Welcome!

A team from St. Louis is going to Antigua, Guatemala, from Feb. 20 - March 1, 2012 to build houses and teach skills to the poor. Pat Courtney and Nancy and Bob Wagoner will be joining the group from Trinity. Each member of the team will be able to take 2 large suitcases, one for his own clothes and one for donated items. Between now and February 12^th (when the items will be packed at Trinity), you can help by donating the following items:

Items for the Malnutrition Center

• Soap
• Shampoo
• Diapers, especially small ones or preemie size
• Plastic pants to cover the diapers - these can be found at Walmart

Items for the God's Child School children

• Clothing, shoes
• Rulers (metric measurement) pencils, hand-held sharpeners, crayons-the best place to get these is the Dollar Store
• Personal products, tooth paste, tooth brushes, combs, wash cloths, etc.
• no pads of paper or notebooks - too heavy
• no markers - they dry out

Sewing / Knitting / Crocheting Supplies for the Mothers:

• Pinking shears, scissors, thread, hand-sewing needles, straight pins
• Cloth/plastic tape measures (metric) small and medium-sized buttons
• Embroidery thread and needles
• Colorful yarn and crochet hooks (especially some of the biggest sizes you can get-size p or larger)
• Knitting needles, all sizes, but especially large sizes, (especially 13, 15, or 17)

Items for the Clinic:

• Bandages, sterile tape, gauze
• Vitamins, non-prescription medicine, samples

Old, lightweight suitcases with weels would be greatly appreciated! They will be left in Guatemala. We will need $40.00 to pay for each suitcase which contains donated items. In addition, the team plans to build bunk beds for the houses we build, so we'll need some cash to enable us pay for these things.

Monetary gifts are preferred in the form of a check made out to Trinity. On the 'memo' line write out that it is intended for the God's Child Project, so that cash can be provided to the team to be taken to Guatemala and converted to the local currency. Checks given to the church will be accounted for as are all standard contributions and pledges. A receipt that can be used for 2012 tax deductions will be supplied for monetary gifts not given through the church, or non-monetary contributions as desired.

Sewing Machines are also needed:

The team plans to take older, metal sewing machines to Guatemala. The machines need to be fairly simple, not ones which have computers in them or do fancy stitches. They should also be in working order. If you know of a machine like this, please contact me, Pat Lobdell at 314-821-0104, by February 5th, and I can come and get it. We can take the machines in our carry-on luggage on the plane, so the shipping costs us nothing.

- David Oughton, Ph.D., Department of Theological Studies - St. Louis University

Shabbat Service and Interfaith Celebration of Freedom and Social Justice on Friday, January 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel, 1 Rabbi Rubin Drive (on Ladue Road just east of N. Spoede, 63141). Rev. Earl Nance, Jr., pastor of Greater Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church, will receive the Malachi Award for Interfaith Relations and Understanding. Because of his recent illness, his wife Viola will accept the award for him and Rev. Starsky Wilson will deliver the annual Malachi keynote address.

World Religions Day will be observed on Saturday, January 14, at 7 p.m. at the Baha'i Information Center, 30 West Lockwood (just west of Elm) in Webster Groves, 63119. Bishop Howard Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will speak about his interfaith journey.

The Islamic Interfaith Dialogue lunch meetings will be at Aquinas Institute of Theology, 23 S. Spring, 63108, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in room 215 on the following Thursdays: January 19 and 26; February 2, 9, 16, and 23; and March 1. At these meetings a group of Jews, Christians, and Muslims study the Qur'an and the Bible together.

The exhibit "Reflections of the Buddha" which will be at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, 3716 Washington Boulevard, 63108, up to March 10. This museum is open on Wednesdays between 12 and 5 p.m. and on Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. This special exhibit features over 20 Buddhist sculptures dating from the 2^nd century C.E. from different Asian countries.

The annual meeting of Interfaith Partnership/Faith Beyond Walls will be held on Thursday, February 9, at 7 p.m. at the Commons Building at Eden Seminary, 475 East Lockwood, Webster Groves. Representatives from Judaism (Rabbi Ryan Dulkin), Christianity (Professor Tobias Winright), and Islam (Professor Gulten Ilhan) will discuss "Jihad and Just War." An election of officers will also take place at this meeting.

The 51^st meeting of St. Louis' Dialogue Group of the World's Religions and Philosophies will be held on Wednesday, March 28, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Wool Ballroom, the lower level of Busch Student Center (corner of Grand and Laclede) at Saint Louis University. Representatives of different religions will discuss the role of women in their religions.

The 22^nd annual Pow Wow will be held on Saturday, March 31, at the Washington University Field House, 330 North Big Bend, 63130. This event is sponsored by the Kathryn Buder Center for American Indian Studies.

The next meeting of the Global Ethic and Global System Association will be held on Sunday,

April 15, at 2 p.m. at the Baha'i Information Center, 30 West Lockwood (just west of Elm) in Webster Groves, 63119.

The Women's Interfaith Conference will be held on Wednesday, April 18, at B'nai Amoona Synagogue, 324 S. Mason Road, West St. Louis County, 63141.

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) will be observed on Sunday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m. at Temple Israel, 1 Rabbi Rubin Drive (on Ladue Road just east of N. Spoede, 63141).

Interfaith Peace Program will be held on Sunday, May 6, at 2:30 p.m. at Fo Guang Shan, the Chinese Mahayana Buddhist Temple, 3109 Smiley Road, Bridgeton 63044.

- Ron Norgard

New Year! For me each New Year always seems to be a recurring piece of that original creation we find in Genesis. New beginnings; a fresh start; hopeful possibilities; a clean slate. In such a spirit we look forward to a new season in Adult Education. We are going to seek to find some common ground in a world that has been divided by the birth and growth of denominationalism. It will not be merely a tour of points of interest in the various viewpoints the different denominations have staked out. H. Richard Niebuhr in his examination of the social sources of the Christian churches goes so far as to say that, "Denominationalism ...represents the moral failure of Christianity." Granted his judgment may be excessive, he has exposed some serious sources of divisiveness in the cultural settings of Christianity. Trinity as a mission-oriented congregation can only deepen its impact by exploring some of the implications of this fragmenting of Jesus' simple call to "Follow me." Our need for community has never been greater, especially in this nation, while the sources of division never more manifold nor manifest. Join the conversation!

- The Prairie Six

In 2009, George Van Hare, looking for an opportunity to play his guitar in church, gave Vicki Carmichael two pieces of music, with chords and vocal harmonies written out, from his bluegrass harmony class in California. Vicki, knowing the eclectic musical talents and interests of our congregation, quickly identified a number of folks who would be interested, and the group was born. Our first appearance in church was Sunday Oct 11, 2009, and we played two classics of the bluegrass gospel canon, "Harbor of Love" and "The Wicked Path of Sin." Since then, the membership of the group has solidified. Originally dubbed the "Prairie Five," we started with Connie Fairchild (lead vocals and accordion), Karen Coletti (fiddle and piano), Brian Schroer (banjo and guitar), Jim Shoemaker (autoharp), and George (guitar and occasional electric bass). We recently added Larry Pontious and his mandolin (and no bluegrass band is complete without a mandolin). So, now we are known as the "Prairie Six", or, to Bill Wade and Vicki, the "Prairie Dogs". We all sing, and we occasionally feature guest vocalists (remember Harold Glad's spirited rendition of "Dust on the Bible"?). We often branch out to other genres including straight folk music and even R&B. Liz recently gave us our own key to the church, and we think that means that we are now official.

A little about our musical backgrounds:

For many years, Connie Fairchild Torretta was the lead vocalist for the iconic St. Louis band "Fairchild" who recently played a reunion concert at Schlafly Tap Room. In addition to singing with the Trinity Choir, she works as a music therapist, specializing in early childhood special education, in the Kirkwood and Rockwood school districts, and at the Miriam School and Good Shepherd School.

Jim Shoemaker has been singing with church and school groups since childhood, and playing autoharp since graduate school. His longest musical association is with his three older brothers who form a quartet in which he sings tenor and acts as arranger. They have performed at the weddings or funerals of 7 family members. He sang for several years in Urbana, IL with the group "BG PUB" (Bluegrass Pick Up Band) which won a "Picnic Performers" contest at Allerton Park. The group was once hired to entertain at the Kankakee Strawberry Festival. Jim sang with an offshoot of the Trinity Choir, the Trinity Men's Quartet, for many years, and toured several local churches with the quartet and 4 women singers, including Vicki Carmichael. Jim is the composer of "Promises of God", a sacred cantata presented at Trinity and Overland Presbyterian churches, and several other pieces.

Karen Coletti's parents gave her piano lesions when she was seven. She adored her teacher, and when she was in the 4^th grade, began accompanying her grade school choruses and orchestra. She has been pretty much "at the piano" ever since. In the late 70's, with 3 little kids and a full time job, she joined a country rock band. "Downstream" played east-side biker bars and weddings where fights broke out and their other keyboard player often went home with the bridesmaids. The band they admired the most was - Fairchild.

Brian Schroer was raised by banjo-playing wolves.....actually, after his sister lost interest in guitar lessons, Brian inherited her $12 Grandpa Pidgeon's guitar and taught himself to play it when he was 13. A teenage infatuation with southern rock (Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, etc.) led him to buy a banjo when I was 15, which sat in a closet in his mom's house until he dusted it off a couple of years ago. He never sang in public until Trinity's Parish Choir in 1997. Bob Henderson complimented his singing and suggested that he join the Trinity Choir. In retrospect, Brian thinks he was just being nice, but he fell for it. He's been with the Trinity Choir since then, and nobody has identified him as an impostor yet!

Larry Pontious's first musical memories are with the Boy Choristers in 2nd grade. Mostly due to the Beatles, his first instrument was a bass guitar. Musical interest remained lukewarm until meeting Elaine and her family. That started a quest to learn many instruments, and most of them can still be found around the house. A career at UPS sidelined music for the next 30 years until he picked up the fiddle at age 47. Old-Time fiddle introduced him to traditional Irish music, which is his current passion. You can find him playing most Wednesday nights at Riley's in the Tower Grove neighborhood. Bluegrass also has strong ties with Old-Time music, and it was only natural to add a mandolin to his collection of instruments.

George Van Hare started playing guitar after college, having previously played trumpet and French Horn as a teenager. He played occasionally at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto, including Easter sunrise services. His only notable performance credit is the garage band he played with as a pediatrics resident in the 80's, for which he learned the bass lines for all the Rolling Stones songs. Consequently, he is not allowed to play his bass at home.

Bluegrass gospel music is a deeply American expression of faith in God and in Jesus, and we all share a strong affection for this style of music. Each of us has brought songs to the group, things we grew up with and have always loved, or songs that we recently heard on the radio and thought would work. We are divided on whether we prefer practicing or performing, but we love to sing and play together. We feel privileged to be able to perform our music in church, and hope that we are making a contribution to Trinity's worship life.