Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord, MA

THE FORUM

The Trinity Episcopal Church Adult Forum meets in the Parish Hall from 9-9.45am most Sunday mornings during the program year to connect Christian faith with everyday life. Our current schedule is published below and is updated regularly: Please join us. Directions to Trinity can be found here.

Our 2011-2012 program appears below, and will grow as we add more forums. Our 2010-2011 forums are here, our 2009-2010 forums are here, our 2008-2009 forums are here, and our 2007-2008 forums are here.

Click HERE for current forums.

Our Forum program resumes on September 18. Each speaker will connect with one of 5 themes—word, worship, wonder, world, witness—each being an important aspect of our Christian life.

September 18—World—El Hogar: The Reverend Matthew Engleby, Executive Director of El Hogar Projects in Honduras, will update us on their wonderful work. The mission of El Hogar Projects is to provide a loving home and education in a Christian environment for abandoned, orphaned and hopelessly poor children, enabling them to fulfill their ultimate potential as productive human beings in Honduras. Did you know that Trinity supports two adoptees at El Hogar and a Trinity family personally supports a third? Please join us at this forum and find out why they say that “El Hogar is not only a home. It is also a success story.”

September 25—Wonder—Sabbatical Thoughts: The Reverend Nick Morris-Kliment will share some of the fruits of his three-month sabbatical and engage those present in conversation about what Sabbatical might look like for each of us.

October 2—World—International Health: How Does Faith Fit? With a combined total of more than 80 years of experience working to improve the health of people in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries, Douglas and Sallie Craig Huber look forward to sharing some stories about their work as well as how their faith has guided and sustained those efforts. While the Hubers have spent most of their respective careers working with secular non-profit organizations, they have both been involved in wider mission activities of the Diocese of Massachusetts and in related efforts of the wider Anglican Communion. They are active parishioners of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Cambridge and are eager to meet and discuss their activities with the Trinity Church Sunday Forum members.

October 9—World—Beijing Circle: Educating Girls in Rwanda
Beijing Circles are safe forums for women to meditate and learn more about the Millenium Development Goals, established by the United Nations in 2000, and the principles of the "Beijing Platform" promulgated by the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing, China. The Circles provide an opportunity for women to co-create positive action and advocacy for the well being of women and their families throughout the world. Deborah Scarff and Burch Ford (and possibly other members) will describe Trinity's Beijing Circle and their decision, after nearly a year of discernment, to focus their efforts on Maranyundo Girls School in Rwanda as we venture into international outreach.

October 16—Word—The Apocalypse—If Not Now, When? Part 1—Old Testament Apocalypse: The Book of Daniel. Jim Wood will present some biblical perspectives about the end times. Jim is a parishioner of Trinity Church Concord and past Junior Warden. A graduate of Yale University, he holds graduate degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo in American and English History. After a career in software development and management, he became the Parish Administrator of the Church of the Advent in Boston in 1997. He has been a serious, and largely self-taught, student of the Bible for over twenty years.

October 23—Witness—Compassion as a Subversive Act: Illness, Community, and the Gospel of Mark. David K. Urion is a pediatric neurologist who has served as director of the Behavioral Neurology/Learning Disabilities Program at Children’s Hospital for the past twenty years. He is a parishioner at St. Anne's in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, Lincoln, Massachusetts. Come join this fascinating Forum to discuss how communities of faith, like ours, can be more fully present to families with differently-abled members..

October 30—Word—The Apocalypse—If Not Now, When? Part 2—New Testament Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation. Jim Wood will present some biblical perspectives about the end times. Jim is a parishioner of Trinity Church Concord and past Junior Warden. A graduate of Yale University, he holds graduate degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo in American and English History. After a career in software development and management, he became the Parish Administrator of the Church of the Advent in Boston in 1997. He has been a serious, and largely self-taught, student of the Bible for over twenty years.

November 6— Word—Proceedings of Diocesan Convention. Come hear about the presentations, discussions, and actions of the 227th Convention of the Diocese of Massachusetts, held at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, November 4-5. Nick Morris-Kliment and Trinity Parish delegates will offer their impressions.

November 13—Witness—Houses of Healing. Robin Casarjian is the Founder and Director of the Lionheart Foundation and its National Emotional Literacy Projects. She is a public speaker, writer, and consultant with extensive experience in education, stress management training, psychotherapy, and administration. Whether in inner-city classrooms, hospitals, corporations or prisons, Robin’s work has been widely acclaimed for its clarity, directness, and unwavering vision of the enormous potential within all people. Volunteering in a Massachusetts state prison in 1988, Robin developed a course for inmates in emotional literacy skill-building. Witnessing the profound impact this course repeatedly had on prisoners, she was inspired to bring her work to prisoners across the country. Toward this end, Robin wrote Houses of Healing: A Prisoner’s Guide to Inner Power and Freedom, with the intent of distributing free copies to all prison libraries in the U.S.

“You should read Houses of Healing; you will learn a lot about yourself and it will change your life.” – Gail, inmate at MCI Framingham Women’s Prison

November 20—Witness—Healing the Wounded Warrior. Dr. Charles Drebing discusses The Roles of Faith and Faith Communities. As soldiers are returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some face challenging readjustments back to civilian life. The role of faith and faith communities in helping these young men and women recover from the effects of war can offer all of us important lessons about healing. Charles Drebing received his PhD in Clinical Psychology and a MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the Acting Mental Health Service Line Manager at the Bedford VA Medical Center and is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine.

November 27—Worship—The Gospel of Mark. Nick Morris-Kliment. The calendar year begins on January 1st, the Academic year begins on Labor Day, the Baseball year begins the first week of April, and the church year begins the first Sunday of Advent. This year, that falls on November 27th. The start of the new church year also marks the transition from one lectionary cycle (A, B or C) to the next and each cycle focuses on one of the three synoptic gospels. With the start of Year B this year, we begin to focus on the Gospel of Mark. Please join Rev. Nick Morris-Kliment for this forum reflection on the Gospel of Mark and what makes it special and different from the other Gospels.

December 4—Witness—Esperanza Academy: Chris Wilson. Esperanza Academy is a tuition-free, independent Episcopal middle school for low-income girls in Lawrence, MA. Our students attend school for eleven hours a day, eleven months per year. Admission is by lottery, with the only criteria being qualification for the federal free- or reduced-lunch program and residence in the city of Lawrence. Of our 45 graduates, every one is still on track to graduate from high school in four years, in a city with a high school graduation rate that hovers around 50%. Christopher H. Wilson became the second head of Esperanza Academy on July 1, 2011. Mr. Wilson is excited to join the faculty at Esperanza and to continue to build on the exceptional legacy of Dr. Laurie Bottiger, the Academy’s founding head."

December 11—Witness—Restorative Justice. Communities for Restorative Justice (C4RJ) is a community-police partnership that offers restorative justice to those affected by crime. Their “circle” process recognizes that crime is a violation of people and relationships, not just a violation of law. They receive police referrals and seek to include those affected by crime in the decision-making: victims, offenders, loved ones, supporters, community members, and law enforcement officials. Two Trinity parishioners are on the C4RJ Board: Barbara Howland (president) and George Dallas (member) and they will offer information and insights on the workings of this important grass-roots organization.

December 18—Wonder—Polly Attwood The Drinking Gourd Project is a newly formed Concord-based nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness of Concord’s African and Abolitionist history from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Our mission is to shine a light on this history and make it even more accessible to residents and visitors in a way that will add a new layer to our understanding of our past and a deeper appreciation for the complexity of Concord and its role in creating a diverse America.

December 25—Christmas—No Forum

January 1—New Year’s Day—No Forum

January 8—World—Audrey Schulman is president of HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team). She’s audited over 100 buildings including homes, apartment buildings, public schools, community centers, shelters and churches. HEET has helped teach over 2,500 volunteers how to increase energy efficiency through simple do-it-yourself changes. HEET has won a 2010 EPA Environmental Merit Award, a Mass Climate Action Network “Climate Superstar” award, and a GoGreen award from City of Cambridge. Their events have been the subject of 19 articles including in the Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix and Boston Metro.

January 15—Wonder—Local author, Tracy Winn, the 2010-2011 Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fellow, will tell the story behind the title story of her book, Mrs. Somebody Somebody (Random House, 2010) and talk about the relationship between writing fiction and the development of compassion. An act of imagination can carry us past ho-hum tolerance for people unlike ourselves toward understanding and empathy. Eudora Welty wrote, “…To enter the mind, heart and skin of a human being who is not myself … is the act of a writer’s imagination I set most high.”

January 22—Wonder—Marilyn Paul, Ph.D. is an organization and management consultant skilled in facilitation, organizational diagnosis, systems thinking, and leadership development. The purpose of her consulting is to help people improve their abilities to work together to accomplish meaningful results. Among her strengths is the ability to facilitate a new perspective and original solutions to persistent problems. She has a special ability in combining a focus on results with attention to individual growth and team development. She is dedicated to improving the well-being and effectiveness of people working in a wide range of organizations.

February 5—World— Green Grants and Simple Acts for the Environment
Green Initiatives are for everyone and especially for you and your congregation! What is the impact of climate change? What can we do on an everyday basis to protect and care for creation? What programs will engage our young people? Where are the resources to support our vestry’s decisions regarding our programs and our buildings? What can we do at church that translates into greening homes, schools and the wider community? Hear stories of successful green programs as well as share your
own projects, network and hear about the diocesan Green Grants. Offered by the Green Grant Committee.

February 12—Witness—A Conversation with the Bishop. Bishop M. Thomas Shaw will share thoughts and address questions, kudos and concerns from parishioners during this interesting Forum.

February 19—Work— What does love have to do with it?: A conversation about spiritual imagination, moral courage and everyday life and work.

David Specht serves as Director Research and Organizational Services for Seeing Things Whole, an action-research effort he co-founded and that has since 1993 worked in association with a network of theologians and organizational leaders to explore the implications of religious belief and deeply held values for people’s lives and work. During the early 1980s, David collaborated with others on an earlier action-research effort focused on workplace ministry through at Andover Newton Theological School’s Center of the Ministry of the Laity, where David served as Director of Publications and editor of the Center’s quarterly publication Centering. He and a colleague recently completed work on a book of case studies on business and faith entitled Leading Wisely in Difficult Times.

He lives with his wife, Clare on a farm in the northern Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

February 26—ANNUAL MEETING—No Forum