. the “discussion questions” before each session.
She promises there wonʼt be a quiz. Her sug-
✤ Summer Mowing: Maria is looking for volun- gestion is, “Think about the questions in terms
teers to help with mowing the yard this summer. of your individual capacity for hospitality, and in
A weekly sign-up sheet has been posted in the terms of Trinity as a community of hospitable
narthex. faith.”

✤ Coffee Hour: Volunteers are needed for spring Even if you canʼt come every time (or any
and summer coffee hours; sign-up on the cal- time), you are welcome to join us in reading the
endar in the undercroft. book and continuing the congregational dia-
logue. You can get your own copy of the book,
✤ Summer Music: The choir concludes its sea- or Scott has some available for $7.
son on May 2, making room for other musical
offerings throughout the summer. Talk with ✤ Looking ahead to summer book club reading,
Scott if you have musical talents to share or a Scott and Peter welcome your book sugges-
favorite hymn to suggest. tions. Also, let them know if you would like to
facilitate a discussion.
✤ A special thank you to Julie, Diane, Barbara
and Joanne for helping with the delicious ✤ Sunday school will conclude on May 23 and
Ukrainian Easter feast! Julie is sharing her will then take a break for the summer. Thanks
yummy Borscht recipe; it is included as a sepa- to Talie, Sarah, Pam, Cindy, Jason and Car-
rate attachment, so you can print it out to use. rol for teaching our children!
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter
Page 5
Spring 2010

A prayer for my twenty minute drive to and from

Kathleenʼs Graduating! work
Please join us in celebrating Kathleenʼs high By Maria Evans
school graduation. We will have an open house
at our home (17 Broadview Dr.) on Saturday, May Lord God, you knit the threads of time into the gar-
29th from 3-5.  We are all wearing green – wear it ment of the universe in amazing ways.
if you can! We hope you can join us.
Carrol and Mike Thank you for gift of my twenty minute drive to and
from work each day, five days a week, 52 weeks a
year, a drive that some might find a chore.  Within that
An Open Letter to Trinity Members twenty minutes are the seasons of the year, the mys-
teries of life, and nature's coat of many colors.
Fellow travelers on the faith journey:
Take the pristine white January snowdrifts, the earthy
I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you how happy muck of April, July's powder blue chicory flowers, Oc-
I am to be a member of this church. The first reason is tober's orange fallen leaves, and the heavy gray hori-
because of the great response to the Ukrainian zon of December, and splice them together into a
Easter luncheon. Diane and I had a great time putting never-ending, always changing kaleidoscope of col-
it together for you and, since so many people asked ors and patterns--so much the same day by day, yet
for the borscht recipe, I thought Iʼd include it here. He stunningly different from season to season.
is risen, indeed!
Synchronize the motions of my familiar journey with
More important is your support during my unemploy- the joyful motions of your natural kingdom--bounding
ment and comeback/resurrection (still in progress). deer with tails held aloft, hopping baby rabbits, scurry-
So many of you have shown me true Christian agape ing coveys of quail, and the creeping pace of the box
love in the past few months. Some have provided turtle.
meals, some money, some guidance, some just hav-
ing a good time when things seemed pretty bleak. I Keep me aware of unexpected roadside delights--
donʼt know what I would have done without you! owls landing with outstretched wings onto fence
Sometimes we serve Christ even when we donʼt know posts, newly born calves, shy flocks of turkeys, hawks
thatʼs what we are doing. flying lazy circles in the sky.   Use them to teach me
that unexpected joys in my life still await within my
Iʼve come to realize that taking care of each other is most mundane work days.
as important as other ministries. A friend of mine from
another church in town and I were talking about this Embed in my heart the knowledge that what I see
issue a few days ago. I felt guilty that we were minis- along the road today is but a fleeting shadow, put
tering to each other and not doing as much outreach there by You for today's viewing only--yesterday's
or mission in the community. (I suppose I also felt view is gone, and tomorrow's is not yet here.
guilty for being in need.) He showed me that thereʼs
nothing wrong in taking care of our own when thatʼs Transform the seconds of those twenty minutes into
whatʼs called for. We just donʼt want to lose sight of hours of inner strength as I prepare for my day's work,
those outside our church. and unwind the watchspring of the stress of my day in
those twenty minutes towards home.
At any rate, I want to thank you for welcoming and
supporting me as a part of your fellowship. I hope that Even in the visages of nature's death by the roadside,
Iʼve been and will be the same to others, both in our make me mindful that I, too, will become dust, and I
congregation and in the Kirksville community. may not take this journey again.   What I do today
must matter.
As St. Francis used to say (from my Quincy University
days): Weave these threads of time, oh Lord, so finite, so
similar, into the carpet of your kingdom--a kingdom
Pax et bonum (Peace and all good), with no end, no beginning, illuminated by perpetual
light.   In the name of Jesus Christ, whose 33 finite
Julie Seidler years stretch into infinity, Amen.
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter
Page 6
Spring 2010

The Slinky I began to think about the two orders of time, the cir-
By Krista Baker cular and the straight line. I know that my life and our
  life as a community at Trinity somewhat mirror each
Sometimes it is difficult to pray other. We move in a circular pattern, seeming to go
every day. We get tired. We get nowhere but indeed moving forward. The image of a
busy. We get discouraged. One of slinky came to me. I remember the childhood toy that
the tools I use to help me return to Godʼs word is the moved ahead of me down a hill or gracefully walked
little booklet titled Forward Day by Day. Following is a down steps. The slinky was fascinating. Our lives are
portion of the reading for April 17. the same. As this short meditation states, “Life has a
goal and a direction, as it has been created and re-
“There are two orders of time, and we live in both at deemed by God in Christ. No matter what happens –
the same time. One is circular, cyclical. Things recur. and it will - we are going somewhere.” During this
Progress is absent. But time also moves in a straight interim time this is especially comforting. We are
line from a beginning, through a midpoint and to an moving, perhaps in slow circles but advancing for-
end, a logical and fulfilled conclusion. At that end eve- ward none the less.
rything comes together. Godʼs will is done.”

Prayers

Please remember in your prayers: Randy (Karen’s Brother-in-law); Ann (Pete and Julia); Richard (Karen),
The Companions of St. Luke, OSB (Maria); John, Andrew (Diane), Cybil, Tracee & Paul (Joanne); Mag-
gie (Diane); Lew (Diane); Damaris (Talie’s friend); Leslie (Joanne’s niece); Tim (Tim B.‘s friend); Rocky
(Jean); Betty (Sally’s mother); John (Jessie’s husband); Rex (Cynthia’s father); Elias; Arnie & Alanna
(Barb); and Lorraine (Ian).

A prayer for the parish: “Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our
prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us
all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy church;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (BCP p.817)

Clergy Worship Services

Rev. Dr. Peter E. Van Horne, Interim Vicar Holy Eucharist
Rev. Carrol K. Davenport, Associate Priest Sundays ~ 10:00 a.m.

Morning Prayer
Bishop’s Committee Wednesdays ~ 7:30 a.m.
Krista Baker, Bishop’s Warden (2012)
Maria Evans, Junior Warden (2011)
Wynne Wilbur, Clerk (2013) Trinity Episcopal Church
Jessie Cragg (2012) 124 N. Mulanix
Laura Gruber (2011) Kirksville, MO 63501
Pete Kelly (2013) 660-665-6155
Kyle Miller, Student Representative (2011) www.trinitykirksville.org

Thanks to all who contributed and to Julie Seidler for the wonderful photos!
Please send all newsletter contributions, corrections, and suggestions to Nancy Miller at
[email protected]. Items for the Summer newsletter are due by July 5.