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From Our Newsletter |
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April 2008 “The test of our progress [as a nation] is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Second Inaugural Address
God has set before Holy Trinity Lutheran this year of our Lord 2008 an exciting and important ministry opportunity. This month of March, representatives of Tent City 4 (TC4) and its sponsoring agents, Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and Women’s Housing Equality and Enhancement League, or SHARE/WHEEL, came to Mercer Island for a site visit at the request of MI United Methodist. I got a phone call from Leslie Ann Knight, the pastor at MIUM, and she said her congregation was eager to host Tent City if their site was appropriate. “Do you want them to come and look at Holy Trinity while they’re at it?” she asked. “Sure, why not?” I said. I knew there had been an island-wide site visit of all congregations some time last year but wasn’t sure of what the outcome had been. I met with Scott Morrow of SHARE/WHEEL and representatives of Tent City earlier this month after their site visit and asked what they thought. They nodded and affirmed that Holy Trinity was a great site for Tent City. “Well, then,” I said, “please come to our church council meeting next week and make a presentation to them.” Scott and his crew did indeed come to council this month and gave a compelling presentation, each one of the TC4 residents eloquently reading his or her part. After they were finished, the council members asked questions, quite a few questions, clarifying and curious questions, and all were answered by Scott and his crew. When Scott and the TC4 residents had departed, the council discussed the matter further and then voted on whether or not to recommend hosting TC4 at Holy Trinity to the congregation. I was overwhelmed that the council voted unanimously to host and to hold information sessions and discussions with the rest of the congregation in anticipation of hosting Tent City 4. Bravo. Well done. You have excellent leaders on this council. Please look for opportunities to discuss TC4 coming up within the next couple of months, and please attend if it’s at all possible for you to do so. This is exactly what God calls us to do and is, in fact, in the congregation’s constitution:
C4.02 To participate in God’s mission, this congregation as a part of the Church shall:
Pastor Anderson March 2008 What are we doing here? Have you ever wondered? Why do we do what we do in church? Who decides what we do? Is all this supposed to mean something? Why am I so bored? Whose tradition is this, anyway? And, who are we? At. St. Olaf College, all those years ago, we Church Music majors attended at least six courses, with names like Church History, History of the Liturgy, Applied Liturgy and Hymnody, in which we studied questions like these. Little did I suspect then that I would still be asking them today. This interim time is a season for our self-examination as a community, and the Worship and Music Committee has decided to begin a study of our worship. They invited me to lead it. I would like to open the study to everyone who is curious or interested. What is this thing called “Liturgy”? Let’s find some answers to these perennial questions. Our Wednesday night Lenten series this year includes singing the Office of Compline, an ancient and simple service of evening devotions, which dates back to the monastic communities of the early church. This tradition lives on in places like St. Mark’s Cathedral. The joyful participation we’ve already experienced in this service suggests that we may want to continue it beyond Lent. I would propose scheduling our “worship workshop” on Wednesday evenings, to conclude with Compline, leading directly into the choir rehearsal. Although the workshop discussions will not begin until after Easter, our Compline services are already giving us some experience in approaching worship from the simplicity of the early Christians. Wednesday soup suppers begin at 6:00 pm, followed by a Lenten drama and Compline. Won’t you join us? David Locke, Organist February 2008 What do you think of when you hear the word “Fresh?” For me, I think of something “healthy”….or “energetic,” even “invigorating.” On March 2nd, you are invited to experience the first in a series of three “Fresh Worships” at 10:15 am in the sanctuary here at Holy Trinity. A fresh approach…. a fresh attitude… fresh music…. Chrade Younkin, Director of Choral Activities January 2008 It’s a new year, and many of us make resolutions for better habits for the upcoming year. Judging by ads in the newspaper, lots of people promise themselves that they’re going to get into better physical shape, and it seems like this is expected to happen in a month or even less. But most of us know that it really takes more than just a promise to exercise every day, or cut calories. In reality, both must be done in order to lose weight, and to keep weight off, one’s lifestyle must also be changed, or maybe it’s a mindset rather than lifestyle. We are a nation of people who expect everything, and in jumbo, super-terrific size. No wonder we’re the fattest nation on earth; we feel entitled to the best and the most of everything and at the same time we wonder why we become bloated and obese. More is not always better. I just read an article on MSN that said if you have $2,200 then you’re among the richest 50% of people in the entire world. To be in the richest 10% category, it takes $61,000 in assets, and the richest 1% takes $500,000, a category into which 37 million people worldwide now fall. But half of the world—a little over three billion people—live on less than $2 a day, and the richest three people in the world hold more of the entire world’s wealth than the poorest 48 countries combined. People in North America, Europe, and high-income Asia-Pacific countries hold 90% of the entire world’s wealth. North America alone has about 6% of the world’s adult population, but holds about 34% of the world’s wealth. This is amazing data, and made me think about Holy Trinity. “Why?”, you may be asking, and rightly so. At council this month we talked about the pool of volunteers here, and how it’s dwindled. Apparently, a lot of the people who used to make things happen are no longer at Holy Trinity. This makes the pool dangerously shallow, and the moving and shaking falls to an increasingly smaller number of people, people who are, if they aren’t already, going to burn out quickly. Diane Sorensen, who has made so many great social opportunities happen here, reported that no one is willing to help her, but I’m also hearing that people want and need the social events to continue to happen. This, too, is understandable. It’s a way for the community to pull together and draw support and strength from one another. But the bottom line is that these events cannot be done by one or two people. New people need to step in and help out. Everyone can’t sit back and wait to be served. We are a congregation rich in talented people. There’s no reason for anyone to burn out trying to make community events happen. If we want to keep the social events that we cherish, then all of us need to pitch in. If no one is willing to step forward, then events might not be able to happen, and I don’t think anyone wants that. But the burden of big social events simply cannot fall on one or two people. Volunteering your time to help out also takes a change of lifestyle and mindset. Consider what you like to see happen here and pray about your role in making it come to fruition. Let’s not deplete a small portion of our community, when the well is deep. Pray about your New Year’s resolutions and think about how you can volunteer to help out with functions at Holy Trinity. God’s peace to you all. Pr. Kathleen Anderson December 2007 Do you remember last December? Cold, no power, no hot water, cooking was limited to those with gas stoves, camping equipment and barbeques. What was the first thing you did – and will always do – when the power goes out? Light a candle. I am a big fan of candles. Seeing how many are in the stores these days, a lot of people must like candles. Lighting a candle gives a room a nice glow. It slows your pace down and allows your body to relax. Candlelight is a lot of things – romantic, soothing, restful, pretty, peaceful, calming. Don’t we long for all those feelings during the rush of the holidays?? As we enter into Advent, the light of a candle sets the tone for our preparation for Christ’s birth. Throughout the four weeks of Advent, we will light candles on our wreaths or logs, say a prayer, and be reminded that the light of the world came to us on a dark night. Prepare yourself and your family for Advent and Christmas – be sure to pick up a devotional book at church. There are several choices, children’s devotionals, teen devotionals, adult devotionals. Use them each day – maybe find a time each evening, light a candle and take a minute to read, reflect and pray on the message. Our Wednesday evening services this Advent are “Flames for the Faithful”. We will focus on the light of a candle and the Light of the World. I invite you all to be a part of this season of worship. New this year will be a 5:30 – 6:00 pm prayer & meditation time, a quiet time in the Chapel to prepare yourself for the evening. Our soup suppers will follow at 6 pm in the Fellowship Hall. A simple supper of soup, bread and dessert will be provided (we ask for a donation to cover costs). Then at 7 pm we will return to the Chapel for our Vespers service. Give yourself the gift of a quiet, reflective time each evening until Christmas Eve. Make yourself ready to receive Jesus into your hearts and lives. Here is a prayer to share from “A Child’s First Book of Prayers”: In the dark of the year, I will light a candle… Kathy Fisher
November 2007 Reflections Anyone who was able to attend the final Bridgebuilders meeting a couple of weeks ago received, I thought, a very hopeful message. Dr. Houglum drew a continuum across a blank page of paper and indicated the far left side as we were looking at it. This, he told us, is where Holy Trinity has been, and this (he indicated the other end of the line) is where Holy Trinity will be some day. He didn't tell us what either of those places were, he didn't define what we have been or what we will be. That is for us to define, to shape, to envision. In between those two points, of course, was a whole lot of line, which also is for us to define. In between what Holy Trinity has been and what Holy Trinity will be is a lot of excitement, hard work, exasperation, fear, laughter, anger, wonder - you name it, that's what awaits us as a faith community now that the interim work is starting. Someone defined that are as "chaos," and that may be the best term. "Ambiguity" is another good term. In other words, we don't know what, exactly, we'll have to go through in our pilgrimage from one to the other - most likely all of the above and even more than that. Transitions are always ambiguous, because the work during that period is to reexamine and reevaluate ourselves, reimagine our goals, dreams, hopes, vision. Lots of questions will arise in the interim period. I hope that lots of prayers also will rise during the interim period. Whatever else the transition period holds, I think that the best part of it is that we go through it together. And we not only go through it together, but when we pray for God's guidance, we get just that. God doesn't always work on the timeline that we would like; God isn't oriented toward instant gratification like we are. God does, however, always know what's best for us, and sometimes what's best for us is to get frustrated and angry and impatient at a pace that doesn't satisfy what we might want when we want it. Pastor Anderson
Page updated on Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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