tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94900242012-01-22T09:50:49.425-06:00We are an Intentional Christian community in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood, and housed in the parsonage (AKA the 'Nidge) of Immanuel Lutheran Church. The Community of The Holy Trinity is a community centered around the life of prayer seeking to offer support and hospitality to artists, social activists and social workers, and to offer group and individual spiritual direction as we walk along side brother's and sisters in Christ on the journey of faith.Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-82425516008927554662011-12-25T13:24:00.000-06:002011-12-25T13:24:22.444-06:00

Bellow is the sermon Prior Larry preached at the shared Christmas Day service with Immanuel and St Elias: Nativity of Our Lord Year B Proper III Isaiah 52:7-10  • Psalm 98  • Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12)  •  John 1:1-14 A Christmas Sermon: Beyond Speach Today God returns to Zion in a most peculiar way, by becoming human.  Today God joins God’s self to God’s creation.  In this God proclaims peace

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-36602756013943857522011-10-10T23:52:00.000-05:002011-10-10T23:52:17.399-05:00

The Community of the Holy trinity is formed under a Rule of life.  This Rule of life not only shapes how we are to live together as persons under the Rule, but also shapes our orientation in and to the world around us.  Five years before the current financial and economic system came crumbling down and ruining the lives of those who had put their hopes, lives, savings and housing into its hands

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-72288664288915620242010-10-30T12:45:00.005-05:002010-10-30T13:27:19.289-05:00

This fall we moved into an additional living space an apartment in Immanuel Lutheran's bell tower (there are no bells in the bell tower).With this new space we have two immediate openings for anyone interested in joining (either 2 single persons, or 1 single and a couple). Immediate means beginning the process of joining with probable move in date one or two months after beginning the process.

Community of the Holy Trinityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14569412841797407486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-61477523160882877072009-08-28T14:15:00.005-05:002009-08-28T14:56:34.495-05:00

Recently saw the Russian film, the Island. (not to be confused with the 2005 sci-fi action movie of the same English title.) It is about a monk and an Orthodox monastery on an Island off the coast of the North sea. It is a beautiful depiction of monasticism, community and the struggle of the spiritual life. The story revolves around hte character of Father Anatoly, and the abbot Father Filaret

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-70702581197726111352009-07-27T14:51:00.000-05:002009-07-27T14:53:55.909-05:00

Dear Friends,By now, you are probably familiar with who we are, on one level or another. To you, we may be members of your family, or longtime friends; maybe we are partners in faith on the Immanuel campus; it is possible that you have worked with us, collectively or individually, to help make a difference in the world; perhaps we are simply known as “The 'Nidge”, a gathering place for an

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-5140606082003482942009-06-26T13:48:00.008-05:002009-07-02T10:07:04.001-05:00

This is a stab at articulating some things in my self and being part of the community that are on the edge of full articulation. This is sort of a sketch of thoughts on what living for and in Christ as member and prior of an intentional Christian Community.Several things are on the horizon for the community, yet what they mean for the community is currently very vague and the time table for them

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-88280243519991820982009-05-28T17:15:00.003-05:002009-05-28T17:26:51.228-05:00

*CINO has raised over 1500 dollars by yesterday towards the purchase of the Huss School property.  The deadline for the closing date for the property was moved back so they have a new deadline to raise the approximately 4000 dollars to be able to purchase the property.  You can read the further progress and some of what it has been like attempting to raise $20,000 in less than a month at the

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-68923494743689793242009-05-21T20:21:00.003-05:002009-05-21T21:20:40.271-05:00

This evening the community held a vespers service with Holy Communion for the Feast of the Ascension to which members of Immanuel Lutheran Church and Reconciler were invited to attend. Since we are in the parsonage of we use Immanuel's chapel for our morning and evening prayer, we share this space with Reconciler . If one wishes one can join us for morning or evening prayer but people joining

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-88994856143042044352009-05-10T13:48:00.002-05:002009-05-10T13:52:49.253-05:00

Our friends and hopefully soon partners over at *cino, are hoping to purchase property in Three River's Michigan to provide for a physical location for *cino. Check out the web page giving the vision they have for this property. It is an old school house. We are excited about this. And you maybe noticing that Holy Trinity seems to have a connection with Three Rivers Michigan.

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-85800397536191056462009-05-10T12:27:00.002-05:002009-05-10T13:27:18.992-05:00

It has been over a year since we posted anything to this blog. However, it has been a full year for us. We explored for a time being a place from which a musician could travel touring coffee houses playing her music, and for a time she did so until deciding that she wanted to settle in another city. Also last year we were approached by someone who was taking a sabbatical from Christian

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-32019297326725485592008-03-26T22:38:00.004-05:002008-03-26T23:05:06.041-05:00

We are now a few days into the season of Easter. I had intended to write reflections over the whole of Lent on Brother Lawrence and Practicing the Presence of God. I obviously did not. In part because the more I read the more I realized that the simple life Brother Lawrence exhorts and the simplicity of practicing God's presence in everything and at all times was very difficult. for the last

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-74943179626903526382008-02-13T17:37:00.004-06:002008-02-13T22:17:33.215-06:00

It appears these reflections are going to be weekly reflections.Brother Lawrence's emphasis is very much on living and doing things out of the love of God. In Brother Lawrence's experience the hurdle to living this way was a concern for his being lost: the fear of hell. Lawrence said that he overcame this struggle through seeking to engage the "religious life" solely out of love for God

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-51083615345545708912008-02-07T14:02:00.001-06:002008-02-07T15:21:26.013-06:00

For my holy reading during Lent I am reading selections from Brother Lawrence. I have decided to occasionally post some of my thoughts that arise from that meditative reading. A major (perhaps the) emphasis in Brother Lawrence's life and thought is practicing the presence of God, in fact that is the name of the work that is a collection of his sayings. So it is not surprising that the first

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-92084917124733148952008-01-21T18:34:00.000-06:002008-01-21T18:45:03.834-06:00

Well it has been over a year since anything has been done with this blog. When I last posted to this blog I had thought I might start posting here semi-regularly. This of course did not happen. At the time the community was still settling in after having been in the Parsonage of Immanuel Lutheran Church for six months. Now we have been here a year and a half and we had an open house for the

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-4055455806697805152007-01-02T18:21:00.000-06:002007-01-02T18:28:39.370-06:00

Now that we have settled into our new place with new members, it is perhaps a good time to revive the communities blog.We are now five members, we are renting an old parsonage from a Lutheran church, and praying in thier side chapel.We will most likely in the next few months patner with the organization *Culture is Not Optional(*CINO). We talked with the directors of the organization this past

Community of the Holy Trinitynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1148487434741604802006-05-24T11:04:00.000-05:002006-05-24T11:17:14.756-05:00

Nothing has been posted here in awhile, nearly 7 months. The reasons for this are varied, but mostly because the community has been drifting, since we were uncertain about where God was leading us, and how to continue as a community.Two things have slowly emerged in the the last 7 months. First since February we have been in conversation with the organization Culture is Not Optional (CINO) about

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1133033366678364852005-11-26T12:56:00.000-06:002005-11-26T15:46:03.416-06:00

There are advantages and disadvantages to our current practice of talking about "spirituality" without reference to the Holy Spirit. In the Christian Tradition the spiritual life or spirituality meant living according to the life of the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Third person of the Trinity. In that sense it was not vague human longings for the religious seperated from Religious

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1131475121969386872005-11-08T12:38:00.000-06:002005-11-08T12:38:41.970-06:00

Baptistnomad, asked this question about belief and ractices, I gave a short responce there. Which should come first or which comes first? Or which founds the other? Should belief found our practices or should practices lead to certain beliefs? These are various ways I read her question. As a spiritual director some people come to our sessions with a question about belief and it leads

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1130881472434365552005-11-01T15:44:00.000-06:002005-11-01T15:44:32.486-06:00

Hebrews 11:32ff, sounded differently reading it today than before. The listing of names and the ordeals and triumphs of those who have gone before although all from the Old Testament all sound alot like stories of the saints martyrs and monastics of the Church. I found it interesting how Protestants (at least those who taught me in the faith) admit the truth of this passage that we are in the

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1130539179699452912005-10-28T17:39:00.000-05:002005-10-28T17:39:39.720-05:00

With Amy in Israel/Palestine with CPT( see earlier post) and Kate costuming a King Lear for North Park University's drama department the community's apartment has kind of turned into one large costuming studio (with a little corner, literally) form my painting. This reminds me though that we had envisioned originally that the Community of Holy Trinity would be in part a place for artists to

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1130358979879763832005-10-26T15:36:00.000-05:002005-10-26T15:36:19.920-05:00

About four years ago, before Kate and I felt called to community life we discovered this magazine of interiors called Nest. I do not know quite how to describe this quarterly magazine, it was neither a "how to" of home decorating, nor was it simply a showcase. The simplest description was that each article and each issue of Nest saught to explore how we shape the interior space of our lives.

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1130357119260163562005-10-26T15:05:00.000-05:002005-10-26T15:05:19.293-05:00

I had begunThree weeks ago when Amy left for Israel/Palestine on a two month delegation with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and then I forgot to post it. Three weeks latter I go to post again after some busy weeks and realize that I never posted about Amy in Israel/Palestine. So, here it is, she still has five weeks left so there is still reason to post this. Amy is a member of our community

Community of the Holy Trinitynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1127743061697003912005-09-26T08:57:00.000-05:002005-09-26T08:57:43.326-05:00

None of us here at the community have a car. When Kate and I moved to Chicago in 1999, the car we had brought with us rapidly developed mechanical problems we could not afford to fix. Had we been living in LA still we probably w,ould have bit the bullet and fixed the problems but here we had the freedom to choose to live without a car and afford other things. So, from our first month here in

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1126889174483502602005-09-16T11:44:00.000-05:002005-09-16T11:46:14.490-05:00

As a community that seeks to be centered on the life of prayer we can whole heartedly embrace President Bush's call for a day of prayer for those whose lives have been upended by hurricane Katrina. Of course they have been in our prayers and our thoughts throughout these past weeks.Our daily prayer liturgy is taken from the prayer book from Taize, Praise God: Common Prayer at Taize, Friday's

Community of the Holy Trinitynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1126808520243374272005-09-15T13:22:00.000-05:002005-09-15T13:22:01.920-05:00

One probably wouldn't put the above two things together, and niether would I except that they do refer to things going on with members of the community this fall. Amy is leaving in a couple of weeks to go to Palestine/Israel for two months with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), Amy has been working with CPT in their Chicago office for a little over a year now, about the same amount of time

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1126755606301723762005-09-14T22:40:00.000-05:002005-09-14T22:40:06.353-05:00

My friend and colleague Gavin has posted his thoughts I think they contribute much to the conversation and argument that is on going over the government's responce to the plight of those stranded in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast.My take here is a little different, though I think the argument of whether or not the Government did the right thing and was as prepared as it should have been

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1124299738098460232005-08-17T11:59:00.000-05:002005-08-17T12:58:07.950-05:00

The next post on our sidebar links was to be on the community of Taize and Brother Roger. On news of Brother Roger's slaying it is a good if sad moment to tell a bit of how Taize has influence this community and its founding.Most of the members of this community both former and current had been aware of Taize initially through Taize prayer services held through out the US in various churches.

Community of the Holy Trinitynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1124244134960213962005-08-16T21:02:00.000-05:002005-08-17T11:30:23.736-05:00

[I noticed some fairly glaring spelling a gramar errors and have corrected them this morning 8/17/2005.] This evening I had a meeting for Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler and the meeting was walking distance from the apartment. There is a homeless man named Leonard who lives in our neighborhood, and Kate and I talk to him when we see him and occasionally have provided him with money or food

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1123975281929091392005-08-13T18:21:00.000-05:002005-08-14T16:08:35.556-05:00

We realized that we should take some time to talk about the various ways in which the Community of the Holy Trinity is attempting to live out its goals of hospitatlity and support of artists. We have made substantial changes in our sidebars in hopes that through various links to show the connections we have as a small and new community. First of note is Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). One of

Community of the Holy Trinitynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1123780258380631242005-08-11T12:10:00.000-05:002005-08-11T12:10:58.390-05:00

If you read my Raw Edges blog, you know that this summer I was on set of the film I co-wrote, "Say Hello to Clive For Me." The experience was significant for me as I lead this small community for many reasons. First, art and artistic expression has been an important part of the life of this community since it began over two years ago. Most of us who are part of or have been part of this

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1115350562097000592005-05-05T22:36:00.000-05:002005-05-05T22:36:02.123-05:00

There are moments when I am stumbling along following God and then God opens up a bit of the larger context of that call, and it is like one was stumbling through the thick of the forest and then one happens upon a clearing a trail. Tonight was like that.This evening Tripp Hudgins and I met with Alan Howe of Reba Place Fellowship, for conversation about community and church. I have known of

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1115049143226162952005-05-02T10:52:00.000-05:002005-05-03T15:59:06.846-05:00

The first reading from the Common Lectionary yesterday was Acts 17 the account of Paul in Athens. Tripp's sermon at Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler yesterday challenged us to contemplate the mystery of God present, of the Spirit, at work amongst the idols. Paul, Tripp, pointed out to us, was confronted with the truth that was already recognized among the religious Athenians. Yet, even so

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1114535774951915242005-04-26T12:16:00.000-05:002005-04-26T12:40:24.020-05:00

I have been meaning to post on how the Community began. This will be the first instalment of what is essentially I guess the Three year history of the community.Although, we did not share housing until June of 2003, the community has it beginnings in the previous year. My wife and I were living in a large apartment in Humbolt Park. Kate was still in school I was finished with Seminary and having

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1114471031122851162005-04-25T18:17:00.000-05:002005-04-25T18:17:11.123-05:00

Saturday, we had the first meeting of our advisory board. We looked over where the community was at presently and how we were going to move forward. I had thought that we were ready to set up an NFP and move the advisory board into the role of board of directors. This does not seem to be where we are at presently. We were also looking at acquiring one or more of the apartments coming

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1113850148188482822005-04-18T13:49:00.000-05:002005-04-18T13:49:08.186-05:00

Richard Carlson, professor of Ministry and Director of Field Education at North Park Theological Seminary, spoke often in his classes about the importance of living according to the rhythm of the Sabbath rest. Not necessarily ceasing to do work on Saturday or Sunday, but recognizing that we need both spiritually and physically patterns of activity and rest. While I was in seminary this was not

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1112984190273097142005-04-08T13:14:00.000-05:002005-04-08T13:16:30.280-05:00

I have written about this some on my Raw Edges blog , as well as touched on this in this blog. I find myself in a interesting position both as prior of this small community and as co-pastor of Church of Jesus Christ Reconciler, and as Spiritual Director given the ways in which my faith has wandered through a deeply questioning period. I have read Spong, Dominic Crossan. I have defended

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1112731422022022192005-04-05T15:03:00.000-05:002005-04-05T15:25:05.033-05:00

The community of the Holy Trinity, has been functioning under a Rule for some time. Now we are looking to articulate what we have formed in terms of Articles and by laws for a not for profit corporation. I am finding this a difficult thing to get my mind around. The Rule is designed as a spiritual document about coming together as a particular community along side the life of the Church and a

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1112393680240858792005-04-01T16:14:00.000-06:002005-04-01T16:14:40.240-06:00

Growing up on the edge of evangelical circles there was much talk about one's "prayer life". "Prayer life" was basicaly having the time set asside for one to be alone with God. It also probably included spending time in a prayer group from one's church, but the emphasis was always on that one on one time with God, known as the "quiet time". "Prayer life" was that life that was set asside

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1111441999039772932005-03-21T15:53:00.000-06:002005-03-21T15:53:19.040-06:00

The discipline of praying the Daily Office, that this community sees as at the center of its life, is both rewarding and difficult to keep. Since we all have jobs and responsibilities outside of the community we have often found that even coming together for evening prayer does not happen. Yet, the structure is there for us to come back to, and we do.As I have reflected on the experience of

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1103049002089701492004-12-14T13:26:00.000-06:002004-12-14T12:30:02.090-06:00

[This was originaly psoted on Larry's blog] In the past week the Community of the Holy Trinity, a small intentional community of which I am prior, has said several goodbyes. For a week we had two guests in our largish Chicago apartment (but small for community life). Both of our guests left on Sunday, and last night a member of our community for the past year and a half officially moved out, he

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9490024.post-1112731231661772012003-09-05T15:00:00.001-05:002010-01-21T17:15:20.795-06:00

Introduction/expositionBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.

Larry Kamphausenhttps://profiles.google.com/102956226026608976272noreply@blogger.com0