Advent Newsletter - December 2011

clarity that we usually do not have. I remind you of the crispness of the leaves in the woods and the clear blue skies of autumn and early winter. Imagine the bite in the air and the quiet of the wilderness. All of these things lead to the sense of joy at the coming of God in our midst! I leave you with this piece from Seasons of Celebration: Meditations of the Cycle of Liturgical Feasts by Thomas Merton. (Please forgive his gendered language; he was a man of his times.) Advent is the sacrament of the presence of God in His world, in the Mystery of Christ at work in HistoryBut it is not merely a manifestation of the Divine Perfections, it is the concrete plan of God for the salvation of men and the restoration of the whole world in Christ.

From Our Vicar

The Rev. Johnnette Shane Our culture began celebrating Christmas just after Halloween. We Episcopalians just finished the season of Pentecost and are embarking on the great season of Advent. Advent is marked by the four Sundays before Christmas. It is a great spiritual gift and gives us a chance to reflect in the midst of the bustle of activity in which our culture engages during December. Advent has been thought of in our Church as very heavy and penitential. It still carries some of that sense of penitence, but I invite you into other thoughts about Advent. Suppose we thought of it instead as a sort of cleanup before we have company. Imagine the amazing company for which we are waiting! That sense of cleansing and excitement of what is coming are held in tension. This is the kind of excitement that Advent brings. It brings a sense of quiet expectancy. It brings a sense of

This plan is envisaged not as a future prospect but as a present fact. The last things are already present and realized in a hidden manner. The Kingdom of God is thus already in the midst of us. But, the mystery can only be known by those who enter into it, who find their place in the Mystical Christ, and therefore find the mystery of Christ realized and fulfilled in themselves.

Interested in Contributing to the Trinity Newsletter?

Send your articles, reflections, news, or ministry updates to: Kevin Minch kevin.minch@gmail.com 1 Grim Drive Kirksville, MO 63501

In This Season of Advent

Bishop Wayne Smith Our culture is in danger of losing any meaningful sense of the future. On the one hand, there is the trend toward hopelessness and despair, the logical consequence of losing a future. On the other hand, there is an inherent impatience created by our fast-paced culture and its technologies. We learn not to wait, and we expect the instantaneous, even when it is not available. Christian faith asserts a future. Christian character takes shape in the course of waiting, within a leisurely patience. So much of what we value takes time--the exercise of hospitality, for which there is no hurry-up; the growth of love toward God and neighbor, and toward ones own beloved; the healing of what ails us, if that healing is to be more than a Band-Aid. Advent is the season devoted to the future. It bids the Christian not to hurry up but to wait, to savor the time, and to question the instantaneous. A favorite season for many of us, perhaps it taps into something we know we need but hardly know how to express. It orients us toward a future in which Christ awaits. May this Advent be leisurely and holy, chock full of hope, tilting toward Gods future. December 2011

Reflections on the Millenium Development Goals Book Group

Julia DeLancey This past month, a group of us met to discuss a very powerful book, Lallie B. Lloyds Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the Millennium Development Goals (2006). As many of you may already know, in 2000 the United Nations met, developed an action plan, and set goals for eliminating extreme poverty. Each nation committed to help meet those goals. Those goals, now known as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs) are designed to cut poverty in half by 2015. The goals, as outlined by Lloyd are: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Achieve universal primary education. Promote gender equality and empower women. Reduce child mortality. Improve maternal health. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. Ensure environmental sustainability. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade, and debt relief.

Lloyds book facilitates both a more in-depth study of the need for these goals as well as provides sobering updates on how well the UN in general, and the US in particular, are doing in meeting their commitments. In other words, the book might be summarized as what are the goals and how are we doing with meeting them? Another aim of the book is to provide opportunities for discussion, reflection, and action on the part of individuals and parishes as they consider how they might respond to and support the goals. If youd like to get a taste of the book, a sample chapter is available at http://www.ncccusa.org/globalpoverty/ EPsample.htm. Nations around the world have committed to give 0.7% of their economy. As of 2004 only five countries had done so, and the United States was not among them. Private donations can never match the power of institutional or national donations; however, those of us in

individuals and for churches to consider that degree of commitment. With that in mind, those of us who met decided among other thingsthat we wanted to do three things: First, we wanted to remind everyone in the parish of the MDGs and encourage those who might just be hearing about them to find out more. Second, we wanted to support our churchs continuing commitment to set aside an amount of money from our parish budget to go towards the MDGs. Further, we wanted to recommend that in the next year that money be used to help advance the MDGs in our companion Diocese of Lui. Indeed, we hope very much that during their upcoming visit to our Diocese and to our parish that Bishop Stephen Dokolo of Lui and his wife Lillian Dokolo might be able to recommend to us some organizations that have been particularly helpful to them. Third, we wanted to look into some good organizations that we might support individually; we then wanted to share that information with others in the congregation who might also be moved to donate to some of these worthy causes. We used the very useful Charity Navigator website (http://www.charitynavigator.org) to find some highly-rated organizations that worked directly towards some of these goals. Here is just a sampling of what we found: Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education. UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) is still one of the best organizations and their famous Christmas cards (available on the UNICEF website) and gifts are a timely way to support them. (http://www.unicef.org) The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has as their main goal breaking through economic and educational barriers for women. They work both in the States and abroad. (http://www.aauw.org) Goal 4: Reduce child mortality.

UNICEF gets high rankings here, as does World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org) which works on the sponsor-a-child model, and K.I.D.S. (Kids in Distressed Situations) (http://www.kidsdonations.org) which works mainly in Ethiopia. Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. Grassroot Soccer: organization that mobilizes the global soccer community in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Uses local heroes, professional soccer players and to educate at risk youth. Grassroot Soccer works mainly in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. (http:// www.grassrootsoccer.org). Although they are not rated by Charity Navigator, many of us know about Nets for Life and their excellent work in providing mosquito nets to help stop the spread of malaria in Africa. (http://www.netsforlife.org). You could also check out Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (http://www.e4gr.org) which has lots of great information about the MDGs. From their website: EGR was formed in 2006 as a Christ-centered grassroots national organization seeking to build an effective and dynamic movement to heed the call within the Episcopal Church to alleviate extreme global poverty by working through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Finally, of course, we can meditate and pray. The book opens, as we did each session, with these words from St. Theresa of vila (we often changed yours to ours): Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no feet but yours, no hands but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ is to look out on a hurting world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless all now.

Lessons and Carols

Lessons and Carols will take place at 6 PM on December 13 at Trinity. The program is an Advent service interspersed with artistic offerings from the congregation. If you are interested in reading scripture, sharing a poem, or performing some sort of musical offering, plese contact Delaney Schlake at dls1174@truman.edu.

Upcoming Advent Season Events

Holy Eucharist - Every Sunday, 10 AM Morning Prayer - Every Wednesday, 7:30 AM December 4 December 5 December 11 December 13 December 17 December 24 December 25 Recovery Worship, 4 PM Canterbury Club, 6 PM Bishop Smiths Visit, 10 AM Lessons and Carols, 7 PM Fiber Guild, 2:30 PM Christmas Eve Eucharist, 8 PM Christmas Eucharist, 10 AM

December Giving: Foster Families of Adair County

Jessie Cragg Foster Families of Adair County is a non-profit, volunteer organization that supports foster children and parents in our community by providing leadership, education, encouragement, communication, and monetary support. Trinitys Advent outreach will help Foster Families in three ways: providing gifts for foster children, collecting items needed to run their resale shop, and donating our December 4 First Sunday plate. Please take a cherub, or two, or more, from the tree at the back of the church. The childs gender, age and gift wishes are listed on each one. The requested limit is $25. Dont toss out the paper cherub; take it with the gift (you dont need to wrap it) to the Foster Families resale shop at 116 S. Franklin, in the block south of the square. December 13 is the requested deadline. Grab a list of the items needed in the resale shop and pick up one or two when you shop for your child. These items will be collected at the church through Sunday, December 11. Finally, please be generous on December 4 when our First Sunday plate offering will be donated to Foster Families. You can support Foster Families of Adair County throughout the year with prayers, with money, and by donating items and shopping at their resale shop.

The Virtue of Impatience?

Kevin Minch The place of rhetorical maxims in our ethical education cannot be understated, and the statement, Patience is a virtue is one most people learn in childhood at the behest of frustrated parents. The virtue of patience serves us well in many aspects of our life. It is with this in mind that I had an interesting conversation with a relative recently as we discussed the urgent health care needs of an elderly family member. She had been accused by another family member, who had been less engaged in the elders care, of being impatient regarding care decisions. Her disappointed and frustrated response was, Of course Im impatient when the decision involves someones life! The conversation caused me to give serious thought to the age-old maxim about patience. Are there situations or circumstances where patience is not virtuous, or cannot be defended? When do we throw patience to the wind and push for urgent action and focused attention? Is it our place to expect similar attitudes from others in the face of urgent objectives? Bishop Smiths column for this month further underscored the need for reflection on these questions. In confronting these questions, I decided that Im not a very patient person. I questioned how I might reconcile a sense of urgency with personal limitations on time and the sometimes unreasonable expectations of the world around me. Certainly these pressures raise similar questions for all of us when we feel passionate about a cause. There are many critical issues members of Trinity have explored in recent months. We have twice confronted the issue of bullying - particularly as it has been aimed at youth and GLBT persons - in services/vigils and a forum. We have studied the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals. Further, as we all know, Trinity has again returned to the question of accessibility - a topic it has grappled with on and off for many years. Not to be ignored or diminished in importance, we have sought to bring attention to the needs of local youth and, once again, have turned attention to the Foster Families of Adair County and the Adair County Food Bank, among other worthy periodic causes.

I look to these issues and goals and their urgency for our community, congregation, and world and wonder how we make truly meaningful contributions to these causes in the face of challenging personal schedules, limited financial resources, and the diversity of causes needing our attention. The Greek sage Aristotle, in articulating his doctrine of The Mean, would argue that virtuous behavior is located somewhere between excess and deficiency. The right amount of patience (or one might even say, in some instances, tolerance for the status quo) is found between total patience and absolute impatience. Since Aristotle saw the mean as being different for each situation (not just a midpoint between too much and too little), one might assume that he would evaluate the right amount of patience in light of the many challenges or needs an individual confronts. Trinity faces some daunting challenges and some amazing opportunities to do good. Accessibility and expansion will be a monumental challenge, but a challenge whose urgency is underscored by the inability of current congregants and others to enjoy our facility and worship. Ministry to underprivileged youth has acquired added meaning for those among us who worked on Food for Kids during the summer. Kerrin Smith beautifully articulated the potential of an expanded ministry during the summer months in our September newsletter. There is no questioning that the need for programs targeted at low-income youth, and youth with working parents is absolute. Similarly, a desire to provide support for bullied youth was passionately articulated after a Taiz service a little over a year ago. Many left that service energized about the need to take action on these issues in a region that is not as fully equipped to tackle these topics. These and other issues are wonderful causes in search of an articulated mission and they do not suffer delay well. As Bishop Smith eloquently observed in this months column, Advent is the season devoted to the future. As we comteplate the future, New Years resolutions, and Trinitys Annual meeting, now is a fitting time to think about what urgent needs make us impatient for change and explore those missions we seek to bring focus to in the coming year.

Communication Committee
Your Communication Committee is working diligently to improve the regularity and quality of communication with the congregation through multiple channels.

Using the Google Calendar

Maria Evans

Our recent Parish Communication Survey has already revealed an interesting fact--most members of Trinity are unaware of the benefits of using Trinitys Google The Website Calendar to help keep track of events in the life of the church. So heres a quick session on how it can help The Trinity website is in the process of being moved from one provider to another. This will result in a tem- streamline your life! porary outage of the website as the content migrates First, you will need to sign up for Google Calendar to from one location on the Internet to another. When this migration is complete there will be several updates use all the features (its free)... to the site aimed at making the content more current Go to http://calendar.google.com and get an account and more user-friendly. (if you dont already have a Google account) Facebook Then go to this page on the church web site: To help bridge the gap during the websites outage, as http://www.trinitykirksville.org/calendar.php well as to reach-out to potential new members, the Committee has built a Facebook page at Scroll down towards the bottom of the page until you see a little icon with a plus sign and Google Calendar http://www.facebook.com/trinitykirksville in the lower right hand corner. The page will primarily be used to communicate information about upcoming events and to heighten aware- Click on this icon to add the Trinity schedule to your ness about Trinitys presence and mission in Kirksville personal Google Calendar. and the surrounding community. Youve now made the first step to letting this application work for you. Q. A. In what ways can Google Calendar assist me with remembering events at Trinity? Heres an example:

Lets say you want to remember to attend the Recovery Worship service on Dec. 4.... 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Click on the event on the calendar, and choose Edit. You will get a screen that looks like this (put screen shot here) Under Reminders click on Add a reminder. You can have the choice of an e-mail, pop-up, or SMS text message, and set the time prior to the event for this reminder. Clicking add a reminder again allows you to choose more than one reminder.

The Survey We have placed a survey online to collect information about the use of various Trinity communications. This survey can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YNR7FJ7

Google Calendar can also be fully integrated into your smart phone calendar.

One of the ways I constantly depend on reminders for the first Sunday plate offering is making a reminder to myself early on the morning of the day we are doing First Sunday collections. I set my reminder early enough on the day of the event, I can remember to write a check for that, in addition to my usual Sunday check. Even without using the reminder function, I have found incorporating the church calendar invaluable when looking at my daily agenda. I invite you to give it a try!

Treasurers Report
Krista Baker Parish Financial Summary as of 10/31/2011 Does not include pass-thru amounts for flowers and for outreach Year to date summary Income Pledges Plate Other Total Income Building Clergy Miscellaneous Music Outreach Worship Total Expenses Account Balances Checking Parish Savings Building Fund Savings Investments - CD Investments - CD Debt/Libabilities Annual budget $85,223 $6,777 $17,700 $109,700 $16,900 $63,115 $1,500 $8,900 $14,910 $4,375 $109,700 As of 10/31/2011 $32,942 $21,388 $48,684 $25,000 $9,901 $137,915 $0 10/31/11 $73,283 $10,889 $13,629 $97,800 $13,261 $56,359 $1,130 $7,039 $10,020 $2,675 $90,484