Trinity Episcopal Church
e-newsletter
Dear Friends:
Have you ever read one of
those books that contain so
many wonderful things that
are so patently true?
I am a member of the Chap-
ter (aka Vestry) of Christ
Church Cathedral, St. Louis,
and the Dean has asked us
to read Servanthood: Lead-
ership for the Third Millennium by Bishop Bennett
Sims. We are doing this in order to lay the foundation
for a change in the way in which things get done by
the congregation and work to leave behind the “Fa-
ther knows best” leadership style in which things flow
down from those at the top of the hierarchy.
This is nothing new to me, yet it is good to be re-
minded of the nature of the servanthood ministry to
which all of us are called. I served in the Diocese of
Hawaii during the time Bishop Edmond L. Browning
was our diocesan bishop (1976-1985). In 1986 he
became the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
and served 12 years as our Chief Pastor.
During his time with us in Hawaii, the Episcopal
Church reinstituted the ministry of the Vocational
Deacon. Our diocese was one of the first to create a
program for training and ordaining people for this min-
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.
Spring 2010
The foundation for this ministry of servanthood was to
be found in the person of Jesus, who said that he
came to serve, not be to be served. Yet, Jesus didnʼt
just say it; he lived it through such actions as washing
the feet of his friends at the Last Supper as told in
Johnʼs gospel. He held out a hand of love and accep-
tance to the outcasts and the marginalized in the so-
ciety around him. He preached peace and mutual
care in the Beatitudes. Finally, he served the world by
becoming the Suffering Servant who died on the
Cross. A ministry of servanthood is in the DNA of the
Body of Christ. As Bishop Sims writes in his book,
“What Jesus teaches, Jesus does! And he does it to
the extremity of self-giving in suffering servanthood.
This offering of self is at the heart of his power to be a
leader, and is the key to his identity as the Messiah
and his role as a servant leader who would challenge
and transform the world.”
My time of service with you at Trinity will come to end
at the close of July, yet I would suggest that a profit-
able book study (one for which I probably will not be
here) is this book by Bishop Sims. The author helps
us reflect on our leadership styles, whether in the
church, the family, in the community, at work, or in the
classroom, and suggests ways in which we can follow
the pattern of transformative leadership as Christians
who follow the example of our Servant Leader who
gave himself for us and for the world.
Faithfully yours,
(The Rev. Dr.) Peter E. Van Horne
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter

Page 2

Spring 2010

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

We are pleased that our Letter of Agreement with
Rev. Dr. Peter Van Horne as interim vicar is extended
until the end of July. Peterʼs weekly news clips are a
welcome sight in my inbox towards the end of each
week. Thank you, Peter!
✤ Sunday, May 9 ~ Bishopʼs Committee Meeting
following coffee hour.
✤ Thursday, May 13, 5:30pm ~ Ascension Day
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
As usual we had a good turnout for Spring Work Day
at Trinity.  Enough time has elapsed that I have lost
the paper that had everyone's names on it who par-
ticipated, but you know who you are, and I thank you
again!  Some of the tasks that got accomplished were
gutter cleaning, hedge trimming, mowing, raking,
vacuuming and dusting of the sanctuary and sacristy,
along with the ever-popular "clean the undercroft from
top to bottom" duty.  All your hard work made the old
girl beautiful for her Easter resurrection!
A beautiful morning greeted us on Palm Sunday
as we gathered for worship in Trinityʼs garden
and processed into the sanctuary.
Call to Visual Artists of the Diocese
The Diocese of Missouri is seeking visual artwork
centered on the theme of “celebration” for publication
in Seek and online. Submission deadline for artwork
is May 14. For further details and future themes, visit
http://www.diocesemo.org/news/2010/04/19/call-for-art/ to
view the full article on the Diocesan website.
Outreach Opportunities
✤ Thank you for supporting the Foster Family
project which the parish has adopted this year.
The next collection date is Motherʼs Day, May
9. This seems an especially appropriate day
for this collection, which will focus on babies.
Please consider bringing diapers, baby wipes,
and clothing. This is your opportunity to have
fun shopping for babies. Gently used items are
welcomed but please donʼt bring stuffed ani-
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
• mouthwash and floss
• small travel size tissues
• 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,
Trinityʼs Discretionary Fund, Bishopʼs Fund,
United Thank Offering, and Foster Families of
Adair County.
✤ Food bank donations are always welcome;
items may be placed in the basket located just
inside the sanctuary door.
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter
Page 4
Spring 2010
Plant Sale Preparations Underway
by Wynne Wilbur
This yearʼs plant sale will be in late May or early June
on a Saturday morning at the Farmersʼ Market. If we
have enough plants and interest, we may do it more
than one weekend.
Anyone interested in participating should pot up their
volunteers or divisions of perennials (although divi-
sions or offshoots of house plants are also fine) and
label them as indoor or outdoor, and basic light and
watering requirements. Color would be good too if it
is a blooming plant.
People can contact me if they have any questions.
Volunteer Opportunities
✤ Altar Guild: Do you have about two hours per
month you could give to the church?  The Altar
Guild is in need of a couple more
members...any age or gender welcome!  If you
are interested in finding out more, please con-
tact any of the current Altar Guild members:  participating to e-mail her at
Jessie Cragg, Julia DeLancey, Stephanie Foré,
Julie Seidler, or the Rev. Carrol Davenport.
✤ Summer Mowing: Maria is looking for volun-
teers to help with mowing the yard this summer.
A weekly sign-up sheet has been posted in the
narthex.
✤ Coffee Hour: Volunteers are needed for spring
and summer coffee hours; sign-up on the cal-
endar in the undercroft.
✤ Summer Music: The choir concludes its sea-
son on May 2, making room for other musical
offerings throughout the summer. Talk with
Scott if you have musical talents to share or a
favorite hymn to suggest.
✤ A special thank you to Julie, Diane, Barbara
and Joanne for helping with the delicious
Ukrainian Easter feast! Julie is sharing her
yummy Borscht recipe; it is included as a sepa-
rate attachment, so you can print it out to use.
Educational Opportunities
✤ Trinityʼs next book group will be starting May
2nd after coffee, and will meet again on May
16th, with Maria Evans leading a discussion on
Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way Of Love by
Daniel O.S.B. Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt.
Written by “a monk and a mom,” this book
shows us how the home and the monastery
both have hospitality at their core. At the heart
of monastic hospitality is the discipline of listen-
ing, of allowing a guest to feel safe and loved.
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
which the monks live. Well worth the read for a
parched soul.”
Mariaʼs suggestion is to read chapters 1-5 for
the first session and chapters 6-10 for the sec-
ond session. She would like those who plan on
crankycricker@yahoo.com so she can send out
the “discussion questions” before each session.
She promises there wonʼt be a quiz. Her sug-
gestion is, “Think about the questions in terms
of your individual capacity for hospitality, and in
terms of Trinity as a community of hospitable
faith.”
Even if you canʼt come every time (or any
time), you are welcome to join us in reading the
book and continuing the congregational dia-
logue. You can get your own copy of the book,
or Scott has some available for $7.
✤ Looking ahead to summer book club reading,
Scott and Peter welcome your book sugges-
tions. Also, let them know if you would like to
facilitate a discussion.
✤ Sunday school will conclude on May 23 and
will then take a break for the summer. Thanks
to Talie, Sarah, Pam, Cindy, Jason and Car-
rol for teaching our children!
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter
Page 5
Spring 2010
Kathleenʼs Graduating!
Please join us in celebrating Kathleenʼs high
school graduation. We will have an open house
at our home (17 Broadview Dr.) on Saturday, May
29th from 3-5.  We are all wearing green – wear it
if you can! We hope you can join us.
Carrol and Mike
An Open Letter to Trinity Members
Fellow travelers on the faith journey:
I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you how happy
I am to be a member of this church. The first reason is
because of the great response to the Ukrainian
Easter luncheon. Diane and I had a great time putting
it together for you and, since so many people asked
for the borscht recipe, I thought Iʼd include it here. He
is risen, indeed!
More important is your support during my unemploy-
ment and comeback/resurrection (still in progress).
So many of you have shown me true Christian agape
love in the past few months. Some have provided
meals, some money, some guidance, some just hav-
ing a good time when things seemed pretty bleak. I
donʼt know what I would have done without you!
Sometimes we serve Christ even when we donʼt know
thatʼs what we are doing.
Iʼve come to realize that taking care of each other is
as important as other ministries. A friend of mine from
another church in town and I were talking about this
issue a few days ago. I felt guilty that we were minis-
tering to each other and not doing as much outreach
or mission in the community. (I suppose I also felt
guilty for being in need.) He showed me that thereʼs
nothing wrong in taking care of our own when thatʼs
whatʼs called for. We just donʼt want to lose sight of
those outside our church.
At any rate, I want to thank you for welcoming and
supporting me as a part of your fellowship. I hope that
Iʼve been and will be the same to others, both in our
congregation and in the Kirksville community.
As St. Francis used to say (from my Quincy University
days):
Pax et bonum (Peace and all good),
Julie Seidler
A prayer for my twenty minute drive to and from
work
By Maria Evans
Lord God, you knit the threads of time into the gar-
ment of the universe in amazing ways.
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
twenty minutes are the seasons of the year, the mys-
teries of life, and nature's coat of many colors.
Take the pristine white January snowdrifts, the earthy
muck of April, July's powder blue chicory flowers, Oc-
tober's orange fallen leaves, and the heavy gray hori-
zon of December, and splice them together into a
never-ending, always changing kaleidoscope of col-
ors and patterns--so much the same day by day, yet
stunningly different from season to season.
Synchronize the motions of my familiar journey with
the joyful motions of your natural kingdom--bounding
deer with tails held aloft, hopping baby rabbits, scurry-
ing coveys of quail, and the creeping pace of the box
turtle.
Keep me aware of unexpected roadside delights--
owls landing with outstretched wings onto fence
posts, newly born calves, shy flocks of turkeys, hawks
flying lazy circles in the sky.   Use them to teach me
that unexpected joys in my life still await within my
most mundane work days.
Embed in my heart the knowledge that what I see
along the road today is but a fleeting shadow, put
there by You for today's viewing only--yesterday's
view is gone, and tomorrow's is not yet here.
Transform the seconds of those twenty minutes into
hours of inner strength as I prepare for my day's work,
and unwind the watchspring of the stress of my day in
those twenty minutes towards home.
Even in the visages of nature's death by the roadside,
make me mindful that I, too, will become dust, and I
may not take this journey again.   What I do today
must matter.
Weave these threads of time, oh Lord, so finite, so
similar, into the carpet of your kingdom--a kingdom
with no end, no beginning, illuminated by perpetual
light.   In the name of Jesus Christ, whose 33 finite
years stretch into infinity, Amen.
Trinity Episcopal Church e-newsletter

Page 6

Spring 2010

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

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
trinitynewsletter@gmail.com. Items for the Summer newsletter are due by July 5.