The earthquake, rather than evidence of the random and senseless nature of human existence, provides for Robertson evidence of God’s existence and ongoing, partisan involvement in human history. Robertson’s theology provides comfort, too, in its categorization of the victims of this tragedy as deserving of their fate, insulating Robertson from the agony of identifying too closely with these wounded, mourning, homeless, and hungry fellow humans.

Prothero notes that at their best, the denominations that had long sustained memberships offered different visions of the good life. “Absent a chain of memory that ties us to these religions’ ancient truths, these visions are lost, and we are left to our own devices, searching for God with as much confusion, as we search, in love, for the next new thing.”

as you may know, Advent is the first season of the church’s new year. you’ll notice that the seasonal colors have changed from summer’s green to advent’s royal blue, and you’ll note that the season takes on the broad themes of hope and expectation, as we await the arrival of our new King on Christmas day.

it’s cold outside — you’ve blown out the sprinklers and your nose won’t stop running — must be about time for Advent!

this year during Advent at Holy Trinity, we’re encouraging as many people as possible to self-select into small groups of 4-6 to read and discuss together Esther De Waal’s Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict, which focuses us on the guiding themes of stability, obedience, and conversion of life as we begin to develop our own informed practice of ‘holiness’ or ‘holy living.’

the spokane-area young adults continue to meet every thursday morning @ 8am at Madeleine’s (corner of Main & Wall downtown) for coffee and conversation.

beginning wednesday, september 2nd, the young adults will also meet every 1st & 3rd wednesdays @ 5pm for evening prayer and dinner table volunteer work — then will cap the night off with an 8:30pm visit to The Elk in Browne’s Addition. come for all or part of the fun!

mark your calendars! living the questions, an eight-week exploration of faith & community, will return to holy trinity this fall, beginning Tuesday, September 22nd and running Tuesdays through November 10th.

during the week of August 2nd-7th, holy trinity will partner with the diocesan youth program, led by Michelle Klippert, to offer a week-long vacation bible school program called ‘Jesus did what?!,’ in which we’ll invite young people to explore five of the Jesus miracle stories — from healing people to calming storms to raising people from the dead.

during the end of june and into july, the Upward Bound program from Idaho’s Silver Valley will be taking up residence at Camp Cross, where they’ll participate in their own programming, and will join us at Holy Trinity on Wednesdays, June 24th to July 8th.

there’s a new group meeting every other monday @ 12noon on the grassy knoll by the Riverfront Park clock tower.

The Faith and Environment Network will be putting on their 2nd annual, Called to Care Conference on May 9th from 9:30am-2pm. The Called to Care Conference brings together community leaders and people of faith to share ideas and solutions for how to become more environmentally sustainable.

Our diocesan cathedral is offering its annual Lenten program, beginning Wednesday, March 4th. Each evening begins with worship at 5:30pm in the cathedral, followed by a simple soup supper from 6-6:30pm, and concluding with a short presentation from 6:30-7:30pm.

Kathleen Parker, a generally ‘conservative’-leaning columnist for the Orlando Sentinel, wrote an editorial piece yesterday that raises some very good questions about the future of conservative American evangelical political religion — and political religion in general.

Among other things, Parker notes that “armband religion is killing the Republican party… And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican party — and conservatives with it — eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one’s heart where it belongs.”

Beginning on Thursday, September 18th and running five consecutive Thursdays until October 16th, Holy Trinity will be partnering with Off-Broadway Ministries (an outreach of LifeCenter) and Teen Aid to offer a short-course in relationship basics — for seasoned (even crusty) veterans on the relationship scene and for relative newcomers to dating and commitment.

Holy Trinity will be offering a weeklong vacation bible school the week of August 18-22 for children ages 4-10 years old. Sessions run daily from 8:30-11:45am, beginning with a free breakfast for participants in the parish hall from 8:30-9:15am.
Participants can be walked to Holmes Elementary School for free lunches on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Children [...]

Join others for a soup & salad lunch and bible-based conversation on Wednesdays beginning at 12noon in the parish hall. Our conversations are always informal and generally seek to dig a bit deeper into the previous Sunday’s gospel. The gathering concludes with a 1pm eucharist in Lady’s Chapel — a simple, 30-minute service of word, [...]