TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
  • About
    • What To Expect
    • What We Believe
    • OUR TEAM
    • History >
      • Archives
      • Stained Glass Restoration
    • Find Us >
      • Map of the Church
    • Newsletter
    • Contact Trinity
  • Engage
    • Trinity Connect
    • Worship >
      • Music
      • Sermons
    • Children's Ministry
    • Learn >
      • Adult Ministry
      • Youth Ministry
    • Serve >
      • Older Adult Ministries
      • Missions We Support
    • Directory
  • Fusion
  • Community
    • Young Adult Outreach
    • Caring Ministry
    • Garden
    • Miller
  • GIVE
    • Endowment
    • STEWARDSHIP
  • Job Openings
  • Weddings
  • About
    • What To Expect
    • What We Believe
    • OUR TEAM
    • History >
      • Archives
      • Stained Glass Restoration
    • Find Us >
      • Map of the Church
    • Newsletter
    • Contact Trinity
  • Engage
    • Trinity Connect
    • Worship >
      • Music
      • Sermons
    • Children's Ministry
    • Learn >
      • Adult Ministry
      • Youth Ministry
    • Serve >
      • Older Adult Ministries
      • Missions We Support
    • Directory
  • Fusion
  • Community
    • Young Adult Outreach
    • Caring Ministry
    • Garden
    • Miller
  • GIVE
    • Endowment
    • STEWARDSHIP
  • Job Openings
  • Weddings

Trinity Voices

Easter Poem

4/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Morris DuBose, part of our Trinity family, wrote and performed this poem as part of our Passion concert and Good Friday Stations of the Cross service. Thank you, Morris, for sharing your gift of words with us!

​In… the… beginning,
When God had made the expanse of the sky and the depth of the sea
The carving of the mountains, the painting of the flowers ,
The lighting of the sun,
And…
The mapping of the stars had all been done,
As God looked across what had been wrought
At this masterpiece there was something…
Wrong.
All the things and creatures formed on God’s very lips were good,
But, as the sun set, God wanted to share them.
 
Enter… the seed of humanity
People who can love the earth and nurture the creation
Who cherish each other and share in God’s joy.
Whose time with God was intimate and innocent
In everything God was their source.
Where the Presence was the rule…
…and not the exception
 
Until they. Until we decided
That we wanted to rely on ourselves
To sustain ourselves
To amuse ourselves
To sacrifice others as we choose ourselves.
We told God, “Inheritance, now.
‘K, thanks. ‘K, bye.
 
And we walked away and left God alone.
We spent up our inheritance then leveraged our soul
Drifting farther into horrors of our own design
As God looked across what we had done
A divine heart breaks.
 
However…
Unwilling to simply leave us to suffer
The perpetual affliction we so richly deserve
The Son says, “I am…
Here” And he wades in to the mess we’ve made
Reminding us of the world that was and inviting us to
Have God as our source…for everything.
 
Still we want to sustain ourselves
To sacrifice others as we choose ourselves
So we sacrifice another,
As God looks on… A Cross
The darkness swallows up the earth again
Oh, God. What have we done?
But…
The Light was not dead.
 
Despite our hubris, our treachery, our gift of destruction
 
The Son we killed could not be stopped
Returning from the grave
God’s deep desire for our return could not be quenched
It reached into the wreckage and
Pulled out our remains
Breathed life in them again
The Light was not dead
 
And yet…
No sooner had God built the temple not made with hands
Then we looked at our redeemer and said,
“We want to sustain ourselves; ‘k bye.”
The divine heart breaks...
 
…Still if we come to our senses
Remembering a God who sought us
And we turn our face to look…
A cross
The instant we step toward that grace
While we are still a long way off
God sees us and
Full of compassion runs to us
Casts off our shame, our doubt, our cures
We live. Christ took the cross
0 Comments

My Reflections on Storytelling

9/25/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
And it was OK. They wanted to know me.
 
I actually look forward to Mondays! Well, maybe not all Mondays… and definitely not waking up Monday mornings, but I do look forward to Monday evenings when the storytelling group meets! I know. Another church group meeting- as if I don’t spend enough time doing church things. When I was first asked to consider joining this storytelling group, I was excited about the idea, but was not yet convinced that I wanted to add another group meeting to my schedule. So let me explain why I decided to join this group.
  1. This group is not a regular church meeting or small group Bible study. As the name would suggest, this group is about telling stories and sharing how your life experiences have impacted who you are today, and of course, listening to others share their stories. I decided to join this group because I love hearing other people tell their stories.
  2. I wanted to know people in the church on a deeper level. Telling stories and sharing the honest truth about our lives results in knowing people better- and knowing yourself better, and I wanted to know more about the others in this group.
  3. Laughter. I love to smile and laugh and I love being able to laugh with others. Although fun and laughter may not be the main purpose of the storytelling group, it is a happy and welcomed aspect of our group.
  4. I knew it would be challenging. Yes, I joined because I knew it would be challenging, and challenging ourselves is good. Some people can talk about themselves easily, but I think most of us struggle to open up, be vulnerable, and share the truth about our life experiences that have shaped us into who we are today. Our lives are made up of experiences, and those experiences become stories. Stories are meant to be shared with others, not bottled up and kept as a secret.
What is so nice about the structure of our group is that at each meeting, we are provided with a prompt, such as, “when I was about eight years old…” and then we share a story in response to the prompt. The short, two-minute stories that we tell about ourselves are usually fun and lively and are a great way to “break the ice” into sharing.
​
The real challenging part is when it becomes your turn to share about your life story. Each person, as they are willing, is given two meetings to share about themselves. Each sharing time lasts for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. That means at the end of your two weeks, you will have talked about yourself for two and a half hours!! That is a really long time. And yes, it is uncomfortable. But yes, it is also really cool. How many opportunities do you get to sit down with a handful of people who care about you, love you, and are gathered there just because they want to listen to you? There is no judgement. There is only happy, smiling faces giving you their full attention as you talk about your life. It is uncomfortable and comfortable all at the same time. And yes, you will experience a moment where you think “there is nothing else I can share.” I had that moment both weeks of sharing, but then another story would come to mind- maybe one I didn’t plan on sharing, or one I didn’t think I would want to talk about, and I would keep on talking. And it was OK. Nothing bad happened because I shared who I am. And when I was done sharing, everyone thanked me for sharing with them! People were happy to know more about me! They wanted to know me! And I am glad that I shared, and look forward to our next Monday evening meeting. 

0 Comments

What is the Storytelling Group?

9/25/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Hi. I’m Morris. I’m a man. I’m black...or I’m African American… or I’m colored… now I’m confused. I’m disorganized. But, I’m good with names.

Stories shape who we are in massive and in microscopic ways.

I truly believe that narrative is the single most powerful force in the universe. The manifestation of God to humanity was called Logos, the Word. And we shape the world around us by the stories we tell and the stories that we absorb. The persistent ability of placebos to have physiological effects on people is testament to the power of story.

In the fifth grade, a girl I had a crush on told me she didn't like grape candy. I instantly responded that grape candy was the worst. And despite not actually disliking it, I told myself I didn't, reiterated it whenever the opportunity presented itself, and proceeded not to eat a single piece until after college. It was a grape blow pop… and it was great.

I use this tale ‘cause it’s an obvious example, a little funny, and mostly harmless, but the stories we tell others and ourselves are deeply impactful. What stories do you tell yourself or others about who you are? “I’m good at this. I’m bad at that. I like these types of people. I always. I never...because of the time.”

And despite living in the interconnected world of social media where seemingly everyone is connected to everyone else and “stories” are shared and consumed, they are not often examined. People are rarely invited to share more than the filtered and curated snapshots of the immediate. But it’s not just the stories of today or the milestones of note that shape us. This group was imagined as a place for people to have 3 primary opportunities to safely:
 1. Share your story in a way that empowers or disempowers events in your past for fuller and healthier living.
 2. Explore your life in a way that uncovers narratives that you are living out unconsciously.
 3. Hear the stories of others and connect, learn, and grow from them.

In order to encourage members to dig into less explored areas of their past, each member will have the bulk of time available to share at two consecutive meetings. In our version of the group we chose to meet in two consecutive weeks and take the third week off.

During the first session of each new speaker, as much as is possible, the listeners should attempt to nonverbally encourage the speaker while not interrupting the unique flow of his or her thoughts. If the speaker prompts, the listeners should feel free to engage in more direct encouragement while attempting not not draw too much focus. While ideally the second week will follow a similar format, if necessary, the speaker should feel somewhat more empowered to draw the group into the sharing. Keeping the cross talk from getting out of hand is no small feat. Before or after the featured sharer has taken his or her opportunity, offer the entire group the chance to respond to prompts which should be provided in advance of the meeting. 

In order to encourage members to dig into less explored areas of their past, each member will share at two consecutive meetings. During the first session of each new speaker, as much as is possible, the listeners should attempt to nonverbally encourage the speaker while not interrupting the unique flow of his or her thoughts. If the speaker prompts, the listeners should feel free to engage in more direct encouragement while attempting not not draw too much focus.
After five meetings of the group I am extremely excited for both the present reality and future prospects of the storytelling program. In the act of sharing people are often surprised by what they share, and even surprised at what they remember. Members of the group are also expressing increased closeness to one another as a result of the sharing.

The prospect of exposing oneself through story will give many people pause. As a person who filters everything he says, and has mastered the art of the illusion of openness, I understand better than most how safe, keeping one's own council feels. And, on the one hand, I know that sharing raw and rarely exposed parts of ourselves can have unbelievable healing powers, I also understand that not sharing isn't always about us. Sometimes we are being careful to maintain confidences, protect others or another reason altogether.

Bearing that in mind, I want everyone to be 100% comfortable with the amount of sharing that they do in the group. That includes declining to share. While, ostensibly, that runs counter to the mission of the group, the fact is that in listening to the stories of other we grow, and allow them to grow as well. I will ask that even those who decline to share reflect deeply on their own stories and find ways to grow through the process.

When I was around six years old, after having done something of which I was justifiably ashamed I overheard my mother begin to recount the story to an unknown party on the phone. Already being ashamed of my act, I was mortified at the prospect of someone knowing my error. In a panic I remember yelling at my mom not to tell the person. A panic stricken six-year-old is, I will confess, an amusing visual. It’s funny because most of the time a child of six doesn’t have a just cause for the panic being expressed. And, if I’m being entirely honest with myself, my panic was likely unjustified. Nonetheless, when my mom responded to my mania with laughter, a part of me instantly sealed up. I realized that my mom couldn’t be trusted with all of my secrets, so I didn’t.

In a moment of braggadocio the actor Will Smith and some friends of his joked about going skydiving. In an interview he talked about laying awake at night and other physiological reactions in the weeks leading up to the proposed skydive date. The realization he eventually has is that in and of itself, the future can't hurt you.
0 Comments

    Trinity Voices

    See what people are saying about Trinity.  Read and watch testimonies.

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Blessings
    Discipleship
    Lent
    Returning Thanks
    Sabbatical
    Serving Stories
    Setting The Table
    Stewardship
    Storytelling
    Testimony

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014

    RSS Feed

Trinity United Methodist Church
Growing in love and service through relationships with God and community

Picture

Connect with Us:

Contact Us: 
509 North Street, Lafayette, IN 47901
(765) 742-1288
info@trinitylafayette.org
Office Hours:
Mon., Tues., Thurs. 9 am - 3 pm
Closed Wed. and Fri.
Give Now
Worship Times:
Trinity Connect (Zoom): Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
Im-Person Worship: Sunday, 10:30 a.m.