Calendar Notes

Saturday, March 5: 3:30 pm - Choir rehearsal

Our full schedule of services for Great Lent and Holy Week is now available on here. Remember that we will be joining the community at St Elizabeth Mission in Eagan for Friday Akathist services this Lent; there will be no Friday evening Lenten services at Holy Trinity.

Three-Sunday Kids Window Lenten Series *Before* Liturgy

On the next three Sundays--March 7, 14, and 21--there will be a 15-minute learning session before Liturgy for elementary school and preschool kids, in the church basement. Each week we will talk about one figure who appears in the Holy Week narrative (Lazarus, Mary Magdelene, and Pontius Pilate). If there are enough students, we will break into two age groups. The goal is modest: just to make the liturgies of Holy Week and Pascha more intelligible to kids as they unfold. Some kids may already have these narratives well digested, but if more exposure would be helpful, feel free to join us. An email to church school parents will follow. Show up at 9:30 to be settled in for a 9:40 start downstairs.

March 13: Introduction to Godly Play

Attention, parents, church school teachers (present and future), and parish storytellers: an introduction to Godly Play, a Montessori-based method for Christian education, will be held at St Clement's Episcopal Church on Saturday, March 13, from 9 am to 3 pm. Holy Trinity's church school staff is currently exploring ways to best serve our children's education in the faith. Godly Play is a unique method that uses storytelling and imaginative play to foster children's sense of wonder and reverence as it acquaints them with Christian tradition. That is a woefully inadequate description, because Godly Play needs to be seen to be appreciated, and that's why our parish will cover tuition for any interested members to attend this workshop. (If at least five of us sign up, we get a discount!) Please see Anna Dains for more details (or reply to this email for Anna's contact information).

Library Additions

The library has received two additions to the Popular Patristics Series from St Vladimir's Seminary Press:

On Social Justice, by St Basil the Great. St Basil's homilies on the subject of wealth and poverty, although delivered in the fourth century, remain utterly fresh and contemporary. Whether you possess great wealth or have modest means, at the heart of St Basil's message stands the maxim: Simplify your life, so you have something to share with others.

Counsels on the Spiritual Life, by Mark the Monk. The spiritual counsels of Mark, a fifth-century monk in Asia Minor, are equally rich in theological insight and historical interest. His writings were deeply valued by Byzantine ascetics, were circulated during the Reformation, and were read by Lutheran divines and Roman theologians. His words on taking responsibility for one another out of love, his practical advice on the need for repentance, and his strident emphasis on the unity evident in Christ directly relate to modern Christians and may provide a useful point of departure for ecumenical dialogue.

We have also received Dragon's Wine and Angel's Bread: The Teaching of Evagrius Ponticus on Anger and Meekness, by Gabriel Bunge. To a world full of aggression and rage, this book posits not a social or political solution but rather a personal one. The opposite of anger is not peace, but love, and Evagrius teaches human being how to possess the love of God within. Urging us to become both "warlike" and "meek" in godly formation, Evagrius skillfully guides us through the complex maze of our human emotions, correcting every detail until we become expressions of God's love in a chaotic world. In so doing, he practices true psychology, the reasoning of the soul.

And finally, The Woman and the Wheat, by Jane G. Meyer. "There once was a woman who planted some wheat..." So begins this rhythmical, festive children's book about the joy of a farmer as she works to grow the wheat and bake that bread that she will offer back to her Creator in Eucharistic celebration. The vibrant images—reminiscent of fields in the American midwest—sparkle in light-saturated, warm jewel-tones and provide the perfect backdrop for the story of a woman in love with the earth, her labor, and her God. Our library also has the companion volume, "The Man and the Vine."